8.2 Career and Major Exploration as a Process
Let’s start this section with a brief activity about your thoughts on major and career exploration.
Activity 8-3:
Determine if the following statements are true or false.
| Most students select a major based on solid research and information gathering about the field. | TRUE | FALSE |
| Once students declare a major, they will stick with it. | TRUE | FALSE |
| Students should choose a major based on the current job market. | TRUE | FALSE |
| Students should choose a major directly related to their chosen career. | TRUE | FALSE |
| Once students commit to a major, they will be stuck in that career for life. | TRUE | FALSE |
| A student with a liberal arts degree will not be qualified to get a really good job. | TRUE | FALSE |
| Students only need a high GPA to improve their chances of career success. | TRUE | FALSE |
In the past, young adults simply followed in their parents’ footsteps taking over the family business or farm. However, in the beginning of the 20th century, Frank Parsons in Boston began to assist disadvantaged youth in choosing careers. His emphasis on matching self and job traits has remained at the core of the development of career decision-making programs (Baker, 2009). Today, students are entering a workplace unlike the generations before them, given the impacts of globalization, downsizing, re-engineering, and changing organizational structure of the workplace (Gordon, 2006). Students need to make a conscious effort to prepare themselves for this changing world to be competitive and ultimately find their own happiness.
When you were a young child, it was fun to think about being an astronaut, a veterinarian, or a firefighter. Many people also imagined being in a cool career that was portrayed on television—a forensic scientist from CSI, an emergency doctor like in ER, or lawyer from Law and Order. However, as you come closer to entering the workforce, you may be feeling more anxiety about your career, major choice, or have absolutely no idea what you want to do with your life… and that is perfectly natural. According to Beggs, Bantham, and Taylor (2008), statistics vary, but up to 50% of students enter college undecided. Those students, who have selected a major, ranked “information search” last in importance in selecting a major, indicating that decisions may have been made without critical information about themselves and the field. Allen and Robbins (2008) reported that 75% of students change their major at least once in college.
If you think back to the academic journey discussed in Chapter 2, you may recall that there are many different pathways to get from Point A to Point B. Likewise, your career path will merely be a continuation of your academic journey, and it may take you in different directions at different points in your life, possibly even bringing you back to school or to another type of formal training when new jobs are created. Whether you have a major identified or