Finding the job that’s right for you

You’ve completed a skills assessment or two and/or have put some serious thinking into what type of work you’d like to do. Now it’s time to research the type of job or career that might use your talents and skills effectively.

A great place to start is CareerOneStop’s video library, which has hundreds of videos where you can learn about careers and industries and the skills and abilities they require.

Another option is My Next Move, where you can explore more than 900 career options. The site includes types of job, the knowledge and skills required to do them and even the type of personality that makes a person good at this type of work. It also includes education required, average salary paid and a link where you can search for jobs by state and find out how to apply for them.

A website created by CareerOneStop specifically for job seekers who have a criminal record, includes a section on careers in general, along with tools to help you match interests with specific jobs and many other resources.

Maybe you already have work experience and would like to know what other jobs you can do with the skills you’ve developed in your former jobs. Visit myskillsmyfuture.org, put the name of the jobs you have done, and it will tell you other jobs that require those same skills. You can compare careers, find training and search for jobs, all in the same place.

And if you’re a woman interested in a nontraditional (for women at least) job – maybe as a carpenter, bus driver or other blue collar work – there are resources for you, as well. Women who live in New York City might want to check out nonprofit Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW). Over the past decade, it has trained and placed more than 3,000 women in jobs as carpenters, electricians, ironworkers, laborers, plumbers, and operating engineers.