The Students First Office has partnered with Career & Professional Development to assist you in your journey to discovering your purpose and passion in life. We have provided you with some intentional activities to aid in your self-exploration, major exploration, and career exploration. The resources below are meant to serve as a guide, not as a formula for your exploration. Remember there is no right or wrong way to select a major!
Self-exploration is an ongoing process that includes collecting information about your interests, abilities and skills, values, personality, and career readiness.
Interests: Interests are simply things you enjoy. Understanding what you like, as well as what you don’t like, can help you discover academic majors and career paths that will complement what you are already passionate about. Here are a few activities that you can work through on your own to understand what your interests are:
- Interest Profiler – compliments of CFNC.org
- Strong Interest Inventory – The Strong Interest Inventory® is an online assessment available in UNCG Career Service Center that can help you discover interests, preferences, and personal styles. To take the Strong Interest Inventory, contact the Career Services Center.
Abilities and Skills: These are the things that you feel you naturally do well. Abilities might come from past experiences or training, but they could also simply be something in which you have a natural talent. The following activities will help you evaluate your current skills and perform a “gap analysis” between what skills you may have now and what certain careers demand.
Values: A value is a belief that holds meaning to you and may influence your career decisions. Values can guide you towards decisions that will lead to satisfaction and happiness, both in your career and your everyday life.
- Work Values Sorter – compliments of CFNC.org
- Insight Values – compliments of CareerPerfect
- Values Card Sort – an excellent way to take a look at common values, those that you hold true for yourself, and the many ways you can connect them with workplace values. Contact the Career Services Center or Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement to use this resource.
Personality and Preferences: Personal style and preferences determine how you fit into the environment, how you process information, and how you make meaning of the world around you. Understanding your own personality and preferences will assist you in finding a work setting that suits you.
- Work Preferences Inventory – compliments of CareerPerfect
- Myers Briggs Type Indicator – The MBTI can assist students with career decisions by identifying occupations and working environments that may fit their personalities. The MBTI identifies individual preferences and relates these preferences to those of others in various career fields. The instrument is also helpful in identifying possible strengths and areas of needed improvement, which may be helpful as you begin the interview process for graduate school or employment. The instrument takes about thirty minutes to complete.
Major exploration is a process that empowers you to connect your interests, abilities, skills, values, personality, and preferences with the more than 100 areas of study at UNCG. The University offers a number of resources to help you intentionally explore these options.
- Browse Majors at UNCG. The University Catalog is one resource to learn about all the majors available at UNCG, a description of each major, pre-admission requirements, and the courses involved. In addition, you can review information provided by Undergraduate Admissions about majors and topics such as student organizations, internships, graduate school, and careers.
- Utilize the What-If Analysis tool. TThe What-If Analysis tool is a great way to help you visualize the courses needed to complete a certain major. You may also learn that you have already completed some of the requirements for a major, which may make your decision easier. This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a What-If Analysis.
- Take some courses to discover your areas of interest. General Education Core (GEC) requirements apply to all undergraduate students at UNCG. When planning your schedule, look for courses in areas of interest to you that also help you fulfill these requirements. Sometimes, students need to take electives to meet a total number of credits needed for degree requirements, so don’t worry that taking a few electives will extend your intended graduation date.
- Participate in service learning or volunteer work to explore potential career options. Time spent volunteering allows you to gauge your interest in specific areas and spark new interests. Volunteering also allows you to begin networking with people in your field of interest as well as give back to the community. Meeting people who are currently working in the field can give you an idea of the range of educational backgrounds in a certain field. Our campus partners in the Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement can assist you with finding volunteer opportunities to help in your exploration.
- Join a student organization. Student organizations allow you to learn useful skills and gain leadership experience. Depending on the organization, you may also have a variety of professional development opportunities available, so you can begin to network and become more familiar with a specific interest area. A list of student organizations can be found here.
In addition to the major exploration tips above, many students find it helpful to process these experiences with an academic advisor. To schedule an appointment with an Exploratory Academic Advisor, please call (336) 334-5730. Please bring a list of majors you are considering to this appointment.
By taking some assessments and exploring major options at UNCG, you will begin to have a sense of what areas you are passionate about in life. Now it is time to start learning about potential occupations. There are two common ways to approach this:
In addition to the resources above, your career exploration process can be enhanced by conducting informational interviews and job shadowing.
- Informational interviews are an opportunity for you to interview professionals working in potential fields, positions, and companies of interest to you.
- Job shadowing is an opportunity for you to follow a professional through their work day.
Both of the above are opportunities for you to experience first-hand what it would be like to work in your areas of interest. To learn more about these experiences, visit the Career Services Center in the EUC.
