January 10, 2024 – College students start their academic journeys to get an education that prepares them to enter the workforce. However, with so many career options to choose from, it’s easy to get lost amid all of the information.
Santa Fe College’s Career Exploration Center helps students pick their destinations so they can obtain a degree or certificate before money and motivation run out.
“There are over 1,000 majors and programs of study available in the United States,” Jimmy Yawn, Career Exploration Center Coordinator said. “Most students only know about eight or ten of them, and make their life choices from the little handful that everyone knows: business, nursing, psychology and a few more. So we have lots and lots of students wanting to go into one of those ubiquitous majors because they don’t know what else exists. And it makes those majors overly competitive because so many students are trying to get in. It’s a shame, since many of those students would be better off in a program that matches their interests and life goals, they just don’t know what they are.”
Yawn and their team use computer guidance programs to fine-tune students’ paths. These assessments gauge a person’s values, personality and other relevant factors to point them to careers worth exploring.
“You can get jobs with any major,” Yawn said. “But the choice of a major is important, it will push the student in a career direction so let’s make sure it’s a good direction.”
Yawn stressed that the Career Exploration Center does not make students’ choices for them. “What we do is help students gain the information from which to make their own choices, and to consider rationales for use of that information.”
Learn more about the Career Exploration Center at sfcollege.edu/cec.