Understand what careers actually involve

Look before you leap… use these resources to find out what is involved in the career before you head too far down the road toward it.

We have selected these particular online resources because they are immediately useful and, in most cases, Canadian content. They are not intended to replace professional guidance but to give you tools to help you plan your career and education more effectively.

What careers do various Sheridan programs lead to?

We have linked many of our programs directly to career information to help you better understand not only the program, but also the career field it can take you to. If the program you are considering is not currently on the career info by program list (or if you want additional detail on career fields) use the resources below to look up career opportunities for that program.

One-Stop Career Information

The federal government's Working in Canada tool brings together career and labour market information from several different government sources to provide a good snapshot of a career field. Intended for (potential) newcomers to Canada, it is useful to all. More detailed information from some of those sources are also listed below.

What do people do in any given occupation?

National Occupational Classification (NOC) is Canada’s official career dictionary. Look up an occupation from the index 30,000+ job titles to learn about main duties and education/training requirements, as well as other occupations that are related to the one you looked up.

OCCinfo has over 500 occupational profiles which you can look up by occupational title, by NOC code based on industrial sectors. This is run by the Alberta Learning Information Service (nothing similar exists for Ontario) but most info is still applicable.

Career Cruising is a database of Canadian information on 500 different careers including detailed information on duties, variations, working conditions, and more. Each profile also includes two interviews with people who do that job so you can learn their likes, dislikes, advice to enter the career.

Possibilities Project is a Toronto-based employment site with career profiles which feature information and interviews on a range of different work options. (Click on link above then see column at left for career fields.)

Massive list of Canadian Trade/Professional Associations - many of their web sites will include a section profiling careers within that field.

Over 35 National Sector Councils, each representing a different industry like policing, construction, tourism, etc.

One exception to our Canadian content links policy is O*Net, the American equivalent of our NOC (see above). It has a few career clusters the NOC doesn't (and vice-versa) and is searchable by Holland code.

What are the employment conditions for any given occupation?

Canadian Occupational Projection System is a federal government (HRSDC) initiative to analyze and project long-term national labour market demand through 2018. It shows projections for expansion demand, retirements, emigration and compares expected numbers of job openings with numbers of job seekers.

Ontario Job Futures provides medium-term analysis (to 2013) of labour market outlook, as well as demographic characteristics, for 190 different career clusters.

Working in Canada brings together a variety of labour market information to produce a report on labour market conditions and requirements based on the occupation and geographic area you specify. Includes information on wages & salary as well as employment prospects. Especially useful to new Canadians, and anyone considering a career change or reentering the labour market.

Links on this page were checked and verified: October 2011. Report a broken link or suggest a better one.