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What is the best way to explore careers during college?

I'm entering the engineering field but I don't know what career I'm going to pursue. I'm interested in aerospace, manufacturing, design, and even engineering for research or entertainment. How do I explore these options while still investing in my education?
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Ian’s Answer

Hi John!


Great question and fantastic to do while you are exploring if your major is in the field you want to begin your career in. I'd suggest a few of the following ideas:

  • Engage your alumni network. If you don't have a LinkedIn yet, I would set one up. Look for professionals in your field who went to your High School or College and send them a message! Ask if they'd be willing to have a conversation with you on their day to day, and if they are in the same area, try to arrange a tour of their work spaces.
  • Reach out to recruiters for companies in your field. Recruiters are looking for students like you! Reaching out to them and showcasing how you are going above and beyond to find a good career fit is a great way to get exposure to the field and hopefully position yourself for a career down the road.

Both of these suggestions will help to expand your network and give you a great start as you begin your career. Good luck and let me know if I can expand on any of the above!
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Ken’s Answer

Getting to know yourself and your career area of interest is a very important step, which can be begun while you are still in high school and continued in college. Here are some steps to follow, which I have found to be very helpful. During my years of college recruiting, I found that too many students skip these steps and end up in a job/career area for which they are not well suited. These steps will allow you to create networking connections that will help you through your education and career experiences.

Ken recommends the following next steps:

Talk to your school counselor about taking an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by the counselor. This can also be done at your college in conjunction with working with your academic adviser. This will allow you to see how your personality traits match with people in various career areas.
Talk to the person at your school who tracks and works with graduates of your school and arrange to meet, talk to, visit, and shadow graduates who are doing what you think that you want to do based on the results of the testing. You can also do this with the Director of Alumni Relations at your college. Here are some tips on how to get helpful information: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate professional associations to which professionals in your career area of interest belong , so that you can attend meetings and meet people and see what they do, how they got there, and how you feel about it. Here are some good tips on how to do that: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
Here are some sites that you can visit that will also help. ## https://www.engineergirl.org/ ## ## http://www.futureengineers.org/ ## ## https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zVcmTJSKM ## ## http://stemtosteam.org/ ##
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