Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What are Career Stories?
A. Career success stories of real people in easy-to-read, 4-6 page profiles. Read a sample Career Story and learn about its features.
Q. What is the reading level?
A. A Grade level 7 thru 14. in a lively magazine-style profile format with colorful photos.
Q. Why should I pay for a subscription when there are so many free career resources available?
A. There are a few reasons why VocBio Career Stories stand above the rest and are worth paying for:

  • Advertising and data collection does not pay for our service. A free service has to be paid for somehow; often that money comes from advertising and sponsored posts. This could include for-profit resume services, or companies who pay for favorable coverage and promotion. Your students or clients deserve information without the marketing.
  • We care about literacy and encouraging reading at every opportunity. Most marketers and content creators will tell you that video is the future. Services that offer video interviews and job shadowing can provide really useful information! Students and clients learn a lot from videos and YouTube these days, but reading and writing are skills that takes continual practice and will never be obsolete in the job market. Educators at VocBio know that a well-written story has many advantages over a video.
  • Our Career Stories let the reader picture themselves in a role. As great as it is to really see someone at their job in a video, it can be harder to generalize that experience to what it might be like for a different person, at a different company, in a similar job. Our career stories share real experiences from real people but allow for some imagination to picture yourself in a version of that role.
  • VocBio has been helping career seekers since 1970. Our subjects and writers come from around the country, big cities and small towns. Some of our Career Stories are brand new, some are still much the same as they were twenty years ago. Our subjects don’t always have clean stories where they knew exactly what they wanted to study and do for a career, but they found their way. They found the scholarships, internships, or how to adapt their skills to something they never knew they could do. A struggle can be more inspiring than an easy answer.
  • We encourage you to supplement with other career services from The Occupational Outlook Handbook, The Muse, Glassdoor, or LinkedIn. Each company has their own strengths and weaknesses, but no one else has the breadth and depth of career profiles that VocBio does.
Q. How does a Career Story let the reader career-shadow?
A. Each Career Story  follows one person through their everyday workday. The Career Story mirrors the real-life, school-to-work path of each subject, detailing each individual’s career success story from high school to present. It also helps career information come alive and presents career facts more effectively than just job facts and statistics.
Q. What’s contained in a Career Story?
A. Each Career Story shows

  • Educational planning and background
  • Job progression
  • Current job
  • Likes and dislikes about the career
  • Lifestyle
  • Future plans

The Data File section gives a universal overview of the career and shows where to go to get more information.

Q. Do you have non-traditional careers?
A. Yes. We try to do a combination of Career Stories, covering traditional and non-traditional careers, including a wide variety of small business owners and entrepreneurs, basic to advanced education requirements, urban and rural settings, and individuals who come from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
Q. Can I use these materials in my careers classes?
A. Yes. All the biographies can be used in a number of areas, including your careers class, the library, guidance office or classroom. The Career Stories go beyond facts and statistics. Because they are entertaining, down-to-earth and fun to read, Career Stories help hold students’ interest.
Q. Do you cross reference with the OOH?
A. Yes. A universal overview of each career is profiled in the DATA FILE Section of the Career Stories.  This information is similar to career information found in the OOH.
Q. Do you cross reference with the major cluster areas?
A. Yes. We use the cluster areas developed by the U.S. Office of Education. Each Career Story is labeled with DOT, O*NET, and Holland Code.
Q. Can I access Career Stories from my mobile devices?
A. Career Stories are accessible on all mobile devices such as Android or IOS.
Q. Can I access Career Stories from my screen reader (for the visually impaired)?
A. Our website and Career Stories have been audited for accessibility for the visually impaired. All new stories are optimized for accessibility, while the entire library of stories previously published are currently being updated to improve accessibility.
Q. What is your privacy policy?
A. In short: We only collect customer info and info submitted to us through our website. We use google analytics to track website traffic, but that data is anonymous. Privacy Policy