Not sure what direction you want to take your business degree? Wondering about opportunities for job candidates with your concentration or minor? Now is the time to find out. Career planning and preparation should occur throughout your college years. As you're exploring your academic interests you need to identify your aptitudes, interests and skills to determine which jobs you will find the most satisfying and will support your personal goals.
Career Preparation is a 4 Step Process
1. Assess Yourself: Identify your skills, interests, personality traits and values
2. Identify a Career: Learn about career options and the paths to those careers
3. Experiment: Gain hands-on experience in a variety of work environments including internships, volunteer work and club activities
4. Create a Campaign Strategy: Prepare your job search marketing materials, practice interviewing, and develop a job strategy
Assess Yourself
At this point you've probably got a sense of your values and what activities you're good at. It's important to validate those and discover previously unknown aptitudes. The University Career Center will help you identify your strengths. Log on to Focus 2 directly to take helpful personality and interest assessment tests.
Identify a Career
The University Career Center provides in-depth information about careers, career trends, industries and salary information so you can pick a career path that aligns with your skills and interests.
CBE Professor and University Librarian Michael Germano compiled a useful list of Cal State LA library resources for job hunting and career research. Use them to research careers inside and outside typical business career paths. If you have a strong interest in traditional business industries, Placement Services compiled a series of major-specific Career Guides for business and economics majors.
Experiment
Both the University Career Center and Placement Services offer resources for finding internships, on-campus work opportunities and part-time work for students looking to test out their chosen career and get work experience. Check out Cal State LA Career Center on the university site and our Internship page to get started. Remember, internships and other career-related work you do now will help you determine if the job you think you want is the best fit for you. If not, now's the time to try other industries and jobs.
Create a Campaign Strategy
The University Career Center has handouts, slide presentations and videos that will help you prepare for all aspects of the job search. Get tips on improving your resume, creating a LinkedIn profile, honing your interview skills and more. When you're ready to start your search visit the Placement Services Job Search Resources page to apply to major-specific resources including job aggregators, professional associations and government websites.