Stanford is a Mecca of information, key leaders, faculty, and staff that can lead a student to many opportunities. The Career Development Center (CDC), in particular can help you explore career options beyond the obvious.

KNOW YOURSELF

The key to determining the career path you’d truly like to pursue is finding an environment that best suits you. This starts with the ability to answer such questions as: What do I love to do? What motivates me? What am I good at? What are my personality traits? A CDC career counselor can work with you to help you increase your self-knowledge and expand your list of career options through individual counseling appointments and self-assessment tools.

The CDC offers the following: the Strong Interest Inventory, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Personality), the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey, as well as Skills, Values, and Career Card Sorts.

RESEARCH YOUR OPTIONS

After creating a list of career options, it’s vital that you spend time researching what it takes to enter these career paths, get a sense of what the work is like, and the common job titles associated with the fields that interest you. The CDC has hundreds of books and resources in its library to help you do your research, as well as a compilation of Web resources: cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/research/exploring.htm.

To complement your print and online research, talking with alumni, professionals, and faculty to hear the “inside scoop” on various careers is vital. Experts can be found through the Stanford Career Network, stanfordalumni.org/

career/scn, and by attending events such as the upcoming Stanford Career Week, January 29 - February 3. Additionally, the CDC maintains a Shadow Program that allows students to spend a day on the job with a professional, cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/shadow.

Joining a professional or student association related to your interests is another way to gain knowledge about specific fields: mygroups.stanford.edu/search.

Lastly, participating in an internship is probably the best way to gain exposure to a career path. Some key internship search tools include:

-Cardinal Careers Jobs & Internship Database

-Career Fairs

-Internship Network

-CDC Links Database

-CDC Resource Library’s Collection of Internship Books and Online Databases

For links to the resources above and for more tips on finding an internship visit: cardinalcareers.

stanford.edu/internships.

PREPARE FOR AND

EXECUTE THE JOB SEARCH

Once you have completed your self-assessment and performed the research to determine the type of jobs you’d like to pursue, then it’s time to prepare for the job search. To properly prepare, you will need to make sure your resume and cover letter are in tip-top shape.

But what is the best job search strategy? The most successful searches include some of each strategy:

-Cardinal Careers Jobs & Internship Database and other sites

-Contacting Organizations Directly

-Career Fairs

-Cardinal Recruiting (on-campus interviews)

-Networking—the most successful job search strategy!

For each specific job you are applying for, you will need to adjust your resume and cover letter accordingly. Additionally, you will need to have a list of references that can speak favorably on your behalf. And you’ll also have to prepare for your interviews.

For more information on the job search, visit cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/jobsearch/strategies.

In general, you will find that the career search process is not a one-time event that occurs when you graduate, but a dynamic on-going process of career development as you learn and respond to change, within yourself and in the organizations with which you work.

For more information on any of the resources mentioned or to schedule a career counseling appointment, please call (650) 725-1789. Visit the CDC at 563 Salvatierra Walk (across from the Haas Center) and on the Web at cardinalcareers.stanford.edu.