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   Career Exploration  

"A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step."
- Lao Tzu

Good career decisions require good information.  The information supply available to us is constantly increasing. Ensure that you explore all of your potential career options and occupational training routes before you decide on your career path. The road to career satisfaction is usually not a short path. Exploring your career options and searching among over 800,000 job markets and over 60,000 basic careers can be quite a journey.

Expand your understanding of the world of work and explore options by:

• Reviewing career information & facts (written, audio, Internet, etc.)
• Interviewing people in various fields (Career Services Center staff can provide contacts) 
• Observing careers of interest or participate in a career field. (Job shadow, internships, volunteer, etc.)

Visit the Career Services Center
& Begin your "career exploration" with:

1. The DISCOVER  career guidance program

User-friendly computer-based interactive career guidance and research system.  It includes extensive occupational information on over 500 careers, 6,500 educational and training institutions, college and financial-aid sources, job-seeking topics, and career development stress management modules. These programs are most useful in the early stages of career planning when you are unclear about your interests, values or abilities.

2. Convert Results from the DISCOVER Program above (Your Holland Interest Codes) into Lists of Potential Careers.
    

3. Begin career researching with the Center's extensive resources:

• Hundreds of occupational and career development books

• Career-search software programs

• Educational guides

• Extensive internet sites bookmarked for research

• Interviewing, resume and cover letter books

• Labor market research and trends

• Information on upcoming Job Fairs

• Current Job Listings

     4.  Visit Our Staff Favorite Internet sites useful in career exploration.
          (See examples below.)

Enjoy browsing through our collection!

·         Choosing a Major-"What Can I Do With A Major In..." sites: 

Explore these Internet sites and get some ideas on what to do with your degree.  This will help you see the different fields you can go into with your chosen major.

• http://www.ub-careers.buffalo.edu/choose.html
  (enter a major in the “What Can I do with a Major” drop down menu)

• www.usm.maine.edu/csce/Majors.html

• http://www.udel.edu/CSC/mrk.html

• http://www.utexas.edu/student/careercenter/career_ideas/index.html

• http://www.ksu.edu/acic/career/options.html

• http://web.stlawu.edu/career/major.htm

Riley Guide –The Riley Guide is a directory of employment and career information sources and services on the Internet.  It is primarily intended to provide instructions for job seekers on how to use the Internet to their best advantage, but recruiters and other career service industry professionals will provide information here to help them also.
www.rileyguide.com

Occupational Outlook Handbook –This site provides a list of occupations that will tell the nature of the work, working conditions, employment, training, earnings, job outlook, and sources for additional information. www.bls.gov/oco/

Job Smart –This web site allows you to explore the classifieds of the workforce.  This site includes job listings, job agents, company profiles, and recruiters.  Look up your career in the on-line yellow pages of job smart. www.jobsmart.org