Big data is here to stay and everyone, including job seekers in Central Minnesota, can benefit from the increasing amounts of information collected and stored by organizations throughout Minnesota.

I remember my first glimpse of labor market information in a science class in the early years of my high school career. Yes that's right, a science class. After completing the lesson plan for the day my teacher went to his office, grabbed and casually tossed a Minnesota Careers booklet on the table, and encouraged us to take a look at the jobs and figure out what we wanted to do with our lives. We looked at things like wages, educational requirements, and job duties. For many of us it was our first glimpse into the future of employment possibilities.

Fast forward a decade and career and education guidance is much more accessible and integrated in the high school system. New initiatives and policies are continually trying to improve and increase information available to individuals seeking career information.

Thanks to an incredibly easy-to-use tool recently released by DEED simply named Career Profile, all walks of jobs seekers, including students, are able to obtain relevant, timely, and accurate career information.

Gaining access to regional career information through the Career Profile tool is as easy as two steps: select your location and job. That's it! No sorting through numeric codes and mountains of irrelevant information to find what you want.

After selecting the location and job that meets your interest, users are met with an overview page that provides basic information about the job. From here you can dive deeper into the data by selecting one of the four links at the top and bottom of the page, where users will find more detailed information on:

• Wages and the cost of living
• Current demand and future job openings
• Educational level typically associated with the specified job, local institutions that provide an applicable training program, as well as relevant certificates and licenses
• On-the-job tasks and working conditions, as well as different jobs that utilize similar skills

A fantastic bonus is a link at the bottom that directs the user to actual job openings in their region. Best of all, the new tool is equally useful for businesses and anyone else who has an interest in detailed occupational information!

For More Information

Contact Luke Greiner at 320-308-5378.