Knowledge is Power

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog entry entitled "Major Exploration."  This post was in response to the number of students seeking guidance from us on their choice of major. This is definitely the time of the year, that first year and second year students are beginning to feel the pinch on this "defining" aspect of their college career.

One extremely important piece to this decision is KNOWLEDGE. You must do your homework - a.k.a. know what classes and requirements constitute a major and know what careers or jobs this major may lead you towards. Students are always surprised at the number of online resources out there to help you with this gathering of information.  Here is a list to get you started on increasing your career knowledge:

1. Research Hofstra Majors in the online Course Bulletin
2. Get a basic overview of majors and careers on our webpage College to Career and then scroll down to What Can I Do With This Major?
3. Utilize Vault.com for free through the Hofstra Portal, under MyApps. Vault is written for college students, like you, who are seeking more information on careers. I particularly like the pdf career guides and videos.
4. Check out the Occupational Outlook Handbook which is produced by the US Department of Labor. Here you can research hundreds of occupations and explore the sections What They Do, Work Environment, How to Become One, Pay, and more. Each profile also includes employment projections for the 2010–20 decade.
5. To get a better sense of how your skills, interests, personality and values fit into a particular job you may want to explore sites like Onet and CDMCareerZone .
6.  There are plenty of websites out there! The Career Center has a good list to work from on our webpage of suggested sites.  In particular, if you are Hofstra student you can find the username and password to Spotlight on Careers on the homepage of your Pride-CMS account.
7. GOOGLE!

Good luck gaining your career knowledge!

~Suzanne Dagger, Director of Career Services