Career exploration is a vital process that aids in identifying career paths that align with your skills, interests, and goals. Our discussion of the career exploration process is inspired by the MIND Model, developed by the University of California, San Francisco, which serves as an essential tool offering structure and guidance. It helps to systematically explore career options through self-assessment, reflection, and synthesis of information. The model was originally developed for PhD students, but the model is applicable for students across all degree levels. By following the structure of the MIND Model, you can effectively create implementation strategies and develop a comprehensive plan to navigate the myriad of available career possibilities.
The Career Exploration Road Map of the MIND Model
SELF ASSESS
There’s more to career exploration than finding a role that you’re good at (i.e. matches your abilities). Career decisions can also be influenced by what you enjoy, what is meaningful to you, the environment you work in, and the people with whom you work. Taking time to conduct a self-assessment will help you identify and articulate your unique interests, skills, values and work preferences. This knowledge and insight will serve as your criteria when evaluating the opportunities and challenges of different career paths and specific jobs.
Prompts to Explore Your Skills and Preferences
- What do you enjoy doing? What are you interested in?
- What are your strengths or skills you’d like to apply in your work? What skills do you wish to develop?
- What are your values related to your future career?
- What considerations are most important to you when considering a job/career?
- What careers interest you? What career interests might be available to you in your major?
- Based on the results of your exploration, what are 3 careers you think you might like?
Resources to Facilitate Self Assessment
- Assessment Tools to Determine your Interests
- The following independent assessments are available at no cost to you. Consider completing one or more of these tools to gain insight into your interests, skills and motivations.
- University Resources (UCC Offerings)
- If you would like an in-depth career counseling experience that utilizes career assessment instruments to help in your choice of academic major or career, you may want to arrange an hour-long appointment with a career coach at the UCC. You can work with a coach to incorporate the results for the following assessments into your decision:
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- Clifton Strengths (CS)
- Strong Interest Inventory (SII)
- If you would like an in-depth career counseling experience that utilizes career assessment instruments to help in your choice of academic major or career, you may want to arrange an hour-long appointment with a career coach at the UCC. You can work with a coach to incorporate the results for the following assessments into your decision:
INVESTIGATE
Career Exploration involves the discovery, research and understanding of various career options. Take some time to investigate the careers of interest identified in the Self Assess Stage to learn whether the potential career path is a good fit for you. You might do this by reading available career related material such as the ECRC Major Information Sheets, Job Postings, and Michigan Engineering Majors Website. You can also learn about career paths by talking with Michigan Engineering alumni and recruiters about the work they do and how they’ve navigated their career paths. Gaining hands-on experience by participating in internships, research, and industry sponsored projects will help you see firsthand what the field might be like.
Prompts to Help You Focus Your Investigation
- What career are you focused on in this investigation?
- Collect data and impressions to evaluate in the Reflect Stage and determine which careers to pursue further.
Resources to Investigate Career Options
Research Careers of Interest by Reviewing Written Career Related Information
- ECRC Major Guides
- The ECRC’s Major Guides capture student career and internship outcomes to help you better understand career opportunities associated with specific majors in the College of Engineering at the undergraduate and master’s degree levels. PhD candidates can review the PhD Degree Level Overview document to learn more about the diverse paths available post-graduation.
- College of Engineering Majors Website
- The College of Engineering Majors website will help you explore different engineering disciplines, coursework and concentrations and identify a major that aligns with your career interests.
- Employer Job Postings
- Job postings can help you get a sense of what skills and responsibilities are associated with specific positions that are related to your career interests. Explore the different resources below to find a variety of job postings. Pro tip: use filters to find the opportunities that are of most interest to you!
Talk to Professionals Doing that Work
- Conduct Informational Interviews
- Gather information and gain insight into a particular career field, industry, or job by learning from the experiences of professionals who are established in their field.
- Who could you meet with ?
- Family Friend/Acquaintance, Alumni, Internship Colleagues, Faculty
- How to Prepare ?
- Determine what you want to know
- Prepare thoughtful questions – tailor to your interests
- What motivated you to get into this job/field?
- What skills and experiences have been the most useful in your career?
- What does your typical day look like?
- What do you wish you knew when you started your career?
- Maintain the connection with periodic outreach and updates – especially if you were provided with additional contacts, resources or advice
- Who could you meet with ?
- For more information on networking and informational interviewing, please visit the ECRC Job Search Page.
- Gather information and gain insight into a particular career field, industry, or job by learning from the experiences of professionals who are established in their field.
- Attend Events
- Talk to recruiters, presenters, alumni, and campus partners who may have insight into your field of interest.
- Majors Information Fair
- Company Days
- Networking Events
- Tech Talks
- Employer Hosted Events
- For more information on upcoming events visit the ECRC Event Page.
- Talk to recruiters, presenters, alumni, and campus partners who may have insight into your field of interest.
Try Out Typical Work Tasks
- Participate in a Job Shadow experience
- Complete Simulations/Activities/Open Source Projects to test projects – See partial list here.
- Attend Employer Site visits (departmental, student orgs or employer hosted)
- Participate in a internship experience
Engage in Skill Building Activities
- University Resources and Departments
- Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP)
- Real-world project experiences through participation in faculty research, industry projects, and student org teams
- Summer Undergraduate Research Engineering Program (SURE)
- Full-time summer research with some of the country’s leading faculty in a wide range of engineering disciplines
- Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP)
- Work collaboratively on ongoing or newly developed research projects
- Student Organizations
- Multidisciplinary Design Program (MDP)
- SPIRE
- As a College of Engineering student you can utilize the SPIRE web app. The SPIRE web app helps you identify experiential learning opportunities within the College of Engineering and track your progress with developing key professional competencies and skills.
REFLECT
Once you have explored and collected enough information it is important to reflect and analyze the information you have gathered. The Reflect Stage of the MIND Model enables you to think about how what you have learned aligns with what is important for you (type of work, salary, skill utilization, industry, etc.). The outcome of the Reflect Stage is to determine whether you want to proceed with your current career path and move to synthesize the information you gathered.
Prompts to Help You Reflect on the Careers You Identified
- Could I do work that is interesting to me in this career?
- Would this career involve a tolerable amount of work I do not find interesting?
- Do I like the people I would work with? Do I want to be like them?
- Do I like doing typical tasks found in this career?
- Does this career suit what is important to me?
- Am I willing to do what is required to enter this career?
- Once you have sufficiently reflected on the information, move to the Synthesize Stage.
Resources to Help You Reflect on the Careers You Identified
- Each time you investigate a career path that you particularly enjoyed or didn’t enjoy, take a few minutes to reflect on what you liked or didn’t like about that experience. You can keep a journal or document where you keep your reflections for reference later. It’s also a good idea to take an online self-assessment once a year, as your experiences may inform what your values are.
- Review the ECRC Company Culture page to help you think through how an employer’s culture aligns with your values and interests
SYNTHESIZE
In the Synthesize Stage, you’ll take everything you’ve learned from previous stages and analyze the information to determine whether you have sufficient information to move forward with planning and implementing a job search or whether you need some additional information to help inform your current plans.
Prompts to Help You Analyze Information You Collected
- Is there a career path you feel confident moving forward in?
- Has the information you’ve gathered come from knowledgeable sources or is it cobbled together with guesswork and assumptions?
- Is there additional information that would be helpful for you? How will you get this information?
- If you have all the information you need, proceed to the Plan and Implement Stage.
- If you need additional information, proceed to the Re-Assess Stage.
RE-ASSESS (Optional)
The Re-Asses Stage is the time to explore and investigate other options. It is essential to recognize that career exploration is a non-linear process; accordingly, the Re-Assess Stage of the MIND Model empowers individuals to undertake a thorough reevaluation of their competencies, skills, and preferences.
Prompts to Investigate Additional Options
- What is one way I have strengthened my career exploration skills?
- What is one thing I have learned about my preferences or priorities?
- Can I sharpen my answers to the self-assessment questions?
- Did I hear about other careers that might suit me?
- Given everything I know now, what career(s) will I explore next?
- If you don’t have all the information you need, proceed back to the Investigate Stage.
PLAN AND IMPLEMENT
In this stage, you’re focused on pursuing the career path that’s right for you and creating an action plan for the job search. You’ll need to prepare your resume and start reviewing job search resources as you build your action plan.
Prompts
The following prompts highlight the key steps in navigating your job search. Refer to ECRC Career Resources for a comprehensive collection of resources and recommended strategies.
- Review the ECRC’s Resume Review Information and Resume Templates to get started creating your resume
- Follow up with the people who helped you along the way with your career exploration and let them know that you’ve decided to pursue a specific career path and are starting to apply for positions
- Identify companies and organizations that align with your career path. Use Company Research databases like D&B Hoovers to get you started
- Start applying for jobs and attending career fairs to connect directly with employers
- Prepare for Interviews with the ECRC Interview Prep Resources and Schedule a Mock Interview Appointment
- Prepare thoughtful questions for your interviewers to ensure that this organization will enable you to reach your career goals
- Evaluate the offer and prepare to negotiate if necessary
Resources
- Michigan Engineering Post-Graduation and Intern/Co-op Employment Data
- Employment data from current students and new graduates
- Major Information Sheets
- Details on hiring industries, job titles, employers, and updated salary figures, sourced from current students and alumni
- Graduate School Information
- Information on applying to Graduate School, Michigan Graduate Programs, and Career Planning for Masters Students
- D&B Hoovers
- Company Research database
- Generative AI Tools
- Learn the strengths and limitations of the technology
- MyVISAJOBS.COM
- An information portal and online community for visa job hunters around the world
