Your job search is not an event; it is a strategic process. With the large amount of information available on jobs, careers, emerging occupational fields, and changing economies, it is sometimes difficult to know where to begin. Using these four steps will assist you in making the best choice for you.

The four strategic steps are:

• Assessment
• Information gathering
• Range of employability
• Implementation

Assessment

• Consider all the occupational families and job titles that "fit" you.
• Utilize career-decision making tools such as Choice Planner or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
• Determine whether your degree is technical or non-technical.
• Learn where employers hire graduates in your major.
• All academic majors can use this process to begin to project themselves into a "range of employability."

Information Gathering

• Research career choices by using the Career Services website links.
• Utilize the online Occupational Outlook Handbook to find the most updated and relevant information about your field. For more information regarding how to use the Occupational Outlook Handbook, see below.
• Talk to your Career Services advisor about career opportunities and conducting information interviews.
• Conduct an information interview with someone currently working in your field.

Range of Employability

• Be realistic with your expectations for entry-level salaries in your occupation.
• Understand degree expectations in different fields and license, certificate, or other requirements.
• Determine if a minor or other credential will enhance your employment opportunities and add those classes to your schedule.
• Apply information learned from information interviews, shadowing experiences, and discussions with professors to add relevant coursework to your schedule that will enhance your employability.

Implementation

• Select coursework that will work in several categories: meet general education requirements; meet graduation hour requirements; add a certificate or minor; enhance employability.
• Discuss internship/co-op opportunities with your Career Services advisor. Experience prior to graduation is an excellent way to find a job.
• Keep an open mind. Know your options but don't be afraid to create new ones!

How to Use the Occupational Outlook Handbook

• Use the A-Z Search to find the job title or family that contains a variety of information and linkages.
• Job descriptions.
• Future career outlook.
• Types of organizations that employ this occupation.
• Salary ranges.
• Professional societies connected with the field.
• Training or licensure that is required.
• Additional occupational titles based upon skill relationships.

OOH Organization and how it applies to YOU

• Job families and job titles are related based upon skill relationships.
• Link your degree to job families, and the subfields within those families (job titles).
• Your skills and the Occupational Outlook Handbook will help you project all the families and job titles with which you already have a skill relationship.
• The Occupational Outlook Handbook will get you started in the most critical stage of your career planning and implementation - IT WILL ASSIST YOU IN TRANSLATING YOUR ACADEMIC CURRICULUM INTO OCCUPATIONAL LANGUAGE.

A strategic job search has cumulative results. Projecting your range of employability assists you in expanding your repertoire of job titles. This in turn assists you in seeing the relationships between occupational fields and widens the types of positions you'd consider in your application process. At this point in the process you can confidently write your resume, develop an objective that will fit your job search, and be able to describe the functions of what you did (at work, school, the community) in skill language. In addition you have information about work that will assist you in your interviews.

The Career Conversations Program

• CSU alumni who volunteer to discuss their careers with interested students and graduates
• Contact someone in your field, or someone from another field to cross fertilize your search
• Available through our CSUcareerline service. You must register to use this system