Workforce Information Needs for Vocational Guidance System Design

Introduction

Advanced technology enables virtual environments for vocational training and a vast amount of career information, complicating individuals' information-seeking process during career decision-making. In a comparative study of models regarding career information retrieval by Robinson, Meyer, Prince, Mclean, and Low (2000), a significant disadvantage of such an environment is that overwhelming information may not necessarily help users address their problems. Thus, counselors' proper guidance is often required; otherwise, many potential learners may encounter difficulties selecting a suitable course for vocational training. However, the quality of career information, such as relevancy to individuals, is of great importance in supporting career counseling (Watts, 2009; Hooley & Rice, 2019). Therefore, a system capable of selecting relevant career information and recommending training courses to individuals based on the users' individual abilities, knowledge, preferences, and work experiences may represent another key to enhancing training and career guidance services in the workplace (Chan et al., 2018).

The gap identified by studies in the previous decade is the lack of knowledge regarding how to resolve the problem of excessive career information and self-help online career decision-making support, particularly for workforce training (Bullock-Yowell, Andrews, McConnel, & Campbell, 2012). This paper provides a framework of career information management and recommendation systems to support individual career decision-making by providing relevant career information and training course recommendations based on the personal preference characteristics identified in this research. The findings of this research will enrich studies regarding content management for career information and provide insights for researchers regarding the consideration of information-seeking behaviors and vocational guidance services to online training systems, which is invaluable for both public and private organizations.