Exploring/Multiple Interests
Still figuring out your career path or torn between multiple options? Don’t worry—that’s totally normal! Check out the Career Pathway community pages for helpful info and resources to explore your options. Choosing a career isn’t about just one big decision—it’s a mix of self-exploration, research, and hands-on experience. And remember, picking a career now doesn’t mean you’re locked in forever—most people switch directions five or six times throughout their lives. So take time to research, stay curious, and explore what excites you.
If you are still deciding or exploring, we recommend beginning with Explore Your Interests/Self-Assessment section. You can take self-assessments to gather insights into your interests, skills, values, personality, and strengths that can help you begin to formulate a plan.
Resources to assist your exploration:
If you’re interested in multiple careers or VT Career Pathways, you may be feeling overwhelmed or stuck if you’re unsure whether a better option may exist or unsure how to narrow down your options. To make the process more manageable, it’s helpful to break it down into smaller steps:
Learn more about each of the Career Pathways and types of events, resources, and career information shared for each community. Pay attention to what interests you most! [All of the Career Pathways can be found in the above menu by hovering over “Career Paths & Identities” or by reviewing the Career Pathways Info Sheet.]
Identify the career options or pathways you want to explore further. Even if you’re unsure of exactly what it may entail, include as many as you can see yourself potentially pursuing. Consider following each of those Career Pathways to see what information and events are regularly shared by those communities. [Each community will have an orange button to the right, “Follow here for more career content.”]
To compare your options, create a simple way to rank them. You could use numbers (such as 1-5), low/medium/high, or okay/good/great. Ranking them is just a way to prioritize what you want to explore more in-depth first, not excluding the other options all together. After you create your list of your top career options of interests, now it’s time to create your action plan!
Career Insights with Steppingblocks: Learn from millions of real-world outcomes to get insight into the skills, trends, and education you need to make career decisions.
Career Profiles: Information about careers, and salaries by career field. Sources, by industry, for finding jobs.
CareerFYI.com: Informational interviews with people working in specific careers such as fashion, finance, high tech, human resources, insurance, legal, marketing, non-profit, project management, public service, real estate, retail, sales, software, television, travel, web/tech, and more.
Employment Projections: Extensive information collected and compiled by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Job Shadow.com: Explore career options by reading interviews with people in many occupations
Occupational Outlook Handbook: Research guide for detailed information about specific occupations. Look up occupations, see nature of the work, job outlook, earnings, and more.
O*Net Find Occupations: Find and learn about occupations. View by career cluster, industry, outlook. Browse occupations by abilities, skills, interests, knowledge, values, more. Browse interests by Holland Codes [RIASEC]. Search occupations by skills, technology, and knowledge.
Vault: Dive into detailed information about various industries, companies, and job roles to help you make informed career decisions. Access extensive company rankings and read verified reviews from employees and interns to get an authentic view of potential employers. Utilize guidebooks for in-depth insights into career paths, industry trends, and company cultures.
The best decisions are made based on information from a variety of sources. Seek perspective from different people to enhance your research. People working in career fields can offer a reality check on things you read or assumptions you might have.
- Career and internship advisors in colleges: There are faculty and staff in many of the colleges and major departments whom you can meet with you to discuss academic and career options commonly associated with their majors.
- Career and Professional Development coaching: We’re here to help you navigate your decisions and connect you with the right resources to find alumni and other professionals to learn more about the careers/industries you’re exploring. Let us know how we can support you!
Don’t let the idea of networking intimidate you! More simply, networking is building relationships. Speaking with professionals (a.k.a. informational interviews) is an ideal way to gain insights into career fields, companies, and even what it’s like to work in specific locations. Start with contacts you already have to get more comfortable before reaching out to new contacts you may make from the following:
- Alumni
- Virginia Tech LinkedIn alumni page allows you to find Hokies who are working in careers you may be exploring. This is a great way to explore career paths and find people you can contact to learn from their experience.
- Employers
- Career fairs can be a great opportunity to speak with a number of employers all at once. Remember, the world of work is not organized by major. Most VT career fairs are open to all majors! Visit the career fair page in Handshake to see who’s attending and the types of opportunities they offer.
- If a career fair seems too overwhelming when first beginning to network, consider starting with smaller, more intimate opportunities: employer information sessions, guest speakers who visit your class, college/department networking events, etc. Do your homework before attending an employer event to learn more about their organization. Employers are impressed by students who are prepared! Participate to learn more first-hand from employers about internships and entry-level career options.
An informational interview or informational meeting enables you to gather information about careers, by initiating contact with someone for the purpose of learning. It is not the same as a job interview! Think of the approach of a journalist interviewing someone in order to learn; that’s your purpose.
You won’t truly know what a career is like until you experience it firsthand. The good news? There are tons of ways to explore your career interests in college—and internships aren’t the only option! Try out as many experiences as you can, whether it’s part-time jobs, research, volunteering, or leadership roles.
Most Virginia Tech grads say they gained career-related experience during college, but about a third of them wish they had done more!
And if you try something and realize it’s not for you—that’s still a win. Figuring out what you don’t like is just as valuable as discovering what you do. It’s way better to learn that now than after graduation! No matter what, every experience helps you grow, and your career path will keep evolving over time.
As you navigate the on-going process of career and self-exploration, go where your curiosity takes you, and be willing to step out of your comfort zone! We welcome you to make a coaching appointment for support throughout your exploration journey.
