Career Decision Making Guide

Whether you are choosing a major, searching for a job, or applying to grad schools, the career decision making process can help you develop and implement a plan for the future.

Clarkson University's Career Center describes it best. They state, "career decision-making is a complex and lifelong process. Most career change statistics indicate that the average worker will change careers five to seven times in their lifetime. In today’s fluid and rapidly changing workplace those statistics, in all probability, will increase over time.

The best career decisions are informed career decisions. Being informed means entering into a process of self-assessment (looking at yourself) and career exploration (researching careers) to find the best match.

Many career professionals view career decision-making as similar to putting together pieces of a puzzle to form a clear picture of what those pieces represent. Many also agree that the primary puzzle pieces in the career process are your interests, personality, values and skills.

Each piece needs to be explored carefully and thoroughly on its own, and then looked at in terms of its interrelationship with the other pieces in forming a picture that is clear and understandable – a picture of “who you are” in terms of your career aspirations."

South Dakota's Career Decision Making Guide is based on the CASVE cycle. Follow the steps in the career decision making guide above to complete your SDMyLife personal learning plan.

The South Dakota Department of Education's career decision making resources were modified from Flordia State University's Career Center resources.

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