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The SOC system includes all occupations in which work is performed for pay

or profit but does not include occupations that are unique to volunteers. The sys-

tem classifies occupations at four levels of specificity: (1) major group, (2) minor

group, (3) broad occupation, and (4) detailed occupation. Currently, the system

includes 23 major groups, 96 minor groups, 449 broad occupations, and 821 de-

tailed occupations. Table 16.1 contains a complete listing of the major groups and

an expanded listing of the Personal Care and Service group (the group containing

the occupation of Childcare Workers). In the SOC system, a six-digit number is

assigned to each occupation. The first two numbers are used to classify the major

group to which the occupation belongs. The third digit describes the minor

group that is associated with an occupation. The fourth and fifth digits are used

to designate a broad occupational group, and the sixth digit is used to identify

unique occupations. Data collection agencies wanting more detailed classifica-

tion may create subclassifications for an occupation by adding digits after the

decimal point. Thus, by including multiple levels of specificity, the SOC system

can be used by agencies or organizations with differing needs or capabilities with

respect to data collection and analysis.

Let’s look at an example. The occupation of Childcare Worker is classified in

the Personal Care and Service Occupations major group (39-0000), the Other

Personal Care and Service Workers minor group (39-9000), and the broad occu-

pation group of Childcare Workers (39-9010). The last digit of the SOC code for

Childcare Worker (39-9011) designates the actual occupation within the broad

occupational group. In this case, Childcare Worker is the only occupation

within the broad occupational group of the same name. In contrast, the broad

occupational group Recreation and Fitness Workers (39-9030) contains two spe-

cific occupations: Fitness Trainers and Aerobic Instructors (39-9031) and Recre-

ation Workers (39-9032). If an organization wanted to further classify the

occupation of Childcare Worker, it could do so by including additional numbers

after the decimal point (e.g., 39-9011.01—Childcare Workers, Infant and Tod-

dler; 39-9011.02—Childcare Workers, Primary School Age). The SOC system

also includes a brief description for each occupation. The following is the job de-

scription for Childcare Workers:

Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and child care insti-

tutions. Perform a variety of tasks, such as dressing, feeding, bathing, and oversee-

ing play. Exclude “Preschool Teachers” (25-2011) and “Teacher Assistants”

(25-9041).

Residual categories in the SOC system are indicated by the use of the number

9 and are used at three levels of classification (minor group, broad occupation,

and occupational group levels). Residual categories are also identified by the use

of the terms other, all other, or miscellaneous. Childcare Worker is a good example of

the use of residual categories. This occupation resides in a residual minor group

(Other Personal Care and Service Workers). Other broad occupations that are in-

cluded in this residual category include Personal and Home Care Aides, Recre-

ation and Fitness Workers, Residential Advisors, and Miscellaneous Personal

Care and Service Workers (a residual category at the broad occupational level).

In addition to being used by government agencies for the purposes of data col-

lection and analysis, the SOC system can be accessed by counselors or clients for

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Table 16.1

The Standard Occupational Classification System (SOC)

Major Group-Level Classification

Detailed Classification of 39-0000

11-0000 Management Occupations

39-0000 Personal Care and Service Occupat

ions

13-0000 Business and Financial Operations Occupat

ions

39-1000 Supervisors, Personal Care and Serv

ice Workers

15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations

39-2000 Animal Care and Service Workers

17-0000 Architecture and Engineering Occupations

39-3000 Entertainment Attendants and Related W

orkers

19-0000 Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupat

ions

39-4000 Funeral Service Workers

21-0000 Community and Social Services Occupat

ions

39-5000 Personal Appearance Workers

23-0000 Legal Occupations

39-6000 Transportation, Tourism, and Lodging At

tendants

25-0000 Education, Tra

ining, and Library Occupations

39-9000 Other Personal Care and Service Wor

kers

27-0000 Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Med

ia Occupations

39-9010 Childcare Workers

29-0000 Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occ

upations

39-9011 Childcare Workers

31-0000 Healthcare Support Occupations

39-9020 Personal and Home Care Aides

33-0000 Protective Service Occupations

39-9021 Personal and Home Care Aides

35-0000 Food Preparation and Serving Related Occ

upations

39-9030 Recreation and Fitness Workers

37-0000 Building and Grounds Cleaning and Main

tenance Occupations

39-9031 Fitness Trainers and Aerobic

39-0000 Personal Care and Service Occupations

Instructors

41-0000 Sales and Related Occupations

39-9032 Recreation Workers

43-0000 Office and Administrative Support Occupat

ions

39-9040 Residential Advisors

45-0000 Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations

39-9041 Residential Advisors

47-0000 Construction and Extraction Occupations

39-9090 Miscellaneous Personal Care and Serv

ice

49-0000 Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occ

upations

Workers

51-0000 Production Occupations

39-9099 Personal Care and Service Workers,

53-0000 Transportation and Material Moving Occupat

ions

All

55-0000 Military Specific Occupations

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the purpose of researching occupations. Because the system clusters occupations

that are similar with respect to the work performed and the skills and training re-

quired, a user who enters the SOC system to gather information about the occu-

pation of Home Health Aide (31-1011) will have easy access to information about

related occupations such as Occupational Therapist Assistant (31-2010) and Den-

tal Assistant (31-9091). Career counselors and clients can access the SOC system

via the Internet at http://stats.bls.gov/soc. Users can browse the system or search

occupational titles and job descriptions using keywords. The SOC system is now

used as the classification system to organize occupations in the O*NET and will

be used to organize information in subsequent editions of the Occupational Out-

look Handbook (USDOL, 2002c).

For an example of an innovative use of the SOC system, explore the Internet

web site http://clickonmycareer.com developed by the Cedar Rapids and Iowa

City Chambers of Commerce, the Iowa Workforce Development Office, and the

Workplace Learning Connection. This site includes a database of local businesses

that hire individuals in various occupations. This database is organized using the

first three levels of the SOC system. Users can browse through occupations using

SOC categories, or they can search occupational descriptions and titles using key-

words. At the occupation level, users are presented with a job description, the ed-

ucational level expected for entry-level work, the regional salary range, and the

name and web address of local employers who hire individuals in this occupation.

In summary, the SOC system is the occupational classification system used by

federal agencies to collect, share, analyze, and communicate with one another

about employment-related data. In the future, consumers of occupational infor-

mation, such as career counselors and their clients, will benefit from the compat-

ibility of resources that will result from the widespread implementation of this

system. The SOC system is dynamic in that it can accommodate the occupational

consolidation that results from technological changes just as easily as it can re-

spond to the growth and development of new occupations.

Holland’s Hexagon Spokane and Cruza-Guet (Chapter 2, this volume) provide a

comprehensive overview of John Holland’s theory of career choice (Holland,

1997). One of Holland’s fundamental hypotheses is that job satisfaction is a func-

tion of the degree of congruence between an individual’s work personality and

the characteristics of the occupation in which he or she is employed. According to

Holland’s theory, work personalities can be described using six primary dimen-

sions: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An

individual’s work personality is composed of preferences, skills, attitudes, and

values. Although a person’s work personality has components of each of the six

types, Holland believes that most individuals have work personalities that come to

primarily resemble a subset of the six types. According to Holland, the strongest

personality dimensions are the most potent determinants of vocational behavior.

In addition to describing work personalities, Holland believes that the six di-

mensions can be used to characterize work environments. Characteristics of the

work environment can be assessed either through a detailed analysis of job

functions or by measuring the work personalities of job incumbents. Like work

per

sonalities, most work environments can be described using a subset of the six

dimensions. A basic premise of Holland’s theory is that individuals will find sat-

isfaction to the extent that their work personalities are congruent with the char-

acteristics of their work environment.

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Occupational Classification and Sources of Occupational Information 389

Holland’s theory has enjoyed widespread attention from both practitioners

and researchers. A number of different interest inventories use Holland’s typol-

ogy as their primary organizing schema. For example, the Self-Directed Search

(SDS; Holland, 1987) can assist career counselors in assessing the work person-

alities of their clients. This instrument provides users with scores on each of

Holland’s six personality dimensions. Supplemental materials such as the Edu-

cational Opportunities Finder (Rosen, Holmberg, & Holland, 1994), the Leisure

Activities Finder (Holmberg, Rosen, & Holland, 1990), and the Career Options

Finder (Holland, 2001) can be used to encourage clients in postassessment ca-

reer exploration. A parallel instrument, the SDS Career Explorer (Holland &

Powell, 1996), has been developed for assessing the career interests of middle

school students. Several additional career assessment instruments, such as the

Strong Interest Inventory (Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994) and the

Skills Confidence Inventory (Betz, Borgen, & Harmon, 1996), provide users

with information using Holland’s six types as their organizing scheme.

A comprehensive list of occupational titles organized by Holland types is

available in the Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (DHOC; Gottfredson &

Holland, 1996). Three-letter Holland codes are provided for more than 12,000

cupational titles, and users can convert from Holland code to DOT code or look

up Holland codes in an alphabetized occupational title list. Additionally, the

DHOC includes listings of college majors by Holland code and Classification of

Instructional Programs (CIP) codes. Career counselors can use the DHOC in a

number of different ways. For example, the DHOC can be used as a simple refer-

ence with clients looking up Holland codes for particular occupations. Alterna-

tively, a client who knows his or her Holland code can use the DHOC to generate

an expanded list of occupational alternatives.

In addition to being widely used in practice, Holland’s person-environment ty-

pology has been the subject of extensive research. For example, research consis-

tently reveals relations between person-environment congruence and levels of

academic major or occupational satisfaction (see Spokane & Cruza-Guet, Chapter

2, this volume). Further, evidence is accumulating supporting the relations be-

tween Holland’s six work personalities and theoretically consistent measures of

nonwork personality such as the NEO-PI (Larson et al., 2002), the 16PF (Bolton,

1985), and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Martin & Bartol, 1986). Other re-

search has shown that the structure of interests is remarkably invariant across

gender and racial-ethnic groups (Anderson, Tracey, & Rounds, 1997; Day &

Rounds, 1998; Day, Rounds, & Swaney, 1998; Spokane & Cruza-Guet, Chapter 2,

this volume).

Holland’s typology permeates career counseling theory, research, and prac-

tice. This simple and intuitive classification system offers career counselors a

structure for discussing interests, abilities, or the world of work. The fact that

Holland’s system has been so widely adopted is a testament to its utility and

simplicity.

World-of-Work Map ACT, Inc. released an occupational classification system in

1973 called the World-of-Work Map (WWM). This map was the result of research

suggesting that two bipolar and bisecting work task dimensions (Data/Ideas and

Things/People) underlie Holland’s hexagon (Prediger, 1976, 1982; Rounds, 1995).

The WWM can be used to suggest occupations to users who enter the map with a

set of attribute scores, or it can be used to locate persons on the map based on the

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degree to which they express an interest in working with data, ideas, people, and

things. The position of occupations on the WWM is based on the degree to which

they involve working with data, ideas, people, and things.

From an environment perspective, the data dimension includes occupations

that require working with facts, records, files, and the use of systematic, concrete

procedures. Occupations such as accountant, financial analyst, and medical

records administrator are examples of data-intensive occupations. In contrast, the

ideas dimension includes occupations such as writer, economist, and psycholo-

gist that require the use of abstract theories or that reinforce expression, creativ-

ity, and novelty. When overlaid on Holland’s hexagon, the Data/Ideas dimension

bisects the Enterprising/Conventional and Artistic/Investigative vectors. The

Things/People dimension is synonymous with Holland’s Realistic and Social

themes, respectively. Occupations that map on the Things end of this dimension

involve the use of machines, tools, and materials (e.g., construction work and

skilled trades). Occupations in the social or educational services sector, on the

other hand, map closer to the People end of this dimension.

Two versions of the WWM are commonly encountered (counselor and student

versions). The counselor version (Figure 16.1) differs from the student version in

that it includes six career clusters corresponding to Holland’s six dimensions.

The WWM contains 26 career areas. Career areas contain occupations that are rel-

atively homogenous with respect to the work tasks that are required. For exam-

ple, Career Area Z (Personal Services) contains the occupation Childcare Worker

(Domestic). Individuals in this occupation work closely with children, books,

toys, games, art materials, personal hygiene products, and food and drink. Other

occupations in this career area include Travel Guide and Gaming Occupations

Worker. The WWM is also divided into 12 career regions that are primarily used

to provide directional interest information to students or clients. For example, a

client interested in mechanical activities might be encouraged to explore all oc-

cupations in Region 7 (e.g., explore occupations in Career Areas K, L, M, and N).

The WWM can be found in a range of academic and career-related products. It

is used as an interpretive device in conjunction with products that contain the

Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory (UNIACT; Swaney, 1995) such as

DISCOVER, the Career Planning Survey, EXPLORE, PLAN, and the ACT Assess-

ment. Counselors can use a client’s UNIACT scores to suggest career areas that a

client might want to explore more thoroughly. Prediger (2002) described how the

WWM could also be used to integrate results obtained from other vocational in-

terest inventories, ability self-estimate measures, and measures of work-relevant

values. DISCOVER, a computer-based career guidance program, is an excellent

example of how assessment results from these three sources can be combined to

encourage focused occupational exploration.

The WWM was originally developed using data on more than 13,000 occupations

and interest scores for more than 110,000 persons in 570 different occupational

groups. The map was revised in 2000 using data from three independent sources:

1. Expert ratings on Holland’s six work environments for each of 1,122 occu-

pations in the O*NET database (Rounds, Smith, Hubert, Lewis, & Rivkin,

1998).

2. Job analysis data used in the 1999 electronic Dictionary of Occupational Titles

database.

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Occupational Classification and Sources of Occupational Information 391

Data

Ideas

People

Things

1 6

11 8

10 9

•

P. Natural Science

and Technologies

•

• A. Employment-

Related Services

Z. Personal

Services

C. Management

B. Marketing

and Sales

Y. Community Services

X. Education

V. Applied Arts

(written and

spoken)

U. Creative and

Performing Arts

T. Applied Arts

(visual)

Medical

Diagnosis

and

Treatment

Social

Science

Q. Medical

Technologies

O. Engineering

and Technologies

K. Construction and

Maintenance

I. Ag/Forestry

and Related

H. Transport Operation

and Related

G. Distribution and

Dispatching

M. Manufacturing

and Processing

L. Crafts

and Related

N. Mechanical and

Electrical

Specialties

F. Financial

Transactions

E. Communications

and Records

D. Regulation

and

Protection

J. Computer/Info Specialties

W. Health Care

•

About the Map

• The World-of-Work Map arranges 26 career areas (groups of similar jobs) into 12

regions. Together, the career areas cover all U.S. jobs. Most jobs in a career area

are located near the point shown. However, some may be in adjacent Map regions.

•A career area’s location is based on its primary work tasks. The four primary work

tasks are working with—

DATA: Facts, numbers, files, accounts, business procedures.

IDEAS: Insights, theories, new ways of saying or doing something—for

example, with words, equations, or music.

PEOPLE: People you help, serve, inform, care for, or sell things.

THINGS: Machines, tools, living things, and materials such as food, wood, or

metal.

• Six general types of work (“career clusters”) and related Holland types (RIASEC)

are shown around the edge of the Map.

The overlapping career cluster arrows indicate overlap in the occupational content

of adjacent career clusters.

• Because they are more strongly oriented to People than Things, the following two

career areas in the Science and Technology clusters are located toward the left side

of the Map (Region 10): Medical Diagnosis and Treatment and Social Science.

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3. Interest inventory scores (from four different interest inventories) for per-

sons pursuing more than 600 different occupations.

The WWM is a well-researched, user-friendly occupational classification system.

Because the UNIACT is a component in other popular products, it is presented to

more than five million individuals each year.

The Minnesota Occupational Classification System The Minnesota Occupational

Classification System (MOCS III) (Dawis et al., 1987) was developed to support

applications of the Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA; see Dawis,

Chapter 1, this volume). According to TWA, individuals will experience longevity

on the job to the extent to which (1)

their needs are being met by the reinforce-

ment system in the work environment and (2) their skills correspond to the work

requirements of the job. Career counselors can use the MOCS III to assist their

clients with issues that relate to career choice, work adjustment, or job disloca-

tion. Consistent with its theoretical underpinnings, the MOCS III classifies occu-

pations according to the abilities that are required for successful performance in

the occupation as well as the reinforcer patterns that are commonly experienced

in the work environment. Two previous versions (MOCS, Dawis, & Lofquist,

1974; MOCS II, Dawis, Lofquist, Henly, & Rounds, 1982) were of limited use in

that they included a relatively small number of occupations. In contrast, the

MOCS III classifies the 1,769 occupational titles present in the 1977 edition of the

Dictionary of Occupational Titles (USDOL, 1977). The MOCS III organizes occupa-

tions by taxons as described next.

The authors of the MOCS III suggest that the ability requirements of an occu-

pation can be divided into 64 categories based on the levels of perceptual (e.g.,

spatial), cognitive (e.g., verbal), and motor (e.g., manual dexterity) skills needed

to perform successfully on the job. In this system, occupations are classified

based on whether they require a high, average, or nonsignificant level of these

three skills. This ability classification was aided by the use of Occupational Apti-

tude Patterns (OAPs) derived from the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB)

data (USDOL, 1979) and from job analysts’ estimates of ability requirements

using GATB nomenclature. Thus, a taxon captures the differential patterns of

skills that are required for successful performance in an occupation. For example,

an individual working as a loan counselor (Taxon 302) will need average percep-

tual, high cognitive, and insignificant motor skills to be successful at work. In

contrast, a furniture assembler (Taxon 687) relies more heavily on motor skills

(average) but may not require highly developed cognitive or perceptual skills.

In addition to capturing the ability requirements of an occupation, taxons

group occupations according to the pattern of reinforcers that are typically avail-

able in the work environment. Classification based on reinforcer patterns stems

from research that identified three underlying reinforcer dimensions (Shubsachs,

Rounds, Dawis, & Lofquist, 1978). Internal reinforcers provide for individuals’

needs for ability utilization, achievement, creativity, responsibility, autonomy, ad-

vancement, recognition, authority, and social status. In contrast, social reinforcers

provide for individuals’ needs for coworkers, social service activities, and the ful-

fillment of moral values. Finally, occupations that provide environmental rein-

forcers will satisfy individuals’ needs for supervision, independence, variety,

compensation, security, and good working conditions. Occupations in the

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Occupational Classification and Sources of Occupational Information 393

MOCS

III are classified according to whether they provide a high, average, or

nonsignificant level of each of the three classes of reinforcers. When the 27 possi-

ble reinforcer patterns are combined with the 27 possible ability requirement pat-

terns, a total of 729 possible taxons exist.

Table 16.2 presents Taxon 617, which includes the occupation of Childcare

tendant. According to the MOCS III, this occupation requires an average level

of cognitive abilities, but nonsignificant levels of perceptual and motor abilities. A

person working as a Childcare Attendant can expect a high level of reinforcement

for social needs but only an average level of reinforcement for his or her internal

needs. A summary of the ability requirements and reinforcement system for each

taxon is captured in the upper-right corner as the Level code. The numbers 0, 1,

and 2 (nonsignificant, average, and high) are used to describe the ability require-

ments for perceptual, cognitive, and motor abilities and the reinforcer availability

for internal, social, and environmental needs, respectively. As is evident from

this table, the MOCS III provides a great deal of additional information. For ex-

ample, data in the DPT column provides information about the degree to which

workers must work with data, people, and things, and the FX column gives esti-

mates of the degree to which the work environment tolerates deviations from its

ability requirements (i.e., the environment’s flexibility—see Dawis, Chapter 1,

this volume). Unfortunately, because the MOCS III has not been revised since

1987, some of the other information contained in the taxons is now outdated.

One of the benefits of the MOCS III is that it provides clients with a tool that

can assist them in matching their values to occupations that are likely to reinforce

those values while simultaneously suggesting the degree to which their skills

will match the ability requirements of the job. To use the MOCS III effectively,

counselors should be familiar with the instruments that are used in conjunction

with this resource (e.g., Minnesota Importance Questionnaire [MIQ] and GATB).

One of the main drawbacks of this system is that much of the data used to de-

velop the MOCS III is now dated. Fortunately, much of the work initiated by

Dawis and his colleagues 40 years ago (Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1964) is being

updated to serve the career development and counseling needs of O*NET (de-

scribed next) users. For example, Occupational Reinforcer Patterns (ORPs) have

been developed for more than 1,000 occupational units contained in the O*NET

(McCloy, Waugh, Medsker, Wall, Rivkin, et al., 1999a), and the Work Importance

Profiler was developed to provide clients with an understanding of their work-

lated needs and values (McCloy, Waugh, Medsker, Wall, Rivkin, et al., 1999b).

OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION

Once an individual has located a set of occupations using one of the classification

systems described above, he or she may be interested in gathering specific infor-

mation about those occupations. For example, a student might be interested in

knowing the starting salary of an occupation that she is considering entering upon

graduation. Alternatively, a worker might be interested in researching the training

requirements for advancement in his field. Counselors may encourage their

clients to use a range of sources of occupational information. Popular sources of

information include personal interviews with job encumbents, trade magazines,

printed reference materials, or computer-delivered occupational information. A

description of widely used occupational information resources follows.

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394

Table 16.2

Taxon 617 from the MOCS III

C /IS

TAXON: 617

Primary Taxon: 42

Level code: 010.120

OCCUPATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

DOT Code DOT Profile Job Des

Additional Data

DOT Title

GRP DPT EC INT TMP PHY DOT OOH

FX PR OAP SCH ORP ORC INV

Ambulance Attendant 355 374 10

429 589 LM4 241 193 MOD MOD 51

V NO

Childcare Attendant, School 355 674 10

429 589 LM4 241 323 MOD MOD 51

V NO F

Psychiatric Aide (1)

355 377 14 429 589 LM4 241 000

MOD MOD 00 V NO

Assistant therapy aide

Asylum attendant

Charge attendant

Psychiatric attendant

Psychiatric Aide (2)

355 377 14 429 589 LM4 241 000

MOD MOD 00 V NO

Ward attendant

Teacher, Preschool

092 227 18 429 589 LM4 68 000

MOD MOD 50 V NO A

GRP: Occupational Group; DPT: Worker function co

de for data people, things; EC: Extended code (from Dic

tionary of Occupational Titles) (DOT; USDOL,

1977). INT: Interests; TMP: Temperaments; PHY: P

hysical demands from DOT (USDOL, 1965). DOT: P

age number for occupational description in the

DOT (USDOL, 1977). OOH: Page number of occupat

ion in the Occupational Outlook Handbook (USDOL, 1986). FX: Es

timated flexibility

of the work en-

vironment; PR: Occupational prestige level; OAP: Occ

upational aptitude pattern (where available); SCH: Schedu

le of reinforcement; ORP: Availability of

occupational reinforcer pattern; ORC: Occupational re

inforcer cluster (where available); INV: Interest i

nventory conta

ining occupational scale (where

iversity of Minnesota. Reproduced with permissi

on.

Internal

ACH AUT STA

AVERAGE

Social

ALT

HIGH

Environment

SAF COM

NOT SIGNIFICANT

OCCUPATIONAL REINFORCERS

Perceptual Abilities

S, P, Q Not Significant

Cognitive Abilities

G, V, N Average

Motor Abilities

K, F, M Not Significant

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Occupational Classification and Sources of Occupational Information 395

CCUPATIONAL

NFORMATION

ETWORK

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Labor introduced the Occupational Information

Network (O*NET) as a replacement for the long-established Dictionary of Occupa-

tional Titles (DOT; USDOL, 1991). The O*NET is a comprehensive system for orga-

nizing, describing, distributing, and collecting data on occupations and the

workforce. Contrary to popular belief, the O*NET is not just a database of occupa-

tional and workforce information. Rather, it is a network of products, databases,

services, and projects designed to enhance the availability and usability of occu-

pation and workforce information. As the nation’s primary source of occupational

information, the O*NET is being developed for multiple audiences and applica-

tions. For example, the O*NET may be used by employers to develop job descrip-

tions or to forecast future human resource needs. Alternatively, the O*NET might

be used to supplement existing performance evaluation procedures or to establish

employee training and development programs. Further, unlike many previous in-

formation resources, the O*NET is being developed with the needs of career coun-

selors and their clients in mind.

The O*NET database is available in a number of formats. The format most useful

for career counselors and their clients is the O*NET online (http://on l i ne

.onetcenter.org). On this site, users can search for occupational information using a

number of search criteria including keywords, titles, DOT codes, SOC number, or

SOC category name. Additionally, users can conduct searches based on the skills

required for the occupation. Although the O*NET database contains information

about the interests of occupational incumbents and the values and needs that are

likely to be met in different occupations, there is currently no way to search for oc-

cupations based on this information using the O*NET online. It is hoped that this

functionality will be considered for future versions of the O*NET online.

The content model that describes the organizational structure of the O*NET

database is presented in Figure 16.2 and can be used as a general guide to the

types of information contained in the O*NET database. This model includes

both the characteristics of occupations and the people who inhabit those occu-

pations. The content model is organized into six major domains (Occupation

Requirements, Occupation Specific Information, Occupation Characteristics,

Worker Requirements, Worker Characteristics, and Experience Requirements).

Because the content model and its respective domains are so integral to the or-

ganization, collection, and dissemination of O*NET occupational and work-

force information, we briefly describe each of them here. Additionally, to help

the reader understand how the content model is translated into end-user infor-

mation, we offer examples of how the O*NET online provides information based

on the content model.

Occupation Requirements include a set of typical activities that might be expe-

rienced by people inhabiting a set of closely related occupations. Several example

activities for the occupation of Childcare Workers are shown in Table 16.3 (e.g.,

Assisting and Caring for Others). This general information is supplemented by

Occupation Specific Information, such as the knowledge, skills, and abilities that

are required for the occupation, and specific tasks that may be performed on a

regular basis. For example, in Table 16.3 we can see that Childcare Workers need

to have knowledge of human behavior and performance in addition to knowledge

of the principles and methods of training and instruction. Childcare Workers

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