Career Services

Among the many benefits of being a Penn State student is having access to a wide variety of resources and tools to assist you in developing your career. You might be thinking that Orientation is a strange place to introduce Career Services, but there's no better time to start thinking about what you're planning to do with your education. Among the many reasons to attend college, many students want education to

  • start a career,
  • finish a degree or certificate,
  • increase income,
  • expand opportunities,
  • change or advance a career,
  • be a good role model for children, and
  • enrich their lives.

You'll invest quite a bit of time and energy into your education, so it's important to take the time to connect your education to your career and life. It's also important to remember that career planning isn't a one-time event; rather, it's an ongoing process involving self-exploration, knowledge acquisition, and decision-making over time. Figure 3.1 illustrates the cyclical nature of this process.

Image of Career Planning cycle - Explore self, explore options, acquire knowledge, skills and experience, make decisions and implement choices

Figure 3.1. Self Exploration Cycle

World Campus Career Services

Penn State Career Services can assist you no matter what academic program you're in. This assistance can help you identify and achieve your individual career goals. We're committed to offering a comprehensive array of programs and services that support and facilitate career development for all of our students. Programs and resources are available to help you with

  • forming and specifying career goals,
  • expanding knowledge of career options,
  • understanding effective decision-making, and
  • acquiring applicable strategies and skills to carry out the process.

From the day you become a World Campus student, you're given access to many resources and services to develop your career. Whether you're looking for advancement within your current field, or you're looking to make a more radical shift, Career Services has experience in counseling students no matter where they are in their decision-making process. Figure 3.2 shows some of the phases of reaching a career decision.

Decision Marking Process

Figure 3.2. Occupational Decision Making

Take Action

There's no time like the present to start looking into your career choices and how they affect your education. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with World Campus Career Services and how they can help you, by visiting the World Campus Career Services web page Links to an external site.. This would also be an excellent time to set up an appointment with one of our career counselors and chat with them about your goals.