User Guide - Learn how to use the Occupational Mobility Explorer to visualize career pathways in the U.S. labor market.

1. Search for jobs in your local market.

Select or type your region or state into one of the search bars under "Where Is This Job Located?" then click "Next" to search based on a specific job. If you are unsure of your closest region, enter your zip code in the designated search bar, which will return the metro or nonmetro area nearest to you if data are available. Geographic definitions for the metro and nonmetro areas included in the tool are provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2. Explore an occupation in your region.

Start building a career path by selecting an occupation you would like to explore in the search bar. After choosing an occupation, click "Current Occupation" to see how the skills needed for that job overlap with the skills needed for similar roles with higher pay. You can also type in a higher-paying occupation and select "Destination Occupation" to explore how the skills needed for a destination occupation connect back to other jobs along a career ladder. The Sockit link under the occupation search bar can help you find the name of the closest SOC occupation included in the Occupational Mobility Explorer.

3. Build a career path for your current or destination occupation.

Start building a career path from your current occupation or to your destination occupation. Review the occupations that, from the perspective of in-demand skills, are most similar to your starting occupation on the cards displayed and click "Add to Path" to add an occupation to your career path. Complete your path by choosing a third occupation and selecting "Complete Path." If you start building your path based on a current occupation, you will see the current occupation's information listed on the left of the browser window, with up to 10 of the most similar higher-paying occupations listed under the "First Step" and "Second Step" icons to the right. For paths starting with a destination occupation, the destination occupation information is listed on the right of the browser window, with up to 10 of the most similar lower-paying occupations listed under the "Previous Occupation" icons on the left. Occupations are sorted from most to least similar to the occupation last added to your career path. Further information on the possible uses for current and destination occupation pathways are outlined in Definitions.

Please note that the occupational mobility in the smallest metro areas may appear suppressed, as data are only available for a subset of occupations, which reduces the number of possible destination occupations in a region. For these regions, we are only able to analyze about two-thirds to three-quarters of regional employment.

If you are accessing the Occupational Mobility Explorer from your mobile device, you will see your selected destination or current occupation at the top of your screen. Scroll down to see similar careers and add careers to your path.

4. Adjust your career path as you go.

Select "Expand Options" under each step in your career path to review the up to 10 most similar occupations after adding occupations to your path. Adjust your career path by replacing one of your selected occupations with another occupation listed using the "Add to Path" or "Complete Path" icons. You can also remove an occupation entirely from your path or change your starting occupation, which will direct you back to the home page.

5. Compare shared skills between occupations in a career path.

Click "Compare Skills" on an occupation's card to compare skills between that occupation and the prior occupation chosen in your career path. The "Shared Skills" chart shows the top overlapping skills between the lower- and higher-paying occupation with the share of job advertisements for both occupations that request those skills. The "Other Skills Requested" chart displays the top skills that are in demand by the higher-paying occupation alone. If there are not 10 shared skills between the two occupations, the visualization will list the total number of shared skills.

6. Use external resources to help with your job search.

Find an occupation that interests you? Click on "View Job Listings" on an occupation card to navigate to the National Labor Exchange site to peruse job openings for that occupation in your area. Please note that some listings are more applicable to the selected occupation and location than others. Adjust search terms to retrieve results that are most relevant to your location and selected occupation. If you want to learn more about an occupation, you can click on the title of an occupation card for additional information from the O*NET OnLine profile.

In the "Resources" section, you can use the "Skills-Based Resume Builder" to help you craft a resume that highlights your skills using a resume-building tool. There is also the "Employer Journey Map," which employers interested in further exploring skills-based hiring practices can access.

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