To help you, our students, decide on your major and achieve your educational and career planning goals, we invite you to take advantage of the great services and resources offered in the Career Center. Choosing a major or career path in today's world of endless possibilities can be a daunting and challenging task, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you are a new or continuing student who is undecided on a major or career direction, you can help yourself by following a proven career-planning strategy as a roadmap to objective decision making. The first step would be to develop self-awareness by learning and organizing information about yourself through self-assessment and reflection. This will set the stage for narrowing your career search down to a manageable number of occupational paths that you can then explore, evaluate, and prioritize as viable options. Choosing a career path, in turn, will determine what type of college education you would need to pursue. As you advance through each step of the roadmap, you will have the Career Center by your side the entire journey, providing necessary career-planning tools and resources along with support and advice to ensure your academic and career success.

 
Career Counseling

Career counseling represents one of the core support services available to GCC students. It is a process designed to empower individuals with self-knowledge and position them to make a sound career decision with confidence. Our professionally trained career counselors are experts at guiding students in making the best educational and career choices and enriching their knowledge of the world of work.
Regular contact with a career counselor is critical to students’ academic progress and future professional success. In addition to helping students with choosing a major and charting their respective career course, career counselors provide assistance with internship planning and selection, resume development, interview preparation, job retention, career advancement, and other issues associated with the needs of a person embarking on and managing their career journey.

Note: Career counseling is available by appointment only and is reserved for currently enrolled students.

Career Assessment

To make an informed career decision, involves asking yourself a series of key questions. Determining who you are, what motivates you, what you are good at, and what you want out of life will enable you to select an academic major and career path that would best suit you as an individual. Career assessment, also referred to as self-assessment, is designed to help you accomplish just that. You'll find career assessment to be an engaging and interesting process. It revolves around you and equips you with self-exploration tools that can serve you well in developing your career today and in navigating your professional path throughout your life.

Career Search Components

Career assessment inventories featured on this page will allow you to evaluate your personality style, work-related interests, core values, academic strengths, and desired future job skills.

Note: Career assessment is available by referral from a GCC Career Counselor.

	Learn about your attitudes and mental functions with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® instrument and pinpoint occupational fields that would favor your personality style and values by recognizing: Where you focus your attention and get your energy The way you take in information The way you make decisions How you deal with the outer world
	Find the path that's right for you and choose a career you can be passionate about. The Strong Interest Inventory® can be an effective tool in enabling you to: Use interests in shaping your career direction Achieve satisfaction in your work Select appropriate education and training relevant to your interests Determine your preferred learning environments Understand aspects of your personality most closely associated with your interest Learn about your preferences for leadership, risk taking, and teamwork
	Knowing your key transferable skills and prioritizing your natural areas of strength will enhance your career management ability and employment prospects. Apply the SkillScan assessment results to: Identify career options that capitalize on your talents Evaluate the compatibility of your current career Prepare development steps to move your career in the right direction Gain a rich "skill" language for promoting your strengths in resumes and interviews

Career Exploration Resources

Research is the cornerstone of any decision-making process. Targeted and thorough exploration of the world of work will ensure sound career planning results and professional development. To determine which career would be a good match for you, we encourage you to take advantage of the career information resources you can find in the Career Center and on our website. Here are just some examples.

EUREKA©, the California Career Information System, provides access to career and education planning tools in one place. It will help you identify your skills and interests, research careers and majors, find the training you need, search for schools and scholarships, locate job openings, and develop successful job search strategies.

RECOMMENDED WEB RESOURCES will allow users to explore the link between majors and work opportunities, examine occupational descriptions and educational requirements, research employment statistics along with salary trends, and to improve their job-hunting skills .