One of the best places to start is assessing yourself. Assessment may be a formal evaluation or just a conversation with your Career Coach. The ultimate goal is to gain a better understanding of yourself. This is especially helpful if you have no idea what you want to do!

• Skills Assessment: What are your natural talents and abilities?
• Interests Assessment: What work activities do you find appealing?
• Values Assessment: What beliefs and ideas are important to you?
• Personality Assessment: What traits best describe you and how you go about solving problems?
• Academic Strengths Assessment: What majors are you good at?
• Personal SWOT Analysis: What are your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and how does that inform your career plan?
• Work Style Assessment: What is your dominant work style and how will this impact your work relationships?
• Career Readiness Assessment: How developed are your leadership skills, work ethic, teamwork skills, communication skills and problem-solving skills?

Another way to explore career options it to gain hands-on experience. Experience empowers students to make realistic decisions and expand their networks, which is the best way to create future job opportunities for yourself. Experience can be added to your resume, expose you to career paths, and create relationships for references in the future.

• Volunteer: donate your time for free to help a nonprofit with their mission
• Internships / Externships: work (paid or unpaid) for a fixed amount of time with a specific learning objective for all types of employers
• Job Shadow: follow an employee for a day to learn about their job, their company, and their industry
• HCCC Campus Involvement: Showcase your leadership and creativity on campus:
  
  • Clubs
  • Federal Work Study
  • Peer Leaders
• Goldman Sachs Local College Collaborative: Every year, 10 high-achieving students at HCCC are selected to participate in the Local College Collaborative and earn a $1000 stipend! In partnership with 30 other students at 3 other schools and the staff at Goldman Sachs, students work with an employer to solve a business challenge and participate in a series of professional development workshops at Goldman Sachs. It’s a great opportunity to network, gain public speaking experience, cultivate leadership skills, and learn if you like working in a corporate environment. Check out our 2019 and 2020 cohort celebrations!
  
  • The Goldman Sachs College Collaborative 2018 Kickoff at Hudson County Community College
  • The Goldman Sachs 2019-2020 Local College Collaborative at Hudson County Community College
• Foundation Internship Program: Ten students every year can participate as an Intern with select partner employers for 150 hours and earn a $2250 stipend.

Much of exploration is simply doing research. If you already have a career objective in mind, do you know the minimum education requirements to get a job? Do you know which major is the best fit for you? The following are examples of topics to research to inform your choices. 

• Informational Interviews: interview people in the workforce and ask questions to understand their professional journey and how it will inform your next steps
• Career Paths: understand all of the steps required from education to experience to get into your field of interest
• Choosing a Major: find the major that aligns with your goals
• Identifying a 4-year college: identify potential schools to transfer to that are within your budget and have the major you want

• Resume: the single most important document every application requires (yet is only viewed for about 8 seconds!) – it’s the story that explains your experience and technical skills
• Cover letter: the other important document that no one reads but is still required – it’s the story that highlights your soft skills
• Professional clothes: these types of clothes can be expensive – we have resources for free clothes for you to keep and wear to interviews
• Job Search Strategy: having a plan of action and tracking your work and results
• Interview Skills: first impressions, handshakes, answering questions about yourself – the most under practiced but important performance
• Interview Follow Up: sending a thank you email to employers within 24 hours is a critical, yet often overlooked, step
• LinkedIn: think digital resume meets social media
• Social Media / Digital Footprint: employers will research your online presence; what kind of photos of you are out there?
• Personal Brand: your unique style, impression, and reputation 
• 30 Second Pitch: imagine bumping in to a CEO of a company you want to work for on an elevator and you have 30 seconds until you reach the ground floor to make a case for why they should hire you

Employers will either come to campus or host a virtual information session to promote the company and the jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities students are eligible to apply to. This is a chance for you to ask questions and learn more before applying to ensure it’s a fit for your professional goals. Your presence is also a way to promote yourself and stand out as a strong candidate before you apply.

Employers will host in-person or virtual interview events for current vacancies. These companies are a part of the team's professional network and are interested in hiring Hudson County Community College students directly. Leverage our network to get your foot in the door and experience on your resume.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers identified eight competencies associated with “career readiness” outlined below.

• Critical Thinking/Problem Solving: Exercise sound reasoning to analyze issues, make decisions, and overcome problems … and use knowledge, facts, and data in this process. 
• Oral/Written Communications: Articulate thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively in written and oral forms to persons inside and outside of the organization. 
• Teamwork/Collaboration: Build collaborative relationships with colleagues and customers representing diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, religions, lifestyles, and viewpoints. 
• Leadership: Leverage the strengths of others to achieve common goals, and use interpersonal skills to coach and develop others. 
• Professionalism/Work Ethic: Demonstrate personal accountability, effective work habits, integrity and ethical behavior, acts responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind, and is able to learn from their mistakes.
• Digital Technology: Leverage existing technologies ethically and efficiently to solve problems, complete tasks, and accomplish goals. Demonstrates effective adaptability to new technologies.
• Career Management: Identify and articulate one's skills, strengths, knowledge, and experiences relevant to the position desired and career goals, identify areas necessary for professional growth and take the steps necessary to pursue opportunities.
• Global/Intercultural Fluency: Value, respect, and learn from diverse cultures, races, ages, genders, sexual orientations, and religions. Demonstrates, openness, inclusiveness, sensitivity, and the ability to interact respectfully with all people.

The following are just a snapshot of other skills to develop and refine throughout the course of your life. While it can focus on personal enrichment and growth, it undoubtedly intersects with your career development.

• Money Management: tracking your expenses and savings and setting financial goals to stabilize your life and build your economic future
• Goal Planning: developing an action plan with actionable and measurable steps to achieve a specific goal
• Continuing Education: pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree (and beyond) to meet educational requirements for specific roles and increasing your salary
• Promotion: actively applying for roles that advance your pay, skill set and competitiveness in the job market
• Salary Negotiation: having a professional conversation that advocates and makes a case for a higher rate of pay than your role currently offers
• Work-Life Balance: organizing your life in a way that feels good and meets your physical, intellectual, financial and emotional needs