There are so many more career opportunities than we traditionally think of. Expand your horizons and find a better fit by researching majors, positions, salaries, and more.
Table of Contents:
- EXPLORE MAJORS:
- EXPLORE CAREERS:
- LEARN FROM CURRENT EMPLOYEES
Exploring Majors
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Utilize the What Can I Do With This Major? resource to see a list of 80 majors outlined on the site. Click on any major title to access information and links. - Make sure you are signed into your myCI to gain access to the website
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The information outlines common career areas students enter with this major, typical employers that hire students in this field and strategies designed to maximize career opportunities. Understand that the areas and websites are representative of typical career paths associated with each major and are not an exhaustive list.
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Search, browse or query through over 900 different careers. Read career profiles, job descriptions, educational requirements, and career outlook information.
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Find out what kind of salary to expect, watch short videos, and even learn about the types of people that typically go into each career.
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CSU Channel Islands Majors
- View a list of CSU Channel Islands Academic Programs. Academic advisors in each department are available to answer any questions you might have and provide you more information about the major requirements.
Academic Advising Center
If you are interested in changing your major or learning more about the requirements for your current major, please schedule an appointment with the Academic Advising Center. They offer new student orientation, mandatory freshman advising, and advising on General Education and graduation requirements for all students.
Career Research Databases
- Occupational Outlook Handbook
- Details on education, earning potential, training requirements, and future employment outlook for 200 occupations are presented in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook
- ONET
- Your tool for career exploration and job analysis! O*NET OnLine has detailed descriptions of the world of work for use by job seekers, workforce development and HR professionals, students, researchers, and more!
- America's Career InfoNet
- Part of CareerOneStop, this offers visitors a variety of tools and resources for career exploration, education information, and even job search instruction. The site features user-friendly occupation and industry information, salary data, career videos, education resources, self-assessment tools, career exploration assistance, and other resources that support career exploration and development in today’s marketplace.
- Occupational Outlook Quarterly (OOQ)
- The OOQ is published quarterly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This print and online magazine features articles with practical information on jobs and careers. It covers a wide variety of career and work-related topics, such as new and emerging occupations, training opportunities, salary trends, and results of new studies from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- Vault.com
- Vault is a resource for career management and job search information, including insider intelligence on specific employers, salaries, hiring practices, and company cultures. The website offers both free and paid subscription content to users who want to research employers, professions, and industries.
Salary Research Databases
- Salary Negotiation Guide
- Occupational Employment Statistics (OES)
- This BLS program produces employment and wage estimates for more than 800 occupations. These are estimates of the number of people employed in certain occupations, and estimates of the wages paid to them. These estimates are available for the nation as a whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan areas; national occupational estimates for specific industries are also available.
- Salary.com
- This site offers users free access to more than just salary data. Salary.com gives users information on total compensation. The Salary Wizard allows users to search for base, median, and top-level earnings in hundreds of jobs in many occupational areas; many of these projections are local as well as national.
- Glassdoor
- Know your worth, negotiate with confidence by learning what others in your position are paid.
Learn From Current Employees
Reaching out to people who are in the fields/positions you want to be in will be an essential part of your career search. Through these connections, you can learn about what a typical day in a certain role looks like, the skills you need and gain, work-life balance, and more. Your ability to build connections in the field will help you tremendously as you prepare to launch your career.
Informational Interviews
An informational interview is a meeting that you schedule with someone who works in an industry that you may be considering for future employment. This can help provide some insight into whether or not you would enjoy a certain type of job. It is a learning experience but can lead to jobs and internships.
Professional Associations
Professional associations, many of which will allow students to join at a discounted rate, offer an excellent job search resource. We also recommend following them via your LinkedIn profile. Many national associations have local chapters. They commonly provide some type of career services for their members and post information about jobs and internships in their field. Attending an association meeting or event can help you meet people who can provide you with job leads and valuable career-related information. To find out how to select a professional association, stop by the Career Development Center in Bell Tower 1548 or schedule an appointment with one of our Career Counselors.
- For a list of professional organizations, visit What Can I do with My Major?
Local Networking Opportunities
The Young Professionals Group (YPG) is comprised of young professionals who are members of the Ventura County Chambers of Commerce or prospective members who are interested in creating developmental opportunities. There are many ways to get connected with the YPG including joining the leadership council, volunteering, or serving on a sub-committee. As a member of YPG you will: (1) develop advanced leadership skills (2) increase professional development, (3) make valuable networking connections with professionals in the field.
- Ventura Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals Group
- Conejo Valley Emerging Leaders Group
Networking Events
Networking is the center of most successful job searches. When you make contact with people in a career field or organization in which you want to work, you may get tips on improving your marketability, names of additional contacts, inside information about what it takes to get hired, or even a job offer. Attend local networking events sponsored through the Camarillo Chamber of Commerce to get started with your first networking event.
Social Professional Networking
LinkedIn is a social networking tool that allows you to strengthen and increase your network of professional contacts. You can also use LinkedIn to research employers, career fields, industry contacts, and job leads. Many employers and recruitment agencies use LinkedIn to find candidates for open positions.
- Video: Start Your Career | LinkedIn for Students
- Increase your network by connecting to friends, family, supervisors, employers, colleagues, peers, faculty, advisers, and professionals in your field of interest.
- Continue to build and make new connections.
- Ask your connections to introduce you to people in their network from whom you are interested in seeking information.
- Follow and conduct research on organizations of interest.
- Search through the jobs postings, but before applying see if you have connections to the company and ask your contacts for recommendations and perhaps a referral for the position.
For more tips on how to use LinkedIn, visit: LinkedIn University or download this Linked Profile Tip Sheet .