Bureau+of+Labor+Statistics

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 * Occupational Outlook Handbook **
 * Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Labor **
 * Date of Last Update: 2009**


 * Authority: Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor. This is a government website and is a valid site for occupational information.**


 * Content:** This website provides occupational information for about any occupation one could look for. It provides educational training needed, salary information, training needed, employment outlook, and other related occupations, it also provides a description of the work and kind of a day in the life of a worker in that area.


 * Currency:** The government updates the website at least twice a year.


 * Purpose:** The BLS website was designed by the government to provide career information on assorted careers throughout the world for individuals. Any person interested in a particular career can research a reliable website and determine if that maybe a career that they would be interested.


 * Organization of Information, Design and Navigation:** When you enter the website the homepage is easy to navigate. Right a way their is a list of from A - Z, when you choose a letter it goes to any occupation that starts with that letter. When you scroll to the occupation you are looking for it provides the information for that career stated in the content section of this page. Once you are done reading about a particular topic you can search related fields of that topic or continue a career information search elsewhere on the page.


 * Strengths:** The strengths of this page are:It is easy to navigate as soon as you enter the website. The site has a list from A - Z then you click on a letter and it takes you to a career starting with that letter. The next stength of the website is the accuracy of the information provided. The government creates the website and updates the information, therefore, the information provided to people is extremely accurate.
 * Weaknesses:** One weakness that I have found in using this site with my high schoolers is the abundance of information. Each career has a wealth of information that is provided and filtering that information can be difficult for some high schoolers. The other weakness would be that the students know one name for a particular career and the government uses another name for that career. This makes the high school kids think the career they are looking for is not on the website when the majority of the time it is.


 * Instructional Uses:** I use this webstie when I am working a career unit with my students in multiple classes. It provides accurate information that is updated. I have my students research three careers of their interest and then write descriptions about everything listed in the content section of this page. After the students have researched the careers they choose one of the careers that peaks their interest the most, then we make resumes, cover letters, job applications for that one career they chose. After, we conduct mock interviews dealing with the career of their choice.


 * Benefits to Students:** This site is a huge benefit to students. Information is put in a logical sequence, so the students know what they are looking at and researching always. It provides great career information on all careers along with an abundance of information on a particular career. Also, being a government website the students know that it is a reliable site to use.