NEW! The Texas version of OSCAR 2 is now on-line. Click here!

OSCAR 2 (also known as OSCAR School-to-Work or OSCAR STW) is the latest of the LMCI occupational products designed to help the residents of Texas make rewarding career decisions. OSCAR uses the occupational information in version 3 of the O*NET database developed by the Employment and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor. O*NET is the result of many years of work by hundreds of labor market professionals. O*NET started as an automation of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), but was enhanced to include much more occupational information not found in the original publication.

The OSCAR 2 cd actually contains two distinct versions. Like the original OSCAR, there is a version with Texas-specific labor market information (occupational information such as employment size, projected employment, openings due to growth and to replacement, hourly wages, percent female, and more.) The same cd also includes a version of OSCAR 2 with National labor market information, making it more useful for evaluating potential careers outside of Texas.

Both versions feature improved and expanded reporting capabilities which allow you to save your reports in a variety of formats including HTML, MS Word, spreadsheet, database. Not all reports will be appropriate for every format.

As a special feature, if you have LMCI's Digital Video Show set, the Texas version of OSCAR 2 allows you to view these new high-quality career videos in context.

With OSCAR you can:

search for potential occupations using self-assessment tools to identify work values and interests;
search for occupations that are a Best Match to your current occupation based on knowledge, skills, abilities, activities, and values;
search for occupations based on your own selection of education/training, knowledge, skills, abilities, and activities;
determine skill transfer from your current occupation (and from up to 2 prior occupations) to a new occupation;
determine improvement needed for advancement from your current occupation to a new occupation;
print to an occupational profile to learn knowledge, skills and abilities needed for a specific occupation and the expected job outlook;
see Texas or National labor market information on the selected occupations;
do keyword searches for occupational title, job description, and task list;
investigate the 16 Career Clusters to explore occupations based on educational similarities;
explore detailed Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) information for any O*NET occupation and view the TOP 25 occupations for any selected KSA value;
search for occupations that use skills developed in leisure activities and volunteer work.

OSCAR 2 helps you develop a potential list of occupations using on-line versions of two O*NET self-assessment tools. With the Work Importance Locator you can identify your work values and print a list of occupations related to those work values. From this list, you can search for occupations that meet your training and education needs. With the Interest Profiler (new to OSCAR 2) you can identify your strongest Holland interest areas and explore or print a list of occupations related to those interest areas.

In addition, you can use the results from other Holland-based interest assessment tools and individually selected criteria to further refine your occupational list.

In Best Match, OSCAR helps you search for occupations that are a good fit for the knowledge, skills, and abilities that you use in your current occupation.

You can use the results of Best Match to quickly determine which occupations are most suited to your individual situation. Do they meet your wage needs; additional education and training criteria; knowledge and skill level; personal work values? With an internet connection, OSCAR will also link you to America’s Job Bank on the Internet to look for job openings in the chosen occupations.

In Compare, OSCAR can help you prepare a customized Career Development Plan to help you get all the skill training you need to stay competitive with today’s job market. By comparing the knowledge, skills, and abilities that you use in your current job to those needed in a new occupation, OSCAR helps you identify the areas where improvement is needed, and ways to improve them. You can even include skills that you acquired in two previous jobs.

OSCAR can also assist Human Resources Professionals in their job function by providing information on critical job elements. This information can be used in a variety of ways.

Generating job descriptions
Using labor market information to establish competitive wage packages
Assisting in internal career development planning
Coordinating recruiting efforts with formal education/training programs
Identifying and incorporating essential workplace basics into the hiring and promotion process
Building custom training programs
Devising applicant screening instruments
Translating employer titles to standardized titles to make use of national employment initiatives such as America’s Job Bank and America’s Talent Bank

For a look at screen images of the new OSCAR 2 software, follow this link to a Case Scenario using OSCAR.

For an overview of all the modules in the new OSCAR 2 follow this link.

NEW! The Texas version of OSCAR 2 is now on-line. Click here!

Click here to find OSCAR

How to order OSCAR?

Technical Support for Oscar.

OSCAR FAQs.