Career Paths
Explore Academic & Career Interests
Active exploration is critical when considering what you might want to do. As you begin to make decisions regarding classes, majors, and how those may connect to various career options, consider the following career planning myths:
Myth: My major will define my career choice
In reality, majors can lead you in multiple directions – they do NOT linearly lead to careers. In fact, 75% of college graduates don’t work in a career that is “related” to their undergraduate major. (Designing Your Life, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans)
Myth: There is only one right career for me
In reality, there can be multiple career paths, industries, or occupations that you might find satisfying.
Ways You Can Explore
Through Conversations
A great way to get the inside scoop on industries, professions, and academic options that might interest you is to conduct informational interviews. Prepare questions to help you learn about their career paths and ask what advice they have for you as you explore possibilities. Visit the Greene Center's networking page for tips, information, and sample notes to help you approach networking conversations.
Connect with:
- Alumni: Through the Meliora Collective, LinkedIn, and by browsing through alumni bios located within the Greene Center’s Career Communities
- Faculty: The authorized approval list is a great place to start
- Peers: Via the students tab in Handshake
Through the Career Communities
Career Communities are a way to connect you to information, resources, and people by encouraging exploration and exposing you to related industries and professions. Check out the exploratory career community for more resources geared towards getting to know yourself, discovering your potential, and building career competencies.
Through Career Exploration Resources
Career Explorer is an assessment tool that assists you in identifying your skills, interests, values and personality traits. Identifying these personal attributes will help you to understand how they might play a role in your career and academic related decisions. Sokanu also allows you to explore in-depth industry information on hundreds of careers and what majors are typically associated with those careers.
“What can I do with this major?” provides you with information related to career fields and job titles that are associated with a specific area of study.
The Career Outcomes Dashboard is an incredible interactive tool that provides you with information on where our recent graduates have gone. You can through numerous metrics including majors, industry areas, and salary range.
Through the Greene Center for Career Education and Connections
A common myth is that career centers can only help you with your resume. While the Greene Center can assist you in this area, their services are wide-ranging. From 1:1 advising to connecting you with alumni, employers, and events, the Greene Center can help in all areas related to personal and professional exploration.
Through the Greene Center's tool Handshake, you can customize your career exploration experience by focusing on what matters to you. By updating your profile and completing your career interests, this opportunity recommendation tool grows with you over the course of your four years and allows you to truly maximize your experience while at Rochester.