Career Exploration

If you ask a mentor, a parent, or a boss what job they thought they would have been when they were younger, chances are it is not the job they have currently.

It’s helpful to plan ahead for your career; but it is absolutely subject to change.

Career exploration is meant to encourage this variability. It allows you to look at the qualities of several jobs, as opposed to the job itself.

Self-reflect

So, take a second and think, “What am I good at and what do I like to do?” Strip away your education if that isn’t necessarily what you are passionate about. Just think, “My personality type would go really well in this line of work…”

But what if you don’t know your personality type? Take an assessment! There are tons out there, but here are a few of my favorites:

Personality Assessments

•  Myers Briggs personality assessment
•  Myplan.com
•  Strengths Quest

All of these assessments are excellent resources for you to start your career exploration. They provide positive reinforcement to your best qualities and insight into the type of careers that lie best with your interests.

The best piece of advice I have ever gotten was to network like no-one’s business. Not only does this get your own personal brand out there, but it also provides you with inherent knowledge about all the opportunity. You may cross paths with a Vice President of a fortune 200 company that works in the corporate communications department, but his background is in engineering and design work. Odds are he didn’t plan that career path, but he can tell you how he got there. That vice president probably just listened to what his co-workers told him he was good at, and followed the guide that is his personality.

Now let’s talk experience!

Whether you are student, a recent graduate, or have been working for several years, it’s always a good time to get experience  to test out your career or major choice. There are certainly many options for just that. You can get experience in graduate school, internships, organizations, volunteer positions, full-time jobs, etc. Notice how none of those necessarily require a specific major. It’s important to choose a major that’s right for you, but don’t feel like your major  will determine everything. Keep an open mind about exploring careers. Take the experience when you can, reflect on the parts that were positive, think about opportunity for improvement, and move forward in your career path.

If you have any questions about career and major exploration, check out this site on the Virginia Tech Career Services page.