This document provides information about career exploration resources from Virginia Tech Career Services. It outlines key service areas like career/major exploration, career-related experience, employer connection, and job search preparation. It then discusses tools for self-assessment of interests, personality, skills and values to help in career decision making. These include the MyPlan assessments and resources on the Career Services website. The document encourages students to learn about themselves using these tools to explore career options and find the best fit.

1. Career/Major
Exploration
Virginia Tech Career Services
Sarah Crockett, sarahec@vt.edu

2. Success is liking yourself,
liking what you
do, and liking how
you do it.
Maya Angelou, poet

3. What Can Career Services
Help You With?

4. Our Key Service Areas
 Career/Major Exploration
 Career-Related Experience
 Employer Connection
 Job Search Preparation
 Graduate School Application

5. Career/Major Decision
Making
 Many resources to assist you in this area
 But first think about how you make decisions …
Activity
“Why Virginia Tech?”

6. Self-Assessment
 Interests
 Personality
 Skills
 Values

7. Interests
 Physical, mental activities, especially
to which you are drawn or enjoy.
More aware you are of your interests

Clearer the picture of you becomes

Better you can predict future satisfaction

8. My Plan -Interests
What were your top 3 interest areas?

9. MyPlan - Interests
 Realistic -- Like to produce tangible results with their hands
 Conventional -- Like to organize
 Artistic -- Like to express themselves
 Investigative -- Like to learn new things
 Social -- Like to help others
 Enterprising -- Like to influence people

10. Personality
 Complex set of
tendencies, behaviors, attitudes, and
characteristics that make us each
unique.
 Satisfaction in a career is related to
how much you can incorporate your
unique personality and interests into
your work.

11. MyPlan – Personality Preferences
 What do we mean by preference?
 What are your 4 personality preferences?

12. MyPlan – Personality Preferences
 (E) Extraversion or (I) Introversion
 Where do you focus your attention and energy?
 (S) Sensing or (N) iNtuition
 How do you acquire or gather information?
 (T) Thinking or (F) Feeling
 How do you make decisions, arrive at
conclusions, or make judgments?
 (J) Judging or (P) Perceiving
 How do you relate to the outer world?

13. Skills
 Currency of the Job Market
 How do you develop your skills?

14. Functional Skills
(What you can do)
 May or may not be associated with a
specific position
 Used to accomplish general tasks or
functions of a position
 Examples:
 Giving Presentations to Groups,
 Collecting Data,
 Organizing Events, or
 Time Management Skills

15. Work-Content Skills
(What you know)
 Specific and specialized to a position
 Examples:
 Understanding economic principles,
 Scientific concepts,
 Cultural issues, or
 Manufacturing processes

16. Self-Management Skills
(Who you are)
 Personal attributes or personality traits.
 Examples:
 Ability to learn quickly,
 Keen attention to detail,
 Self-direction,
 Willingness to take risks,
 Creativity,
 Strong work ethic,
 Reliability,
 Congeniality, and
 Cooperativeness.

17. MyPlan - Skills
 The Skills Profiler takes you through 35
work-related skills areas
 This assists you in developing a profile of
your strengths and weaknesses.
 Your profile is translated into career path
recommendations
What were your top 4
career categories?

18. Values
 Deeply held commitments that
influence your thinking when you are
faced with choices

19. Where do your values come from?
 From YOU!! – people choose and
formulate their values as they direct their
lives
 From parents, family, friends, religious
beliefs, community influence, etc.
 Can be seen in everyday actions and how
you make decisions
 You may not always be aware of them

20. Identify Your Values
 How do you live your life?
 After paying for necessities, what do you
spend your money on?
 How do you spend your spare time?
 What gets you excited or upset?
 What causes are you willing to fight for?
 What are your fantasies or day dreams?

21. MyPlan - Values
 What are your underlying work needs
and motivations?
 What is important to you in a job?
 Knowing your work values can help
decide what careers you may want to
explore.
What are your top 4 work
values clusters?

22. CareerMatch
 CareerMatch scores and ranks 748
careers based on your responses to
the four career assessments
 How do you begin to narrow this list
down?
 MyPlan is a great place to start your
research

23. Resources to Assist You
 UNIV 2004
 Exploring Careers: Making Decisions
and Plans
 Appointment with an Advisor
 Assessments

24. Resources to Assist You
 Career Resource Center
 Our Web Site: www.career.vt.edu
Undergraduate Majors A to Z
Departmental Career Advisors
Post Grad Report
Hokie Nation Network

25. The big secret in life is that
there is no big secret. Whatever
your goal, you can get there if
you're willing to work.
Oprah Winfrey

26. Career Services
Smith Career Center
Corner of Washington Street and West Campus Drive
231-6241
www.career.vt.edu