In my time at St. Kate’s, I have had many major/ career pivots. When I first entered in the fall of 2020, I was dead set on a career in physical therapy. I have always loved human biology, and for that, I was on the dual degree cellular biology, pre-physical therapy track. I had a job at a health club where I spoke to several trainers and eventually changed to an exercise science major still on a pre-physical therapy track. I spent a lot of time shadowing and surrounded myself with others of similar interests, and started to question if I was truly interested in this career. I never did career exploration in high school, and would say that was my biggest regret! I continued to shadow physical therapists and in a hospital setting to figure out my interests, and went back and forth for a while before fully deciding to drop the physical therapy track in the first semester of my senior year. During this time, some of the resources in Katie Career Virtual Center that helped guide me include What Can I Do With This Major, PathwayU, and ONet.
After I decided I no longer wanted to pursue physical therapy, I added a biology minor and utilized the What Can I Do With This Major tool to see what people with an exercise science degree can do. This resource was super helpful because I was able to see the general category my major fell into, as well as the other majors in that same category. This gave me more of a sense of how interrelated fields of science and medicine are, and that there are people with diverse backgrounds and interests all apart of a similar career scope. This resource starts by defining the major and provides subgroups of different industries; physical fitness, therapy, business, etc. I appreciated this organization because it showed how I could go into many different things with a major I previously thought was only for physical therapy. It gives common career paths, employers, and strategies for succeeding within that specific path, and offers suggestions for how to get started with this major and things you can do before you get to the stage of applying for a job. It also shows professional associations related to the field, which can be great for staying connected and updated in the career as a whole, but also meeting and networking with the professionals in that career!
Another resource I used was PathwayU, which is a tool that generates potentially fitting career or educational paths based on your values, interests, personality, and work preferences. The tool collects this information by having you take 4 different assessments. With each of the paths generated at the end, it gives information about everyday responsibilities, compensation, and training required to fill that role. I liked the career matches option because it also characterized careers by subject, but there was a lot of overlapping, proving to have many options for each path! When you click on a job within each subject field, it gives you general information about the career, programs to go down that path, and other information tailored to that specific career. I liked how extensive this was in thoroughly explaining each career path, which allowed me to compare my interests with what my personality type is like. Taking these assessments also allowed me to be more cognizant of my interests and the environments I was in during internships, fieldwork, volunteering, etc. After using this tool, I reflected more on each experience I had and spent a lot of time in self-discovery. Ultimately, this is the most important thing for me in deciding what I want to do in my career because it’s very important to me that I get the interactions I need in an environment that I enjoy being in. Additionally, this resource helped clear up misconceptions and misinformation about certain careers, which actually ended up opening new doors for me. For example, before taking this assessment, I hadn’t ever considered teaching postsecondary education, but after reading many of the descriptions and values within academia, I now want to keep this door open! This tool helped me see myself differently and shine a light on the potential I have to succeed in various career paths, which was encouraging!
As I near graduation, I am now beginning to explore open, entry-level jobs that fit my interests in biology, exercise science, aging, research, etc. It can be easy to just search in Google, but a transitional resource I found to be much more helpful and accurate is ONet. This tool allows you to search occupations and see descriptions, skills, education requirements, interests (overlapping with PathwayU!), salaries, employment rates, open positions, related positions, professional associations related to the career, career trends, and so much more. This has made my transition period a bit less daunting because all the information I need is in one place and I can explore several different options! It can be overwhelming, but if you take time to explore each section individually and at your own pace, it can be much more digestible.
These are just a few of the amazing resources Katie Career Virtual Center has to offer to assist you with major and career exploration! And just a friendly reminder, it is OKAY to not know right now where you want to be or what you want to do! That is why Career Development offers various resources, events, and individualized assistance to help guide you! I used to be frantically overwhelmed, and by using Career Development’s resources, I feel I have much more guidance and direction while finding my path to a career practicing medicine and/or conducting research!
To schedule an appointment with our amazing career development team, head to Handshake!
