By John Garces/reporter
Most people change their selected major at least twice before they find one that works, NE students learned during a March 3 seminar.
Choosing Your Academic Major, presented by NE academic advisor Lilian Mabry, taught students some of the methods they can use to narrow down their career choices.
Using a PowerPoint presentation, Mabry explained that students always need to keep their options available and give themselves time to explore majors.
“But by your third year of college, you need to have at least a major or a minor,” she said.
Career exploration comes down to three questions, Mabry said: “Who am I?” “Where have I been?” and “Where am I going?”
Mabry gave the students pointers on various career assessment tools they have at their disposal, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and told them five areas students should evaluate when exploring a career are abilities, skills, interests, values and goals. She also gave students who attended interactive exercises to help them focus on possible career choices.
The most important thing that students should figure out, though, is whether they will love the work in the career they’ve chosen.
“If you love your work, the money will follow,” Mabry said.
Another of the points Mabry brought up is that students should gain experience by “job shadowing,” or following along on a certain job, often over the course of a year, to learn more about it.
Other ways students can explore majors is through volunteer work, clubs, organizations and college catalogs.
Mabry wrapped up the seminar with one last word of advice for the students in attendance.
“One of the most important things you can do to have a successful career is to match your skills with your interests,” she said.
