Page 20 - Carlson School GBCC Career Guide

Self-Assessment: Look Internally First (continued)
It is also helpful to have informal conversations with 1 Vault
CAREER EXPLORATION
your peers, mentors, family, colleagues, and others who know you to discuss your attributes and career goals:
• What are my strengths?
• What do you see me doing well?
• Where do I have room for improvement?
• What kinds of positions can you see me in?
• What are the things I’ve expressed interest in, but maybe never followed up on?
After completing any of these self-assessment and reflection tools, you may wish to make an appointment with a Career Coach at the GBCC to discuss your findings, integrate and use the insights you’ve had about yourself, and help plan your next steps.
Researching Careers
Idea Generation: Researching Careers
Now that you have a better idea about your interests, strengths, values, and desires for a job, you can start looking into some possible career paths that would be a good fit for you. In looking at possible careers, you will want to consider:
• Functions: What business functions are of interest to me? • Industries: Which industries appeal to me?
• Geographies: Where do I want to live and work?
• Companies: Which specific companies do I like or admire?
Regardless of what is driving your search, you should begin by conducting significant research. You can research in two basic ways:
1 Reading available materials including web and print sources.
2 Talking to people. It is often a good idea to start with reading in order to build a foundation of knowledge about these different careers.
As a University of Minnesota student, you have access to the Business Reference Library which offers a variety of reading material. It is located in the basement of Wilson Library, but most resources are also available online. The UMN and GBCC libraries offer many sources of information, but some of the most valuable are:
The GBCC subscribes to this online provider of career information to allow students to download the most current and critical career information. Vault provides in-depth intelligence on what it's really like to work in an industry, company, or profession and how to position yourself to land that job. Search current jobs and internships, research a company, school or industry, get an inside look at what it’s really like, and find the advice you need
to launch your career. access.vault.com/career-insider-login. aspx?aid=278399
2 Career Guide to Industries
The Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Guide includes profiles of
occupations within industries. bls.gov/oco/cg 3 Occupational Outlook Handbook
The Bureau of Labor Statistics describes hundreds of occupations and gives details on education required, job prospects, and expected earnings. It also identifies important associates for learning more about professions or industries. bls.gov/ooh
4 MarketLine Reports
MarketLine, through Business Source Premier Enhanced,
provides profiles of and recent articles about companies. It can also provide information about industries and industry profiles. lib.umn.edu/get/12354
5 Book of Lists
Each year, Book of Lists provides essential information on
the leading businesses in regions and industries. The GBCC purchases these books yearly for our target cities. They are located in the GBCC office for your reference. Full-text versions are also available digitally. lib.umn.edu/ejournals/ restricted/16519
Once you’ve done enough research, it’s a good idea to come up with a short list of careers that are of interest to you to help you focus as you continue to exploring potential careers.
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Carlson School of Management
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Experiential Research