GETTING STARTED

Career planning is a life-long process. As we grow and change, so do our priorities, goals, and career direction. The decision making process we recommend is one in which you may choose to repeat several times during your life time.

As you begin to consider your plans after UVI we recommend that you think of this process as having three distinct steps, and it's very important for the three steps to be taken in sequence. The first step challenges you to take stock of yourself through a personal inventory, the second step develops a number of preferred characteristics based on the personal inventory, and the third step draws up a preliminary group of careers or graduate schools which may represent a good "fit " or match for you.

1. Personal inventory, including review of your personal and academic strengths, goals, plans, and interests. The questions here cover your reasons for going to work or graduate school and focus on helping you to answer "Who am I?" Taking one of the Personality Assessments On-Line is a great way to start!

2. Career or Graduate School preferences, developed from the personal inventory and designed to answer the question "What am I looking for in a career (or graduate school)", can help you to determine possible career directions or graduate school majors. Taking one of the Interest/Aptitude Inventories On-Line will help to point you in the right direction.

3. Developing a preliminary group of careers (or graduate schools) based on the preferences, based in turn on the personal inventory. The choices in this group should represent the potential for a good match for you and may number as many as 4-6 careers or 8-12 graduate schools. Here you will find the Job Search Resources On-Line or Selecting a Graduate School pages of this website as a good place to begin.

Students often begin the process by reviewing a list of careers (or job openings) or the names of colleges they know and thus try to develop their preliminary list without working through the first two steps. The first two steps are very important, for you really can't make a good decision about your plans without first taking stock of yourself through a personal inventory, and looking at specific careers or colleges won't make much sense unless you know what you are looking for, and can ask "How closely will this career or graduate school match my preferences?"