Exploring Careers

What do you want to be when you grow up? No matter what your age, this can be an overwhelming question. One piece to the puzzle is knowing your strengths, skills, likes, and dislikes. Knowing your unique combination of interests and temperaments can assist you in determining the right college program that would suit you best and lead to a successful career path.

Assessments

Assessments are great tools to help you find out what you excel in or enjoy and which careers match up with your skills and interests. The Career Services Center recommends the following assessments:

• Self-Directed Search
• Career Cruising

Research

Now that you have an idea of what you want to be, do some research to become knowledgeable about what that career offers, expected wages, and job outlook. Some great websites are:

• www.careercruising.com - Contact the Career Counseling Center for the username and password.
• www.onetonline.org - Job descriptions, career fields research
• www.ihaveaplaniowa.gov - Education resources, career information
• www.bls.gov - Extensive job descriptions, wage information, job outlook

Informational Interviews and Job Shadows

Informational interviews and job shadows help you gather realistic information about a career you may be interested in.

Once you have narrowed your choice of careers that interest you, talk to your friends, family, and employers to find professionals in those careers who would be willing to answer a few questions about what they do on a daily basis. Job shadows are opportunities to observe a professional while they work. Each will expand your knowledge of the career you are considering, provide a real-life experience, show the positives and negatives of a career, and help you find additional career paths while building a network in your field of interest.

Informational interviews and job shadows can help solidify a career choice as well as be very educational and eye opening!

Your Network

Speaking to your family, friends, teachers, employers, and others who know you well about college programs or careers you are interested in can help you decide if that program is right for you.

Checklist

Interest inventory

Individual counseling

Research careers

Informational interview

Job shadow

Talk to your network