The first and potentially most important step in your career planning process is to gather information about yourself. This first step is important because it can realistically inform the major and career options that fit you best. Here is the logic -- the better you understand and can articulate characteristics about yourself, the better equipped you will be to find majors, internships and full-time jobs that are compatible with those characteristics. The Career Services Center, then, offers multiple resources to you so that you can more effectively explore your choice of major, your personal or career goals and your overall personality and career fit.

 

Learn more about the careerCOMPASS, a tool designed specifically for first-year students

The staff in the Career Services Center can offer the following opportunities in either individual appointments or group workshop settings to help you get started in this process:

Identifying your Work Values: Exploring your work values entails defining what is most important to you at work and what qualities need to be present in order to give your work meaning. As a way to begin articulating those things that are most important to you, a counselor in the Center can help you identify and understand your work values. By using a Work Values card sort, you will evaluate your needs and wants in relation to career fields and work settings and specifically define those values that are most important to you. In an appointment focused on identifying work values, you will walk away with a list of majors and career fields that relate most to your top five work values.

Identifying your Interests: Understanding your interests can awaken you to what excites you about your academic work as well as what has the potential to hold your attention day-to-day on the job. If you feel that you need clarity on this topic, a counselor in the Center can help you in differentiating between your personal interests (think of these as hobbies) and your work interests. Using tools based on John Holland’s theory of career choice, the staff can help you pick up on patterns of interest that might help direct you toward major and career options. In an appointment focused on identifying your interests, you will walk away with a list of majors and career options that relate most to your interest patterns.

Identifying your Strengths and Abilities: Looking to your past successes can indicate where you might succeed in the future as an intern or when working full-time. As a way to begin evaluating your strengths and skills, a counselor in the Center can help you to identify the functional skills that you possess and that you also like to use. By using a Skills Card sort, you and the counselor will discuss how these skills might match up with your chosen major and potential career path, identifying areas of competency and skill sets that might need bolstering.

Identifying your Personality Strengths: Your personality preferences are an integral part of your work style, have an impact on how you relate to others and, in large part, indicate the type of environment in which you will thrive. A counselor in the Center can help you understand and articulate your unique personality preferences by using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, which is one of the most popular and widely used instruments measuring this component of your identity. By using the inventory, you will receive a four-letter personality indicator that you and a staff member will discuss in order to help predict how your personality preferences tie into your major and future career.

Identifying your Career Options: Many individuals feels very confident that they have chosen a major that fits well for them but still might find themselves wondering, “What can I do with my major once I graduate?” If you find that you’ve asked yourself this question, schedule a time to meet with a counselor in order to pick up a Majors Worksheet and learn how to use it to research your options. Majors Worksheets are one-page sheets that supply descriptions of major programs and typical as well as atypical career paths associated with each. *Most job titles originate from Senior Survey data that is collected from each graduating class of students, meaning that recent alums have pursued and secured these positions. The career paths, however, are only a small portion of the possibilities that exist in each industry.

 

Considering changing your major?

1. Contact Career Services to schedule a Major and/or Career Exploration appointment
   
   
2. Learn about the "Change of Major Process"
   
   
3. Stay in touch with your Academic Advisor as well as the Learning & Advising Center in order to discuss the logistics of such a change