The U.S. Department of Labor recently unveiled an online tool that will assist young people in the search for jobs.
My Next Move is designed for all types of jobseekers, but has a strong focus on people who are new to the workforce.
“It takes time and effort and some research to put into finding your career, and this is a great tool to start that,” ASU career service specialist Mary Fachman said.
The new career tool draws on information developed as a part of the Occupational Information Network, or O*NET. It is sponsored by the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and is a new addition to O*NET’s pre-existing career tools.
“My Next Move puts a tremendous amount of information that individuals need in order to make informed career decisions at their fingertips and best of all, it’s all in an easy-to-use package that is always free,” Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said in a recorded conference call on the department’s website.
The design of the website is simple. Three main avenues to explore career choices are shown on the home page.
These avenues include the “I want to be …” section, which allows jobseekers to search key words that may pertain to a “dream career.” The site will then link users to all the possible careers that matched the search.
Another avenue is the “I’ll know it when I see it” browser. This allows the user to browse careers by industry. It provides a drop-down menu of categories listed alphabetically for convenient browsing.
The third avenue is the “I’m not really sure” interest profiler. This is a 60-question assessment for jobseekers unsure of which field of work they are interested in. After completing the questions, My Next Move provides a list of job zones and careers that relate to the answers given.
“It’s just fabulous,” Fachman said. “[The website] is designed in an easy-to-read, colorful, quick fashion.”
Fachman said the thing that popped out to her was the “I’m not really sure” section. There are a lot of students who are not very sure about their potential careers.
“I thought this [section] was great,” she said. “It’s really speaking to current students.”
Special education senior David Baker said finding a job these days is difficult.
After browsing the site for five minutes, Baker said, “Not bad, I pretty much understand where everything goes and what I need to do.”
In addition to the three easy search avenues, My Next Move provides three categories in which careers will be listed: “Bright Outlook,” “Green” and “Registered Apprenticeship.” When looking at the list of preferred careers, the seeker will see that some careers are listed under one or more of these categories.
The “Bright Outlook” icon, represented by a sun icon, stands for the possibility and growing opportunities in the future for that particular career.
The “Green” icon, represented by a leaf, acknowledges that the career is a green job.
Lastly, the “Registered Apprenticeship” icon, represented by a logo featuring red and blue arches over a star, indicates there is an apprenticeship program available for that career field.
Solis hopes to spread awareness of the website and encourage new jobseekers to use this tool. Solis said whether the seeker is a high school or college student exploring career options, or a worker who has been laid off and wants to know where the jobs are in promising industries, My Next Move is a good resource.
“This will help you,” she said.
Baker, while optimistic about the new career tool said, “This is awesome, let’s just hope I get the job now.”
Reach the reporter at tiffany.ngo@asu.edu
