To clarify your post-graduate direction, there are two essential activities you must undertake: self-assessment (to learn about your specific career preferences) and career exploration (evaluate how they meet your career preferences).

Self-Assessment

Self-assessment, an activity in which you take some time to consider yourself and your career preferences. Having done that, it will be easier for you to move into career research and action.

Envision Your Ideal Life

Imagine that you had 3 separate lifetimes to live - what would you do with your time?

Write about your vision. Don’t limit yourself to occupational titles or career fields; instead, provide detailed descriptions of what you’d like to be doing, where you’d like to live, who you’d like to spend time with, and what special skills, training or interests you would hope to explore and develop.

After completing, list your current "areas of interest," "skills and abilities," "personal values," and "personality and preference." You may update the list as you go. You may also utilize online self-assessment tools to help you get started. 

Reflection, synthesis, and confirmation are integral parts of self-assessment. Once you have identified and prioritized your interests, skills, values and personality preferences, it is important to “put it all together” to identify themes and general career areas that you’d like to explore further.



Quick Links:
Self-Assessment Tools

- California Career Zone
- My Next Move

Career Exploration

Career Exploration is simply learning about various occupations and their "fit" with your unique career preferences, e.g. the skills, interests and values you want satisfied by your career. Ideally, you engage in career exploration during or after identifying your career preferences through self-assessment.

From Majors to Careers

Curious about a typical career for a given major? These career fields listed are typical for the major but they are not comprehensive lists. Please use these lists as a reference guide to explore career ideas. 

Accounting
  • Assurance Services
  • Business Valuing
  • Environmental Accounting
  • External Auditing
  • Financial Accounting
  • Forensic/Investigative Accounting
  • International Accounting
  • Personal Financial Planning
  • Risk Management Consulting
  • Tax Accounting
Finance
  • Budget Analysis
  • Cash Management
  • Credit Management
  • Financial Analysis
  • Financial Reporting
  • Investment Management
  • Investor Relations
  • Payroll
  • Risk Management
Hospitality Management and Tourism
  • Food and Beverage Manager
  • General Manager
  • Housekeeping Manager
  • Mixologist
  • Personal Concierge
  • Pool Concierge
  • Restaurant Manager
  • Sales Manager
International Business
  • Customs Compliance
  • Import/Export Compliance Specialist
  • International Accountant
  • International Banking
  • International Economist
  • Management Analyst
Marketing
  • Advertising Management
  • Brand Management
  • Marketing Strategy Management
  • Product Management
Real Estate Management
  • Appraiser
  • Assessor
  • Asset Manager
  • Building Inspector
  • Community Development Representative
  • Construction Manager
  • Development Specialist/Assistant Project Manager
  • Housing Project Manager
  • Insurance Agent/Broker
  • Land Development Manager
  • Leasing Agent/Management Specialist
  • Market Analyst
  • Mortgage Loan Officer/Lender
  • Mortgage Quality Assurance Officer
  • Real Estate Agent
Computer Science
  • Software Design
  • Systems Development
  • Programming
  • Web Design
  • Web Maintenance
Information System
  • Implementation/Coding
  • Integration/Testing
  • Operations/Maintenance
  • System Analysis
  • System Design
  • System Evaluation
 

Job Objective Exercise


What do you do if you need to get a job soon but have no idea what kind of job you want? And when you look at the job search sites you just feel more confused!

First of all, you are not alone. Many students don’t know what kind of job to seek at first. To help you start honing in on an objective, try this brief exercise. It will help you identify one or more options that may be viable short-term goals, if not long-term careers.

  • Step 1: Using the job categories on a job board, browse listings for which you are qualified. Look at a few different job categories, functions or industries.

  • Step 2: Disregarding the job titles, review each job listing and identify elements of the job that you find appealing - whether it be the responsibilities, work environment, or product or service.
    HINT: If you don’t find anything you like, try another job board.

  • Step 3: Print out 5-10 job listings you like the best. Read through each one and highlight words in the job title, description, or qualifications that appeal to you.

  • Step 4: Look over the job listings you've marked up and notice whether there are patterns. For example, do you see skills ("organize", "research," "advise") or other terms ("benefits," "sponsorship") frequently highlighted? These are clues to the kinds of jobs you should look for.

  • Step 5: Now go back to the job board and search the job listings again but this time, search by the keywords or job titles you've identified. Most likely, this will give you a much more targeted list of jobs. As your search progresses, your objective may narrow or even change, but for now you have a starting point.

Quick Link: Job Board

- Careerjet
- Idealist
- Indeed
- Monster
- ZipRecruiter