Exploration – Self, Majors, Careers

Exploration (self, majors, and careers)

FOCUS Career Development System (for students and alumni) allows exploration of self, majors and careers. Focus contains five self-assessments and corresponding career suggestions (interest, skills, personality, values, leisure activities). “What Can I do with this Major?” connects all Penn State majors to corresponding careers. Career exploration allows students to lookup specific careers to learn skills needed, values, earnings, future outlook, associations, and more.

•  New Users - Focus Registration
  (Enter lion in the access code field. For username, use your Penn State access ID (xyz1234) to make it easy to remember.)
•  Registered Users – Focus Login  

Career Assessments – schedule an appointment with a career counselor (Commons building / 610-892-1390) to complete the Myers Briggs personality assessment and obtain a comprehensive career report.

Course offering - CNED 100: Effective Career Decision Making (2 credits) allows exploration of self, majors and careers. Refer to the online schedule for more details.

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Exploration (self and majors)

eLion Major Themes (a Penn State resource for current students) – Within eLion, select Major Themes to answer questions about your interests and skills and receive a list of Penn State majors that may be a good match.

DUS Navigator 101  (a Penn State resource available to all) – This educational planning program is designed for first-year students who are exploring majors. It consists of a series of lessons and assignments that will help clarify your interests, consider your abilities, and explore academic opportunities so you can develop a well-informed educational plan. These lessons will also help you assess your academic progress and become knowledgeable about academic policies and procedures.

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Exploration (self and careers)

My Skills My Future  (a public resource) – Type in a job you’ve had or want to find careers requiring similar skills.

The O*Net Skills Search  (a public resource) – Designed to help you use your skill set to identify occupations for exploration. Select a set of skills from six broad groups of skills to create your customized skill list and generate a list of potential careers.

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Exploration (majors)

College Information Chart (a Penn State resource available to all) – Find Penn State majors by college and the “recommended academic plan”, the “entrance to major” requirements and link to the college bulletin.

Brandywine Majors & Minors - Be sure to visit the web page of specific majors to learn even more details.

Penn State Majors & Minors - Be sure to visit the web page of specific majors to learn even more details.

Penn State Post-Graduation Activities - includes salaries of Penn State graduates by major.

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Exploration (careers)

Alumni Career Coaches  (a Penn State resource for students/alumni) – LionLink is a professional networking program that links Penn State students/alumni with Penn State graduates who have volunteered to act as a Career Coach to provide an informational interview with valuable advice on their career/industry.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook (a public resource) – A nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. The Handbook is available to the public at no cost. It is developed and maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is revised every two years. Click on A-Z index to select and learn about a specific career.

The O*Net (a public resource) – Another nationally recognized source of career information. This database containing hundreds of occupations is continually updated by surveying a broad range of workers from each occupation. This site contains an interactive application for exploring and searching occupations as well as Career Exploration Tools, a set of valuable assessment instruments for workers and students looking to find or change careers. It is developed and maintained by the Department of Labor and is available to the public at no cost.

Military Options (a public resource) - Joining the Military is a big decision. The information on this site will help you carefully weigh the opportunities and benefits service has to offer.

Salary Calculator (available to all) – Developed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), this salary calculator provides salary ranges based on occupation, geographic region, years of experience, level of education and college attended.

 

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