New job titles are being created every day that are very specific to different fields. Start looking at occupational areas in very broad terms and begin the process of narrowing in on something more specific.
Come in to the Piper Center and browse the shelves of books under “Exploring Careers and Majors.” There are books within interest areas such as education, music, the sciences, etc. that describe “Careers in …” Or “Jobs in …” (a particular interest area).
Visit the VAULT online career library. Browse the list of career profiles. Also, scroll down to “A Day in the Life” under Career Advice Articles and browse that list.
Search on LinkedIn to see exactly what areas St. Olaf alumni are working in (If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, consider getting one):
- On LinkedIn, hover over over “Contacts” and click on St. Olaf College – This will bring you to a page where you can do some interesting career searches
- Click on some majors under the “What they studied” heading to see what areas the alumni now work in (click on the arrow to the right).
- Pay close attention to how the “What they do” and “Where they work” sections are affected (click “see more” for more comprehensive lists).
- Click on a specific location under the “Where they live” heading to narrow your search geographically.
- Pay close attention to the alumni LinkedIn profiles listed at the bottom of the page – They change with each search.
- Broaden your search by altering the graduation dates on your search.
Attend Piper Center networking events to hear alums talk about what they do and have the opportunity to ask them questions.
Try doing a search on the Online Alumni Directory to see some occupations you may not know about. Log in by creating a my.stolaf account or use existing account and choose to do a search. Try doing a simple search by occupational area, and from the list of alums that results, click on them one at a time and view what they are currently doing. Or try a second search by setting occupation back to “Not Selected” and choose any major to get a different list of alums and their occupations.
Talk to professors about what career options are available in certain interest areas.