Two Kelley School of Business researchers are attempting to help people navigate this complicated and growing jungle gym through their new Virtual Career Counselor tool available on the Hoosiers by the Numbers labor market information website.
The tool, created by Indiana Business Research Center Director of Economic Analysis Timothy Slaper and Deputy Director Carol Rogers, estimates the amount of time a user will need to transition from his or her current occupation to another.
Slaper said the idea for the tool was developed during the recent recession when a lot of people were out of work.
“We were trying to come up with a way someone in one sector could transition in a relatively short period of time to another job,” he said.
Slaper said the tool uses the unit of time measurement, measured in the amount of academic, technical or vocational training, to create a common denominator between different jobs.
The tool simplifies the search process that one would have to conduct anyway when looking for a new job, Slaper said.
“If you want to become a truck driver, you’d find out how much time it would take to transition,” he said.
The difference, though, is the VCC would also come up with other jobs that match, according to a person’s current skill sets, which would translate to a lower transition time, Slaper said.
Slaper suggested the tool can also be used to determine which jobs and fields have a low or high barrier of entry.
“I just typed in ‘machinist,’ and the number of weeks to transition is basically zero,” he said.
Since the VCC was released in February, there have been 2,085 page views total for the tool, IBRC Geodemographic Analyst and Managing Editor Rachel Strange said. Of these, she said 1,457 are unique page views, which she said is the number of visits where the tool was actually used.
Slaper said the tool is geared toward workers with well-defined skill sets and established occupations but said college students can also use the tool to determine what career paths their current skills and experiences will most easily allow them to enter.
“Instead of entering their occupation, college students can put in an internship-type job they have had,” he said.
For example, a college student who entered he has had an internship at a bank analyzing mortgages might have the tool come up with results such as insurance underwriter or other jobs related to numbers and money, Slaper said.
Slaper acknowledged the tool sometimes comes up with unexpected results, for example, a subway or streetcar operator, for which the level of education needed, or other elements, match but might not necessarily be the job one might be looking for.
“When you pare it down to one measure, you lose some precision,” he said.
Slaper said it’s still easier to ignore undesirable results than to manually search for the kind of information the tool provides through other search engines.
“Take it with a grain of salt but realize it’s a lot more user-friendly than the alternates,” he said.
