Majors and Careers

Understand the nature of the new economy that you will be entering. It is global, unstable, innovative, without boundaries, customized, ever-changing, and social.

Learn which of your characteristics could and should affect your career choices. Strive to define your interests, skills, aptitudes, personality, life goals, and work values. Talk them through with a career counselor. It’s a normal thing for college students to do.

Keep in touch with your instructors. Consider keeping in touch with the instructor of this course and with other instructors. Later in college, you may need to ask them to write letters of reference for you as you seek employment or admission to graduate school. When an instructor becomes part of your larger support group, it is a form of networking.

Be responsible for planning your own career. No one else is going to do it for you, but plenty of people on your campus are willing to help you. Think seriously about your major. You eventually have to get a degree in something, and you want to feel confident and comfortable about the major that you select. Use the insights into yourself that you have gotten from this course as motivation, now and in the future.

Get familiar with online resources for industry research and career exploration. The more knowledge you have about the industries that interest you, the better your chances of making a sound career decision. Great places to start are O*NET OnLine (onetonline.org) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook (bls.gov/ooh).

Enhance your employability by getting different kinds of work and travel experience during college. You can get different experiences while taking classes, but better yet, consider maintaining your momentum during the summer. Continuous enrollment is a good thing. See your adviser and career center to learn about experiences that your college offers: volunteer or service learning, study abroad, internships and co-ops, employment on campus, and student projects and research.

Get professional help from your career center. When writing your résumé and cover letters, learning and practicing interview skills, and much more, advisers can help you. For example, you can learn how your personality characteristics have been shown to align with particular career fields.

Be aware of what today’s employers seek from new employees. Make sure you can demonstrate both the content and transferable skills necessary for the jobs that interest you most.