The career planning efforts you accomplish early in your career will help you throughout the rest of your lifetime. Explore career options, consider associated work environments, identify career paths that are most attractive to you, and select lifestyles that feel like the best fits for your personality.
Occupational Information Network (O*NET) to make informed decisions about education, training, career choices, and work. Find occupations by using keywords or O*NET-SOC codes, browsing by job families, or browsing by O*NET descriptors. Use skills list to search and find matching occupations.
More Career Assessments Online Utilize online personal assessment tools to match your personality, skills, interests, and abilities with potential career options. You may want to review the test results with our Career Adviser in the MSU Alumni Association. Are you passionate about your work? Is your work innovative and inspiring? If so, then you have identified the RIGHT career area for you!!
Manage Your Own Career You need to understand your behavioral style, your preferred work environments, your organizational and personal values, and the importance of career satisfaction to your lifestyle. It is recommended that you take a formal assessment and have it interpreted by a professional who is trained in the use of that assessment. However, there are many free assessment tests that you may find helpful to determine your personality and preferred lifestyles.
Portfolios A portfolio is a very useful tool for assisting with your career development activities and job campaigning. It unites many aspects of your background into one portable, organized, easy-to-use and convenient package. It is like a lunch box—everything you need in one place and easy to carry with you.
Set Daily Goals If you set daily goals for yourself, you will accomplish more than you ever dreamed possible. Begin by analyzing your past activities and create your ultimate goal. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So, break your ultimate goal into monthly, weekly, and finally daily goals. Create an action plan to follow each and every day. Doing the right things will help you achieve your career goals, and you will get the results you seek. Don’t think about it. DO IT!!! Remember: A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step... forward.
Consider Career Alternatives Browse through job descriptions for various career areas in several career categories, including information on employment trends, necessary training and qualifications, earnings and related occupations. Select 5-6 careers that interest you.
Savvy Self-Marketing is Critical to Success! Robin Ryan is a top career counselor, has published articles in a wide array of publications, and wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal that is credited with bringing a great deal of hope, inspiration & savvy job hunting tips to many people.
Success Strategies Will Change Your Life Monetary wealth is only one piece to the puzzle of life. Your abilities to live out your dreams and achieve your life goals, regardless of the opinions of others, is most important. The success strategies you utilize and the formulas for action that you identify could help you realize your personal effectiveness. Be smart about the dreams and goals you select, your strategies for success, the daily practices you utilize, habits you retain, and achievement of your aspirations in life will be attainable. Select some excellent resources for advice on this topic!
WetFeet for Career Profiles, Company Information, Salary Data, Industry Profiles, and much more.. CareerOverview: Career, Job, and Employment Information Guide Selecting the right career and making informed career decisions requires reliable information about the opportunities available for a particular occupation. This web site is designed to provide reliable, up-to-date, and relevant career information and job descriptions for college students and alumni making decisions about their future alternative career paths.
Finding Internships InternJobs.com is a national database of internships for students and recent graduates. Jobs seekers can search the internships database by keywords or locations and post a resume online for employers to review. Employers can use this site to post and maintain internship listings online.
And another web site listing internships: http://internships.wetfeet.com/home.asp International Internships at MSU MSU undergraduate students may be eligible for international internships provided in close contact with MSU international alumni clubs around the globe. See this web site for important instructions on applying. Employers with internship opportunities in overseas locations are invited to list them at this web site.
Peterson’s Guides to Undergraduate and Graduate Programs Which undergraduate or graduate programs offer the academic majors that interest you? Help is provided for education search, admissions test preparation, financial aid, applying to colleges, and career services. Seeking Financial Aid for Attending College The Financial Aids Office at Michigan State University provides important information on costs of attending college, financial aid sources, and other options for paying for your education. As a general rule of thumb with regards to financial aid resources, if there is a charge to you for anything, don't do it. Any financial aid information that you could possibly want is available for free at MSU.
Scholarship Search Services Learn all you need to know about paying for college. Understand your options, search for scholarships and get the money you need for attending college. These free online scholarship search services connect you to over 600,000 sources of financial aid. They are fastweb.com and wiredscholar.com (make these hot links) with scholarships based on several criteria beyond grades and test scores. The MSU Office of Financial Aid lists several additional scholarship resources. Good Luck with your education.
Salary Surveys Research salary survey data for a variety of career areas and a number of occupational categories. America's Career InfoNet! Smart career decision-makers gain additional information here! Find wages and employment trends, occupational requirements, state by state labor market conditions, millions of employer contacts nationwide, and a most extensive online career resource library.
What Can I Do With This Major? This outstanding web page is available for "What Can I Do With a Major In"? It lists several academic majors and also provides links to career titles and related web sites for each. Occupational Outlook Handbook This publication is a nationally recognized source of career information, which is designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future career options. It is revised every two years and describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations. It is an excellent source for data on job market trends.
Digest of Education Statistics The Digest is issued annually to provide statistical information on American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. This publication contains information on number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates; educational attainment; finances; federal funds for education; libraries; and international education. Supplemental information on population trends, attitudes on education, education characteristics of the labor force, government finances, and economic trends provides background for evaluating education data. Public School Enrollment By State Estimated Average Annual Salary of Teachers in Public Schools, By State Projections of Education Statistics This report provides projections on elementary and secondary schools and higher education institutions in the United States. Included are projections of enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures to the year 2013. Degree-granting institutions provide study beyond secondary school and offer programs terminating in an associate's, baccalaureate, or higher degree. Most of the projections include three alternatives, based on different assumptions about demographic and economic growth paths. Percent Change K-12 Enrollment In Public Schools, By State
Career Guide to Industries This Guide provides information on available careers by industry, including the nature of each industry, working conditions, employment prospects, occupations available in the industry, training and advancement requirements, earnings and benefits, employment outlook, and lists of organizations that can provide additional information. This publication discusses more than 42 industries, which accounted for more than 7 out of every 10 wage and salary jobs in the U.S. This Guide is a good companion to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which provides information on careers from an occupational perspective. (US Dept. of Labor)
Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) This U.S. Department of Labor report provides employment and wage estimates for over 700 occupations. Estimates are included for all the U.S., for individual States, and for metropolitan areas; national occupational estimates are given for specific industries.
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System This system was developed as a universal occupational classification system to cover all occupations of work performed for pay or profit in the United States. There are 22 major groups of occupations, 96 minor groups, 449 broad occupations, and 821 detailed occupations. Occupations with similar skills or work activities are grouped at each level of hierarchy, so multiple occupations requiring the same skills and abilities can easily be found. More U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
Searching for Graduate Schools Identify colleges by location, major, tuition, sports and more! Conduct a college search. Find accredited programs from leading institutions throughout the U.S. Search by graduate program type. Get test preparation advice and try online practice tests. Research the best college deals, scholarships and other financial aide information.
Prepare For Graduate School Entrance Exams Get advice from the MSU Testing Services. Which test do you need? GRE General Test or Writing Assessment GMAT (Business) PRAXIS (Teacher) NBPTS (Professional Teaching Standards) NAPLEX (Pharmacy) NBPME (Podiatry) LSAT (Law School) MCAT (Medical School) OAT (Optometry) VAT (Veterinary) FSO (Foreign Service Officers Exam). For a majority of students, preparation for taking graduate admission exams is easier than you might think and does not require an expensive commercial preparation course. Get prepared by contacting the MSU Testing Office (in Counseling Center), 207 Student Services Building, Phone: (517) 355-8385; TTY: (517) 353-7278 or click the link above to visit their web site.
What Do Employers Want From New Hires As a job seeker in today's competitive market, you must demonstrate that you have what employers are seeking in available jobs. You have invested significant time, energy and money into your education. Now is the time for your education to go to work for you. Personnel and human relation representatives in several organizations were interviewed to obtain the employer's perspective. Their advice and insight should help you to become a more competitive job candidate.
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