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‣LinkedIn – A great resource for building your network online. (Click here for a list of About.com articles on using LinkedIn in managing your career.)
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‣Keirsey Temperament Sorter – Similar to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI®), you can take the Keirsey online and receive a very basic report for free. A more detailed, career-specific report is available for about $20.
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‣O*NET Online – Use this great tool from the Department of Labor to search job descriptions by keywords, job families, in-demand industries, required skills, etc. Lists lots of information about different types of careers, including education required, typical job tasks, typical wages, and related career interests and values. Also allows you to easily find related occupations.
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‣Salary Calculator – Use the tools at Salary.com to help determine what you’re worth, or what the right salary is for a position for which you’re hiring. A basic report is free, or you can get more detail with a paid report.
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‣The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers – Geared toward job seekers and career switchers, this comprehensive guide nonetheless contains a lot of great info for anyone, even those looking for ways to grow within their own organization. View it online, download the entire guide as a pdf for FREE, or order a hard copy for only the cost of printing and shipping.
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‣I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was* – The author of this very readable book walks you through a series of creative yet practical exercises to understand what’s holding you back and uncover the kind of work that you would truly love doing.
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‣Creating a Life Worth Living* – One of my favorite career books, perhaps because I have strong creative leanings myself. This book is targeted toward people working in creative fields, but the author defines creativity fairly broadly (e.g., teaching makes the cut as a creative endeavor). What do I love about this book? The many interviews with successful people about their career paths and creative processes. The attention the author gives to the spiritual and emotional aspects of career development. The many thought-provoking exercises. The intriguing model outlining two basic types of creativity (collaborative and individual) and the five sub-types within each. Her attention to the challenge of having multiple passions and talents. And much more.
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‣Do What You Are* – This book helps you understand what your Myers-Briggs personality type tells you about the kinds of careers you’re likely to enjoy. There’s one chapter for each of the 16 personality types. (I’d recommend you look for this one at your public library or a local career center, as – by its very nature – most of the book will not be relevant for you.)
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‣The Occupational Outlook Handbook – Available free online from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this “handbook” provides info (e.g., job descriptions, required training, salary, working conditions) about growing occupations.
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‣Personal Branding Blog – What it sounds like. Contemporary ideas on the topic from a variety of expert contributors. You’ll find lots of great suggestions here, whatever your career development goals.
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‣The Job Hunter’s Bible – Not just for people at the job-hunting stage, this website from the author of the classic What Color is Your Parachute?* career books hosts a collection of lots of career-related links. Be forewarned, however, that he’s not great about keeping the links up-to-date, and so you’re likely to encounter a number of broken ones.
*Full disclosure: The links marked with an asterisk (*) take you to view more information about those resources. If you decide to purchase them, I’ll earn a small commission – but only if you use these links to do so. Note that I never recommend products I haven’t reviewed myself and don’t believe offer real value.
