First-Year Checklist
- Explore Skills, Interests, Values survey
- Build Handshake, career blog, and Emerge Profile (use resources page)
- Use resume resources to draft a resume and continue updating
- Schedule an Intro to Career Center appointment
- Attend SEAL student org fair and join a few student orgs
- Find student employment on-campus or jobs off-campus
Resource Checklist
- Build your Handshake profile.
- Schedule an Intro to the Career Center appointment.
- Explore internships and job postings.
- Explore employer profiles by industry and location.
- RSVP and attend Career Center events with employers and alumni.
Emerson.edu & Career Center Blog
- Utilize our online resources
- Use a resume guide to draft a resume and submit it to Career Center staff for review.
- Use a cover letter guide to draft cover letters for specific positions and to Career Center staff for review.
- Review industry guides to find job posting sites, professional associations, and more.
- Check out blog posts and other resources.
- Build your Emerge profile
- Begin connecting with at least 5 Emerson
alumni for career advice (Emerge has
over 4,000 alumni across industries on its
platform!) - Find interest groups for networking by
sector - Find job and projects-based work leads
Skills, Interests, and Values Inventory
Begin exploring your skills, interests, and values to help you identify career paths by answering the following questions.
- What brings you joy?
- What are activities you prefer not to work on?
- What do you value most in your workplace?
- What are 3 areas you would love to gain experience in or learn about?
- What are 3 skills that you would bring to an employer?
- Can you name populations/audiences, problems, and products you would like to work with or on?
- What major did you choose and why? If undecided, what majors are you considering and why?
- What cities or types of locations do you see yourself working in?
- Are there companies/employers whose message, products, brands, and services you believe in and want to work with? List some names and state why they appeal to you.
- If you were given three golden tickets or dream job offers upon graduation, regardless of any extenuating circumstances or barriers that may prevent you from taking those opportunities, what would those 3 offers be?
Major Decisions
There is a big misconception that what you major in at college defines your career path for life. While choosing a major is a big decision, it doesn’t define you. A career takes time to build and capitalizes on what you learn in classes, internships, student organization experiences, and life! You can take highlights from these areas and create compelling stories about who you are and what you bring to the table.
When considering your major, find something that is a solid mix of your skills, interests, and values and that gives you multiple options to pursue.
Explore these campus and external resources that can help you learn how majors can be translated into careers:
- Occupational Outlook Handbook O-net
- Road Trip Nation
- CDC Industry guides
- Academic advising appointments
- Career advising appointments
- Conversations with those whose career experience appeals to you:
- Faculty
- Alumni in Emerge
- Friends, Family, and Peers
Summer before Sophomore year
- Build professional work experience through summer jobs
- Begin majors exploration to declare in sophomore year
- Connect with alumni from Emerge and LinkedIn for career conversations
- Schedule Career Center appointments: resume/cover letter review, career exploration, internship search, etc.
- Consider signing up for the Career Development Course for Sophomore year
- Find employment on/off campus for the fall
If you have any questions, please contact us!
