Today, society expects students to know their major and future career plans long before entering college. This puts a lot of pressure on students to pick a field of study, often times without fully getting to explore their options. The truth is over half of college students change their majors at least once before graduation. I was one of these students who thought I knew what I wanted, but ended up changing my mind. I recently found Indianacareerexplorer.org, which is made for students trying to decide what they want and what careers best suit their skills and values.
After registering for the site, the first step is to take three assessment tests. The first, Kuder Career Search with Person Match, gives you sixty sets of three activities. You are asked to rank which activity you would prefer to do first, second, and third. Then, you are given results about which career clusters best suit you. You can also read stories about people with similar scores and the fields they chose, as well as view related majors and occupations.
The next assessment is the Kuder Skills Assessment, which helps you determine your positive skillset. You are given a list of 175 tasks and asked to rate them on a scale of 1-5 about how good you are at completing them. This assessment really makes you think, as there is every skill listed from singing a solo on stage to managing a congested highway. I noticed that I often thought, “I might be good at that task, but is it something I really want to do?” After completing this assessment, you are also given a list of career clusters that best suit you based on these results and their related occupations.
Finally, you are prompted to take the Super’s Work Values Inventory, which is supposed to help you realize what is important to you. You are given 72 work related values and told to rank them on importance to you. Then, you are able to see what values are most important to you. This is an interesting assessment because they are not as obvious as you might think. You then have the option to view a list of occupations based on these results.
After you are done with all three assessments, you are able to view a list of occupations based on the combined results. My top career clusters were marketing, finance, and management. I also scored high in health science, even though it was not one of my top strengths. It recommended jobs, such as pharmaceutical salesman, that combine multiple clusters.
After you see your results, you are able to search for schools based on your requirements. There is also information about financial aid and scholarships. Next, there is information about finding jobs in your area with your skill set. There are tools to help you write your resume and cover letter. After you complete your portfolio, you have the option of posting it for possible employers to see when they visit IndianaCareerExplorer’s website.
Overall, I found this site to be extremely helpful. I highly recommend it to anyone unsure about what their strengths and values are and how they would be best utilized. Even if you think you already know what your strengths are, it never hurts to research other options just to be sure! So, be sure to head over to www.IndianaINTERN.net/partners to check out IndianaCareerExplorer!
