I always love the start of a new academic year, when everything is new and all sorts of possibilities await! One of the tremendous aspects of studying at an institution such as Penn is that there are SO MANY options to choose from and the opportunity to explore a huge variety of subjects.
Some of you may have very clear ideas of where you want your career to take you….. and many of you probably are still sorting this out. Whatever stage of career decision-making you are in is okay! I am a huge fan of exploring options widely as most of us never realize how very many opportunities are open to us and so it can be easy to narrow career options prematurely and miss out on career paths that might be a great fit! On this first day of classes, as you start learning about a myriad of subjects, I wanted to share some resources available through Career Services to find out more about those careers that might pique your interest as you go through the semester! (Note that most of these resources require a PennKey.)
CareerExplorer: CareerExplorer is a free platform that helps you find your ideal career by providing an interactive career test to better understand your core strengths and your compatibility with over 800 careers – and then learn about the suggested careers!
Vault Guides: Vault provides in-depth intelligence on what it’s really like to work within an industry, company, or profession—and how to position yourself to launch and build the career of your dreams. This site contains rankings and reviews, career advice, and career guides.
Career Communities on Career Services Website: You can find tailored resources for 25 industry communities on the Career Services website, along with 12 affinity communities (such as first-gen, athletes, and students with disabilities). While on the Career Services’ website, be sure to log in at the top right corner to edit your preferences so the weekly newsletter you receive on Fridays will be tailored to your interests! (Every student receives a personalized newsletter!)
Networking: One of the best ways to learn about careers is to talk with people actually working in the career already! You can use MyPenn (Penn’s alumni database) and the Penn Alumni Community on LinkedIn (with nearly 200,000 members!) to find alums who are doing work that intrigues you.
Exponent: Exponent is a learning platform that helps you prepare for tech interviews in product management, engineering and many other technical areas.
Management Consulted: Management Consulted is a leading resource on consulting and case interview prep and provides access to 500+ cases, 10K+ case structure & math drills, 8 online video courses, and 11 industry primers.
Handshake: Handshake is Career Services’ powerful platform for University of Pennsylvania students, postdocs and alumni served by our office. Handshake uses cutting edge technology to help you more easily connect with employers and source jobs and internships, event information, and schedule appointments with career and graduate school advisors. Note that employer information sessions and career fairs start very early in the semester, so don’t delay in finding out what opportunities await!
