Career Resources

St. Mary's University > Louis J. Blume Library > Research Guides > Career Resources

Career Resources

What Can I do with this Major?	General Career Resources	Research (Periodical) Databases
San Antonio Job Seeking Resources	Salary Information	Tips on Searching the Web

Career Guide to Industries. Washington, DC: United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. US Docs L 2.3/4-3:

General Career Resources
Describes nature of each industry, working conditions, employment in the US, occupations in the industry, training and advancement, earnings, outlook, and sources of additional information. Available online.

Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance. Chicago: J.G. Ferguson. Ref HF 5381 .E52 (5 volumes)

Volume 1 provides industry profiles including general industry information, structure of the industry, careers, employment opportunities, industry outlook, sources of additional information, and related industries and occupations. Volumes 2-5 provide a brief definition and history of each occupation, describe nature of the work, education and skill requirements, opportunities for experience & exploration, entry methods, advancement opportunities, employment outlook, earnings, conditions of work, sources of additional information, and related occupations.

Occupational Outlook Handbook. Washington, DC: United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. US Docs L 2.3/4: (most recent edition on Reserve)

Describes nature of each occupation's work, number of people employed in the US, training and other qualifications, job outlook, earnings, and sources of additional information. Uses O*NET Standardized Occupation Codes and O*NET Descriptors.

To locate books our library has on various careers try the following searches using our online catalog:

Select Subject Search; then type vocational guidance. To narrow your search add the name of your career. Example: vocational guidance mathematics will retrieve books about math careers.

To find books we have in various career series, select Series Title Search and type the series title. Here are some of the career series:

Career Advisor Series

Great Jobs for ...

VGM Opportunities Series

Webfeet.com Insider Series

To find books on resumes and cover letters, browse the HF 5383 call number area in the Reference Collection (Main [2nd] Floor).

To locate books, government publications, and reports at area libraries search WorldCat or Search San Antonio Library Catalogs and library Web sites.

Periodical (Magazines, Newspapers, Journals) Databases
Search these sources to find articles about current conditions and trends in the occupation and industry you're exploring.

Due to vendor restrictions, databases with a + (plus) preceding their name are remotely accessible to current students, staff and faculty of St. Mary's University only.

+ Academic Search Complete

Indexes more than 5,000 scholarly journals, as well as news and opinion magazines. More than 4,000 of the periodicals indexed include full-text or full-image articles. The database covers a broad range of topics, and reviews of books, concerts, films, and theater. Full-text articles from selected journals are included. This database is made available through the TexShare program.

+ Business Source Complete

Offers fulltext articles for nearly 2,000 scholarly business journals covering management, industry, economics, finance, accounting, international business and much more. Periodicals ranging from Business Week, Forbes, Fortune and American Banker to journals such as Harvard Business Review, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Review, and many more can all be found in this database. Dun & Bradstreet's Company Directory is also included. Also included are indicative abstracts and indexing for over 2,680 business journals, nearly 880 of which are peer reviewed.

+ Vocational and Career Collection

Provides full text coverage for more than 350 trade and industry-related periodicals. Oriented toward trade and technical occupations and careers.

+ Regional Business News

Updated daily and provides comprehensive full-text for 35 international newswires and 49 regional business publications. Contains the most recent 30 days of information from each of the wire sources. This database also provides abstracts and indexing for 14 additional regional business publications.

+ LexisNexis Academic

Full-text online service containing hundreds of text files that cover topics in business, medicine, law, and many other subjects. Information in LexisNexis includes the full-text of newspapers, magazines, newsletters, news wire reports, financial reports, directory information, legal cases, and legal analyses.

For an overview about how to access articles from journals, magazines and newspapers, see the tutorial Locating Periodical Articles.

Texas and San Antonio Job Seeking Resources

Alamo WorkSource

Local job information for businesses, job seekers, youth, and child care seekers.

Bexar County

Job listings with Bexar County.

COSA Job Announcements

City of San Antonio jobs currently available.

Nonprofit Resource Center of Texas

Site includes description of local job openings in the nonprofit sector.

St. Mary's University Career Services Center

A wealth of resources. Also visit the Career Services Center in person! Phone (210) 436-3102.

San Antonio Economic Development Foundation

Data on labor force, retail sales, major employers, real estate activity, cost of living, etc.

University of Texas at San Antonio, Economic Resource Center, Small Business Development Center National Information Clearinghouse (SBDCNET)

Texas Government Information Sites

Links to Texas government meta-sites as well as a categorical arrangement of selected state information.

Texas Workforce Commission

Information for employers, job seekers, policy analysts, etc.

Salary Information

JobStar Salary Surveys

Salary Calculator

Compare salaries from US state to state or among countries.

Some Tips on Searching the Web

Web sites can be accessed in one of several ways:

by using the organization's name in the body of the URL (uniform resource locator or address),
through search engines, or
through meta-sites.

A. Using the organization's name in the body of the URL

Try using the organization's name in the subdomain of the URL or address. For example, to find the web site for the United Way, type www.unitedway.org in the Location or address box near the top of your web browser and press <Enter>. This should connect you to the United Way of America web site.

B. Using search engines

Each search engine may have slightly different conventions for entering the search statement in the search box. However, a couple general strategies are:

Use quotation marks if searching for a phrase or a proper name that is more than one word
Some search engines allow for the use of + (plus) or - (minus) to indicate a word or phrase should be included in or excluded from the search

Once connected to the search engine, try typing +"service learning" +hospice in the search box to find web sites listing service learning opportunities at hospices.

A couple suggested search engines:

Google (http://www.google.com/)
- Powerful search engine with a clean search interface.
Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/)
- Focuses on books and peer reviewed journal articles.

To learn more about search engines, visit Search Engine Watch (http://www.searchenginewatch.com) for updates and statistics about new and tried search engines.

C. Meta-Site

CareerOneStop

U.S. Department of Labor-sponsored Web site that offers career resources and workforce information to job seekers, students, businesses, and workforce professionals

Please ask a Reference Librarian or call (210) 436-3508 if you need assistance.

author: Diane M. Duesterhoeft • email: dduesterhoeft@stmarytx.edu URL: http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/subject/misc/careers.htm created April 6, 1999 • updated June 20, 2008 Louis J. Blume Library • St. Mary's University One Camino Santa Maria • San Antonio, TX 78228-8608 • USA Reference: (210) 436-3508 • Circulation: (210) 436-3430