Career Services

Career Exploration Tools

Choosing a major can be a very daunting task.  You want to make an informed choice – one that will breed happiness, fulfillment and satisfaction. 

There are numerous resources available to assist you if you would like to pursue options on your own:

What Can I Do With This Major? – http://www.lewisu.edu/careerservices
Students may explore career opportunities by major through this helpful feature located on the Career Services main web page.  This link can help students discover areas of expertise within numerous career fields, types of employers, strategies to find specific jobs, and additional links to professional associations and industry specific news.

Occupational Outlook Handbook – http://stats.bls.gov/search/ooh.htm
Students can research hundreds of different types of jobs and learn the training and education needed, earnings, expected job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions.  In addition, the handbook gives you job search tips, links to information about the job market in each state, and more.

Career Guide to Industries – http://stats.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgindex.htm
This resource lists dozens of different kinds of industries for students to learn about, such as occupations in the industry, training and advancement, earnings, expected job prospects, and working conditions.  In addition, it provides links to information about the job market in each state and more.

Career Information System – http://ilcis.intocareers.org (Choose Option 1 – Quick Start)
Students can choose from hundreds of careers, read a detailed description of a particular career, which explains degree requirements, average hours worked per week, and the average salary.  This web site also provides inventories to evaluate your interests, skills and values and connect them to careers.

Lewis University Undergraduate Programs – http://www.lewisu.edu/academics/programs/ugrad.htm
This page lists the majors that students can earn at Lewis University and lists what classes are required with links to the departments.

Jobnet – www.lewisujobnet.net
Students should look here for information on the mentorship program as well as career related events on campus.  This web site also contains postings for internships and degree-requiring positions for all majors.

Library Materials
Our career library contains numerous publications on choosing a major and learning about careers.  Information available includes brief descriptions of common careers, salary expectations, educational requirements, work environments, and job outlook.

Part-time Jobs
This is a great way to “test the waters” and to help you prepare for your professional career.  Visit the Career Services Office to view numerous opportunities in Romeoville and neighboring suburbs.

These resources may provide all you need or they may provide a starting point to begin exploring.  Remember, you don’t have to do it alone.  We have career counselors who will talk with you and guide you in the process.  Your career counselor will provide you with additional assessments if necessary.
These may include:

Strong Interest Inventory
As assessment that helps with career decisions, it empowers you to discover your true interests so you can better identify, understand and often expand your career options. It maps out broad interest patterns to describe your personality and preferred work environment as well as provide more specific information about your areas of interest.

Skills Inventory
Skills are developed through paid and unpaid work experiences, volunteerism, hobbies, classroom experiences, and through everyday living. The Skills Inventory will allow you to discover the broad spectrum of skills with which you function in the world and discover those that are most important to your satisfaction, well-being and success.

Values Inventory
The Values Inventory is a simple checklist of values that are related to careers.  It helps students become aware of how their personal values correspond to different careers.

Self-Directed Search (SDS)
The SDS is a paper/pencil assessment instrument, which examines career interests and skills in a systematic, self-guided way. After answering questions about what activities you enjoy, skills you have, and jobs that might interest you, a three-letter code is generated. This code is linked to majors and careers. It can be used to learn about your personality and the types of careers that people with personalities similar to yours enjoy.

Card Sort
The Card Sort is a career assessment instrument used to discover interests, values and skills. The student and counselor work together. The student is provided with a stack of ninety cards describing various careers. The student sorts the cards into stacks, which reflect his/her likes and dislikes. The counselor then assists the student in determining what themes the careers have in common (i.e. the student likes working with children, but not in a teaching atmosphere; the student does not want to travel or work more than 40 hours per week).

To make an appointment with a career counselor, please stop by Career Services (inside LARC) in Benilde Hall or call (815) 836-5282 (x5282 from on campus).

We look forward to assisting you on this journey.

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