How to Plan Your Career: Explore Career Paths Using Official Data and How to Use the UK and Canadian Career Databases

The hardest step in career planning is often not writing a resume or preparing for an interview, but figuring out "what exactly do I want to do." Many students choose their direction based on a single comment from others: "this major has good job prospects" or "that industry pays well." In fact, governments in countries like the UK and Canada have built free career information databases where you can find out what a job entails on a daily basis, the required education and skills, approximate salary, and future prospects over the next few years. This article explains how to use this official data for career exploration and build your career plan on facts. For the overall steps of career planning, you can first check out our how career counseling works.

I. What to Look Up When Exploring a Career

1. Daily tasks: Specific day-to-day work, not just the impression a job title gives;
2. Requirements: Education, major, skills, and certifications;
3. Salary: Pay range for entry-level and experienced professionals;
4. Outlook: Whether demand for this career will grow or shrink over the next few years;
5. Career progression: Where you can go after a few years in the field.

You can find information on all five of these areas in official career databases.

II. UK: National Careers Service Job Profiles

The UK government's National Careers Service provides "job profiles," each detailing required qualifications, salary, promotion opportunities, and daily tasks. You can browse by industry or filter by category. The website also features an assessment tool that recommends potential career paths based on your answers to a series of questions.

For example, the profile for a Data Scientist includes:

• Average salary: Around £32,000 at entry level, rising to about £83,000 with experience;
• Typical hours: 37 to 39 hours per week;
• Entry routes: Degrees in mathematics, statistics, data science, computer science, operations research, or related fields; alternatively, a degree apprenticeship, which typically takes 2 to 3 years;
• Required skills: Knowledge of math and statistics, analytical thinking, excellent verbal communication skills, etc.;
• Career progression: You can specialize in artificial intelligence, machine learning, or data engineering, or advance to senior or lead data scientist roles.

Note that "excellent verbal communication skills" is also on the list for data scientists. Many students assume technical roles only care about technical skills, but official profiles give you a more complete picture of the requirements.

III. Canada: Job Bank

In addition to posting job listings, the Canadian government's Job Bank offers a complete suite of career planning tools:

• Job profiles: Look up the daily tasks, required skills, and education for a specific career;
• Job outlook: Shows the growth prospects for a career over the next 3 years;
• Wages: Lists the typical low, median, and high wages for a career across different regions in Canada, allowing you to compare different provinces;
• Career assessments: 6 quizzes to help you understand your interests, abilities, and preferences;
• Education program lookup: Find out the employment rates, income, and satisfaction levels of graduates from different programs;
• Career transition tool: Find careers that match your current education and skills and require only minimal additional training.

For students planning to work in Canada after graduation, "comparing wages and outlook by region" is especially useful: the prospects and income for the same career can vary by province.

IV. US and Australia

The Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Australian government's Your Career website also provide official career information. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics website restricts our access, and the Australian website needs to be opened in a browser to use. We have not expanded on these here; please check the official websites for specific details.

V. Data Is Not Enough: Three Ways to Verify

Databases tell you what a career looks like "on average," but whether it's a good fit for you requires personal verification:

1. Talk to professionals: Reach out to alumni or upperclassmen to ask about their actual day-to-day work, what they like and dislike most, and how they got started.
2. Try it through an internship: An internship is the most direct way to test a career path. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) shows that when choosing between two equally qualified candidates, employers value internship experience in their company or industry the most. Therefore, an internship is both a way to test the waters and a stepping stone into the field.
3. Test it through courses and projects: Take relevant courses or complete a small project to see if you truly enjoy this type of work.

VI. Create a Career Comparison Chart

Put the two or three career paths you are considering into a chart for comparison (see sample headers below):

Once you fill out this chart, your direction will often become much clearer.

VII. Extra Steps for International Students

• Where you want to work: The outlook, salary, and entry barriers for the same career vary by country. If you plan to stay and work locally after graduation, check the local data;
• Work visas: How long you can work after graduation and under what conditions will directly affect your choices. See how to stay and work after graduation for details;
• Returning home: If you plan to return to your home country, you should also understand the demand for this career path there, and leverage your overseas study and internship experience as an advantage.

Conclusion

Choosing a career path doesn't require you to figure out your entire life at once, but every step should ideally be based on facts. First, use official data to understand the real picture of a career, then verify it by talking to professionals, doing internships, and taking courses or projects. Your direction will become clearer and clearer.

Once your direction is set, see our guides on how to write an English resume, how to write a cover letter, and how to prepare for job interviews. If you need one-on-one career planning counseling, feel free to chat with our career counselors.

Verification note: This article was verified in September 2026. The UK section was cross-checked with the career exploration page and Data Scientist job profile on the UK government's National Careers Service; the Canada section was cross-checked with the career planning and career exploration pages on the Canadian government's Job Bank; data on employers valuing internship experience comes from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) and was verified in article #76 on this site. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics website denied our access, and the Australian Your Career website needs to be loaded in a browser, so its content was not scraped for this article. Salary and other data in job profiles are subject to update; please refer to the latest data on the official websites. The comparison chart and verification methods are based on our empirical recommendations.

References:

• National Careers Service: Explore careers
• National Careers Service: Data scientist job profile
• Job Bank: Career planning
• Job Bank: Explore careers
• NACE: Internship Experience Often the Deciding Factor Between Equal Candidates