Choosing A Career Path While In College

Most students have difficulty in choosing a career path while they are still in colleges. That probably explains the large number of students who don’t have a major. Generally, college students who haven’t decided on what they want to do when they graduate are usually majoring in general studies.

If you belong to the pack that has difficulty in choosing a career, you are not alone. The following are some guidelines that you can consider when choosing your career path while you are still in college.

1. Listen up to friends and family. One of the things that you will often hear is the advice from your family, relatives and friends. Your father, uncle and aunty will give you all sorts of advices on what to do after you graduate. The only thing you can do is to listen up. Even if they may not be the experts on the subject, they are well intentioned. Therefore, note down the list of occupations that they have told you and compare it with your own goals.

2. Figuring out the major. While you are still in college, determine the major that fits your goals and talents. For example, if one of your talents is making delicious cookies, you can consider majoring in culinary art which will make you a pastry chef when you graduate. Or if you goal is to fight crime and ensure national security, you can consider studying in criminal justice.

3. Seek help from professional. There are a lot of people in colleges that can help you to choose your career. One of which is the career advisor that offers professional advices on choosing a career. They are mostly located in your college career’s office. Their services range from offering career information, resources and suggestions on how to do research as well as narrowing down your major. Some of them even offer career assessment test to figure out what your talent is.

4. Narrow down your career choices. After you have got the advices from your friends, family and career advisors, make a list of all the majors that fits your goals and interests. Narrow it down to fewer than 5 choices and rate them accordingly from the most appealing to the least based on your requirements.

5. Do your homework. Things you should consider while rating your major are career prospect, career outlook, job requirements, period of studying, education flexibility, salary range and so on. You can find out about these things over the internet. Sites such as salary.com and the occupational outlook handbook are excellent resources for your research.

6. Talk to the person already in the position. For example, a pharmacist working at a local store is able to reveal tremendous insight about his or her daily routine at the store. If you are planning to become a pharmacist, you can ask questions like whether he or she enjoys the work. You can also seek his or her opinions about the important part of the work and what makes a good pharmacist.

7. Other than talking to a person in the position, you can also seek help from professional organizations. The website of a professional organization has tones of resources about a particular profession. For instances, for chefs and culinary art related information, contact the American Culinary Federation. The American Bar Association has all resources related to lawyers.

8. Lastly, after you have gathered enough information and feel that you are confidence enough to make your decision, go ahead to choose a major. Don’t worry about choosing a wrong career at this time as it’s a natural thing to feel uncertain about your decision. You can always change your decision later when you feel that the choice of the major doesn’t fit you the best. But give it a fair chance before you do.

In conclusion, deciding on a major while in college is a big decision to make. Most college students are having difficulty in choosing a career. As a result, they will most likely major in general study. It takes some work and a little perseverance to decide on your career. In actual fact, your college can help you the most. Take advantage of the career counseling services available at the career center resources. Other than choosing a career, they can also help with your resume and cover letter. The career center is an excellent place for searching a summer internship.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Choosing A Career Guide. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.