It’s Never Too Early to Explore Hiatt
You’ve moved in, completed orientation, started your classes, are joining campus clubs and forming new friendships. We’d be amazed if you’ve been able to catch your breath! But while you’re busy prioritizing all these facets of campus life (the best food on campus is crucial to know), don’t disregard what the Hiatt Career Center can offer you even as a first-year student.
We constantly tell students to connect with Hiatt early and often! As a first-year, our expert staff and online resources can help you discover who you are and what you want to do. We help empower you to harness your individuality in exploring majors, industries and career paths.
So how should you take advantage of what Hiatt can offer? First off, let’s meet! Set up a meeting to introduce yourself and learn more about who we are, what we do, and how we can help you throughout your time at Brandeis. You can learn more about each of our career counselors beforehand to find someone who resonates with you.
You can also utilize our online resources anytime, anywhere. For new Brandeis students, we recommend starting by:
- Identifying your values, skills, interests and motivations
- Exploring potential careers and industries
- Reviewing the career paths of other students and alumni
Identify Who You Are
Take time to reflect on the classes and activities you enjoy, and then look for majors and occupations where you can continue to build upon those interests. Some resources to help advance your thinking include:
- TypeFocus: an online tool to help you explore your personality preferences, and discover your values, skills and interests to help you connect them to a range of fields that may be a good fit for you. Pro Tip: Meet with a Hiatt counselor to review what you learn.
- Identity at Work: show how intersecting identities of students and alumni of all backgrounds, affiliations, identities and preferences might impact work and professional development.
- Get involved: Take part in student clubs and organizations, join a variety of classes and volunteer to explore and hone your interests.
Explore Careers & Industries
Whether you are still exploring or have an idea of what you are interested in, continue to do research to learn even more. This can help narrow down your choices as well as develop future plans. Explore careers more in-depth with these resources:
- What Can I Do With This Major?: review various major categories, employers and the types of majors that they typically and strategies for being a marketable candidate.
- Firsthand: provides in-depth intelligence on what it's really like to work in an industry, company or profession—and how to position yourself to land that job.
- O*NET: has detailed descriptions, responsibilities, required skills, preferred interests, and general work styles and environments for a variety of professions.
Review What Others Have Done
One of the best ways to find out more about potential majors, careers and industries is to see what other students and alumni like you have done. Use these resources to find where students have interned, lived, worked and studied at Brandeis and beyond.
Beyond Brandeis: Search where Brandeis graduates end up within six months of graduation to get a sense of entry-level opportunities.