Students and Alumni | Students | Office of Career Connections

Where can Southern Oregon University take you?

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Your SOU journey may begin in the classroom, but it can end anywhere you’d like. The perfect job. A great graduate school. An adventure overseas. The possibilities are endless, but getting there takes some preparation.

That’s where the Office of Career Connections comes in. The resources on this page are here to guide you through a comprehensive planning process to ensure you end up right where you want to be after you graduate from SOU.

So go on and take a look around. It’s never too early to start planning for your future. And if you still have questions, schedule an appointment with Josh Tinney, Student Success Coordinator, or Max Brooks, Career Preparation Coordinator.

Have a quick question that you don't think will require an appointment? Zoom into Career Connections Office Hours Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9:00-11:00am.

A special note to our alumni community: We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic has left many of you contemplating what's next in your professional lives. Numerous alumni have been furloughed or laid off, and still others are trying to make ends meet with fewer hours. You are welcome to access all of the same online resources that are available to current students. Explore your options in the tabs below. And if you are interested in access Handshake to look for jobs, please request access by emailing Mike Beagle, Director of Alumni Relations, at beaglem@sou.edu.

EXPLORATION

Identifying a career that will be a good fit for you requires careful exploration of your values, interests, and skills. Use the following tools to EXPLORE your own unique traits before beginning to research various professional paths.

Oregon CIS Career Assessments - Tests and profilers for career skills, values, interests
16 Personalities - Personality test with extensive results analysis, including career
Traitify - 90 second personality-to-career test
Sokanu Career Explorer - 30 minute personality-to-career test
CareerOneStop - Career interest tests
My Next Move - Career interest test and career cluster tool
Career Interests and Work Values - Career interest test
ISEEK Careers - Career interest test
Washington Career Bridge - Career interest test
Jobscan Career Change Tool - Use your resume to find career suggestions

INVESTIGATION

Once you have a good understanding of your own values, interests, and skills, it's time to INVESTIGATE various careers in order to find some that will be a great match for you. Use the following tools to discover jobs commonly associated with particular majors, learn about salary, duties, and growth for a huge array of careers, and even to find new occupations that you didn't even know existed.

PREPARATION

Now that you know all about yourself and have identified some fields that interest you, you can think about ways to market your value to potential employers. The resources below will help you PREPARE great application materials that will help you articulate all the fantastic skills and experiences that you have accumulated in part-time jobs, internships, classrooms, and co-curricular activities in your application materials.

APPLICATION

After setting professional goals and building some basic application materials, it's time to APPLY for opportunities by searching for positions, building your professional network, and learning more about the skills that will make you a great applicant! Use the following sites to find open opportunities in a wide variety of fields.

General Job Boards - Explore generalist job boards that list opportunities in a broad aray of fields
Rogue Valley Employer Database - Identify Southern Oregon employers that are willing to host interns and do informational interviews
Industry-Specific Job Boards - Find jobs in specific career fields
Find Oregon Employers - Utilize this Employment Department resource to find names of all employers in Oregon
Job Searching in Oregon and Beyond Presentation and Job Search Resource Guide
Scouting the Summer Internship Presentation and Internship Resource Guide
Remote Work - Check out tips and resources for working remotely
Safe Job Search Tips - Get guidance for performing a safe, smart job search
Internships - Search for internship opportunities near and far

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