Exploring Potential Careers
Once you’ve undertaken self-exploration, it’s time to consider what careers will fit your personality, skills, and values, and to explore how to prepare for those fields. This is a good time to think out of the box, to move beyond your preconceived notions of what is the best career for you, and truly explore a wide range of professions.
The following Web sites provide information about particular career fields. They are helpful in finding descriptions of industries and applicable job positions. In addition, some provide such information as a typical day on the job, what workers like and dislike about their position, and how to gain entry into the field.
Other Options
These tools are excellent resources, but don’t stop there. Do your own research, and talk to others about their careers. Ask them how they chose it (or how it chose them), how they prepared, what they like and don’t like about it, and what they would change if they could. You’ll learn much more than you expected and you will have a lot of interesting conversations.
As with all career exploration, we also encourage you to meet with a career advisor to better understand your options and how to pursue them.
Career Exploration Web Sites
What can I do with this major?:
Hosted by UMass Amherst’s Undergraduate Advising Office, this site helps you link major interests with potential careers.
WetFeet:
Provides profiles of careers, industries, and specific companies as well as extensive articles on career development. To download WetFeet Guides please contact the Career Services office for a username and password.
America's Career InfoNet:
Allows users to explore careers, salary and benefit information, education and training, as well as career development resources.
JobProfiles.com:
Offers job descriptions in a wide range of industries. The site gives information about each career path and what to expect in the field.
Occupational Outlook Handbook:
Maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor, this site allows you to explore different professions and learn about the training and education needed, earnings, expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions.
Sloan Career Cornerstone Center:
The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center is an excellent resource for those exploring career paths in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computing, healthcare, and medicine.
Identify Your Work Priorities
As you explore careers, use the questions below to evaluate the qualities of a job that are essential to you and those that are not.
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Do you prefer to work for a large or small organization?
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What product or service do you want to be associated with?
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What are your salary requirements?
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Are there any benefits that you consider essential (health insurance, vacation, sick leave, etc.)?
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Are you interested in work that will require you to travel frequently?
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Are you looking for a formal training program?
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What are your geographic preferences? Do you want to remain in the Northeast or move to another region?
- Do you want to work in an urban or rural environment, a suburb or a small town?
