What to do? What to do? (Explore Options)

We are constantly bombarded with choices in life.  Should I eat a salad or a cheeseburger?  Would a diet soda or water be better for me?  Do I feel like exercising for 10 or 30 minutes?  What flavor yogurt or ice cream do I feel like eating?  What NFL or NBA team should I root for?  What channel should I watch?  No matter how many choices we have, we are always pressured to pick one thing. Well, in the case of ice cream, maybe two or three.  But we have to narrow down our choices significantly before making that final decision.  When it comes to major and career exploration, it's time to start EXPLORING OPTIONS.  You've assessed yourself, now it's time to reduce your choices and pick the top few options.  How do you start exploring?

Once you have your top 3-5 choices for a major and career, begin by using the internet.  Career Coach (https://slcc.emsicareercoach.com/) is a great resource that is specific to Utah, in fact, within a 50-mile radius of Salt Lake Community College.  After you search careers and find the one that is closest to your listed choices, you'll be able to see career information, pay scale, growth, retirement, employers, and education.  You'll be able to answer most of your basic major and career exploration questions with this one website!

Searching outside of Utah?  ONET (www.onetonline.org) is a great resource if you want to do a nationwide search.  ONET offers the same information as Career Coach but it also expands the information by giving you a detailed breakdown of what types of skills are needed for the occupation, links you to degrees, credentials, certifications, and gives you related occupations.  There have been many instances where I've met with students who say they want to go into Nursing but are unsure if that's the exact occupation they have in mind.  When delving deeper into their thoughts about an occupation in the health care field, most often than not students are unaware of the diverse areas of health care and when discussing further into occupational fields, students are surprised to discover many other opportunities that were not on their radar.

Start a journal (or even a blog!).  When you begin to write down your choices and options along with a list of ideas and thoughts, you are actively working towards major and career exploration.  This is a great way to begin asking those tough questions and adding or subtracting items off of your list.  Start with simple questions.  This week, ask yourself two questions:

• What were your childhood dreams?  
• What did you want to be when you grew up?  

When you assessed yourself, you thought about being the ruler of the world and if you could choose a major and career that you loved and were good at, that would be your pathway.  Continue that thought process when exploring options.  Enjoy the journey and aim high!

A few other ideas for exploring options...

• Informational Interview (Interview someone who works in the careers of your choice)
• Volunteer in your area of interest
• Job Shadow