Career Communities
By: Pat Donahue
Want to know a secret?
Visit the Career Communities on the CDC Website
What you will find is a treasure chest of information that will teach you how to explore different industries called career communities.
The career communities are divided into seven continents in the world of work:
- Science
- Business
- Information Technology and Data
- Health and Human Services
- Government and Non-Profit
- Communication and Culture
- Arts, Sports and Entertainment
Each career community includes the following:
- Career Guides
- Major Guides, which also include information on minors & certificates
- Explore Jobs & Internships, which showcases part-time jobs and internships related to that career community. For many more job and internship postings, be sure to check out Handshake on the Student Employment website
- Upcoming events, which lists career panels, networking sessions, and employer visits affiliated with that career community and/or major. These events are sponsored by career services offices on campus.
You will find the Career Guides especially helpful because they help you decipher what career is a good fit for your VIPS (values, interests, personality, and skills) and how to design your major to correlate with your career goals. In addition, majors related to a career or industry are listed.
The Careers in Your Field section includes information on careers in an industry that is compiled from data collected by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics for its Occupational Outlook Handbook.
The handbook lists succinct information about most careers in the U.S., including typical responsibilities of the career, starting salaries, education needed, and predictions on job growth for that profession.
Another section of the career guides lists student organizations affiliated with that career. For example, under the heading for Entertainment and Sports careers, you will find IU student organizations such as the Music Industry Networking Club, IU Student Television, and the Business Careers in Entertainment Club.
You can also find volunteer opportunities that will help you explore careers you are interested in, which I shamelessly call volun-careering. I swear it’s going to catch on.
To top it off, professional associations for each career community are listed along with links to additional online resources. Almost every career in the U.S. has a professional association. Yes, even career services.
And finally, to really totally top it off, there is information on graduate school, since many careers require advanced education. After graduation, over 25% of IU students pursue graduate and professional degrees.
So, if you have a homework assignment to write about a certain type of career, the good news is the Career Development Center staff has done most of the work for you. You are welcome.
Take time now or over the break to check out the career communities, then schedule a meeting with your assigned career coach virtually to discuss what you want to do for a living.
And tell a friend. The Career Communities are a secret worth sharing.