The Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U S Department of Labor, provides thorough descriptions of the 270 most popular jobs, including information on duties, required skills, qualifications, salaries, and job outlook. The Occupational Outlook Handbook is available at any of the Free Library of Philadelphia branches and online from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website at: http://www.bls.gov/OCO/
O*NET is a comprehensive database of worker attributes and job characteristics. This is available online at: http://online.onetcenter.org/ .O*NET Dictionary of Occupational Titles is available at many branches and can provide useful job descriptions.
America's Career InfoNet provides wage and employment trends, occupational requirements, and state by state labor market conditions. This information is available at: http://www.careerinfonet.org/ America’s Career InfoNet is part of the Career Onestop website. The Career Onestop website is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. The Career Onestop website is: http://www.careeronestop.org/ .
The Workplace at the Parkway Central Library has two career assessment databases: eChoices and SIGI3. These databases provide occupation information and tools to determine the best career for you, and they can be used only in the library.
We have some business directories that could help you. The Dalton's Philadelphia Metro, the Greater Philadelphia Job Bank and the Philadelphia Business Journal Book of Lists are excellent references for obtaining information on local companies. These books are available in the Workplace and in most of the Free Library Branches.
The Employer Locator lists nearly 12 million employers throughout the United States. You can search by occupation, industry, or name. This resource will give you contact information for potential employers. It does not contain job listings.
You can also search the Yellow Pages online to find local businesses that you might want to contact.
The Workplace has an excellent collection of books of sample resumes. You're sure to find one that will help you create your own. Some favorites are The Resume Catalog, 200 Damned Good Resumes and The Guide to Basic Resume Writing. You can also find resume books at your local branch library.
There are also many online resume guides. A few that might prove useful to you are:
America’s Career InfoNet Resume Tutorial . This resource steps you through the entire resume writing process.
JobWeb has a section on resumes and interviewing skills, including sample resumes and guides to writing cover letters
Monster has resume advice including dos and don’ts, sample resumes, and quick tips (hint: scroll to the bottom of the page in Monster for free resume advice).
There are many civil service exam preparation books available to be checked out at the Free Library of Philadelphia branches, and in the Philbrick Popular Library of Parkway Central library. The Education, Philosophy, and Religion Department of the Parkway Central Library has a reference collection of civil service exam books that can be used only in the library. The exam books are not specific to the city tests, but are general civil service test books for national exams.
The School District of Philadelphia's website has working papers application forms, instructions, and information.
Source: School District of Philadelphia website
Listings, job descriptions and electronic or printable application forms are available online at USAJobs.gov, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Civil Service Job Listings, and City of Philadelphia Personnel Department for federal, state, and city jobs respectively. The Social Science and History Department has print listings of City of Philadelphia job opportunities.
Source: USAJobs.gov, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Employment Opportunities, City of Philadelphia Personnel Department