On The Path to Your CAREER...
-Brenda Davis-Smith

You’ve utilized the services of your campus Career Center by meeting with advisors, taking advantage of the many programs offered, possibly served a few internships, co-ops and even worked your share of part time jobs. Now the time has come to start thinking about life after college.

As you begin to contemplate what career path you want to take, RESEARCH is the keyword- and the simplest research method is to use the web.  You can find a wealth of information on companies, industries, occupations, work trends (past, present and future), etc., that will help you as you begin your journey.

Before beginning your web research, you should first determine what careers you might be interested in, which can seem like a daunting task.  If you lay some groundwork, you can create a template that will greatly simplify your web research, and you might even have some fun!

Let's get started...          

The 'soft-guide' below can be used as a tool to help set-up your research template:

• Identify what interests you and/or what skills you possess, and list related occupations
• Think of people you know or admire and list their occupations
• Think of industries that sound interesting and list related occupations
• List employers you've heard of or are interested in learning more about

With your basic research template set-up, you can begin to surf the web.  Use your favorite search engines to look up the companies, occupations, and industries on your list. 

But wait, there's more...

So now that the hard part is done - you can really have a blast with a cool Career Calculator we've found that can help you to explore career possibilities you may not have considered, or even been aware of. 
Check it out on the  website.  Once you start playing with this little gadget, you'll find it hard to stop!  The Dream!t.Do!t. site also has a 20-question 'Dream Career Quiz' that you'll no doubt find entertaining and helpful, and it also boasts a plethora of other career & occupation information and links.

And may we suggest...

Here are some links that we think may be useful in your career research:

• www.jobmagnet.org - Job Magnet, NEO’s premiere source for careers in advanced manufacturing
• www.bls.gov/oco/ - The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics 'Occupations Outlook Handbook'
• www.JobWeb.com - Career development and job search advice
• www.RileyGuide.com - A resource for free career and employment information