First launched in July 2020, NCCareers.org is a resource hub for current and future members of North Carolina’s labor force. After being redesigned in 2025, the website now offers revamped tools and resources to help users find a career that fits their skills and interests.
NCCareers.org is an integrated career information system supported by many public and private partners, including NCWorks, the NC Department of Commerce, College for North Carolina (CFNC), the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, and the North Carolina Community College System.
These partnerships mean the website uses quality and up-to-date data on North Carolina’s labor markets. For example, the employment and wage data comes directly from a partnership between the NC Department of Commerce’s Labor and Economic Analysis Division (LEAD) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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The website houses a wealth of job market information specific to North Carolina. If you are interested in:
Learning more about the kinds of jobs North Carolina has to offer: Explore the website’s occupation database that stores data on more than 800 occupations.
Figuring out what kind of career you might like and be good at: Take the website’s four interactive self-assessment surveys.
Finding a job to apply for: Search for a job listing using the “Job Search” page.
Finding a place to study the program you are interested in: Search the “Training and Education” database that pools together all of the programs available at North Carolina’s community colleges, public universities, and independent colleges.
Planning and keeping track of career information: Use the “Career Plan Builder” to create your career development plan, with its own how-to guide available here.
Continue reading to learn how to use some of the website’s key features.
Step-by-step guide to NCCareers.org
First, it’s a good idea to use the “sign in” button located on the top right of the homepage to make a NCCareers account through CFNC, NCEdCloud, or NCWorks.
Although logging in isn’t required to use the tools, a profile will allow you to save job listings, occupations, and the results of self-assessment surveys to your dashboard.
Also on the homepage, you’ll find a banner at the top with five categories based on what you want to use the website for:
Screenshot of NCCareers.org homepage.
The number of resources, links, and pages available can be overwhelming, but these umbrella categories can help guide your time on the website.
‘Explore Occupations’ — Learn about 800+ North Carolina occupations
The heart of the website is its occupation database.
Click on “Explore Occupations” on the homepage’s top banner. This opens a database of 823 occupations. The database has 16 filters you can use to narrow your search. Most are straightforward, like “salary range,” “education level,” and “skills.”
You can also filter occupations using the information you learn about yourself in the website’s self-assessments. The filters related to self-assessments are “Career Cluster,” “Abilities,” “Interests,” and “Work Value.”
Screenshot of NCCareers.org’s occupation database, including filter options.
Don’t forget to click “apply filters” at the bottom right corner of each filter to make sure you update your search.
Click on an occupation to go to its profile page. Here, you’ll find a wealth of information including an occupation description, common job titles, the level of education or training you need, and job listings. This is an example of the occupation profile for physical therapist assistants:
Screenshot of NCCareers.org’s occupational profile for a physical therapist assistant.
Save any occupations you find promising to your dashboard by clicking on the heart icon next to the occupation name.
‘Find my Interests’ — Learn more about what occupations fit your personality and skill-set
The occupations database might be a lot to start with. That’s OK — if you are still starting to think about what kind of occupation would be a good fit for you, use one of the website’s four self-assessment tools.
Navigate to the homepage’s top banner and click on “Find my Interests.” This takes you to the website’s self-assessment tools.
Interest Finder
If you are curious about the kinds of careers that would fit your personality type, use “Interest Finder.” There is a short (30 questions) and long (60 questions) version of this quiz. You will receive “scores” in six interest areas. From the results page, you can click on “explore matching occupations” to find ones that match interests you scored highly in.
For example, here is someone who scored highest in “artistic” interest. They can click “explore matching occupations” to see the 37 occupations that match that interest.
Screenshot of an example results page from NCCareer.org’s ‘Interests Finder’ self-assessment tool.
Work Value Sorter
To find careers that match your personal values, use the “Work Value Sorter” tool.
You will sort 20 cards that the website explains “represent unique work needs or underlying motivators that can be used to predict job satisfaction.”
Screenshot of NCCareers.org’s ‘Work Values Sorter’ self-assessment tool.
Once you are done sorting, the assessment produces personal scores in six work value categories. Similarly to the “Interest Finder” tool, from your results page, you can explore careers that would complement your personal work values.
Skills Matcher and Career Cluster Match
If you are wondering what jobs you would be good at based on your existing skills, experience, and education, click on the “Skills Matcher” or “Career Cluster Match” self-assessment.
With Skills Matcher, you’ll answer 40 questions to rate your level in a range of skills. Then you will see a list of careers that are good matches for your unique set of skills.
Career Cluster Match gives you less granular information. The tool will help you “uncover which Career Clusters match your combination of work, skill, and academic interests. The National Career Clusters Framework identifies 16 career clusters and related career pathways that are designed to grow career awareness and exploration,” according to the website.
Reality Check
You can use the “Reality Check” tool to find a career and potential jobs that will pay you enough to fit the lifestyle you want. Taking into account things such as average monthly rent, how much you plan to eat out and shop, and where you live, the tool will recommend occupations that would pay you enough to live comfortably. The tool can also help you budget your current salary.
‘Job Search’ — Search for job listings and get job search advice
To view job listings, navigate to the homepage and click on the “Job Search” tab on the top banner.
To find active job listings, click on the “Search for a Job” heading. Here, you can filter available jobs by location and occupation. Once you have added filters, click “Search” and a new browser window will open with your results. Make sure you “allow” pop-ups on your browser to see this new page.
Note that you can choose to either search through the NCWorks database or Indeed. Both work, but if you use Indeed, you’ll need to register or log in before seeing search results. The NCWorks database allows you to search for jobs by region, city, county, or zip code, while Indeed’s search function is only by region.
Screenshot of NCCareers.org’s ‘Search for a Job’ tool.
Under “Job Search,” you’ll also find headings that link to resources to help you plan your job search, including information about working with a disability and ApprenticeshipNC, the state’s registered apprenticeship program that operates across all 58 community colleges.
‘Education and Training’ — Find an institution that offers a program you want to take
Navigate to the homepage’s top banner and click on “Education and Training.” This automatically takes you to the “Program Locator” heading, where you can search for schools that offer a program or degree you are interested in.
This database houses the certificates, diplomas, and two- and four-year programs offered at North Carolina’s community colleges, public universities, and independent colleges and universities.
In the search bar, start typing the kind of program you are interested in. Any institution in North Carolina offering that program will automatically populate, and you can save those schools to your profile by clicking the heart icon next to their name.
To search for private training providers, navigate to the “Find Private Training” heading. Here, you can search among 305 professional and technical skill training programs offered by accredited colleges and universities and by private training providers.
Also under “Education and Training” are headings labeled “Prepare for College,” “Prepare for Training,” and “Prepare for Work.” Under each of these you will find articles and links to resources to help you learn more about each avenue.
‘Plan My Career’ — Keep track of and organize your career plan
From the homepage’s top banner, click on “Plan my Career.” This is where you will find the Career Plan Builder.
You must sign in to use this tool, as the planner essentially saves and organizes all the information you accumulate as you take assessments and save jobs or schools to your profile. Here is a more in-depth guide on how to use the Career Plan Builder.
Under this section, you will also find a “Career Journey” heading, which prompts you to search for careers based on the type of education you already have, find a “Next Step” career if you already have a job, and identify pathways to your dream job using the “First Step” tool. All of this information can be saved to your Career Plan Builder.
Screenshot of NCCareers.org’s ‘Career Journey’ search options.
Other site features
For educators and workforce development professionals, go to the educator resources page to find career development lesson plans organized by grade level, printable documents like “Star Jobs” brochures organized by geographic region, and career exploration booklets.
For entrepreneurs, use the “Be Your Own Boss” tool. From the homepage, navigate to “Find my Interests,” and find it alongside the website’s other self-assessment tools. You will take a brief self-assessment to evaluate how ready you are to start your own business and then be redirected to resources like the NC Small Business Network.
For anyone who finds themselves confused or in need of help while on the website, visit the help page for answers to frequently asked questions and video tutorials on how to use most of the website’s features.
