How College Leads to a Career

Steps in Career Development

Freshman (0-29 credits)

Adjust to the College Environment

• Figure out why you are in college and what you want to get from your experience here.
• Ask questions to find out about services that can help you make career and personal decisions and use the services.

Examine Your Skills, Interests and Values

• What do I do well?
• What do I like to do?
• How do I see myself?
• What have I accomplished in the past that I can build upon?
• What is important to me?
• What skills or characteristics would I like to develop?

Investigate Possibilities

• Take courses in areas of interest.
• Take foundation courses upon which to build additional skills.
• Take courses in a variety of areas and disciplines.
• Keep a personal journal of career and job ideas and fantasies and collect career information from newspapers and magazines.
• Look for a summer job that gives you a diverse experience with different kinds of people and ideas.

Increase your personal, communication and leadership skills

• Particpate in campus activities, workshops and classes that give you an opportunity to build these skills.

Sophomore (30-59 credits)

Explore Your Options

• Make a list of majors that sound interesting to you based on your skills, values, interests and goals. Don't eliminate anything because you don't want to take one or two difficult courses.
• Talk with people in careers which interest you and get a feel for how you would like to be in their positions.
• Familiarize yourself with such career literature and resources as: Occupational Outlook Handbook, Encyclopedia of Careers, DISCOVER or SIGI+ computer program.
• Experience different job settings for yourself by volunteering, job shadowing or part-time employment.
• Research information regarding job descriptions, educational requirements, entry-level jobs, status of the job market, and future predictions for your interest areas.
• Begin to focus in a specific academic area of interest.
• Document all your experiences in your personal journal, adding current career and job related information, keeping records of your work, and gathering letters of recommendation from supervisors. This will come in handy when you want to make an impression on prospective employers.
• Make a firm decision and declare your major officially and make sure your decision on the major and minor is based on your career choice.

Learn Career Decision-Making Model

• Evaluate the information you have gathered.
• Evaluate the "fit" of your preliminary career goal.

Junior (60-89 credits)

Implement Your Decision

• Reassess your choice of major. If you begin to suspect that you've made the wrong decision about your major or minor, don't grit your teeth and tough it out. Get some help; working out a new plan may not be as difficult as you think and the rewards of a satisfying career decision are worth the little extra effort.
• Continue to build a solid set of credentials for entering the job market by seeking practical work experience.
• Begin to consider your plan for after college, whether graduate school or employment.

Senior (90-120 credits)

Prepare for Life After Graduation

• Prepare for your job search by writing a resume, conducting information interviews, and networking.
• Attend workshops to assist you in learning effective job search techniques.
• Attend job fairs and recruiting events.
• Learn as much as you can about potential employers.
• Conduct your job search campaign.
• Make application to graduate school program, if appropriate.