The choices you make about your career and life are important ones. The Career Services Office offers services, programs, events and information to help you with your decision making process. Typically, when making a big purchase, we figure out what we want, research the options, try out the choices, evaluate them, and basically learn as much as we can before making a selection. The same process is important in making a career choice, too.

The most important part of the decision making process is knowing ourselves. What are the skills we have, the qualities, characteristics. What is important to us – values, and what are our interests. There are other factors to consider when making a career decision such as where do I want to be geographically, what salary do I want, etc. According to research in the area of career selection the three most important factors to consider are skills, values and interests .

The Career Services Office has vocational assessments, a career resource library, and seminars or appointments to help you become aware of your talents and skills. The best time to begin the process is during your first year in college. The earlier you begin collecting information for your decision, the more likely you will make a decision sooner, and have an opportunity to plan your academic career more effectively.

The next part of the decision making process has to do with knowing what is available to you and how it will satisfy you. What types of career options are there in my area of interest? Again, it is a matter of research, exploration, and evaluation.

Some of the activities in which you can participate are the Career Day/Job Fair, seminars, career related experiences and informational interviews. As you progress through your academic career, you can add on-campus recruiting and the annual etiquette dinner to your schedule. All of these activities help you learn about career opportunities and provide you with avenues to evaluate the opportunities.

When you have actively participated in the above programs and events a decision may naturally occur. All of a sudden you know what direction you wish to pursue. This is the easy way. Waiting until you graduate often creates stress and anxiety, so start your planning early in your academic career.