Southern Connecticut State University offers you several ways to discover what jobs you would find interesting, fulfilling, and available after graduation, how to locate these jobs, and how to be hired. You should begin to take advantage of these resources as soon as possible – even as a freshman! Here are the steps to follow:

I. Use the Counseling Services Office in Engleman 238 (392-5475) to learn more about yourself, and what kinds of careers might interest you.  This office offers you both individual counseling and computer access to a wealth of career information. To take advantage of the program, follow these steps:

(A) Make an appointment to talk with a counselor in EN 238 about where you are in your academic life and any thoughts you may have now about yourself and your career. Our Counseling Services Office has counselors who are trained to discuss not only personal concerns, but also career options and such life transitions as school to work, work to school, and homemaking to school. An introductory talk with one of them will be a great start for your self-and-career discovery adventure!

(B) Answer the questions on one or two "inventories," both of which are computer scored. One very useful inventory is the "Uniact," a questionnaire dealing with interests, abilities and values. You may answer the questions by using a paper copy of the inventory, provided to you for free by the Counseling Services Office, or via a computer in the counseling office. Students usually find it more convenient to use the paper copy and answer the questions at home. The test gives a good indication of your interests, abilities, and values at this point in your life. It can be helpful to you to have information about all three, because often a desirable career will combine all three. You bring the completed inventory back to the Counseling Services Office, and the results are quickly entered into a computer there by you and a counselor.

Another helpful tool is the "Strong Inventory," an in-depth questionnaire designed to compare only your interests with those of professionals already established in dozens of fields. The theory behind the test is that people in the same field to a great extent share the same interests. You may purchase the Strong Inventory in our bookstore (in Engleman 24) for $10.00. You answer the questions at home, and bring your answers Counseling Services Office, in Engleman 238. The staff there will mail it for you (they are licensed to do so). When you bring the completed inventory to Counseling Services for mailing, make an appointment for three weeks ahead to discuss the results with a counselor. This individual work with a counselor is important since you are likely to have questions about your results.

Either of these inventories tells the interactive Discover program quite a bit about you. You may also give additional information about your current life (how much time you devote to study, work, family, how much education you have so far) and your future desired life. Given this information, the Discover program can indicate which career fields are matched to your interests, abilities, values, and education. Within the career fields it gives much information about specific jobs, pay scales, what employees often like or dislike about the jobs, and where to find more information.

In addition, the Discover program can give you quite a bit of basic and very helpful information about sources of financial aid, paying internships (cooperative education), and the steps toward actually landing a job: using internet resources in the job search, personal networking, resume writing, and interviewing.  However on these topics you can find much more information in the Career Services Office, in Schwartz Hall 102.

Again, you may well want to discuss what you learn in the Discover program with a counselor. In any case, if you talk with a counselor, take one or both inventories, and use the Discover program, you will leave the Counseling Office with a much clearer sense of the kinds of work you would like to do, and a specific list of jobs and careers which might be right for you, and what kind of work and life style goes with the jobs.

Now it’s time to go on to step two:

You can use the Discover program and other resources in the Counseling Office so that you can choose not only your major but also electives and all-university requirement courses with your most likely future profession (as well as your other interests) in mind. But even as a freshman you can begin using the resources of the Career Services Office.

You may want first to explore the Career Services Office web page.  Just click on:  
Career Services Office

Their web page will give you considerable information about what the Career Services Office can offer you – information not only about available jobs for graduates, but about cooperative education (paying jobs, with potential future employers through which you also earn elective credits), employer recruiting at S.C.S.U., and links to a great many web sites with information on everything from how to put together your resume to specific jobs available all over the United States.  Career counselors will give you one-on-one help with your career research!

The Career Services office also has both print and electronic resources to help you research specific organizations, and sponsors annual career fairs, during which you could meet representatives from more than 100 for-profit, not-for-profit, and governmental organizations that are prepared to hire Southern graduates.

Also, you can click on Where do I start? for more information on how the Career Services Office can help you!