Career Exploration
Whether you have a specific career in mind or are exploring your options, these tools can help you achieve your career goals.
The first step to any successful job search—whether academic or nonacademic—is careful self-reflection and assessment of values, interests, and skills. By discovering who you are and what you want, you are better able to focus your career exploration and narrow your job search options.
Here are a few additional benefits of a self-assessment:
- Provides the material to create persuasive résumés, CVs, and cover letters.
- People who dedicate time and effort to self-assessment distinguish themselves in résumés, CVs, and cover letters, receive higher ratings from interviewers, and are offered more jobs.
- After receiving jobs, they are also more likely to be satisfied because they have taken the time to find the proper fit.
Do you want to know more about some careers people pursue with advanced degrees? Check out the page on career opportunities.
Once you have some career options in mind, get in-depth knowledge of the field by talking to people in this career. These informational interviews are the best way to research career options.
Benefits of informational interviews:
- Get inside view of field, leading to better applications materials and interviews.
- Increase your network in your career of interest.
- Learn how to best prepare for this career.
Are you interested in becoming more prepared for your career? Read about ways to gain experience while still in school.