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How will I go about finding the right career for me when i graduate college with a marine biology major (or something similar)??

#biology #career

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Subject: Career question for you
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Carole’s Answer

Hi Teya: I am very glad to hear that you are thinking ahead as to what career you would want to choose after you get your degree.I am happy to give you a few suggestions: 1. I understand from your that you are interested in Marine Biology or something in the science area.2. First of all I don't know where you are in your year of college. 3. I am thinking maybe a Junior or senior since you are thinking about some options. The very first question for you is Have you ever taken an Career Interest Assessment and a Personality Assessment these are very important for you to take and you usually can find them in the Career Center at your college. These are very important because the can put your interest with your personality and most of the time they will give ideas for several Careers for you to choose. The people I have worked with always find a few careers that interest them and they start researching these careers. 4. Even though you are studying Biology it will give give you other ideas for you to research other careers you might not have thought of. I don't know if you have taken these assessments but if you have you should bring them with you to the Career Center and have them look them over to give you some more ideas. If you have not taken these assessments that would be the first thing for you to do , so that you and a Career Counselor could help you with varies ideas that they have! I have helped so many people with these assessments after they took them and them had a counseling session. 5.There are a few other ways to find the best career for you .6.Some other ideas are maybe if you can get an internship for the science area in or a volunteer job within a Science Lab or classroom or even a paid job within the science area. Within the Marine Biology area there are some places for you to look for jobs if you are near an ocean or another body of water they often have some volunteer jobs or real job you might like to get involved with. The point of these assessments are for you to explore who you are and be able to be a in a career that you love. This is the way I found what I like and have been a counselor for many years and still like it. "Make sure you done some research on the area you choose and try to find a person you will let you shadow them when they are working , so that you can see and get ideas of what she does.

Carole recommends the following next steps:

There are two book I would like to suggest "do what you are" by Paul Tieger & Barbara Barron
This book "What Color Is your Parachute by Richard Bolles ( These two books have a lot of good information! Please read!
Again I have to say "Please take the Assessments"you won't be sorry! SDS (self directed search)
Personality Assessment (Myers Briggs if you can get it.
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Ken’s Answer

Congratulations on being interested in finding the right career to follow.. It takes a special person to enter into a specific career field and meet the demands which that career area presents. The first step is to get to know yourself to see if you share the personality traits which make one successful in that area. The next step is doing networking to meet and talk to and possibly shadow people doing what you might think that you want to do to see if this is something that you really want to do, as a career area could look much different on the inside than it looks from the outside.  When I was doing college recruiting, I encountered too many students, who skipped these important steps, and ended up in a career/job for which they were ill suited.

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## 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 and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. Here are some tips: ## 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 ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
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Kuei-Ti’s Answer

In addition to LinkedIn, think about any company/organization/institution you're interested in and check its job page. Although you're not applying to a job, it doesn't hurt to browse job posts to have a better idea of what people do on those jobs, what are required to get those jobs, what aren't required but are good-to-have to get those jobs, etc.

Are you in college/university or is there any college/university in your mind? A lot of colleges'/universities' marine biology websites have pages about career paths for marine biology major/minor students. For example, the University of Oregon has this page: https://oimb.uoregon.edu/jobs-and-internships-for-after-graduation/

Check such pages from colleges/universities for more ideas.

Kuei-Ti recommends the following next steps:

Explore LinkedIn (and be aware of frauds).
Check the job post(s) of the company/organization/institution you're interested in.
Check colleges'/universities' marine biology career info pages and learn more.
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