Career planning is about creating a path that fits your strengths, interests, and values. It begins with exploration—discovering what excites you, learning about majors, and researching career fields—and develops into planning—setting goals, gaining experience, and preparing for life after graduation. Whether you’re still deciding what to study or already working toward a specific career, this page will guide you through exploring options, building a plan, and staying flexible as your goals evolve.
The first step in career planning is knowing yourself. By understanding your interests, skills, and values, you can identify paths that are a good fit.
| Type of Skill | Definition | Examples | Transferable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard Skills | Technical, measurable abilities you can be trained in or tested on. Often job-specific. | Excel, coding, accounting, lab techniques, graphic design, foreign languages | Yes — many transfer across jobs (e.g., Excel, project management) |
| Soft Skills | Personal qualities and interpersonal abilities that shape how you work with others and approach challenges. Harder to measure. | Communication, leadership, teamwork, adaptability, problem solving, emotional intelligence | Yes — almost all soft skills transfer across industries |
| Transferable Skills | Any skill (hard or soft) that can apply to multiple careers, not just one. | Communication (soft), project management (hard), teamwork (soft), data analysis (hard) | Transferable is the umbrella category that covers both hard and soft skills |
Takeaway: Think of transferable skills as the bridge that carries your abilities from one career path to another.
Once you know more about yourself, start exploring your options through both research (job outlooks, salaries, skills) and real-world insight (alumni stories, job shadowing, career videos).
Career areas, typical employers, and strategies for success by major.
Trusted BLS source with job outlooks, salary data, education requirements, and career details. Great for career path exploration and market understanding.
Short “day-in-the-life” videos and advice from professionals.
In-depth career database with tasks, skills, knowledge, work values, and pathways for hundreds of occupations.
Exploration is only useful if it leads to action. Turn insights into next steps.
Non-traditional/transfer students: condense the sequence into 2–3 terms; prioritize internships, portfolio, and targeted networking.
Employers want more than a diploma—they want graduates who are career ready. According to the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE), career readiness means demonstrating a set of eight core competencies employers across all industries consistently seek.
Communication
What It Means:
Clearly express ideas in writing and speaking
Example: Presented research findings to 60+ attendees
Teamwork
What It Means:
Build collaborative relationships and work effectively
Example: Co-led a 5-person project; used Trello to meet deadlines
Critical Thinking
What It Means:
Identify and solve problems using analysis and reasoning
Example: Redesigned an analytics project that improved results by 18%
Professionalism
What It Means:
Show integrity, accountability, and reliability
Example: Balanced a 15 hr/week job with full-time coursework
Leadership
What It Means:
Motivate, guide, and organize others toward goals
Example: Increased club membership by 40% in one year
Technology
What It Means:
Use and adapt to digital tools
Example: Built dashboards in Excel and SQL; used Adobe Creative Suite
Equity & Inclusion
What It Means:
Value and learn from diverse perspectives
Example: Coordinated events with multiple cultural organizations
Career & Self-Development
What It Means:
Pursue learning and growth proactively
Example: Completed four workshops and earned a micro-credential
Employers expect you to apply learning outside the classroom. Build experience in multiple ways:
Most opportunities come through people. Build relationships before you need them.
Simple cadence (weekly):
Outreach message (copy/paste):
Hi [Name] — I’m a [year/major] at UVU exploring [field]. I admire your path at [Company] and would value 15 minutes of your time to learn how you got started and what skills matter most. Please let me know if you might be open to connecting.
Keep a small tracker (contacts, dates, notes, follow-ups).
Assess interests and values, connect results to majors and careers.
Watch professionals share real-world insights.
Track and showcase your growing skills.
Explore career options by major.
Salary, education, and job outlook data.
Skills, tasks, knowledge, work values, and pathways by occupation.
Undecided on a major?
Start with PathwayU, then do two informational interviews and one shadow.
No experience yet?
Create it: campus jobs, class projects, service, micro-internships.
Changed your mind?
Normal. Use the Plan A/B/C model to pivot while staying on track.
Feeling overwhelmed?
Start small: one application, one new connection, or one concrete step each week.
