Career Exploration 101

>> It's never too early to start to think about your career. Don't wait until you're a senior in college to find your first job. The less rushed you are the more likely you are to make the right decision. [ Music ] Select this. So when is the first time you started to think about your career after college? >> Hmm. High school I think. I think I wanted to be a doctor. A psychiatrist for adolescents maybe. >> What made you think you'd like that? >> Well, I've always wanted to help struggling kids and I've always been very empathetic and a great communicator. >> That's good, one of the first thing you want to do in this process is evaluate what you're good at. You want to think about your accomplishments and why you're are successful and what skills you have. I would assess what industries and careers you think would be a good fit for you and I would urge you that whatever you came up with you did for a reason. So explore. >> It really starts to build from what do you naturally volunteer your time towards without thinking about your career or your long term future or anything like that. Like when you're not studying or when you're not hanging out with friends what is it that you do as a hobby or what are you spending your time with? Think about what it is that you're already doing and how you can transform that into a real life career. >> Volunteer, get involved, internships, any opportunity, even if they're not required. You know, if the school will allow you to do it and back you up on it, do it. Because that's when you can find out what you don't want to do and then of course where your strengths are and what maybe you would really like to go into. So, I mean, I cannot stress that enough. >> A great option is to take a self assessment test. Have you ever taken one of those? >> No, I haven't. >> Do you want to? >> Sure. >> These tests can match your results to different career options. You may think you already know yourself pretty well but these tests will match your personality and skills to careers you didn't think about or even knew existed. Let's try the Dewey Color system. [ Music ] Okay Evelyn. Based on these recommended results why don't you grab your portfolio and let's make a list of your top five career choices. [ Music ] Select one. Now that you have your list it's a good idea to discuss it with people you trust. Like your parents, a school counselor or a mentor maybe. Do you have any people like that in your life? >> Yeah, I have some people in mind. >> Valuable input from people you trust will make your decision a lot easier. >> People enjoy, or most people I would think would give the time to help educate a young person. All of us out here in the working world want the next generation to come in ready to do their best. And so most people would be more interested -- and you're going to do better at what your passionate about. >> It's important to talk to someone with personal knowledge in a career you might want to pursue. Even better, to visit them. You may think you want to work in a specific field, spend one day and realize it's not for you. So don't be shy about setting up that visit. In order to really explore your career and find what you're interested in I think, you know, talking to people and getting, you know, really active in what you might be interested in is a great way to tell you whether in fact it holds your interest for a few hours, a few days or many, many months and years to come. >> Now that you have narrowed down your list of careers that you think might be a good fit, it's time to get your hands dirty and do a little more research about each one of them. >> Start with the basic stuff. Research the job's salary, duties and requirements. Shadow someone in the field for a day, maybe even a week. A little reality testing. Conduct informational interviews. It's a great way to learn about the career as well as network. If you're unable to find someone to do an informational interview check out our site. Canacareer.com for our extensive library of video interviews. Visit your career center and meet with a counselor. Discuss your goals and the steps you plan to take to reach them. >> If you're a freshman and you're undecided, I would just ask yourself this. What is it that you do that makes you happy? If playing video games makes you happy than maybe you want to seek out a career in video game development. Maybe you want to seek out a career in working with a company that does video game development. Pursue those things that make you happy and if you're able to make a great living at it or a good living at it or comfortable living, that's a bonus. So I hope this energized you to get out there and really think about what you want to do. Don't be overwhelmed. Just take it step by step and before long you'll find yourself in that perfect job.