Explanation of Fields on Career Clarifier Summary Profiles

Typical Annual Compensation Range

Wages for workers in the same type of job can vary drastically from one state to another, and even from one company to another. The information provided in this section is the typical salary range a person can reasonably expect to earn. Links to Glassdoor are also provided for you to examine current salaries for each type of job at different companies. The salary range shown on the career summary profiles may be higher than what is shown on Glassdoor’s chart. To see actual upper salaries, scroll down and review ACTUAL salaries at different companies.

Job Availability Score

This number gives a general sense of how many job openings there are for this type of job. The scale is from 1 (very few job openings) to 10 (very many job openings), with a score of 5 meaning this type of job has an average/typical number of job openings.

Additional Information

Almost every career profile includes a link to a webpage with a few sample job advertisements that you can quickly peruse to get the ‘gist’ of the job. Because job descriptions and responsibilities can vary – and because you may be looking for a job that leverages your experience and/or abilities, we strongly recommend that you research each idea more fully using the Job Idea Research strategies discussed below.

Primary Job Search Phrases (to Learn About a Job)

Each Career Summary Profile includes one or more “Primary Job Search Phrases” you can use to support your research. In many situations, We have included multiple Job Search Phrases because: 1) some jobs are very similar but use different job titles, and 2) different companies use different titles for the same type of job.

These are the primary ‘search phrases’ we recommend using to find relevant job advertisements that can help you gauge your level of interest in this type of role.

I have coded these phrases using Boolean Search terms that will help you more easily find relevant job openings. Boolean coded Search Phrases aren’t perfect - they will bring up some unrelated jobs in your search results, but using these phrases will result in more effective and efficient searches. Simply copy one phrase at a time (exactly as we have ‘coded’ it in this field) and paste it into the ‘What” box on www.Indeed.com.

Note: While you can look for a job using any job board, we recommend using Indeed.com to explore job advertisements because Indeed.com is the only job board that recognizes and understands Boolean code Job Search Phrases.

To help you explore each idea fully, as well as to direct your search to job opportunities that better leverage your background and/or better align with your interests, you can strategically modify the General Job Search Phrases and Additional Search Phrases.

Click here to read the General Job Search Phrase Modifier Strategies report.

Some Career Summary Profiles will show ‘Supplemental Search Phrases” to indicate any additional Job Search titles and strategies that may help you to conduct your research.

Potentially Helpful Education / Certifications

To be clear, for many jobs, you DO NOT need to have one of the recommended college degrees to land that type of job.

For college students and people who are considering further education, we have listed typical fields of study that can be useful to obtain this type of job. To learn more about the specific fields of study that can help you prepare for a specific career, we recommend doing an online search like this:

For people making career transitions, continuing education (courses, boot camps, certificates, etc.) can be a great way to increase skills and knowledge that build credibility and support a career transition.

While some Career Profiles have links to specific certification programs, we recommend doing your own online research to identify potential continuing education that could empower your career transition. Note: I’m not an ‘Education coach’ (there are people who do that) so I’m not able to recommend specific training programs. Where we have listed a specific certification, it’s provided as an example and not a recommended program.

Here are four strategies you can use to identify potentially helpful courses, certifications, boot camps, etc.:

Strategy 1: An easy way to learn about potentially helpful certifications is to look for the types of certifications cited in job advertisements. You can do this by simply adding this phrase to the General Job Search Phrase that you are researching:

AND (certification OR certificate OR certified OR designation)

For example, if you are researching for roles in Compliance use this General Job Search phrase:

Strategy 3: For inexpensive and free courses & certifications, we recommend checking out LinkedIn Learning, EdX, classcentral.com, Stanford Online, Udemy, Coursera, and Code Academy. Using these ‘edtech’ platforms, you can start streaming on-demand video lectures today from top instructors (at Harvard, MIT, Yale, Stanford, University of Penn and hundreds of other top schools) on subjects like business, economics, coding, data science, art & design, communications, humanities, and law. Best of all, there are thousands of FREE courses and other low-cost training options.

Strategy 4: Many industries have a Professional Association and some of those associations offer high-quality training classes, courses, or certificates. To explore this option, simply do an online search like this: