LibGuides: SLS 1501 (Prof. Allison--Palm Beach Gardens): Career Resources

Career and Vocational Library Databases

The PBSC Library offers our students a wealth of research material through our online subscription databases.

To access our databases, log in to PantherWeb and click on the library icon or, log in to Blackboard and click on Palm Beach State eLibrary. To see the list of databases, click on the link A-Z Databases. To see career specific databases, click on the box that called "All Subjects" and choose Careers.

Career and Vocational databases include:

Peterson's Career Prep This link opens in a new window
Learn about careers, receive personalized career recommendations, create resumes and cover letters, search for jobs, explore schools and training programs, and get advice to help find a job or advance your career.

Must create account during first visit.
Salem Careers (Salem Press) This link opens in a new window
PrepSTEP for Colleges This link opens in a new window
LearningExpress Library provides a completely interactive online learning platform of practice tests and tutorial course series designed to help patrons, students, and adult learners succeed on the academic or licensing tests they must pass. You'll get immediate scoring, complete answer explanations, and an individualized analysis of your results.
Vocations and Careers Collection (Gale) This link opens in a new window
Offering content from nearly 400 journals, this collection provides content from general career guides to highly specialized industry journals.

Exploring the Occupational Outlook Handbook

Visit the Occupational Outlook Handbook and type your chosen career in the "search handbook" bar. Explore the different tabs to learn about this profession. Think about the following questions as you read through the information:

How much money could you expect to make in this career? What factors might affect your salary?
Look at the tab "How to Become One." What different kinds of training is involved? How valuable will your degree and/or certification be on your path to this career?
Describe the technical and "soft" skills you need to be successful at this job.
Look at the tab "Work Environment." What factors beside salary could affect a person's decision to follow this career path?

Career Web Sites

Palm Beach State College Career Center
Don't miss the wonderful resources available to students at the Career Center located in the BR building at the Gardens Campus.
Occupational Outlook Handbook
A great place to start your career research. This resource gives an overview of the career of your choice, the education required for that career, the pros and cons of the career, and the salary you might expect to earn in that career.
CareerOneStop
Browse occupations and industries, employment trends, with data from a variety of federal and state agencies and offices, and private institutions.
Careers.org
Investigate online degrees and universities, jobs and occupations, and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Mapping Your Future: Explore Your Career
Free tools to assess your skills and interests...develop a career plan...research careers...find work...review other career guidance and job search resources.
O*Net Online
From the U.S. Department of Labor, this resource provides hundreds of standardized and occupation-specific descriptors, along with career tools and publications to help individuals in the workforce.
Occupational Mobility Explorer
"Researchers from the Philadelphia and Cleveland Feds analyze the skills that employers request in the 33 largest metro areas and look for opportunities for workers to transfer their skills from one occupation to a similar — but higher-paying — occupation in the same labor market."
Wages by Area & Occupation: Metropolitan Area
View and compare wages by occupation within a region.
Wages By Area and Occupation: State
View and compare wages by occupation within a state.
Paycheckcity
Click on "Salary." Enter "Florida" (or the state of your choice) in for your location at the top. Enter your salary in the gross pay field. Change pay frequency to monthly then click calculate. This gives you the tax rates you will pay, and the amount of net pay (after taxes) you can expect to have each month.
Monster
Job search web site.
Jobs.com
Job search web site.
Indeed.com
Search job sites, newspapers, associations and company career pages.