Before choosing a major or career, take time to figure out who you are, what you are good at, and what you value in life and work. App State’s Career Development Center is here to help students consider interests, skills, values and personality when selecting potential majors and career options. We offer a variety of assessments that can help inform your decision. After taking an assessment and discussing your results with a career coach, you may wish to meet with your academic advisor and professors in academic departments of interest.
Holland’s Theory of Career Choice is one of the primary career theories used by the Career Development Center. Holland proposed that each person has some combination of six different work interest areas.* Usually, 2–3 areas will be prominent for each individual. People work best in environments that let them exercise their skills and abilities, express their attitudes and values, and take on agreeable problems and roles.
The themes are:
- Realistic (Doers)
People who have athletic ability, prefer to work with objects, machines, tools, plants or animals, or to be outdoors. May be described as practical, athletic, adventurous and self-reliant. - Investigative (Thinkers)
People who like to observe, learn, investigate, analyze, evaluate, or solve problems. May be described as curious, rational, critical, intellectual, insightful, and persistent. - Artistic (Creators)
People who have artistic, innovating, or intuitional abilities and like to work in unstructured situations using their imagination and creativity. May be described as impulsive, non-conforming, sensitive, emotional, visionary, introspective, and imaginative. - Social (Helpers)
People who like to work with others to enlighten, inform, help, or train them and are skilled with words. May be described as humanistic, cooperative, supportive, tactful, and friendly. - Enterprising (Persuaders)
People who like to work with others, influencing, persuading, leading, or managing for organizational goals or economic gain. May be described as self-confident, assertive, sociable, ambitious, energetic, verbal, optimistic, assertive, and competitive. - Conventional (Organizers)
People who like to work with data, have clerical or numerical ability, carry out tasks in detail, or follow through on others’ instruction. May be described as practical, organized, systematic, accurate, dependable, conscientious, and quiet.
The assessments below can help you start to decide what major is right for you. Check them out and then make an appointment with a career coach to access them and talk about your results.
*Holland, John L. Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Vocational Personalities and Work Environments. 2nd ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1985.
Focus 2 Career guides you through a reliable, intuitive career and education decision making model to help you choose majors offered at App State, explore occupations and make informed career decisions. This tool will engage you in the career planning process and help you plan for and achieve career success throughout your lifetime. Schedule a major/career appointment to gain access to Focus 2 Career.
Instructions:
- You will receive a list of careers after each assessment. Once you have completed all five assessments, you will be able to combine all of your results and review careers that match all areas.
- Start with Work Interest Assessment. Complete the work interest assessment and write down your top 3 areas (social, investigative, artistic, realistic, enterprising, conventional) Select return to main menu at top right to complete the remaining assessments
- Complete the next 4 sections (personality, skills, values, leisure)
- Select Combine Assessments. This section allows you to combine all 5 assessments to see if there are careers that match all five areas.
- If there are no matches for all 5 areas, look at 4, 3 and 2 area combinations.
- Utilize the FOCUS 2 worksheet to identify majors and careers that appear consistently and sound interesting.
The assessments below can help you decide what major is right for you. Check them out and then make an appointment with a career coach to assess them and discuss your results.
The Strong Interest Inventory® instrument is a tool that can help college students make satisfying decisions about their career and education. Understanding their strong profiles can help them identify a career focus and begin their career planning and exploration. The Strong Interest Inventory measures interests, not skills or abilities. The results can help guide students toward careers, work activities, education programs, and leisure activities—all based on their interests. To access the Strong Interest Inventory, schedule a major/career appointment.
Picking a Major
Chances are, several majors fit with your interests. Often, you can satisfy your interests in other aspects of your life, such as volunteer activities, hobbies, recreation, etc. Most majors can lead to a variety of careers, which may also combine your different interests.
Some students may choose to double major and/or minor in different subjects. Look at course requirements to conceptualize different majors and minors, and learn more about related career titles to determine how your skills overlap with your new career goals.
Changing Majors
If you are beginning your major and still completing your general education requirements, changing your major may be the best option for you if you realize it is not the best fit and/or you are not performing above average in your coursework.
If you are well into your major (late sophomore/early junior year), changing your major could lead to loss of credit hours that can be applied towards your major. Before changing majors, meet with your advisor to find out if classes you have taken will apply towards other majors or if you will lose a significant number of credit hours. If receiving financial aid, consult with your financial aid counselor to determine the effects of changing majors on your financial aid loans.
