Deciding on a major and an eventual career path is an important part of the college experience and does not always come easy; however, the following steps, with accompanying resources, can help get you pointed in the right direction. For more resources on career planning, visit here.
1. Take career assessments
Before deciding on a major or career, it’s helpful to ask yourself some key questions about your interests, strengths, values, work interests, etc. Take advantage of the following resources to get a better sense of what matters to you.
- What make a great career fit?
- Focus2: Focus2 offers personality, values, leisure, career and skills assessments. These assessments can give you a better glimpse into your strengths, your values and what it all means when looking for a career.
- 16 Personalities: This is a free Myers-Briggs assessment that explores how various personality types affect how we view the world and make decisions.
If you need help interpreting your assessment, schedule an appointment with someone at the Career Development Center.
2. Research Majors and Related Career Options
- Review the list of academic programs at OSU-Cascades
- Review list of academic programs at OSU in Corvallis.
- Examine the advising checklist for different majors so you understand degree requirements
- Read through course descriptions in the Course Catalog
- Visit your Academic Advisor to discuss options
- Explore majors and career options on What Can I Do With My Degree?
- Learn what career paths different majors offer with What Can I Do With This Major?
- Take an exploratory course in an area you are interested in
- Perform informational interviews or volunteer in a career area that is associated with a major of interest
3. Choose a Major and Implement Your Decision
After all that research, you may still have two or three majors that you really like and are having a difficult time choosing between. Understand that you are now more informed on each major and cannot make a bad decision at this point. Each major would be a good fit for you for one reason or another. Ultimately, you will need to choose and/or look at possible ways to combine major/minor options and additional courses of interest. Schedule an appointment with your Academic Advisor or the Career Development Center if you would like more assistance in processing your decision.
To change your major:
- Visit your academic advisor to make sure you are ready to declare your new major
- Fill out a Change of Undergraduate Program form
- Start taking classes that contribute to your new major
- Continue to reflect on your goals and commitments as you work toward attaining your degree
4. Explore Occupational Databases
There are many online tools available to help you discover your new career path.
My Next Move and O*NET
My Next Move is an interactive tool for job seekers. The site describes duties, skills, salary information and more for over 900 different careers. You can search careers by using keywords, browsing industries or completing the O*NET Interest Profiler, a tool that offers personalized career suggestions based on your interests and level of work experience. O*NET relies on the same U.S. government data but is much more detailed for exploring versus a quick snapshot on My Next Move.
Career One Stop
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Career One Stop includes databases of the fastest growing and highest paid position, skills assessments that match to job titles, career change resources, military experience matching and career overviews. It also includes a database of mini-videos telling you more about specific careers.
Occupational Outlook Handbook
Learn about various aspects of career fields including required education, potential earnings, job prospects and types of training to anticipate.
Job Boards like Handshake
One of the best ways to determine what you might like to do is to reference real job boards. Oregon state’s university-wide job board with over 300,000 employers nationwide is called Handshake. Search by keyword and location to find and apply for real jobs and internships of interest. Even if you aren’t ready to apply, use Handshake to research job titles, requirements and how you can gear your OSU training at the career you want. Learn how to get the most out of Handshake.
Additionally, you can check out OSU-Cascades job search resources page.
Have additional questions?