Career Research

[See also the Career Services resources in Moodle]

Basic Career Profiles and Projections

 
  • The National Occupational Classification (NOC) will give some information about duties and employment requirements for a particular occuption. Each occupation has a unique NOC code number.
     
  • The Career Handbook (3rd edition, 2016) has profiles that include job titles, aptitudes needed, education or other employment requirements, and many other criteria. The occupation code numbers in the career handbook are different from their NOC numbers.
     
  • The Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS) uses the same occupation numbers as the NOC. Search for an occupation or NOC number to find information about how many people work in that occupation, as well as projections of the number of job openings and the number of job seekers anticipated between 2024 and 2033. The "industrial Summaries" section (under "Projection Summaries" on the homepage) has an overview of an entire industry, such as Agriculture or Health Care.
     
  • "Jobs and the Workplace" (Government of Canada) - Job Bank, Workplace Standards, and more information about working in Canada generally, not just for the government
     
  • University Study - find which Canadian universities offer programs of study in the field you are interested in, or offer the degree credential you need as identified using the tools above 
    For programs at two-year colleges as well as universities, try CanLearn
     
  • Similar resources from the US Government, primarily from the US Department of Labor:
    • Occupational Outlook Handbook
    • O*Net Online - occupation info, including "Bright Outlook" occupations that are expected to grow rapidly in the next several years, will have large numbers of job openings, or are new and emerging occupations.

Books, Articles, and Reports with Useful Career information 
 

  • Gale Vocation and Careers Collection -  journals and magazines that aid users in researching a vocation, has nice browse/explore topic features if you aren't really sure how to start 
     
  • OneSearch - Use this starting search in OneSearch, then change the keyword "nursing" at the start of the search box to your own field.
     
  • CBCA (Canadian Business and Current Affairs) - start your search with SU(career*) AND LOC(canada) AND   and then add your field after that in the search box to find articles specific to careers in Canada; if your field is a phrase, use quotation marks around it, eg:  
    SU(career*) AND LOC(canada) AND "human resources" 
     
  • Use the Canadian Government custom search engine to search federal, provincial and municipal websites for information about careers, especially those regulated or employed by governments, like in health care, education and social services. 
     

Subject Guides from Other Major Canadian Academic Libraries 

Note that many of the resources listed in these guides are linked through that library's password server. Contact a UPEI librarian for help finding equivalents here.

 
This page last updated February 2026 by Katelyn Browne
Not specified