Explore and Clarify Your Career Pathway

The Career Center will help clarify your major in order to better explore career pathways right for you.

Career counselors have varied knowledge in a number of different career fields, but our primary area of knowledge is the career development and planning process. We additionally use and refer to resources to develop strategies that could clarify your major or career pathways further.

Clarity requires exploration, and exploration involves research, research, research! Some of this could be done during a career counseling session, but most of your exploration will be done on your own time.

Given how complex and varied career pathways can be, we recommend looking at multiple sources for clarity and accuracy of information. We can discuss during a career counseling session what might be effective strategies to organize your exploration.

Some aspects of exploration of an occupation or career pathway to consider include:

Job descriptions
Working conditions
Earnings
Education
Sample career path
Related careers
Other resources including professional associations, news on the field, etc.

Resources

Some of the resources below may provide information on occupations and majors.

Decision making is a lifelong skill essential in your career development. By making informed decisions, we have confidence in understanding why we chose a certain major, setting a career goal, choosing the right job - and therefore, more likely to stick with it in the long run.

To assist you in this process, we have a worksheet from the OC Career Cafe. It will ask you prompting questions that we believe will help give you the confidence in choosing a certain major or setting a career goal. Keep in mind, the point is not to be absolutely certain about every step within a major or toward a career goal, but to have enough information that you understand WHY you are choosing it - emotionally and logically.

THINKING CAPS - DECISION MAKING WORKSHEET

This worksheet will also assist in organizing the amount of information you are likely to uncover in your exploration of majors and careers. If you need further assistance , please make an appointment with a career counselor.

As you explore, you may want to consider the following worksheet from the OC Career Cafe on decision making, asking yourself questions on choosing a career path.

Download Decision Making Worksheet

	What can I do with this Major? Explore the various industries in and employers for which you can work with your major. You may be surprised at possibilities. Review and set goals over suggested strategies to expand your interest and gain skills in the field so you are as adequately prepared to enter the workforce upon graduating. Discover links to professional associations, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, miscellaneous resources to the field, and employment websites. Use this worksheet to help you navigate and explore this valuable resource What Can I Do With This Major? Worksheet
	Eureka Career Program Check out assessments such Inner Heroes, How Do I Learn?, What Are My Values?, MicroSkills, True Colors, and Occ-U-Sort to match your skills, personality and talents to possible careers that may be of interest to you to explore further. Site code for ECC Students: PQINZGF
	Career Cruising Log in using the following username and password. You can create your own account to save any materials on Career Cruising Login username: elcaminocollege Password: career A comprehensive and interactive career guide resource that provides information such as job description, working conditions, earnings, education, sample career path, and more. Assessments match your likes and dislikes, skills, and learning styles to find careers that align with your interests.
	the muse Explore the variety of articles with advice related to career exploration by the muse
	O'Net This online occupational database has extensive details on various tasks and responsibilities for each occupation. Find sample reported job titles to expand your job search, technology skills, knowledge, activities, and more.
	Occupational Outlook Handbook Information on occupations, working conditions, labor market, training and education, job outlook, and current earnings for different occupations in the United States
	Career Coach Career Coach has information on occupations within various career areas, a resume builder and a simple assessment to find matching occupations that may be of interest to you. Explore occupational information on daily tasks, education, wages, employment projections, actual job postings, and more.
	California Career Zone A career resource program provides comprehensive information for 900+ occupations. Includes self-assessment modules to help define possible interests, work importance and skills. Check out financial literacy tool “Budget your Life” to determine the kind of lifestyle you want, what area, the budget you’ll need and the kinds of occupations with salaries that can lead to sustainable living wages.
	Learn How To Become… Provides in-depth career guides with in-depth data and information gathered by experts in their fields for various career fields.
	Study.com Find degrees based on subject area to discover the education, skills and career options.
	Directory of Professional Associations Directory of Associations has over 35,000 local, regional, and national professional associations. You can filter to sort by type, category, size, and state.
	The Balance Careers Provides advice and information on education, training, job decisions, career changes and more.
	MyPlan Provides video introductions to hundreds of careers, lists of jobs that pay the highest, hire the most, or have the most room for growth, and a salary calculator that figures out average salaries in cities all around the country.
	Salary Surfer Helps you make important decisions about investing time and money in your college education. It provides information about the earnings of recent California Community Colleges graduates.
	Find career guides and expert advice on majors and careers