Introduction When I ask many students the question, What career and or major are they pursuing? The answer is usually "I don't know". This answer is typical of students who have not taken the time to do some critical thinking, planning, and assessment of themselves.If you're like a number of students, you're in college for job-related reasons yet actually planning out your career is the last thing on your mind. However, it is very important to start your career planning process as early as possible. Research and experience has shown that the students who start the career planning process soon after starting college are more successful getting into their chosen career field after graduation, as well as being happier with their career choice. Three Steps to Good Career Planning Self-Assessment Exploring Career Options Meeting with your College Counselor There are several ways to accomplish these steps. I would recommend that students if they can make the time committment, enroll in a counseling course called "Career Development" this is a very effective strategy in choosing your career and major. For those of you that cannot enroll in the course, I recommend that you meet with a College Counselor as soon as possible to begin the career planning process. Step 1. Self-Assessment You need to know yourself! Know your strengths, your weaknesses, your abilities, your values, your interests etc. Untill you do this, you can't know what career you would be happy doing or even what you would be good at doing.There are several activities which you must complete in order to find out who you are and whats important to you. I suggest that you complete the following activities to get your answers: Activity A Visit your college career center: Most college career centers offer a number of services designed to help you during the career planning process. Some of the services offered include, personal inventories. There are number of inventories that you can complete that will help you identify and describe your values, strengths, career interests, and personality traits. Personality tests.Counselors administer a variety of personality tests that will help you during the self-assessment process. There are different types of tests(achievement, aptitude, interest, intelligence, and personality), each designed to give you different information about yourself.Individual counseling sessions with your counselor to assist in the clarification of the information and they help you gain insights into your values, interests and abilities. Activity B Develop a personal career planning journal: Purchase a notebook which you can utilize as your own career planning journal. Schedule some quality time for yourself so you can answer the following questions: what are my strengths, weaknesses, skills, abilities, interests, hobbies, values, classes I like and what I liked about them, classes I didn't like and what I didn't like about them, job tasks I enjoy, job tasks I don't enjoy, dreams of what I'd like to do etc. Activity C Ask others to share their perceptions of you:Talk with your family, friends, co-workers, teachers, spouse, and significant others who know you well. Ask them to share their perceptions of you, such as strengths they see in you, things they think you do well, values they see in you, how you treat others, style of operation, etc.Write these perceptions down in your journal.Make sure that what you write down are others perceptions and not your own. Step 2. Exploring Career Options Now that you have increased your knowledge about yourself through the self-assessment process, it's time to explore your career options. Many students ask "how do I begin? where do I start?".Well my answer to you is that you must take charge and become proactive. Once again, you must complete several activities in order to explore your career options.These acivities include: Activity A Visit the career center:There are thousands of occupations available, yet most people can list only a hundred or so.The career center has computerized career guidance programs as well as other resources which list the different occupations available. The career center subscibes to at least one computerized system such as Eureka, the California Career Information System, or Discover to name a few. By directing you through a series of exercises and inventories, these programs will then suggest a number of occupations you should explore. Activity B Conduct informational interviews/job shadow:Researching and reading about a career is very different from observing first hand and talking to someone who actually works in that specific field.Set up opportunities to spend time with people working in the careers which interest you. Spend time on the job with significant others, or friends of friends, or have your counselor refer you to appropriate individuals.You must prepare a list of questions to ask them. See your counselor for examples of questions to be asked.After conducting your job shadow/informational interviews and writing down the experiences in your journal, you are ready to focus on your career/major area of study and eliminate those careers that do not seem interesting to you. Step 3. Meeting with your College Counselor Now that you have completed the self-assessment process and explored career options, you should meet with your college counselor to discuss the results of your reading, research, and evaluation.Having seen first hand what a professional does on the job allows you to smell, taste, and feel for yourself.Now it is time for you discuss with your counselor the educational requirements you need to complete in order to prepare for your chosen career. This is the time when you and your counselor sit down to establish an educational plan or road map to get to the chosen career. A word of caution, on the average, students change their majors/careers at least three times while in college. This occurs because you are in a learning mode and taking differnt courses and volunteering/ working. These experiences will allow you to eventually focus on the career of your choice. So regardless of where you begin, remember"the more you learn-the more you earn". Higher education or advanced training is the only vehicle for a career.So work with your counselor at each step the process. Click here to return to the main page [Hartnell Home Page] [Welcome & Information] [What's New] [Learning & Research] [Offices & Organizations] © 1997 Hartnell College, all rights reserved - Contact Dr. Ignacio Pando with any comments about this web page. ipando@hartnell.edu