Career planning strategies offered by NIU’s Department of Counseling and Student Development prepare students for the job market by helping them match interests and abilities with employment opportunities.

“We help students in the decision-making process,” said Alan Farber, department of counseling and student development counselor.

The counseling department provides students with opportunities to examine their interests and gain knowledge of themselves through taking an “interest inventory.”

“We examine student traits, including interests, abilities, values and personal and professional aspirations,” Farber said. “We relate these to careers and try to find a good match between a person’s traits and the work environment,” he said.

Another way students can assess their abilities and aptitudes is through using the Discover Computer Program located in Douglas Hall, Gabel Hall and the counseling department.

The computerized career planning system focuses on the specific needs of the clientele and gives both guidance and information, said Cheryl Gray, a career counselor who teaches a section of the career planning course at NIU.

“The Discover program creates a personal record of experience within the system for each user,” Gray said.

“The unique part (of using the Discover software) is students can take an inventory of their interests, abilities and experiences,” Gray said. “The computer produces a print-out based on those individual tests or an aggregate of tests.”

The Discover program also gives institutional profiles of 97 percent of the colleges and universities in the United States, Gray said. This benefits students considering graduate study at other institutions, he said.

NIU’s classes about career planning provide students with both theoretical and practical experience about career decision-making, said Gayle Findley, career planning instructor.

“Through the assignments and class activities, students gain a personal awareness about their own career development,” Findley said.

Findley cited activities that help students with career planning, such as participating in interest inventories, writing essays, analyzing theories about the workplace, designing resumes and keeping a daily log of class activities.

One of the most beneficial ways a student can learn about career possibilities is through the “information interview,” Faber said. “Sometimes it involves ‘shadowing’ people as they do their jobs,” he said.

Work experiece is important also. “Part-time employment, summer jobs, internships and volunteer work experience are excellent sources of information about one’s strengths and weaknesses,” Farber said.

He added, “Student organizations and extra-curricular activities also offer students opportunities to develop leadership abilities and communication skills as well as to participate in different projects.”

These types of activities provide students with opportunities to develop initiative and undertake challenging tasks, Farber said.

Placement counselor Ellen Anderson developed the Alumni Career Resource Network so students could learn about career options by talking to NIU graduates, because conversations with others is another way to learn about the job field.

Spending a day on the job with an NIU alumnus gives students experience which helps them learn whether a particular career field is appropriate for them, Anderson said.

Gray said, “Keep your eyes open, explore a lot of different career areas, talk to friends and family members and get practical work experience.”