Know Your Options
Know Your Options
Once you have a better understanding of your own interests and strengths, start researching different career options.
Get Ideas of Options
Once you have a better understanding of your own interests and strengths, start researching different career options.
Graduates Destination Reports
Get insights for career paths of Illini alumni from Grainger College of Engineering!
Illini Success Report includes data on employment rates, salaries, career fields, and graduate school enrollment for UIUC graduates from different majors and colleges.
O*NET Occupation Database
O*NET Online is a comprehensive database of occupational information developed and maintained by the US Department of Labor.
It provides detailed information on hundreds of occupations, including job descriptions, skills required, work activities, education and training requirements, wages and salaries, and much more.
Learn about the Occupation
As you start to narrow down your list of potential careers, it's important to gather more detailed information about each one.
An informational interview is an informal conversation with someone working in an area that interests you who will give you information and advice. You will connect with professionals to ask questions related to their careers and gain insight into their industry and day-to-day experiences.
You will:
- Connect with professionals to ask questions related to their careers
- Gain insight into their industry, company, career, or day-to-day experiences
- Build connections in the field
Learn more about how to conduct informational interviews.
Internships or Co-ops are vital experiences that you can begin acquiring as early as the summer of your first year on campus. Internships provide you with a competitive advantage when seeking full-time careers in industry and can enable you to gain up to a full year of professional work.
You will:
- Gain practical experience in an engineering or related field
- Get paid well
- Develop your communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and organizational skills, as well as your build your work ethic
- Build and apply technical knowledge and skills
- Identify and refine your career goals
Learn more about how to apply for internships.
A job shadow is an opportunity to see the inside of a company typically for a few hours, days or weeks, typically seen in healthcare, education, law, and business industries.
You will:
- Observe another person (usually a more experienced or skilled employee) as they go about their job duties
- Learn about a particular job or industry by observing and interacting with someone who is already working in that field
- Further develop professional skills
- Start building your network
Next Steps?
Schedule an Appointment
Discuss your concerns, questions, or findings with a career advisor.
Take Actions
Create your action plans to further explore your career decisions or work towards your goals.