What is Career Cluster?

Importance of Suitable Career

In every person’s life choosing a career is a very crucial step. Not only does it have to be stable-paying but also interesting to the person. It should be suitable to the knowledge, skills, and provides a significant amount of satisfaction to their conscience.

What is Career Cluster?

To have a good career, one needs to do their own research. Explore to find out what they like. Diversify their options and pursue the most fitting occupation. It takes a long time to plan a career, which is where the Career Cluster plays an important role.

A career cluster is a group of careers that have been categorized based on several common characteristics. If you happen to like one career in a cluster, you would most probably like other jobs in that cluster as well.

A Career Cluster an organizational tool that helps you find the jobs that best match your interests and skills. They help to identify knowledge and skills for a job and their presence in a person. When identified, the knowledge and skills form a strong basis for persons to achieve success in their careers.

There are 16 Career Clusters, and each cluster may include 100 different yet similar careers. Following are some benefits of Career Cluster:

Benefits of Career Cluster

1.       Achieving Career Goals
Career Cluster identifies the knowledge and skills a person would need as they follow a career pathway.

2.       Have a wider knowledge about career options.

3.       It also gives the option for horizontal and vertical career growth.

4.       Find out what excites you and fascinates your interests.

5.       Save time by avoiding researching each profession individually.

6.       Have a better knowledge of what you should study.
Otherwise, you would be realizing halfway in that this wasn’t what you wanted.

7.       It lets you stand out in the eyes of an employer.
When someone likes what they do, they excel at it.

Career Pathway

One more term that usually goes around with Career Clusters is career pathways. As the name suggests, it provides a pathway for a career. Educational programs and training courses can be developed around each pathway based on industry expectations and skill standards.

16 Career Clusters

Following are the career clusters along with some of the sample jobs.

1.       Public Safety ­
Protect people and enforce laws. Sample jobs are Security guard, court clerk, and lifeguard.

2.       Manufacturing –
Jobs in this cluster are involved in designing, assembling, repairing, basically all processes in manufacturing products or equipment. Sample jobs are 3D printing designer, CNC machine operator, electronics repairer, etc.

3.       Hospitality and Tourism
The jobs are related to restaurants, sports arenas, or hotels, etc. Sample jobs are Fast Food workers, chefs, housekeeping, etc.

4.       Arts, Audio/Visual Technology and Communications
It is a Career Cluster for creative people. Sample jobs are Actors, Dancers, Singers, and production assistants.

5.       Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
These are highly educated workers. Sample jobs are Biologists, Research Assistants, and Data Scientists.

The other 16 career clusters and some sample jobs are:

6.       Agricultural and Natural Resources – Food scientist, Environmental Engineer, Biochemist.

7.       Architecture and Construction – Plumber, Architect, Electrician.

8.       Business, Management, and Administration – Entrepreneur, Accountant, Financial Specialist.

9.       Education and Training – Teacher, Principal, Coach.

10.   Finance – Stockbroker, Banker, Loan Officer.

11.   Government and Public Administration – Legislator, Budget Analyst, Urban Planner.

12.   Health Science – Pediatrician, Therapist, Hospital Administrator.

13.   Human Services – Psychologist, Social Worker, Employment Specialist.

14.   Information Technology – Software Engineer, Web Designer, Technical Writer.

15.   Marketing, Sales, and Services – Buyer, Real Estate Broker, Sales Associate.

16.   Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics – Pilot, Automotive Technician, Truck Driver.

 

How to access information about various careers?

Finally, a person needs information and guidance to choose their careers. Following, are a few of the many ways they can achieve that.

·         Family Members and Friends
People love to talk about their jobs. You can ask many of your friends and relatives for their jobs, duties, perks, and benefits. Then you can decide and pursue your career from the vast pool of knowledge.

·         Job Shadowing
You can ask someone to observe their job that you would like to do in the future. This helps you decide whether you would really like to do it or not. You can ask your friends or relatives. Most career counselors are also able to arrange for that.

·         School or Career Counselors
Career counselors help people plan their careers. They also provide their services to students to put them on a suitable career pathway. Counselors use career assessment instruments, applications, software, and their own knowledge to identify the best careers for a person.

 

 

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