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Occupational Research
 Occupational research has long been one of my fields of expertise, dating back to the mid 1980s when I began conducting occupational outlook surveys as part of the State/Local Cooperative Labor Market Information Program. I was also an integral member of the State of California's Technical Workgroup that designed the California Cooperative Occupational Information System (CCOIS). Then I continued to manage CCOIS occupational research programs for local partners for more than ten years. I also coordinated two pilot O*NET projects, one of which involved survey and focus group research on emerging occupations. (O*NET, a U.S. Department of Labor initiative, is the nation's most comprehensive source of data on occupational and worker characteristics.) Besides large-scale occupational research, many organizations have contracted with me over the years to conduct small-scale occupational research. This is where research may be conducted formally or informally for one or more occupations. This research may focus on compensation, supply & demand, skills, career pathways, or any number of data elements identified as a priority. No matter the scale of the project, research methods may include employer surveys, focus group discussions, interviews with subject matter experts, or analyzing/using existing data. The purpose of occupational research depends on the client's needs. Workforce development boards, as well as schools and training providers, may need information to help them identify occupational areas where there are major workforce development challenges or opportunities. A private company may be interested in identifying job tasks and appropriate hiring requirements for certain positions. Or they may be interested primarily in compensation data that can be used to help determine competitive wages and benefits. Even reviewing and updating job descriptions is occupational research - if done properly. Another purpose of occupational research is to develop content for career information delivery systems. When appropriate, I also advocate utilizing profiles of "real people" to help communicate the personal side of a career choice. For career exploration purposes, the ideal is a combination of sound statistics and descriptive information, along with the personal information and perspective of real people who work in those career fields.
See sample report in pdf format:
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See sample report in pdf format: