Knowledge & Information / Use Your Resources

Use Your Resources When narrowing your career options, take full advantage of all the resources available to you.

Learn About Real-World Working Environments

Ask a willing person to explain in detail the nature of his/ her workday or ask questions about salary, benefits, and general satisfaction with the chosen line of work. If this person seems happy, see if you can guess the personality style. Do you share the characteristics of the personality style? If so, you too may enjoy that occupation. Since the real world is the best teacher, consider the following:

• Trying a variety of internships
• An apprenticeship (i.e. at an advertising agency)
• Talking to people in different occupations/industries (i.e. computer analyst, psychologist)
• Meeting college alumni who work in different occupations
• Volunteering in a company, organization, or institution (i.e. in a hospital)
• Finding a mentor who works in an interesting career
• Seeking out job shadowing opportunities
• Going to work with your parents, friends and relatives
• Becoming an academic assistant (i.e. assist a professor)
• Speaking with career experts like guidance counselors and career directors
• Visiting your public library, or the library of your college career placement office
• Search the Internet

If you want practical, targeted information any time of the day or night, what better place to get it than on the Internet? It’s perfect for the career researcher if you know where to go. We have compiled a comprehensive list of current career-researching tools, searchable databases, calculators, and information to help you with things like:

How to finance your education
Where to look for scholarships
Which companies are looking for interns
Researching specific occupations
Typical salaries for different jobs in different states
Job listings for international opportunities
Information on a particular company for interview preparation