Ch. 10

In this chapter, Bolles talks about five different ways to choose or change your career.

1.) The first way to go about changing your path is to go online and look at O*Net Online, which is something Bolles mentioned in a previous chapter. On the home page, you will find multiple links that either have you take a career quiz, find job openings, or see what's offered for driving and work from your home jobs. This can be a useful tool whether you are still unsure about your new career choice or you know exactly what you are looking for. I think it's a great website to take advantage of.

2.) The next way mentions career tests. They can be very useful to some people, and not so useful to others. The tests can only be so broad, so they might not be right for you because you are unique and there is no other person just like you. Bolles words it that taking the test "can only describe the family in which you belong." Apparently that's just not enough when picking a career you love! When taking a test, be open minded and don't try to come up with the end result it might give you. Taking several tests can help as well. You might get "mixed reviews" from each test taken, so Bolles provides testing websites like The Dewey Color System, Dr. John Holland's Self-Directed Search, and The University of Missouri' Career Interests Game. 

The Dewey Color System test

3.) Using your Flower Diagram he suggested to make in Chapter 7. This Chapter tells us how to use it to "breakdown and build it up to define a career for you."

4.) You can change a career in two steps. Bolles mentions that we must consider the job title vs. the field in which it's in. "Title is really a symbol for what you do. Field is where you do it, or what you do it with." He provides a diagram to show how there is 3 ways to change careers. One way that he names "the Difficult Path" is jumping right into that line of work that you want to do. For example, if an Accountant suddenly decides he wants to become a reporter on new medical developments, you have to ease into it. Look into being an accountant at a Hospital for medicine research or see how you can get involved with television that leads to reporting. 

5.) Last but not least, you should look into what the job market needs these days. See what's in demand or what is projected to be rising in demand. Going to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and browse around on the site. It would be best to look at the level of education needed for certain jobs that are growing faster-than-average.  

Guide to career information on the T.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics