U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration https://www.onetonline.org 11m 2,825 #insights
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Create or reproduce handmade objects for sale and exhibition using a variety of techniques, such as welding, weaving, pottery, and needlecraft.
Sample of reported job titles:
Artist, Ceramic Artist, Designer, Fiber Artist, Fine Craft Artist, Furniture Maker, Glass Artist, Glass Blower, Goldsmith, Hand-Weaver
Tasks
Create functional or decorative objects by hand, using a variety of methods and materials.
Cut, shape, fit, join, mold, or otherwise process materials, using hand tools, power tools, or machinery.
Apply finishes to objects being crafted.
Develop concepts or creative ideas for craft objects.
Select materials for use based on strength, color, texture, balance, weight, size, malleability and other characteristics.
Advertise products and work, using media such as internet advertising and brochures.
Set specifications for materials, dimensions, and finishes.
Plan and attend craft shows to market products.
Create prototypes or models of objects to be crafted.
Confer with customers to assess customer needs or obtain feedback.
Fabricate patterns or templates to guide craft production.
Develop product packaging, display, and pricing strategies.
Research craft trends, venues, and customer buying patterns to inspire designs and marketing strategies.
Sketch or draw objects to be crafted.
Develop designs using specialized computer software.
Technology Skills
Analytical or scientific software — John Hesselberth and Ron Roy GlazeMaster
- Computer aided design CAD software
— DRAWSTITCH Artistic Sewing Suite; Embroidery design software; Floriani MDQ My Decorative Quilter; Pattern design software; 1 more Electronic mail software — Email software
- Graphics or photo imaging software — SmugMug Flickr
Instant messaging software — Twitter
Internet browser software — Web browser software
Point of sale POS software — Sales management software
- Web page creation and editing software — Facebook
Hot Technologies are requirements frequently included in employer job postings.
Work Activities
Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
Performing General Physical Activities — Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Selling or Influencing Others — Convincing others to buy merchandise/goods or to otherwise change their minds or actions.
Monitoring and Controlling Resources — Monitoring and controlling resources and overseeing the spending of money.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Controlling Machines and Processes — Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information — Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity.
Performing Administrative Activities — Performing day-to-day administrative tasks such as maintaining information files and processing paperwork.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
Detailed Work Activities
Construct distinctive physical objects for artistic, functional, or commercial purposes.
Apply finishes to artwork, crafts, or displays.
Develop artistic or design concepts for decoration, exhibition, or commercial purposes.
Select materials or props.
Promote products, activities, or organizations.
Build models, patterns, or templates.
Confer with clients to determine needs.
Develop promotional strategies or plans.
Draw detailed or technical illustrations.
Work Context
Electronic Mail — 64% responded “Every day.”
Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls — 68% responded “Continually or almost continually.”
Importance of Being Exact or Accurate — 52% responded “Very important.”
Structured versus Unstructured Work — 48% responded “A lot of freedom.”
Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets — 52% responded “Every day.”
Freedom to Make Decisions — 48% responded “A lot of freedom.”
Spend Time Making Repetitive Motions — 42% responded “More than half the time.”
Telephone — 48% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Duration of Typical Work Week — 60% responded “More than 40 hours.”
Level of Competition — 32% responded “Highly competitive.”
Exposed to Contaminants — 40% responded “Every day.”
Time Pressure — 44% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Face-to-Face Discussions — 28% responded “Once a week or more but not every day.”
Deal With External Customers — 40% responded “Very important.”
Exposed to Hazardous Equipment — 40% responded “Every day.”
Indoors, Not Environmentally Controlled — 36% responded “Every day.”
Indoors, Environmentally Controlled — 33% responded “Every day.”
Importance of Repeating Same Tasks — 28% responded “Important.”
Spend Time Sitting — 38% responded “Less than half the time.”
Spend Time Standing — 38% responded “More than half the time.”
Contact With Others — 44% responded “Occasional contact with others.”
Exposed to Minor Burns, Cuts, Bites, or Stings — 32% responded “Once a year or more but not every month.”
Job Zone
- Title
- Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Education
- Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate’s degree.
- Related Experience
- Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.
- Job Training
- Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
- Job Zone Examples
- These occupations usually involve using communication and organizational skills to coordinate, supervise, manage, or train others to accomplish goals. Examples include hydroelectric production managers, desktop publishers, electricians, agricultural technicians, barbers, court reporters and simultaneous captioners, and medical assistants.
- SVP Range
- 1-2 years of preparation (6.0 to < 7.0)
Training & Credentials
- State training
- Local training
- Certifications
- Apprenticeships
- Have a career path or location in mind? Visit Apprenticeship.gov
external site to find apprenticeship opportunities near you.
Skills
Active Listening — Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Reading Comprehension — Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Social Perceptiveness — Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Speaking — Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Critical Thinking — Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Monitoring — Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Persuasion — Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Knowledge
Fine Arts — Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Sales and Marketing — Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Customer and Personal Service — Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Production and Processing — Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Design — Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Mechanical — Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Education
How much education does a new hire need to perform a job in this occupation? Respondents said:
- responded:
Bachelor’s degree required - responded:
Less than high school diploma required
Abilities
Finger Dexterity — The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Originality — The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Arm-Hand Steadiness — The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Manual Dexterity — The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Fluency of Ideas — The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Near Vision — The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Visualization — The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Control Precision — The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Multilimb Coordination — The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Information Ordering — The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Category Flexibility — The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Oral Expression — The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Speech Clarity — The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Speech Recognition — The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Deductive Reasoning — The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Far Vision — The ability to see details at a distance.
Oral Comprehension — The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Problem Sensitivity — The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Visual Color Discrimination — The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Interests
Artistic — Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
Realistic — Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Enterprising — Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Work Values
Achievement — Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
Independence — Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.
Working Conditions — Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions.
Work Styles
Attention to Detail — Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Independence — Job requires developing one’s own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Achievement/Effort — Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.
Innovation — Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
Persistence — Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.
Initiative — Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Dependability — Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Integrity — Job requires being honest and ethical.
Adaptability/Flexibility — Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Analytical Thinking — Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Self-Control — Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Stress Tolerance — Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
Cooperation — Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Wages & Employment Trends
- Median wages (2021)
- $17.27 hourly, $35,930 annual
- State wages
- Local wages
- Employment (2020)
- 9,600 employees
- Projected growth (2020-2030)
Faster than average (10% to 15%)- Projected job openings (2020-2030)
- 1,200
- State trends
- Top industries (2020)
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 2021 wage data
external site and 2020-2030 employment projections
external site.
“Projected growth” represents the estimated change in total employment over the projections period (2020-2030). “Projected job openings” represent openings due to growth and replacement.
Job Openings on the Web
- State job openings
- Local job openings
Sources of Additional Information
Disclaimer:
Sources are listed to provide additional information on related jobs, specialties, and/or industries.
Links to non-DOL Internet sites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.
Actively assisted with the O*NET data collection, helping to identify occupational experts who can be surveyed about their work in the occupation.
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