Your life and career path may have many unexpected turns. For example, a campus job led Christina Kim '14 to choose a completely different major.
It’s OK if you don’t know what to do with your life yet. At UB, you have time to figure it out — and countless opportunities to try new things. Of course, you can always rely on our experts to answer questions and help you decide what to do next.
Start by exploring yourself-- like, don't like and what you're curious about.
Before you can explore options, you need to discover yourself. What interests you? What are your strengths and skills? No one knows you better than yourself.
Your expert career counselor may recommend one of our assessment tools to help with your major/career decision-making. If so, that assessment is free! If you're interested in taking additional assessments, small fees may apply. Talk with your career counselor to choose the assessment that is right for you.
**Highly recommended.
Focus2 is a self-paced career & major exploration tool that helps you identify your interests. It then connects those interests with a major and/or career for you. This interactive online tool provides multiple self-assessments by asking simple questions about your hobbies, skills, values and work interests.
How to get started:
Get access once you create/register a new account using your UB email address and the access code: ubbulls. Choose from any of the self-assessments to get started.
Register a new account with your UB email address and the access code: ubbulls
After completing, you’ll be able to view and debrief your results, explore UB majors, search and compare different careers, and have the confidence in choosing/switching a major and a career.
Still need help figuring things out? Check out our Focus2 debrief that will help you break down your result with your next steps.
CliftonStrengths helps you learn about your strengths and how to develop and apply your strengths in school and your career.
Strong Interest Inventory helps you define general career areas and finds a list of jobs that might be a good match for you.
Personality assessment tool that helps describe your strengths, your preferred role in a job and specific career areas that you might be interested in.
A tool to help you identify, challenge and alter negative career thoughts that impact your decision making.
Take a self-assessment and explore different majors and careers (occupations). You’ll also be able to compare different careers side by side before choosing.
Research typical job tasks, working conditions, required training and education, earnings, and expected job outlook.
Search by keywords, interests, skills, values and a variety of other methods.
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Find and talk to UB alums about their major, where they are today and their journey of how they got there during a career conversation consultation.
Register and sign in with your UB email address.
Exploring the idea of going to Graduate or Professional School? Learn about the types of degrees, how to choose a graduate school, how to plan and more.
Talk to a Career Counselor, schedule a new appointment in Bullseye powered by Handshake.
You've taken an assessment in Focus2, now what?
We'll break it down for you while reflecting on your result and connecting with people who'll help along your way.
If you haven't already and want to take your Focus2 assessments, please create/register for your free Focus2 account.
Your "My Career Planning Involvement" results will include a bar graph stating your different levels of preparedness for life after college.
Now that you've looked over your "My Career Planning Involvement" results, here are a few tips to help you start designing your life during and after college.
Try talking to UB alums in the UB Career Connector Network. They know what you're going through because they've been there. Most importantly, they want to share their tips with you that they've learned along the way.
To get the best results, use 2, 3, 4 and 5 stars when answering the assessment. Using these stars will help you make clearer choices, giving you more precise results.
Use these questions to reflect.
Pick a "Job Family" and ask yourself the questions below. Tip: Start with the "Job Family" you see the most.
Share your results with:
Bonus round: Once you've done steps 1-4, you can learn more about majors and careers by doing steps 5 and 6! 👍
Share your answers during an informational interview with:
Be courageous and share your answers with:
For more support, like finding someone to talk to, chat with a career expert during Drop-in Live Chat hours, or schedule an appointment with a career coach.
To get the best results, use 2, 3, 4 and 5 stars when answering the assessment. Using these stars will help you make clearer choices, giving you more precise results.
Use these questions to reflect.
Pick a "Job Family" and ask yourself the questions below. Tip: Start with the "Job Family" you see the most.
Share your results with:
Bonus round: Once you've done steps 1-4, you can learn more about majors and careers by doing steps 5 and 6! 👍
Share your answers during an informational interview with:
Be courageous and share your answers with:
For more support, like finding someone to talk to, chat with a career expert during Drop-in Live Chat hours, or schedule an appointment with a career coach.
To get the best results, use 2, 3, 4 and 5 stars when answering. Using these stars will help you make clearer choices, giving you more precise results.
To find the rest of your results, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the "Continue" button.
Ask yourself the following questions for “Job Family” and Occupation.
Can't find someone to talk to in a "Job Family" or "Occupation" you're interested in? Don't worry! Try:
Your results will include a bar graph stating your development level for each of the NACE Career Competencies.
Each skill will have a variety of recommendations to develop that skill more.
Not sure what skill to focus on? Choose the skill that is most related to your major and career interest.
For more support getting started, chat with a career expert during Drop-in Live Chat hours, or schedule an appointment with a career coach.
You can "Describe how you are developing your" various skills at the bottom of each skill in "Your Results." What you write will be saved, even as you retake this assessment.
This section gives you an idea of how UB majors connect to occupations/careers after college.
See all of the majors recommended by any of the assessments you have taken.
Don't worry! Try O*Net and search the major under the "Keyword or O*NET-SOC Code" search bar.
This part of Focus2 introduces you to the bigger picture of an occupation.
The different ways to look up an occupation include:
Reminder: Occupations go by many names. If you don't find the occupation, try typing in the other names it may go by, e.g., 'diving coach' is also known as 'athletic coach.'
To learn more names for the same occupation, type the occupation name you know into the "Keyword or O*NET-SOC Code" search bar of O*Net.
Be courageous and share your answers with:
For more support, like finding someone to talk to, chat with a career expert during Drop-in Live Chat hours, or schedule an appointment with a career coach.