Career Development

Proactive: To be proactive is to create or control a situation by causing something to happen - to be motivated, take-charge, energetic, or dynamic. Are you creating situations that will lead to academic success? A proactive student is one who reads their class syllabi carefully so they know what to do to succeed, they sit up front and focus their attention during class, manage their time well, study regularly to avoid having to cram for exams and seek support from faculty and others if they have questions or concerns.

Career-oriented: Remember why you are here! Most college students will say that they are in college because they want a good career. A college student who is career-oriented thinks often about how their choice of degree and classes and their academic performance will impact their career success. Thinking about career success isn't enough - you must be proactive. A proactive, career-oriented student takes time, apart from their classes, to inform themselves about the process of career development and regularly takes action to explore careers, refine their goals, and network with professionals. They realize that all undergraduate students - of any major - simply must do more than fulfill degree requirements - they must participate in co-curricular activities and internships or career-relevant part-time jobs to develop transferable skills and specialized knowledge that employers expect.

Professional: The Indiana University Health Professions and Prelaw Center has produced a wonderful brochure on Professional Development, from which I quote:

If you plan carefully, you can use your undergraduate years to become a mature, professional person who does not merely look good on a résumé, but who can also impress during admissions and job interviews. In addition, you will perform more adeptly in your professional program and chosen career; and become a more whole and fulfilled person, who in turn has the potential to have a profoundly positive impact on other people....

The overarching goal of professional development is, simply put, to gain the ability to consistently demonstrate the traits of a professional. A thorough professional development program has many components, including: activities (e.g., job shadowing, students organizations, serious hobbies, volunteer work, networking), skill and leadership development, professionalism (e.g., attitudes, etiquette, ethical development, civic engagement), personal development, and overall maturity. To this list of professional traits we can also add lifelong devotion to self-improvement, pride in your work (in whatever setting it may be your chosen profession, your college experience, and even everyday tasks), and personal accountability for your work and behavior.

From your perspective as a student, we could say that professional development is the process by which you will develop the skills and characteristics necessary for success as a student, an applicant to a professional program, a career professional, and most importantly (since nothing truly productive can happen without it), success as you grow in both experience and maturity as an individual.

Aligning your educational and occupational goals: You'll know that you are making good progress in career development when you can explain how your educational and occupational goals are aligned.

• First, you need an occupational goal - a specific job or a job category. At the very least, you need to be actively seeking an occupational goal. If you don't have a goal then you won't go anywhere! If your current goal is to discover your occupational goal, then you must immerse yourself in career exploration activities and co-curricular activities you love with the goal of finding a career.
• Second, you need do some research and talk with academic and career advisors to make sure that your educational and occupational goals align.
  • If you are already confident that you want a career in psychology or neuroscience, and your major matches your career goal, then your goals are aligned. Keep in mind, however, that a Bachelor's degree will not fully prepare you to be a psychologist or a neuroscientist -- graduate school is in your future! Before you can go to graduate school you'll have to pick a specialty: Clinical psychology? developmental psychology? sport psychology? social psychology? health psychology? cognitive psychology? forensic psychology? some other specialty? You'll need to assess yourself, explore careers, network with professionals, and get career-relevant experience.
  • What if you are pretty confident that you want to major in psychology or neuroscience, but aren't sure of your career goal? You should learn about the value of your degree (the skills that you should be working to develop in your courses), actively seek an occupational goal, and select courses and activities both within and beyond your major that will help you reach your occupational goal. Your degree in psychology will teach you about the why and how of human behavior and this knowledge can be applied in any career field. Because your degree does not define your career options, you'll need to assess yourself, explore careers, network with professionals, and get career-relevant experience. As you discover your occupational goal, you may find that you'll want to add another major or minors to your degree or that you'll need to invest significant time engaging in co-curricular activities, internships, or part-time jobs in order to prepare for your career.

Thoroughly explore the links on the page above to begin your career development journey! Don't miss the "job search" link -- it has information about resumes and interviews that will be of use to you as a college student when you are seeking a part-time job, internship, research assistantship...