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Career Decision Making – Your Major Is Only A Part

As advising week starts, remember that major is only a part of your career choice and that career paths are rarely linear. This interactive career paths graphic shows how students’ majors prepare them for work across industries.  Most employers list “all majors” in their job listing qualifications, and so knowing how you like to use your skills, talents, and academic training and where you want to use them matters. The Center for Career Advancement has multiple resources to help you figure this out, starting with the 24/7 Career Center.

Whether you’ve chosen a major or are still thinking about it, the 24/7 Career Center lists numerous resources that can help you figure out what industry you want to work in and what kind of organization you want to be in. Finding Internships and Jobs – By Major is a section that offers major-specific handouts for the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Engineering, and Freeman College of Management.  These handouts draw on the NACE Career Readiness Competencies that employers are seeking in job candidates.

Even though you may have decided on a major, understanding the “universe” of options within majors is important.  What Can I Do With This Major? shows different career paths and industries for each major AND provides useful listings of related resources, such as professional associations and industry-specific tools and job listings.  The Center for Career Advancement’s Bertrand Library website is where Alumni Career Paths is housed; here you can see what others in your major are doing.  This can be especially useful to cross reference with the Bucknell LinkedIn University Page and Bucknell Connect, which powers the Bucknell Alumni Directory.

We have covered resources and opportunities on the blog in such areas as:

Additionally, Bucknell L&IT provides access to LinkedIn Learning and its articles on Career Management can also offer insight.

Remember to check Handshake for the programs and events being offered that may expose you to different career paths and explore various industries.

As always we are here to help, make an appointment in Handshake to get started with a career coach today.

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