How to Conduct Strong Career Research
Career research is an important part of the career planning and decision-making process. It helps you identify and explore careers, organizations, or industries through research to ensure a broad understanding and awareness of existing career paths and opportunities. Additionally, research develops confidence in your chosen path by exploring its connection to your interests, skills, values, and strengths.
Where to Start?
Begin by assessing where you are in your career planning process. Conducting research to explore career options is ideal if you are unsure what careers or job functions interest you. Industry research is ideal if you want to work in a particular industry, but do not have a specific position in mind. Finally, organization research is ideal if you have a dream employer in mind and are open to a variety of careers or job functions within their organization. The prompts below will get you started in your career research:
Exploring Career Options
- What career option(s) are you exploring?
- What is the purpose of this work and who does it serve?
- What industries employ individuals in this career?
- What are the educational, training, and/or certification requirements?
- What might a “typical” path look like for this career?
Industry Research
- In which industry are you interested? What services or products do they provide, and to whom?
- List five organizations of interest within this industry.
- What are common internships or positions in this industry?
- What are two current industry trends or challenges?
- What professional associations exist within this industry?
Organization Research
- What is the career or job function that you are most interested in?
- What is the organization’s mission statement?
- What services or products does the organization provide?
- Describe the organization’s culture.
- What does a “typical” path in this career or job function look like within this organization?
What is Your “Why”?
After you conduct your research, reflect on what you learned. This may help you determine what options
are a good fit for you or additional questions you need answered. The following prompts can enhance your
reflection:
- List two reasons why this career option, industry, or organization interests you.
- How does this career option, industry, or organization align with your interests, skills, and strengths?
- What are your personal values and how are they aligned with your research?
- What challenges might you face if you pursue this career, industry, or organization?
- What questions do you still need answered? How could you learn this information?
- What are two or three action steps you can take to learn more?
Resources to Conduct Strong Research
The following websites can be used to conduct research and gain helpful information as you explore options:
Occupational Outlook Handbook O*Net Online LinkedIn U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Industries at a Glance