Career Exploration

Once you have a better understanding of who you are and what careers may be a good fit, it's time to do some research! ​​Here's some things to consider as you find out more information on each career:

• Does it align with your personality and interests?
• What skills are required for this occupation?
• What type of academic knowledge? Is there a specific level of education or degree needed?
• What type of technical skills do you need?
• What are the 'employability skills' you need? (i.e. time management, communication)
• How is the job market for this occupation? Is it a growing field? Will there be a demand once you graduate?
• What is the salary (median and range) for this job? Does the salary align with the lifestyle you want? Is it higher in certain geographic areas?
• What does the "day-to-day" look like for this job?
• What is the work environment like for this job?
• ​What types of commute or travel would be required?
• Are there physical requirements​ for this occupation? (Heavy lifting, standing, etc.)

• What kinds of experiences/education would help you be more competitive​ for this job?

Online resources to help you research careers: ​

• ONet Online ​- Detailed information on occupations including daily activities, skills and education needed, and salary
• Eureka - Overview of occupation including job function and education needed
  • Access Code: Create an account then use the site code OJL3DHQ
• Occupational Outlook Handbook​ - Career information on specific jobs including their outlook (job growth)
• Salary Surfer - Generalized salary information based on degrees/programs ​offered at community colleges and universities
• Labor Market Info - (CA) California labor market information through the State of California EDD
• Labor Market Info - (USA) National labor market information through the US Labor Department

Industry specific sites:

• Health Workforce Initiative's Health Occupations Directory​ - Extensive information on the all the careers related to healthcare.
• Careers in Film - Career information for the film and media industry. ​​​
• The Art Career Project - Career information for the arts including fine art, film, culinary, digital arts, performing arts, fashion, music, photography, and more.
• Business Degrees - A resource to understand the different areas of concentration in business

Now that you know more about yourself and more about potential careers you're interested in - it's time to test drive the career!

Just like you test drive a car before buying, it's important that you get hands on exposure to a career. Sometimes a career sounds great when you read about it, but you may realize it's not the best fit once you get first-hand experience.

So how do you test drive a career? The following are strategies we suggest:

Informational Interviews

An informational interview is an informal conversation you can have with someone working in a career or​ area of interest to you. It is an effective research tool and is best done after preliminary online research. It is not a job interview, and the objective is not to find job openings. If you feel awkward about asking someone for an informational interview, that's okay. However, informational interviews are a very normal request for professionals - and people generally don't mind talking about their own career journey with someone who is interested!

Watch this video explaining more about informational interviews and some tips for navigating them:

Getting Hands-On Experience

Hands-on experience can be gained through professional work, internships, volunteering, and job shadowing. These allow you to see first-hand what an occupation is like.

• Professional work - Both part-time and full-time work that's related to your desired occupation. For example, if you wanted to eventually become a veterinarian, you could get a paid job working at the front desk at a veterinary clinic
• Internships - Internships can be formal (with an application process) or informal (agreed upon by an employer and you). They can also be paid or unpaid. In some instances, you may be able to get college credit for an internship!
  • Micro-Internships Resource (Parker Dewey) - Paid micro-internship projects
  • Workaway (Travel + Volunteer)
• Volunteering - Volunteer work can also be formal (through an organization) or informal, but it's always unpaid.
  • Volunteer Match
  • Workaway (Travel + Volunteer)​
• Job shadowing - Think of job shadowing like an extended informational interview. Instead of just getting to talk with someone once about their career, you can spend time observing the life of a professional. This can give you an even greater understanding of the day- to-day tasks for an occupation. Check out this article​ with tips on job shadowing​.
  • Health professions: Free online job shadowing resource through Pre-Health Shadowing

Consider taking a class at SCC to help you with the career exploration process!

The courses we offer include:

Counseling 101: Educational, Personal, Cultural, and Career Exploration (3 units)

• Designed to promote academic and career success by exploring student development from an educational, sociological, psychological, and physiological perspective. Exploration of higher education opportunities, potential career interests and a focus on educational planning. Recommended for students planning to complete an associate degree, and/or to transfer to a university.
• This course meets the Associates of Arts (AA)/Plan 1 General Education Area 7A and CSU-GE general education Area E1(CSU-GE is not recommended for all students, please consult with a counselor).

Counseling 116: Career/Life Planning & Personal Exploration (3 units)

• This course is designed to assist students in successfully establishing and achieving education, career and life goals. Students are guided through a reflective process that focuses on values, interests, personality, skills and learning styles. Career and education options are researched, and students are exposed to college resources and support services. Decision making models and goal setting techniques are examined and will be used to develop short and long term education, career and life plans.

• This course meets the Associates of Arts (AA)/Plan 1 General Education Area 7A and CSU-GE general education Area E1(CSU-GE is not recommended for all students, please consult with a counselor).

Counseling 118: Self Exploration & the Teaching Profession (2 units)

• An exploration of "self" covering theories of values, interests, skills and personality as applied to the teaching profession. Topics include culturally diverse student populations, career ladders and options, and academic preparation required for employment. Students will develop an awareness of psychological and sociological forces within the workplace. Career and life plans for the teaching profession or alternative career paths will be developed for employment.