First-Year Career Milestones – Industry & Career Exploration
Choosing a career starts with exploring the possibilities. These milestones are designed to help you explore different industries, careers, and opportunities while learning more about yourself. Through these activities, you’ll broaden your understanding of career options and build confidence as you begin making informed decisions about your future.
Complete at least one of the following Industry & Career Exploration milestones during your first year.
- Apply for funding for career exploration through the Career Design Center
ÌýApplying for a Career Exploration Award provides opportunities for you to explore career areas of interest. This Award seeks to encourage students to envision many possibilities for their futures. Career exploration can be any activity that allows students to engage their curiosities and try things out as they make decisions about what may come next for them. It involves learning about yourself as well as career possibilities to provide clarity around interests, goals, and aspirations. - Attend a Quick Chat with the Career Design Center
Attending a Quick Chat helps you establish a strong foundation for your career development from your very first year on campus. By meeting with a career coach early, you’ll learn about opportunities and create a plan that will help you make the most of your time at Geneseo. - Attend a Demystifying Careers Event
The ‘Demystifying Careers’ series is a way to learn more about different and not always obvious career paths one can take with a Liberal Arts degree. The panels are designed to ask about the basics of someone’s job. These panels help you connect your academic interests to real world careers by introducing you to professionals from a variety of industries. By attending a panel, you’ll gain valuable insights into different career paths, learn what employers are looking for, and discover practical steps you can take now to prepare for your future career. - Attend an employer info session on Handshake
Employer Information Sessions are a valuable way to explore organizations, industries, and career opportunities while hearing directly from employers about their work, culture, and hiring needs. You’ll have the chance to ask questions, build meaningful connections with recruiters, and gain insights that can strengthen your applications and help you stand out in a hiring process. - Complete a project on Forage
Forage gives you the opportunity to explore different careers by offering job simulations designed by employers. One can explore different roles and develop your skills by working through self paced modules. You will experience similar tasks to those you would undertake during a traditional internship. Build real world skills and explore career paths through self-paced, online job simulations with Forage. Each project includes video instructions and materials created by the employer. - Conduct an Informational Interview with an alumnus via the Alumni Career Advisor Platform
The Alumni Career Advisor Network is an online mentoring platform that connects you with alumni to explore potential careers, job search advice, networking, and more! Whether you want to learn more about a career path, have an interview coming up, or need to give your resume a tune up, alumni are there to help. The platform uses a matching algorithm to connect you to ideal alumni advisors based on information included in your profile. Conversations with alumni can take place via phone, video, chat, or in person. One of the greatest benefits of engaging alumni career advisors is the ability to receive career advice from professionals working in the field. Student advisees who actively engage with alumni for career advice are 18% more likely to graduate with a full time job.