Major and Career Planning

Meet with a career counselor to identify interests, values, personality, abilities, and to help identify career goals. Starting early helps you find a career path that you love while allowing you to leverage your time at Penn State effectively.

Get to know your academic advisor to learn about majors, academic options, course content, and requirements.

Join clubs or organizations that are of interest to you to help discover what you enjoy and gain experience. Take on a leadership role to develop those skills and help stand out to a future employer.

Job shadow, volunteer, work part-time, or find an internship. All of these can be included on a resume and can help you find what your passionate about pursuing professionally.

• LionLink
  Connect with Penn State Alumni to ask questions about their career, network, and insights.

Discussing connections between your knowledge, experiences, and vision for your future can lead to identifying career areas to explore.

• Reflect on your experiences to explore what you enjoy, what you do well, and what is important to you

• Explore interests through student activities, volunteer work, job shadowing, and course work

• Consider taking a career decision making course

• Meet with a career counselor to identify interests, values, personality, and abilities to clarify your career goals

Exploration can take many forms, all of which require you to be active in gathering information and applying it to make career decisions.

• Research a variety of career options of interest. Use online resources and learn more about career fields

  • U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics Industries at a Glance

  • U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook

  • Mergent Intellect

  • FirstHand 

  • GoinGlobal
    Sign in to Nittany Lion Careers to access GoinGlobal

• Conduct informational interviews or job shadow professionals in a field of interest to learn more about day-to-day operations and what skills are of value

Consider ways to gain exposure and get involved with career options that seem interesting to you.

• Assume leadership roles in campus and community organizations to develop teamwork, interpersonal, and communication skills

• Obtain relevant experience by pursuing internships, co-ops, part-time work, summer jobs, and research opportunities

• Expand your understanding of diversity through study abroad, foreign languages, community services, and cultural activities on campus

Your resume, cover letter, and interview skills are some of the first impressions that you give a potential employer. Prepare and present yourself in a way that highlights the skills, experiences, and qualities that the employer or graduate school is seeking.

• Attend career programs and events

• Meet with a career counselor to help design an internship, job, or graduate school search plan

• Utilize the mock interview program to hone your interviewing skills

• Take advantage of career fairs and on-campus interviewing  to learn and apply to open positions

• Network with alumni to build contacts and learn about an industry of interest

• Track your accomplishments and achievements to include in your resume, cover letter, and portfolio

• LionLink
  Connect with Penn State Alumni to ask questions about their career, network, and insights.

• U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics Industries at a Glance

• U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook

• Mergent Intellect

• GoinGlobal
  Sign in to Nittany Lion Careers to access GoinGlobal

• What Can I Do With This Major?

• Meet with your Academic Advisor

• Talk to a career counselor