The U.S. Department of Education has created 16 career groupings or what they like to refer to as "clusters."
These career clusters provide an organized way to look at occupations and create a plan to transition from school to work. This is a great tool to help you find a specialized group of careers that interest you most. Each Career Cluster contains a collection of related career majors within an occupational interest area.
We can use career clusters to identify personal strengths, research a variety of careers, analyze our career choices based on our interests and abilities and ultimately develop a plan to reach our career goals. There are many different kinds of assessments (short questionaires) that will help us identify our interests and skills so that we can match them with career clusters.
Click on each Career Category below to learn more about these career clusters. You will see a list of the different types of jobs and careers in each cluster and the types of knowledge and skills that people in these careers use.
Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources. The production, processing, marketing, distribution, financing, and development of agricultural commodities and resources including food, fiber, wood products, natural resources, horticulture, and other plant and animal products/resources.
Architecture & Construction. Careers in designing, planning, managing, building and maintaining the built environment.
Arts, A/V Technology & Communications. Designing, producing, exhibiting, performing, writing, and publishing multimedia content including visual and performing arts and design, journalism, and entertainment services.
Business, Management & Administration. Business Management and Administration careers encompass planning, organizing, directing and evaluating business functions essential to efficient and productive business operations. Business Management and Administration career opportunities are available in every sector of the economy.
Education & Training. Planning, managing and providing education and training services, and related learning support services.
Finance. Planning, services for financial and investment planning, banking, insurance, and business financial management.
Government & Public Administration. Executing governmental functions to include Governance; National Security; Foreign Service; Planning; Revenue and Taxation; Regulation; and Management and Administration at the local, state, and federal levels.
Health Science. Planning, managing, and providing therapeutic services, diagnostic services, health informatics, support services, and biotechnology research and development.
Hospitality & Tourism. Encompassing the management, marketing and operations of restaurants and other foodservices, lodging, attractions, recreation events and travel related services.
Human Services. Preparing individuals for employment in career pathways that relate to families and human needs.
Information & Technology. Building Linkages in IT Occupations Framework: For Entry Level, Technical, and Professional Careers Related to the Design, Development, Support and Management of Hardware, Software, Multimedia, and Systems Integration Services.
Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security. Planning, managing, and providing legal, public safety, protective services and homeland security, including professional and technical support services.
Manufacturing. Planning, managing and performing the processing of materials into intermediate or final products and related professional and technical support activities such as production planning and control, maintenance and manufacturing/process engineering.
Marketing, Sales & Service. Planning, managing, and performing marketing activities to reach organizational objectives.
Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics. Planning, managing, and providing scientific research and professional and technical services (e.g., physical science, social science, engineering) including laboratory and testing services, and research and development services.
Transportation, Distribution & Logistics. Planning, management, and movement of people, materials, and goods by road, pipeline, air, rail and water and related professional and technical support services such as transportation infrastructure planning and management, logistics services, mobile equipment and facility maintenance.
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16 Career Clusters
