What 2 career paths/occupations or specific employers did you investigate? How does what you researched for this assignment relate to your strengths, interests, values, goals? Describe what you especially found interesting/appealing in this (job, occupation, employer, career path).

Assignment Question

From our experience working with students in the College of Education, we consistently find students need support exploring career options. This assignment attempts to meet this need. It will also inform our end-of-quarter conversations on preparing for graduate school and careers. To successfully complete this assignment, there are two steps:

Step 1: Investigate Careers or Employers

● Two career paths/occupations (anything! Here are some examples: teaching; sports psychology; human resources; starting-your-own-business; management; professional development; advertising; health services; school counseling, etc.) OR

● Two specific employers (Gates Foundation; Seattle Public Schools; UW; Boys and Girls Club; Amazon; HopeLink; Seattle Sounders; City of Renton, etc.) that interest you and that you are considering pursuing now or possibly in the future. Review any or all of the following to get the information you need: conduct informational interviews; company websites; occupational/career research websites; articles on blogs or on professional association websites (National Education Association, etc.); career path profiles (of UW alumni or other professionals); industry reviews; videos featuring employers or professionals in a setting you are considering; recruiting webpages; review job and internship descriptions, etc. When looking at company websites, look to their ‘about us’ or ‘careers’ or ‘employment’ or ‘jobs’ or ‘college’ or ‘undergraduate’ sections. Find employers who add career and job content into social media spaces with which you are familiar.

Step 2: Summarize Your Research Write a 2-page minimum (double spaced, not including reference and title page) paper, addressing the following questions: What 2 career paths/occupations or specific employers did you investigate? How does what you researched for this assignment relate to your strengths, interests, values, goals? Describe what you especially found interesting/appealing in this (job, occupation, employer, career path). How has your research for this assignment affected your ideas for options? What is possible for you? Will you continue to consider this as a possibility? Why or why not? From what you’ve learned in your research, what are you lacking (if anything) (specific skills? certain experiences or coursework?) that you would need to gain/build, to be competitive for this, and what steps could you take now, before graduation, to work towards this? (Describe at least two different items for each career path or organization) What information, if any, are you still needing/lacking? (This is different from the previous question. This is specifically about information about the career or organization that you might not have been able to find out. For example, something about the hiring process, turn over in the company or position.) (Describe at least one different item for each career path or organization) Note: You must answer each question for both careers/organizations; I’d recommend answering all questions for one career/organization and then the other. APA Requirements double spaced level 1 headings title page page numbers paper title reference page (3-5 references) in-text citations