Issues of career decision-making often provoke anxiety in students. Underclass students as well as seniors may seek the assistance of faculty advisers/mentors when challenged by the question, "What am I going to do with my life?" What can advisers do to help? Encourage students to talk about their post-Carleton plans and dreams. Ask students if they have been to the Carleton Career Center (Sayles Hill 50, x4293). And encourage them to pariticipate in career counseling if they would like assistance in clarifying career/like interests, skills, and values. Finally, suggest to students that they pursue career-related job shadowing (Career Exploration Program), internships and/or co-curricular activities (leadership positions, volunteering, etc.). What follows are the basic concepts of the career development process and some suggestions for advising undergraduates on this topic.

What students need to understand: Career Planning is a process, not an event!

1. Jobs are individual parts of an overall career (with career being defined as the total of purposeful work performed in one's lifetime). Therefore, career decision-making is not a once-in-a-lifetime event, but rather an ongoing, lifelong, process.
2. An undergraduate major, particularly in the liberal arts, is flexible: it is not a professional program of study. In short, the course of one's life does not depend on one's choice of major!
3. A liberal arts background does not mean that the student is without "marketable" skills and trained to do nothing. This is a fear often expressed by students. A liberal arts education combined with extracurricular involvement and internships leads to the development of numerous skills. Prominent among these are interpersonal, teamwork, analytical, oral communications, flexibility, computer, written communication and leadership skills.