Learning more about choosing a major or planning a career...

 Our goal at the Peer Career Center is not to choose a career or major for you but to help you with the process of choosing a major or a career path.

 If you are in the process of deciding on an academic major or clarifying your career plans here are two simple steps to get you started.

 Step 1

We recommend that you begin the process of career planning or choosing a major by taking a step back and learning about yourself.  Before you start focusing on information about careers or majors, focus first on yourself and your needs.  Many of our resources and services at the Peer Career Center are designed to help you learn about your occupational interests, values, and abilities or personality traits that influence your choice of major or career.

 Peer Career Center resources to assist you with this step include:

 DISCOVER/eDISCOVER – a computer-based career guidance and information system which has inventories designed to help you identify your occupational interests, values, and abilities. 

DISCOVER is located on-site at the Peer Career Center and is available for all ETSU students, faculty, and staff as well as prospective students.

eDISCOVER  is an internet version of DISCOVER available only to currently enrolled ETSU students, and ETSU faculty and staff.  Click here to access eDISCOVER 

Career Counseling – We provide one-on-one assistance to currently enrolled ETSU students who want to engage in more in-depth self and career exploration.  We typically utilize the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Strong Interest Inventory to assist in this process. 

Any of these options should help you narrow down your options of majors or careers and will provide you with suggestions of majors, occupations, or job families to explore further.

Step 2

As you complete Step 1 and identify major or career options to explore the next step is to obtain accurate up to date information about majors and occupations.  At this point the focus shifts from learning about yourself to learning about the world of work.  As you begin exploring occupations or majors you may want to think about what you would want to know about a major or occupation so you can decide if you want to rule it out as an option or pursue it further. 

As you look at majors you will want to know things such as the curriculum and course requirements, areas of concentration within a major, availability at your college or your transfer options, job options with this major, and recommended educational level (e.g. some fields recommend or require a graduate or professional).

As you look at occupations you may want to obtain information such as: job availability trends, salary ranges, job duties, education or training requirements, etc.

Resources at the Peer Career Center to assist you with this step include:

DISCOVER/eDISCOVER – detailed information about hundreds of occupations

Peer Career Library – books with information on occupations, occupational areas, and academic majors

Other resources available to you include:

Academic advisors and professors at your college or other colleges

College catalogues

College websites

Interviewing someone in a field or major that interests you

Exploring majors and careers is not a passive process.  Hopefully you have begun to take some steps toward narrowing down your options and identifying majors or career paths that will fit for you.  Here are some additional suggestions to help you as you continue the journey of self and career exploration.

Additional suggestions:

Web sites – There are many websites with information about career planning.  Click here to access the sites we recommend. 

If you have any questions or need any additional information feel free to visit the Peer Career Center of the 2^nd floor of the Culp Center, call us at 423-439-8651, or email us at pcc@mail.etsu.edu.

If you are a current or former ETSU student you many want to visit the web site of the ETSU Office of Career Placement and Internship Services www.etsu.edu/careers/.  This site has much information to help you with the job search process.

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This web site is best viewed with Internet Explorer.  Send questions or comments about this web site to:     Connie Yakley at yakley@etsu.edu   Last modified: September 18, 2007 11:46:50 AM,    East Tennessee State University

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