Proactively develop yourself and your career through continual learning, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, navigating career opportunities, and networking to build relationships within and outside of your organization.
Ways to Develop Career & Self-Development
Think about what kind of work environment you might prefer. Do you want to work outdoors? Work with your hands? In a business, educational, or non-profit environment, or somewhere else? This can change throughout your career life!
Think about the knowledge, strengths, skills, and abilities you possess and how your, and others', unique background and identities add to our global community.
Gain experience through getting involved in opportunities on and off campus
Build relationships through networking and/or find a career mentor.
Take a career assessment like the Strong Interest Inventory, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and/or CliftonStrengths, to help you better understand your interests, personality, and strengths in relation to major and career choices.
Use resources including the UMD Catalog, What Can I Do With This Major?, Candid Careers, and Roadtrip Nation to learn about possibilities.
Find job titles, salaries, employers, educational requirements, and more in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, O*NET OnLine, CareerOneStop, MN State CAREERwise, and in our UMD Graduate Follow-up Report.
Discuss options and possibilities with a Career Development Specialist in the Career Center
Review the learning outcomes on your syllabi and talk to your faculty about how you are developing this skill in your classes and with which assignments.
Ways to Demonstrate Career & Self-Development on Your Resume
- Certificates or certifications (CPR, Lifeguard, Excel, Tutor Certification, etc.)
- Advanced classes taken in your major or beyond the requirements for your major
- An interest area or minor in an area different than your major (Ex: Computer Science major and Ethics minor)
- A skills section
- A variety of jobs/involvement to include on your resume
- Embed career & self development into the descriptions of your experiences with statements such as: “Developed advanced knowledge of X through XYZ certification class” or “Participated in Mentoring program to develop connections in XYZ area.”
- Use action verbs in your descriptions such as assessed, developed, learned, integrated and networked. More action verb options.
- Resume resources
Sample Interview Questions to Demonstrate Career & Self-Development
What are your Strengths?
What are your Weaknesses?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What made you decide to pursue your major or minor?
Why should we hire you?