Lists of Careers and Job Descriptions

There are quite a few sites that provide lists of careers and job descriptions. Checking into these sites can help you to research your career choices and get a good overview of the job duties, training and educational requirements and labor market information related to a variety of jobs. That way you'll understand more about careers that are of interest to you and make informed career choices.

Rather than post an exhaustive list of links to all sites that have lists of careers and job descriptions, I'll save you some time by posting only the best, most comprehensive and up to date sites.

United States

O*Net
The O*NET, which replaced the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), is the main source of occupational information in the United States. The O*NET's database is available for free online and includes information on hundreds of occupations. It is updated with information gathered through surveys of workers from each occupation.

Career Voyages
This site was developed by the U. S. Department of Labor and the U. S. Department of Education. It provides information on high growth careers for which there is increasing demand for qualified employees.

Canada

National Occupational Classification
Updated in 2006, the National Occupational Classification (NOC) is considered the authoritative resource on occupational information in Canada. Although the information in the NOC is excellent, if you're not familiar with the NOC's four digit classification system, it can be a bit tricky to navigate. The link above takes you directly to the alphabetical listing of careers, which is the easiest way to search the NOC if you've never used it before.

If you're job searching in Canada, one nice aspect of the NOC is the fact that the Job Bank categorizes job postings using NOC codes. So you can go to the NOC web site and look up the NOC code attached to the type of work you are seeking. Then simply go to the Job Bank site, and under the search section type in the NOC code. That way you'll be sure you won't have to try several keywords to find all of the job postings in your field, you'll be sure to find them all with the NOC code.

Australia

My Future
My Future is an in-depth career information service developed by the Australian government.

United Kingdom

Career Service NI
This resource, produced by the Department for Employment and Learning, Career Service Northern Ireland provides details on over seven hundred different careers.

You'll notice I've posted sites from around the world. While you can get valuable information from lists of careers and job descriptions that are based on a country other than your own, careers will vary across countries. You could find vastly different pay ranges, educational requirements, labor market outlooks and even job descriptions across countries. So, ideally, you should be looking for career descriptions that are based on information gathered for the country in which you intend to work.