Explore Career Paths for College Students on Handshake

Guidance Provided By: The Handshake Team

How to learn about roles and find ones that are right for you.

You probably know Handshake as the place where DePaul students are hired for great jobs and internships. But Handshake also has resources to help you find your career path.

Think back to when you were deciding on your major. You may have done research to learn about different areas of study and tried a few introductory classes to figure out what you do and don’t like. You can use that same practice to narrow down potential careers. Here are some tips for finding the roles you want to pursue on Handshake.

Role pages on Handshake

Handshake has collected useful data on dozens of the most popular career categories for college students—covering hundreds of job roles. (A role is a profession or job function that a company hires for—like a mechanical engineer, data analyst, or marketing manager.) Each category has a page where you can find this information organized for you.

These pages are designed to help you understand what roles are out there, and if a role may or may not be right for you. Depending on your interests and skills, there can be several different roles that may be a good fit. So, don’t worry if you’re not quite sure what you want to do. When you find roles that sound interesting, add them to your profile so you can view and apply for related jobs.

Finding the right roles

If you’d like to browse roles, click Career paths on the top menu bar of your dashboard. That will take you to a landing page where you can scroll through the popular role groups. You can also search for a specific role by using the search bar at the top of the page.

When you click on a role page, you’ll see:

A brief description
Average salary for new graduates
Top cities for the role
Open jobs for students at your school
Similar roles to explore
Top majors interested in the role
People in this role: shows you other students who’ve worked in the role—so you can message them with your questions.

Adding roles to your profile

When you find roles that you like, be sure to add them to your profile. Adding roles to your profile is important because it:

Updates your job recommendations. Adding roles to your profile helps Handshake surface relevant jobs and internships, so you see the jobs you’ll want to apply for.
Helps recruiters find you. Recruiters are searching for students based on the information in their profile. Adding roles helps recruiters find you when they’re hiring for jobs in those roles.

To add a role to your profile, click the Interested button at the top of the role page. The role will be listed in the Your Interests section of your profile.

You can add as many roles as you like and change them at any time.

Log into Handshake today to start learning about the roles you want to pursue and adding them to your profile.

If you don’t see a role that you’re interested in and think it should be added to the role pages, contact the Handshake help center.

Fraudulent Employer Red Flags

When searching for a job or internship, a too-good-to-be-true offer might be just that. Scammers are posing as potential employers in order to solicit personal or financial information from DePaul students and alumni. There are ways to recognize and avoid these scams. Any of the following can be red flags that an employment opportunity might be fraudulent.

Financial Flags:

You are asked for your financial information (bank account/credit card numbers)
You are asked to provide your social security or driver’s license numbers
You are asked to invest money in the business or company to get the position
You are offered a large deposit of money to your bank account
The first year’s salary is much higher than it should be for the role
The focus of the posting or the interview is the amount of money to be made, not the job responsibilities

Unusual Business Practices:

The email handle for the contact does not match the company they claim to work for
The email handle for the contact is an @gmail, @yahoo, @live, or any other non-company specific host
You receive information about the job from an unsolicited email, not specifically directed to you
The website for the company or business is very basic and contains little information
The job posting or email contains multiple grammar or spelling errors
The company or business is not present on social media
You look up the company phone number or email address, but it doesn’t seem to be affiliated with a business

If you feel uncomfortable or are unsure about certain organizations or individuals claiming to represent an employer, talk to the Career Center. If you believe you have been a victim of a scam, contact local police, public safety, and the Career Center. You can also use the Better Business Bureau, Hoovers, and Anywho to verify organizations.

DePaul to Survey Alumni on the Impact of Degree

National Alumni Career Mobility survey launches to 2010 and 2015 Alumni

DePaul University has partnered with the Career Leadership Collective, a higher education solutions group, to participate in a national online career survey to collect career pathway data from our alumni. This data will be used to help our institution better understand the professional pathways of our graduates, examine how DePaul influences success, and prepare current and future Blue Demons for continued and improved career success. This is different from our First Destination Survey, which captures employment information at the time of and six months after graduation.

The National Alumni Career Mobility (NACM) survey will be open from November through December 2020 to gather career satisfaction data and insights from DePaul alumni who completed their bachelor’s degrees in calendar years 2010 and 2015.

If you are a 2010 or 2015 bachelor’s degree graduate, keep an eye on your inbox for your personal invitation to complete your NACM survey, or follow this link to complete the survey right now!

If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Karyn McCoy, kmcoy9@depaul.edu, assistant vice president, Career Center.

About the Career Leadership Collective:

The Career Leadership Collective is a higher education solutions group that provides advisory and data services to assist campuses in building capacity around career development effectiveness. The National Alumni Career Mobility survey is their signature survey.

How I Got This Job: Torin Grogan ’18

By: Sabrina Salvador, Health Care & Science Career Community Ambassador

On Thursday, October 15, the Health Care & Science Career Community team sat down with DePaul students to learn about the educational and career journey of DePaul alum, Torin Grogan (Class of 2018). From a Health Sciences major on a pre-med track to a Rehab Clinical Assistant aspiring to become a physical therapist, Torin shared his story of getting involved in mentoring, leadership, and research opportunities while at DePaul and clinical experiences afterwards. In this event, he highlighted his experiences of exploring a variety of clinical health professions which allowed him to discover his own career passions and goals.

Check out the video below for the full event!

Torin’s career pivot from doctor to physical therapist:

During my gap year I realized my heart wasn’t in the right place for medical school. I slowly started asking myself, “Do I really want to be a doctor? Do I really want this to be the rest of my life?” Then, something clicked right before I submitted my medical school applications. I did not want to go to medical school anymore, but I had to think, “What are my options? What am I going to do?” At this point, I had a job as a Rehab Clinical Assistant at Lurie Children’s Hospital. This is what I’m currently doing now. I remember working one day with other physical therapists in the room and they asked, “Torin, why do you want to be a doctor?” I told them my story, then the manager of the PT Department laughed in the background and said, “Torin, it sounds like you want to be a PT!” And everyone echoed, “Yeah, it sounds like you want to be a PT! Everything you described is what a PT is!” Then I started researching what a PT was, and I started job shadowing PTs. I absolutely fell in love with what PTs were.

Encouraging career exploration for pre-health students:

Explore all of your options before committing to something that you don’t fully understand. For example, most pre-med students commit their freshman year to becoming a doctor before shadowing, working in a clinic, or understanding what being a doctor really is. I would say do your research and explore all of your options first by shadowing different positions, watching videos, etc. I formed my identity around becoming a doctor, and once I gave that up I thought, “Who am I?” It was a weird transition, but it’s okay to change. I’m still young, and I have time to figure it out. Don’t be in a rush just to figure it out. It’s okay to pivot and change directions, but do your research and really figure out, “Is this something you can do every single day for your life? Is this your true passion? What’s important to you?”

Advice on following your passions and achieving your goals:

Do what you’re passionate about. If you enjoy something, do it and get those experiences. Own what you like to do! Follow your passions! Take every opportunity you can find at DePaul. There are so many opportunities at DePaul and you never know what you’re going to fall in love with.

Explore clinical professions in healthcare! Check out these relevant resources:

The Case for Liberal Arts Majors in Tech

As the tech world continues with its explosive growth, and the popularity of majoring in STEM rises, liberal arts majors don’t always realize how valuable their research, communication, and critical thinking skills are to the tech industry. In fact, according to a report from Glassdoor, nearly half of the available jobs at tech companies are non-technical positions.

Rather than thinking that your degree determines your industry, you should focus on these two things

1. Develop and showcase your soft skills

As a liberal arts major, you have a unique set of skills you have acquired through your learning experience. Think of your critical thinking abilities, communication skills, and facilitation experience. These are not the technical skills that you might associate with the tech industry, but they are still essential. If you are a problem solver, who can effectively cross-collaborate and present a solution, you are a highly desirable candidate.

2. Focus on career development

Oftentimes, students get so caught up in looking for their first job out of college that they fail to see the big picture that is their career. Developing transferable skills is essential to your career development, as it demonstrates to your employer not only what you are capable of but also that you can be trained.

A study by the Strada Education Network has found that students with liberal arts degrees experience rapid wage growth later in their careers, in their 30s and 40s, after learning how to translate their skills into the technical field.

Businesses benefit from a diverse workforce, which includes intellectual diversity. Liberal arts majors bring plenty of talent to the table. Explore not what you can do with your degree but with your skills, and you can become a highly desirable applicant within the tech space.

Additional Resources

DePaul Career Center October Programming

Although the current situation presents many challenges for us personally and professionally, everyone in the DePaul Career Center is working hard to help ensure that you have a successful and productive year.

We are excited to share our October 2020 programming schedule below! These regularly scheduled virtual events and workshops will help you stay on top of your career goals, gain new skills and navigate the ever-changing job market.

Our career advisors are also available remotely for one-on-one appointments and tailored advice.