Career and Academic Major Choices

Overview, Assessment, and Links to Step-by-Step Help

How to Choose a Career or Academic Major

Index

Information
Other Internet Links
CSULB Referrals

INFORMATION 

Research shows that students who are committed to clear career goals tend to make much higher grades and have a much lower college drop-out rate.  If you are undecided about your major or career, spending a few hours researching what you want can be more important than anything else you do this semester.  

 A Simple Career Decision Plan:

1.  Keep gathering all the high-quality information about majors and careers that interest you including both:
   Information about yourself--interests, interest tests, your values and life goals, lifestyle desired, abilities and deficits, etc.
   Information about majors and the world of work.  Read, interview people in the field and teachers, get experience, etc.

2. Make a list of your Career Selection Criteria: list everything that you want (and don't want) in a career. 

3.  Weight the criteria from most important to least important (e. g. use A, B, C, D or 1-10).

4.  Evaluate every possible career/major that you might be interested in by each of those criteria after you get good information about them.

5.  Make a tentative choice, and go with it until you find something better.

A Simple Questionnaire to Narrow College Major Choices:
 For a Simple way to narrow your major choice,
Go to the SHAQ CARES assessment page of this website and take the major choice test.

Read the Simple Step-by-Step Guide:  How to Make a Major or Career Decision
Thousands of students have found this guide helpful, Tom G. Stevens PhD
http://www.csulb.edu/~tstevens/c15-carp.htm

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OTHER INTERNET LINKS 

Career Decision-Making and Planning Help

CSULB=> Career Development Center Website
Brief self-help materials for career planning, choosing a major (with list of jobs related to majors), job search and interviewing tips, and many other helpful guides.
http://www.careers.csulb.edu/

BrainTrack
"BrainTrack's Career Guide helps visitors evaluate career options and find schools through its extensive resources. The guide offers data on hundreds of careers that typically require higher education and features links to original profile pages for thousands of schools."
http://www.braintrack.com/colleges-by-career

Career: Coping with Job-Related Stress, Goals for Success, Balancing Career and Home, etc:

***American Psychological Association self-help articles including:
Doing More and More with Less and Less
Downsizing Survivors
Managing Your Boss: Marilyn Puder-York, Ph.D., Answers Your Questions 
Twelve Elements of a Healthy Company
Which Traits Predict Job Performance?
Working Moms: Happy or Haggard? 
How Does Stress Affect Us? 
Six Myths About Stress 
The Different Kinds of Stress 
Stress in the Workplace 
The Road to Burnout 
http://www.psychwww.com/resource/selfhelp.htm


C=> Problems with low motivation or not achieving your goals?
Tom G. Stevens PhD, CAPS, CSULB
http://www.csulb.edu/~tstevens/h92achie.htm

Finding A Job (or exploring potential future careers)

OTHER SITES

http://www.acinet.org/acinet/

job search by industry, company, type, and location. Also includes links to career fairs, a newsletter, and more.
www.careerbuilder.com/

ACT Career Planning for students
www.actstudent.org/career/tips.html

http://jobstar.org/tools/career/

http://www.wisemantech.com/guidance/careerinfo.html

Career Services provides college major and career information on
over 60 areas of study. ... College Majors and Career Information.
 

http://www.careers.org/

http://www.advancingwomen.com/awcareer.html

http://www.petersons.com/

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CSULB REFERRALS

CSULB Student Services

CSULB Career Development Center (CDC)
The CDC offers the following services: career planning, career counseling, vocational testing, computer assisted career guidance, a career resource library, career development and placement for students with disabilities (work ability IV), workshops, graduate school preparation, the Job Club, internships, career opportunities by CSULB major, student employment (part-time & summer jobs), and career placement help through on-campus Interviews, a resume referral database, job faires, resume writing, mock interviewing, job search Techniques,and job search on WWW. Brotman Hall, Room 250; 
http://www.careers.csulb.edu/

Careers/Jobs Related to Specific Academic Majors 
http://www.careers.csulb.edu/majors_and_careers/career-degree_profiles.htm#LIB

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Relevant CSULB Courses

EdP 191: Career and Personal Explorations (3 units)
This course enrolls hundreds of CSULB students every semester who  are undecided about their major or career and who need help with career planning. It meet the requirements for general education category E: self-integration.

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Self-Help and other resources on this website (and site map)