Our career coaches help you think about career and life planning in a structured way. Through the basics of life design, you can learn how design thinking mindsets like curiosity, prototyping (trying stuff), reframing problems, and asking for support can help you design and build a fulfilling career.


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Meet Your Career Coach

Our career exploration coaches are here to help you get started, work through feelings of doubt, talk through your ideas, and connect with specialized industry resources when you are ready.

Audrey Ahlstrom
Audrey Ahlstrom
Assistant Director, Career Education

617-552-0239
Tara Raposa
Tara Raposa
Assistant Director, Career Education

617-552-4528
Julianne Smith
Julianne Smith
Associate Director, Career Education & Access

617-552-0114

Career Exploration Process

These steps will guide you through an iterative process of discovery, action, and reflection to empower you to design a life of meaning and purpose.

Learn About Yourself

Before you make career decisions, we encourage you to invest time into learning more about yourself. Identifying your skills, interests, and values will equip you with the critical self knowledge needed when exploring career fields and different pathways. If you would like to debrief any of your results, please make an appointment with a career exploration coach on Handshake.

Assess your interests, skills, and values and map your results to Ҵý-specific majors and careers. Access Code: Eagles

Discover how your interests, skills, personality, and goals intersect.

Identify your personality type and gain insight into how you make decisions, interact with other people, and process information.


Reflect on your social identities and how they impact your career development.

Consider your views on work and life and their integration.

Brainstorm possible futures for yourself by creating three different potential versions of your life.

Discover Career Paths

It can be difficult to know where to begin when exploring potential career paths. However, the more you expose yourself to, and the more information you gather, the better prepared you will be to make a decision about your next steps. As a Ҵý student, you have access to multiple resources that allow you to learn broadly about different industries and deeply about specific professions.

Explore career paths and curated industry guides.

Learn what it is like to work within an industry, a company, or a profession.

Information on job duties, education, training, pay, outlook and more for hundreds of occupations.

Review 100 major profiles with information on common career paths and types of employers. 


Connect with Ҵý alumni to learn about real life experiences and find mentors.

Explore first destinations of Ҵý graduates by school, major, industry, location, and more.

Check out Ҵý classes that will expose you to areas of interest.

Get First Hand Experience

Once you’ve found yourself curious about a few areas, the next step is taking action. There is no need to make a commitment right away; it’s critical to take small steps to try different things out before making a decision. Designers call this step prototyping.

Explore internship & entry-level job opportunities.

Connect with Ҵý alumni mentors to learn about work experiences.

Find & connect with students who completed internships you may be interested in.

Make an impact and boost your career by exploring opportunities at the Volunteer & Service Learning Center.

Build Skills

Discover the keys to success with skill-building resources, hands-on projects, and networking opportunities. These diverse opportunities will equip you with the practical skills and connections needed to shape your career path.

Reflect

Designers emphasize the necessity of collaboration during the design thinking process. After each career exploration step, it’s important to reflect on what you learned—what excited you, what you’re curious about, what you didn’t like, etc., in order to feel more confident moving forward. Having sources of support is invaluable in your career journey; consider discussing your journey with career coaches, advisors, faculty, and peers.

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AI Tip: Career Exploration

AI can help you identify potential career paths based on your interests, values, and academic background. It can also introduce you to emerging fields, compare roles, and simulate what different jobs are like.
Prompts to try:

  • “What are some career paths that align with a [your major] and an interest in [your interest]?”
  • “Describe a day in the life of a [job title] working in [industry].”
  • “What are some high-growth careers that combine [skill/interest 1] and [skill/interest 2]?”
  • “Compare careers in [field A] and [field B] in terms of salary, job outlook, and work-life balance.”
  • “What are some careers that allow me to work remotely and involve creative problem-solving?”

Resources to help you explore

16 Personalities
<p>A resource to help you identify your personality type. Your results can guide you as you reflect on how you relate to others, how you get your energy, how you receive and organize information, and how you make decisions.<br> </p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/sixteen-personalities
Career Explorer
<p>A resource to help you discover how your interests, skills, personality, and goals intersect. Get real-time recommendations on careers and industries to consider, then meet with a career coach to review your results and determine next steps.</p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/career-explorer
Career Paths
<ul> <li><a href="/content/bc-web/offices/studentaffairs/sites/careers/explore/career-paths/exploration.html">First Year and Exploring</a><br> </li> <li><a href="/content/bc-web/offices/studentaffairs/sites/careers/explore/career-paths/communication.html">Communication, Arts,&nbsp;and Marketing</a></li> <li><a href="/content/bc-web/offices/studentaffairs/sites/careers/explore/career-paths/business.html">Consulting, Finance, and Business</a></li> <li><a href="/content/bc-web/offices/studentaffairs/sites/careers/explore/career-paths/education.html">Education, Nonprofit,&nbsp;and Social Impact</a><br> </li> <li><a href="/content/bc-web/offices/studentaffairs/sites/careers/explore/career-paths/government.html">Government, Law, and Public Policy<br> </a></li> <li><a href="/content/bc-web/offices/studentaffairs/sites/careers/explore/career-paths/healthcare.html">Healthcare, Nursing, and Counseling</a></li> <li><a href="/content/bc-web/offices/studentaffairs/sites/careers/explore/career-paths/science.html">Science, Technology, and Engineering</a></li> </ul> <p><span style="color: rgb(237,239,239);">Cluster, Counseling, Advising</span></p>
<p>The Career Center has organized careers into seven groups to support the diverse interests of Boston College students. To start off, our career exploration tool will help you discover how your skills, interests, and values fit with potential career options.&nbsp;<br> </p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/career-paths
Develop Key Skills
<p>Every class, job, internship, and leadership position is preparing you for a meaningful personal and professional life. The ability to recognize and articulate how these experiences are helping you develop the skills employers are seeking will help you in all stages of the career development process.</p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/develop-key-skills
Endeavor
<p>Through reflective exercises, conversations with alumni, and industry immersions with employers, you will explore the fit of a few career options and leave knowing at least one career field you are interested in further exploring.<br> </p>
<p>Endeavor is a&nbsp;free&nbsp;three-day career exploration program held over winter break that will empower you to take control of your career journey.&nbsp;<br> </p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/endeavor
Focus 2 Career
<p>A major and career exploration platform that will guide you through a series of self assessments. Your assessment results are then matched to career and Ҵý-specific major options.</p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/focus-2-career
Guidance on using AI
<p>Artificial intelligence (AI), including ChatGPT, has emerged as a powerful career development tool, used to streamline job and internship searches, enhance application materials, and even provide tailored career advice. It also has limitations,&nbsp;like potential biases in algorithms and the inability to replace human insights and connections.&nbsp;<br> </p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/guidance-on-using-ai
Occupational Outlook Handbook
<p>A resource that can help you find career information on duties, education and training, pay, outlook, and more for hundreds of occupations. If you're wondering what job titles actually mean or how to prepare for a career in a specific industry, this is an easy-to-navigate tool to help you.</p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/occupational-outlook-handbook
Post-Graduation Outcomes
<p>Use the Boston College Career Outcome Data to explore the types of experiences Boston College seniors pursue after graduation. The interactive outcomes dashboard allows you to explore first destinations of graduates by school, major, industry, location, and more.</p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/bc-career-outcome-data
Summer Experiences Dashboard
<p>Use the Career Center's Summer Experience Dashboard to explore the types of experiences Boston College students completed over the summer.</p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/summer-experiences-dashboard
Vault
<p>Find out what it's like to work within an industry, a company, or a profession. View the Career Guides for up-to-date information on a variety of careers as well as interviewing strategies and job search tips.</p>
bc:offices/student-affairs/CareerCenter/career-tools-and-resources/search-tags/vault
AI TIP: Career Exploration

AI can help you identify potential career paths based on your interests, values, and academic background. It can also introduce you to emerging fields, compare roles, and simulate what different jobs are like.

Prompts to try:

  • “What are some career paths that align with a [your major] and an interest in [your interest]?”
  • “Describe a day in the life of a [job title] working in [industry].”
  • “What are some high-growth careers that combine [skill/interest 1] and [skill/interest 2]?”
  • “Compare careers in [field A] and [field B] in terms of salary, job outlook, and work-life balance.”
  • “What are some careers that allow me to work remotely and involve creative problem-solving?”
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