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FRESHMAN YEAR

• Schedule a meeting with your academic advisor to discuss your career interests and options. This meeting should not simply focus on what courses to take during the next semester.
• Begin to consider various careers. Investigate employment opportunities with a bachelor's degree in psychology using resources available from the Psychology Undergraduate Student Handbook (PUSH), your advisor, and the Career Services Center (CSC). Realize that some careers require graduate training either at the entry level or for eventual advancement.
• Begin a self-assessment process in ASI 150 focusing on your interests, strengths, skills, and values. How well do they match your preliminary career goals? Consider taking the UDI 158 mini-course on career development.

SOPHOMORE YEAR

• Complete your self-assessment process. Compile a list of your interests, strengths (academic and personal), skills, and knowledge. Use this list to help focus your career choice. Use the SIGI-Plus computer program in the Career Development Division of the Counseling Center after attending a career development seminar.
• Continue the process of narrowing down your specific interests in the field of psychology and consider the type of employment you wish. Use the results of your self-assessment and on-campus resources (e.g., academic advisor and CSC) to identify career options. You should focus your career choice by the end of your sophomore year so you have time to take the appropriate preparatory coursework.
• Finish up the majority of your general education requirements, and begin to work your way through more of your psychology requirements (e.g., Statistics, Experimental moreso for those going to grad school).
• Meet with your academic advisor to discuss your progress toward degree completion and your career plans and options. You should discuss upper level course offerings in psychology and across the curriculum that will best prepare you for your career.
• Meet with the Coordinator of Internships, Dr. Eliot Butter, concerning Internship in Psychology (PSY 490), and discuss options in this area that are of interest to you.
• Begin to prepare a resume (with your advisor's help) if you have not already done so. Keep this updated with the CSC.

JUNIOR YEAR

• Re-evaluate your career choice. Are you still on the right track?
• Make plans to obtain relevant experience outside the classroom before the end of your senior year (e.g., volunteer work, Service Learning Experience (PSY 497), Internship in Psychology (PSY 490), Child Psychology Field Experience (PSY 352), or a directed study involving independent research (PSY 493.))
• Meet with your academic advisor to discuss your progress toward degree completion and your career plans and options. Review your course selections for the major field in psychology and your minor, if you have one.
• Contact people in the profession you are seeking to enter, and conduct some "information interviews" to learn more about career options.

SUMMER BETWEEN JUNIOR AND SENIOR YEAR

• Use the summer months to build your job information network, prepare a polished resume, and continue to refine your career aspirations.

SENIOR YEAR

• Meet with your academic advisor during the fall semester to discuss your progress toward degree completion and your career plans and options. Review your course selections for the major field in psychology and your minor, if you have one.
• Obtain a copy of your transcript from the Registrar and review it carefully for any errors.
• Identify three individuals (e.g., faculty members and past employers) who are willing and able to write STRONG letters of recommendations for you. 
• Review your resume. Assistance in developing an effective resume is available from the CSC and from your advisor. Ask faculty members to review your resume. Place your updated resume on file in the CSC.
• Practice for interviews with CSC staff and psychology faculty. The initial interview can be one of the most critical hurdles in getting a job, so be as prepared as possible. Make sure you check with CSC early in the semester you plan to begin interviewing. The CSC brings a number of prospective employers to campus. However, in order to participate in on-campus recruiting interviews, you must sign up!

(This time-line is a modification of one presented by Bill Hill at the 1994 Southeastern Conference on the Teaching of Psychology in Marietta, Georgia and one found in Drew Appleby's Marian College Psychology Department Student Handbook [1995].)

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