Talk with professionals in occupations that interest you. You can get referrals from the career center, check the local phone book, or even ‘interview’ someone by email after finding their business online.
2. Try Work Shadowing
Go a step beyond just talking to a professional in a field of your choice and actually watch them work! This is not necessarily mentoring, but rather trying ‘a day in the life’ of a professional in a possible career choice for you.
3. Attend Career-Related Events
Make the most of an upcoming career fair or industry expo to learn more about what appeals to you — and what doesn’t. Many events have speaker panels where you can listen to a talk about a certain career or ask questions of panel members.
4. Take A Few Classes
As early as possible, sign up for one or two classes in a field that you might want to pursue. If you don’t have room in your schedule right away, at least browse the course catalog and read the descriptions of classes that you might want to take to see if they match up with your expectations.
5. Read About Careers
There are tons of great places to do research on potential careers. Books, industry magazines and Web sites (like www.experience.com) can be fabulous sources of information from those who are enjoying a certain career — or who have tried it and hated it. Do some digging to find out why they liked it — or didn’t — to get some real insight.
6. Take Some Assessments
There are several tests that give you feedback on your areas of interest, personality, skills, attributes and values, and most can be taken and evaluated right at your campus career center. Some of these tests are described at www.rileyguide.com/assess.html They can help point you in the right direction and possibly introduce you to fields you hadn’t considered.
7. Do Some Self-Evaluation
Ask yourself what you enjoy, not what will make you the most money. Yes, this is a hard one, especially when those student loans are piling up. But do you really want to make a lot of money but be miserable 40 (or 80!) hours a week? Find a career you love and it’ll feel like you’re getting paid to have fun for a living. And, you’re much more likely to be successful doing something you like.
