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Define Your Plan: Going Beyond Major

Over the semester, the Center for Career Advancement has offered numerous resources to inform your career exploration and internship and job searches. For this post we’re highlighting tools that link major and career to help show the dynamic between them and light up the journey that is your own career path.

Over the years, for the many alumni career panels the CCA has hosted, there are two things that stand out: Major is only a part of your career choice and career paths are rarely linear.

As this ”explore interactive career paths” graphic demonstrates, what a student studies can help prepare them for a wide range of career options. You can also see this in the Alumni Career Paths resource.

Another resource to help you understand your career options within major is What Can I Do With This Major?, found on your My Career Center within myBucknell. What Can I Do With This Major? shows the versatility of major within industry and career path. For example, Political Science majors, English majors, and Education majors, while they will bring different skill sets or interests to areas, have the same multiple paths across multiple sectors, including law, business, media, government, education, and so on. 

As suggested in her book, You Majored In What? Mapping Your Path from Major to Career, Katharine Brooks encourages creating a “wandering map” to identify categories and themes that can be put in a chart that can guide your exploration. She also offers “wisdom builders” that utilize asking questions like “How do I define success?” Copies are available from the Bertrand Library if you’d like to read more.

We sign off reminding you to ENJOY THE WINTER BREAK. 

We hope you’re able to use the time to explore some of the many resources we’ve shared with you this semester.  Happily, they’re easily accessible on our 24/7 Career Center. We have several programs scheduled to help you continue your career journey over winter break and more in the works. Be on the lookout for information from us and we look forward to starting the spring semester with you in February!

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