Look for a DOT priced at about $50. The $150 to $175 sets include a cross-walk to O*Net. I have found the cheaper sets on Ebay and Amazon.

The companion book to the DOT is Selected Characteristics of Occupations or the Transitional Classification of Jobs. If you own a DOT you should own one of these two books.

I think the decision is up to you-a DOT reference in a report adds some credibility to your decision making process from a job match perspective. However, the DOT is not an accurate description for every (or any!) job I can recall, but is, among other things, a good verbal description for a layperson.

If the definitions were different than NOC, and you owned the 3 volume DOT set, would you retype the definition into the report of the FCE's that you do? I guess what to purchase would moslty depend upon what your reasoning is for wanting a DOT reference. Obviously, the 3 volumes is going to have more information than a paperback book.

If you do not hve the Workstation software, is it best to order the 3 volumes? I presume they are somewhat similar to the NOC handbooks?

It's hard to know what versions you are looking at. I think that if you have the Workstation software, purchasing all the volumes would be a little redundant-in fact it would be much easier to cut and paste from there to a report vs. retyping from a large book. You might spend the $20 on a paperback for the information that may not be presented in the Workstation (definition of terms, explanation of the different PDC of work). If you have specific titles (I saw about 15 hits for "The DOT") we could figure out which one is right for you. Hope this helps.