Career Planning and Exploration
When you were a kid you wanted to be a firefighter, a mad scientist, a professional soccer player, a chef, a famous artist, an architect, and Wonder Woman. While some of these may still be options, there are thousands of careers available, many of which have never occurred to you. Will you be a policy analyst, a textile designer, a forensic psychologist, a mediator, a phlebotomist, a publicist, an environmental educator, a food microbiologist, a copywriter, or a software developer?
Perhaps, if you’re like many students, your question is much broader: “What am I going to do with my life?” You may know what you enjoy, what you’re good at, and how you like to live, but you have no idea how that translates into a career.
While you are a student at UMass Amherst, you have unparalleled opportunities to explore and experience any number of fields, industries, occupations, and careers. Through volunteering, internships, co-ops, paid work, job shadowing, and informational interviewing you can try on all sorts of occupational experiences. In the process, you will also learn about your specific strengths, priorities, values, skills, and interests and what kind of career fits these best.
This section includes a variety of resources, mostly online, that you can use to get a lay of the land, explore your interests, and consider possible fields as well as graduate school. These resources are an excellent place to start, and they may be all you need. However, our career advisors are also available to help you with the process and direct you toward resources specific to your needs.
