Frequently Asked Questions

WHY CAREERCODE?

It’s hard for everyone to keep up with the face-paced, expanding labor market. School counselors typically assist hundreds of students each year and often do not have the time to provide individual career guidance.

Many students enter college with a great deal of anxiety because they’re being asked to make important (and expensive!) life choices before they’ve had a chance to learn what’s right for them.

Young adults may feel miserable and uninspired, yet afraid to make a change and start over. They don’t want to be disappointing or to be seen as a failure. Older adults spend years in a job that’s unfulfilling because they don’t have the assurance to try something completely different.

CAREERCODE provides the guidance, insight and tools so you can make a smart move to a better career fit, and thus enjoy a happier life.

WHAT MAKES CAREERCODE UNIQUE?

The world of work and education has changed significantly. Twenty years ago you couldn’t earn a paycheck as a blogger-for-hire or a mobile device engineer. Job creation and changes are more frequent, faster paced and higher tech. Every field is becoming more specialized.

In 2003 we began developing our own proprietary database to update job information, organizing it into career clusters, educational programs and industries.

There are literally tens of thousands of job titles in the labor market today and yet only a sliver of them will be a good fit for any one person.

There are so many factors that play into your compatibility with a job; values, interests, personality, geographic region, educational background, etc. All these factors help determine where you best fit into the labor market. But how on earth can you expect to find that fit without a tool to help sort through the thousands of different jobs that exist?

We’ve created CAREERCODE to organize and personalize the labor market system. Each individual profile can be matched with career options that have detailed information about specific jobs ranging from educational requirements, ideal personality codes, and even live job listings. Matches can be sorted to your geographic region.

There is simply no other tool anywhere in the world that has collected and linked this much data in such a user friendly way. We have thousands of individual jobs in our proprietary database and we are continuously uploading new jobs while deleting obsolete entries for an ever-changing labor market.

And when CAREERCODE is paired with a trained and certified coach, it’s the winning combination that every individual wishing to make more assured and sound career decisions can count on!

How does CAREERCODE work?

CAREERCODE is based on a discovery by theorist and professor Dr. John L. Holland. He spent years classifying and refining information about various work environments, assigned each one an “interest code”, and then arranged them into his now famous Holland Hexagon. It became the basis for many career exploration systems.

After thousands of interviews, we made unique discoveries that have provided a foundation for the techniques we use with our clients. By pairing Holland’s six Interest Codes with our cutting-edge career programming data, we developed a map that guides individuals directly toward satisfying, exciting career options.

While interviewing our clients, we found that the first two Interest Codes, when paired together, had the strongest influence over a person’s goals, interests and values. These CodeCombo pairs became accurate predictors of job satisfaction.

For example, individuals with Social Interest Codes like to serve their community. Social people are helpers who love to teach, train and develop others. They are typically patient and kind to others, and like their work environment to be supportive, harmonious and collaborative.

By adding a second Interest Code, we zero in on a great-fitting career choice. Notice below how the second code affects the job fit for teachers:

SA (Social/Artistic): music, art, English and speech teachers
SE (Social/Enterprising): school counselors, school administrators
SI (Social/Investigative): science and math teachers
SR (Social/Realistic): physical education, industrial arts teachers and coaches
SC (Social/Conventional): business skills and home economics teachers’

Why jobs, not occupations?

The CAREERCODE secret sauce is simple: we have constructed a massive and up to date database of “jobs” vs. “occupations”.

Competitor tools are based upon the O*NET System that feature broad occupational categories such as “Nursing”.

We know from working with our clients for more than 40+ years that there are over 100 specialties in the nursing field and each may require specific training. We also know that some nurses will be a better fit for the ER, while others are a better fit for Home Health. CAREERCODE identifies specific and specialized vocational choices within broad occupational information.

Our interest coding has been thoroughly matched to specific jobs. Our users will understand their place in the labor market so they can begin to move in a positive direction and thrive in their careers with fulfillment.

Why is a map needed for the Labor Market?

When we started this project, we examined thousands of jobs identified by the US Department of Labor to determine whether they existed in today’s labor market. Archaic jobs were eliminated from our database.

We identified the interest codes for each job and connected them to educational programs, industries, and career clusters. We then developed a software tool to match people with jobs in the current labor market.

By using the map of the labor market constructed by CAREERCODE, you will be able to identify the jobs that fit you best. This process will allow you to avoid years of painful trial and error working at jobs that don’t suit you.

The great thing about using CAREERCODE is that it is not just a map, it also doubles as a compass. If you lose your way, it can point you in the right direction—toward a career and a way of life that is meaningful for you.

By finding your place in the labor market you will save thousands of dollars that you might otherwise spend on unnecessary education. You will learn about which jobs are likely to bring you the most happiness and success.

Just as you should not expect to travel in unfamiliar territory without a map, you should not expect to navigate the current labor market without a mapping tool that gives you an understanding of where you will find the most career satisfaction.

Why jobs, not occupations?

The CAREERCODE secret sauce is simple: we have constructed a massive and up to date database of “jobs” vs. “occupations”.

Competitor tools are based upon the O*NET System that feature broad occupational categories such as “Nursing”.

Why chase compatibility, not trends?

We understand the reality that your career is something that will be with you for many years and you will need to form a long term relationship with it. We constantly hear about the “hot new industry” that everyone starts to pursue.

For some, this will prove to be exactly the right job and they will flourish and excel at it over a long period of time finding joy and fulfillment from the work. And as a result, they will likely earn a good living over time because they will bring so much value to that work.

We seek environments, people, and activities that are in alignment with our values, interests, beliefs, temperaments and natural abilities.

By doing so we set ourselves up for fulfillment, enjoyment, and success whether it is in our leisure time, our relationships, or our careers. Wherever we can, we do this instinctively as it is a very natural process.

CAREERCODE allows us to review career options based on individual compatibility.