Career Exploration
Assessments
Individual Development Plan (IDP) Assessments
Take the first step in your career exploration process by taking assessments that match your interests, skills, and work values. The Individual Development Plan assessments are designed for Master’s and Doctoral students and post-doctoral Trainees. We recommend retaking assessments annually to keep up with your professional growth and evolving interests.
IDP Tools
The IDP tools guide you through a process to identify potential careers that match your assessment results. There are four excellent IDP tools available for your academic and career development, including Texas A&M IDP, myIDP, ImaginePhD and ChemIDP. These tools provide specialized career information and suggests skills to strengthen, and indicates if there is a mismatch between your interests and the career you are pursuing. Identifying your work values will help you determine if a career or employer’s culture is a good match for you.
Career Exploration
Once you have identified potential career options, explore each career by doing research using IDP tools, the Career Center resources and networking with professionals. You may want to read career spotlights, complete job simulations, or learn about skills you wish to strengthen. Texas A&M students have free access to LinkedIn Learning to enhance their skills. Networking is an essential part of exploring careers. You can conduct informational interviews with professionals working in a career of interest to gain insights and begin developing your professional network. Our website has free resources for current and former students to research companies, find current position descriptions and connect with recruiters and employer events.
Additional Online Resources
InterSECT Job Simulations (free resource)
Explore careers with job simulations to identify potential careers which match your interests and skills.
Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH)
U.S. Department of Labor provides information on job positions in the economy using occupational profiles. Search for qualifications, pay, outlook, and other information.
Occupational Information Network (O*NET Online)
The O*NET database contains the job descriptions of almost 1,000 occupations and is a great resource to understand what skills are required for certain jobs.