Develop Your Career Path
You are likely to cycle through the career-planning process several times throughout your life, entering and exiting the process at different stages. It is estimated that individuals will change occupations seven times during their working life. As you gain more experience you may re-evaluate what is important to you and then visit different stages of the career-planning process again.
Career Planning Process
Become aware of what you want.
* Ask yourself:
- Do I want to work with people, data, things?
- Where do I want to work?
- Geographic location?
- Large corporation, small business, nonprofit sector, government?
- What is important to me? Money, security, creativity, routine, independence?
* Resources to help you:
- Assessments to identify your interests and values
Develop a list of your strongest interests, personality traits and job skills.
* Ask yourself:
- What are my transferable skills?
- What are my personal qualities and traits?
- List of skills and qualities: (click here)
* Resources available at Career Services
- Career Counseling
- Strong Interest Inventory
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
- Do What You Are
Develop a list of occupational alternatives.
* Ask yourself:
- What careers match my interests and values?
* Resources to help you expand your list:
- Strong Interest Inventory
- O-Net
- UAF Career Services (474-7596 / careerservices@uaf.edu)
Research occupations that interest you most.
* Explore occupational information online.
- Alaska Center Information System (AKCIS)
- O-Net
- Company websites or other career-related websites
- Conduct inforamtional interviews with people who have jobs and careers that appeal to you.
- Take a class related to your area of interests
- Attend job fairs and talk with employers
- Develop a network of professional contacts
Explore in-depth a few of your preferred occupations
- Job Shadow: visit an employer's place of work
- Informational interviews: conduct an interview with someone already in a career field
- Internships: gain experience while exploring occupations
- Volunteer in your preferred occupations
Implement a plan
- Determine when you can participate in an internship
- Consult an academic advisor to develop a long-range education plan
- Acquire the education and/or training required
- Your college plan should include at least one of these experiences:
* Internship
* Volunteer work
* Extracurricular activity
* Student employment
* Part-time or summer jobs