What’s out there? Exploring careers

• Candid Career Videos
  [CandidCareer.com]
  Brief interviews of people speaking candidly about their careers.
• Career Clusters Handout (pdf)
  16 clusters of career fields and potential job titles.
• Career Profiles
  [CareerProfiles.com]
  Information about careers, and salaries by career field. Sources, by industry, for finding jobs.
• Employment Projections
  [U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics]
  Extensive information collected and compiled by the federal government.
• Career FYI informational interviews with people working in specfic careers
  [CareerFYI.com]
  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.
• Job Shadow.com
  [JobShadow.com]
  Explore career options by reading interviews with people in many occupations
• Occupational Outlook Handbook
  [U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics]
  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
  [U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration]
  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.

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.

Advising at Virginia Tech

• Career and internship advisors in colleges for undergraduate majors
  Faculty and staff in the colleges and academic major departments you can consult about career options associated with majors.
• Career and Professional Development advising
  We can help you sort out decisions you need to make, and help you find and use resources to help you. However, we cannot advise you on course requirements for majors and minors; for that you must consult the department offering the major or minor.

Networking

• Networking
  Learn from contacts you have, and from new contacts you make.
  Conduct informational interviews.
• Virginia Tech LinkedIn site to explore alumni by careers.
• Career fairs
  Most VT-affiliated career fairs are hosted by academic departments or colleges to focus on career fields related to the host majors. Note that the employment world is not organized by major. Do your homework before participating; employers expect that. Read each event website to see which employers are participating and the types of jobs they offer. Employers are impressed by students who are prepared. Then participate to learn more from employers about internships and entry-level career options.

You'll never know what a career field is like until you experience it where the rubber hits the road. There are many ways to test out your career interests in the real world through experience during college. Explore as many as you can. Internships are not the only way to get experience.

The majority of our Virginia Tech grads tell us they had career-related experience during college. Even so, about a third say they wish they'd had more!

If you try something and realize you don't like it, that has value. You've learned that, and can move on. It's much better to find out during college that you don't really like a career field, as contrasted with learning that after graduation. Even if that happens, view this as a step in your growth and development. Your career path will span many years and may take many directions.