Center for Career Development
Step 1: Self-Assessment
Self-Assessment is the crucial first step in career planning. It involves deciding what kind of career you want by looking first at yourself. Jobs are not a one-size-fits-all proposition. A job which is ideal for one person might be a poor choice for someone else. You need to decide three items: interests, skills and values.
Self-Assessment Services
To help you determine your interests, values and and skills, we offer several services at the Center for Career Development.
Career Counseling
Career center staff will arrange an individual appointment for you and help you decide on your professional goals and begin the process of achieving them.
Life-Work Planning Workshops
Offered several times each semester for individuals or small groups, these workshops lead you through the self-assessment process, helping you to define your interests, your skills, and your work values and to determine what careers are most likely to match those interests, skills and values. Students register for two sessions a week apart, each lasting 1 1/2 hours. You can find the schedule for Life-Work Planning Workshops by clicking on Calendar on the Career Center Home Page. To register for a workshop, call 410-778-7890.
Testing
No test can or should tell you what to do with your life. However, tests can be a useful starting point in helping you sort through a vast number of career possibilities to find those which are most likely to match your interests and skills.
Campbell Interest and Skills Inventory
This test will help you assess your interests and your skills. It asks you to rate your degree of interest in a large number of activities and your sense of confidence about your ability to do a wide variety of things. Test results can help you focus your career exploration on those professions which seem to be the best match for you. Offered free of charge to students and alumni, it takes about 45 minutes to do. Career Center staff will administer the test and provide an interpretation for you.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Based on theories of personality type, this instrument helps people look at four aspects of their personality: extroversion/introversion; sensing/intuition; thinking/feeling; judging/perceiving, which often contribute to work satisfaction or dissatisfaction. While people of all personality types can be found in any profession, knowing your personality type can help you decide if a given profession is going to be satisfying for you. Offered free of charge to students and alumni, this instrument takes about 45 minutes to do. Career Center staff will administer it and provide an interpretation for you.
Self-Assessment Books
The Career Library has a number of self-assessment books students can use to do their own self-assessment. All of these books can be checked out for a week.
FOCUS
FOCUS is a career planning system that will help you decide what kind of career you would most enjoy. By using the self-assessment questionnaires, interest inventories and personality testing it provides, you can match your interests, skills, values, personality, and leisure activities to professional careers. After you have completed the questionnaires, the system searches its career and occupational information database to help you identify and analyze occupations and career paths that match your personal characteristics. It also provides extensive information about careers you are considering and allows you to compare several options. The system also provides links to websites with information about graduate and professional schools, financial aid, internships, overseas jobs, and volunteer work.
300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, Maryland 21620 | 410-778-2800 | 800-422-1782