Career Fields, Clusters, Pathways, and Jobs

Career Clusters identify the knowledge and skills needed to follow a career pathway toward career goals. Career clusters also provide the framework for exploring many occupational options that are available. Career clusters are broken down and divided into different pathways. These pathways are grouped together by the knowledge and skills required for each occupation in these career fields.

Career Fields are broader areas that encompass 1 or more Career Clusters. Often, clusters within a field work together in some way.

Examples of Career Fields are:

• Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources
• Arts, Communication, & Information Systems
• Engineering, Manufacturing, & Technology
• Human Services
• Business, Management, & Administration

A Career Cluster is a group of jobs (often hundreds of occupations) within a career field.

For example, within the Business, Management, & Administration field there are the following clusters:

• Marketing
• Business, Management, & Administration
• Hospitality & Tourism
• Finance

Within each cluster, there are multiple pathways, or types of jobs.

For example, within Finance, there are jobs within the following areas:

• Banking Services
• Business Finance
• Securities and Investment
• Accounting
• Insurance

Additional Resources

For more information on career clusters, visit:

https://www.tn.gov/education/educators/career-and-technical-education/career-clusters.html

https://minnstate.edu/system/cte/consortium_resources/documents/POS_Framework-2017-Final-8×11.pdf

Activity:

Use the following graphic to review the 16 clusters within 6 career fields. Fill in 3 examples of careers within each cluster. The Marketing, Distribution, and Logistics pathway has been filled in as an example.