Welcome to the Career Planning section of the Career Resource Center. 

We hope you take advantage of the following.

• Discover Your Career Path
• TypeFocus
• Career Planning Checklist
• The Winning Characteristics Employers Look For
• Career Planning Steps
• What Can I Do With This Major?
• Job Fairs: How to Make Them Work for You

Discover Your Career Path !

Find out about the steps in Self-Assessment, Career Exploration, Gaining Experience and Implementing the Plan. 

TypeFocus

The Career Resource Center has subscribed to TypeFocus, a career assessment evaluation tool. This program assesses personality type and generates three customized reports, which help people understand themselves better so they can choose more effective career strategies. Each user sets up his/her own username and password, which guarantees confidentiality. Click here to begin! For some more information, go to our Career Planning section.

CAREER PLANNING CHECKLIST - CAREER RESOURCE CENTER ( CRC )

THE WINNING CHARACTERISTICS EMPLOYERS LOOK FOR

Career Planning Steps

The process of planning your career involves several steps. It involves gathering information about yourself and about the job market you wish to enter. You need to evaluate your skills and abilities in relation to the demands of a particular job.

If you've been in college for more than a few years, you know that the way things happen on campus isn't the way they neccessarily happen in the the job place. Get to know people in your career field. This is the best way of learning the difference. Looking for a job can be a fulltime job itself. Spend as much time as you can looking for career fields that match your skills and interests. Interviewing for information is a good way to meet people and get the inside scoop on career expectations. Use that information to write effective, detailed resumes. Try using the Internet to get your resume to potential employers. Contact alumni who majored in the same field as you to see which steps they took to get the job they have.

Step 1: Exploration
Gathering Relevant Information

• Decide on a major.

• Target specific employers in the field you want to work in.
• Use Career Resources library.
• Check out Career Resources online to find out what you can do with your major.
• Attend career fairs.
• Conduct informational interviews (talk with people in fields that interest you.)

Step 2: Self Assessment

Define your:

• Abilities/Skills/Interests

• Work Values

• Accomplishments

• Physical and Psychological needs

• Aspirations/Motivation Level

• Personal Traits Characteristics

• Workplace Values Assessment for Job-Seekers

• Trends in job market

• Career/job entrance requirements

• Education and job training requirements

• Tasks to be accomplished

• Responsibilities

• Rewards

• Alternatives

Step 3: Synthesize Information from Above

Step 4: Make Career Decisions

Step 5: Set Goals and Act

Step 6: Job Search Preparation

• Prepare Resume and Cover Letter

• Implement job search, attend job-seeking skills workshop
• Find potential employers or graduate programs through Student Employment, Monster Trak, NACELinks Jobs and other Job Search Engines listed on our website.
• Attend job fairs and graduate school fairs
• Sign up for onsite recruitment interviews
• Use Career Center's online resources
• Join professional organizations related to your major

• Learn informational and job-interviewing skills

• Learn second interview skills
• Practice interviewing using InterviewStream

Step 7: Gain Experience

• Employment opportunities through Student Employment, Cooperative Education
• Internships
• Volunteer in organizations that interest you

• Career coach
• Community Service Coordinators

Abilities/Skills/Interests

As you define your interests and skills, keep in mind that they need to be connected in some way to the job market. If your interest is in studying 12th century cooking receipes, you may find a difficult job of it finding a career that satisfies this interest. When seeking to define your skills, keep in mind that they do not need to be school related. Look at your hobbies and past-times. Look at what you love to do. Even something as unproductive as computer games can translate into a rewarding career in, for example, software development.

Try out PINPOINT, a software application that helps you explore your interests and relate them to career fields. You can have free access to the PINPOINT program at the Career Resource Center.

Work values

This section refers to your level of commitment to work. Do you value hard work but believe family should come first? If so you may want to explore career options that allow some freedom to spend time at home. There's a trend in the workplace right now where family considerations are taken into account in the intitial hiring of employees, but you should recognize that this trend does not apply across the board. If finance, for example, is your chosen career path, plan to spend as much as 80 hours per week at the office, especially if when first starting.

Accomplishments

Leave no stone unturned. If you've done something that pertains to a career field in any way, write it down. Even if you decide it doesn't belong in a resume or cover letter, you may want to have something to talk about in interview when you are asked to talk about yourself.

Physical and psychological Needs

This topic encompasses issues of income level and the type of environment in which you need to work. If you do not respond well to high stress environments and do not have the need to earn half a million dollars per year you should not be looking into a career as an advertising executive. Try to find a balance between the kind of money you want to make and the fulfillment you want to derive from your work.

Aspirations/Motivation Level

How far do you want to go into your career field? What are you willing or unwilling to do to get there? Have answers to these questions before choosing a career path. It will save you the pain of having to backtrack after discovering that your job asks you to be someone you're not.

Personality Traits and Characteristics

When choosing a career, take into account your personal traits and characteristics. If you hate wearing business suits and always seem to arrive to appointments fifteen minutes late, you should not be considering a career in banking.  

Career Options:

Trends in job market

A little research in this department goes a long way. Talking with alumni(out of this document) who are already working in your field of interest is a good start in gaining knowledge of how many jobs are actually out there and what you can expect the job market to do in the next few years. If you want to be a professor of literature, for example, you should realize that there are very few openings currently, and there won't be any for at least the next five years.

Career/job entrance requirements

You should know in advance what the job market expects of the successful candidate. There's nothing more embarassing than being told in a first interview that you lack the most basic qualifications for a job. Knowing the requirements before you graduate allows you to take the right courses or the right internship for the work you are interested in.

Education and job training requirements

One of the best ways to make yourself attractive to a potential employer is to let them know that you already have some or all of the specific skills to do the job. Companies that train their employees after hiring them do so begrudgingly. The expense and man-hours for training are huge. If you can demonstrate that you do not need training, an employer is much more likely to hire you than someone who is starting from scratch.

Tasks to be accomplished

Form a clear idea of what the company will expect from you on a day to day basis and in the long term. Is there a project they will want you to initiate or finish off? Is there room to adapt to changing needs or are your duties written in stone? Knowing this may help you to decide if you should take the job if offered.

Responsibilities

Find out what you will be responsible for. Ask who your supervisor will be and what specific responsibilities will rest on your shoulders. Knowing this will also help you establish your place in the working environment.

Rewards

Do see this job providing a sense of fulfillment in your life right now, or are you hoping this will come once the bills are paid and you have a few years under your belt? Think long and hard about the intangible rewards a job has to offer.

Alternatives

Have a list of alternative career options. Sometimes you have what it takes, but no one will offer you a job. The job market may have gone flat or you may have misjudged what companies were looking for. You need to have a backup plan. Some people stumble into careers that end up being better than their first choice. Sometimes adversity brings out hidden talents. Keep yourself open to new possibilities.

What Can I Do With This Major?

A convenient place to help you connect majors with careers. For each major that interests you, choose "Information" to find an outline of common career areas, typical employers, and strategies designed to maximize career opportunities. Choose "Links" to find a list of websites that provide information about listed majors and related careers.