Walk me through your approach with students who are undecided on their major.
As an academic advisor, you are an invaluable resource for students who are unsure about their major. You are able to help students explore their interests, skills, and goals to find a major that aligns with their strengths and aspirations. You will also guide course selection, extracurricular activities, internships, and career paths. By working closely with you, students can make informed decisions about their academic and professional futures.
The interviewer asks this behavioral style question to better understand your coaching and counseling style. Walk the interviewer through your process for assisting students who need clear direction. Use a real-life example if you have one!
"I refer to my undecided students as 'open to exploring' so they do not feel the guilt associated with being in a rut or undecided. I take these open students through a cycle of exercises, including a written exercise that walks them through their interests, life expectations, and how they view themselves. I also set up opportunities for them to job shadow in various careers that interest them."
"If I came across a student undecided on their major, I would start by figuring out what they do not like and administer a personality test if that was a resource available to me. From there, I would encourage a student to job shadow a few family members or friends with interesting careers. There are many ways to help spark a new interest in an undecided student."
"When working with students who are undecided on their major, I like to start by getting to know them better. I try to understand their interests, passions, and skills and encourage them to think about their long-term goals and aspirations. Once I have a good sense of their strengths and interests, I help them explore different academic disciplines and career paths that might suit them. I also encourage them to take advantage of resources like career counseling, internships, and informational interviews to better understand what different careers are like. Ultimately, my goal is to help students make an informed decision about their major that aligns with their interests, skills, and goals that will set them up for success in the long run."
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Anonymous Answer
I start by helping these students explore their interests and personality traits. We then discuss how these could be matched to specific careers and what subject or course could be used to reach these career goals. At the university level, I believe students could benefit from completing a few job shadowing placements to understand their interests and abilities.
Rachelle's Feedback
These are all excellent suggestions and approaches! Do you use any particular resources or tools when you are making this discovery with the students?
Anonymous Answer
First, I would try the student to understand that it is perfectly fine to be undecided; it is a very important decision, so it is normal to feel a little lost. I'll suggest them to speak with professionals in different fields, I'll recommend completing some of the career exploration assessment the college offer to the students, it would help them narrow down the career available and explore new ones that they never consider.
Rachelle's Feedback
It's wonderful that you show a lot of empathy for those in this situation. I have provided a slight revision to help with the flow.
"First, I would try to help the student to understand that it is perfectly fine to be undecided. A persons' educational path is a critical decision, so it is normal to feel a little lost at first. I would suggest they speak with professionals in different fields. I would also recommend completing some of the career exploration assessments the college offers. These exploration exercises would help them narrow down the careers available to them and explore new careers that they may have never considered."
Anonymous Answer
I let the student know that there are lots of careers and majors out there and there are methods for discovering majors and careers of interest. At some point, we were all exploring. I ask the student what classes, hobbies, or activities they have enjoyed in the past. Then I let the student know that there are assessment tools and a career search site we use which can help them narrow down interest areas. If the student is open to putting in some time they can complete these assessments and we can review their findings. Then the student can go through a listing of 500 jobs and read about them. I remind them that it is just as important to decide what they do not prefer as it is to find areas of interest. Then they can drill in even further and see if there are specific tasks within that job that they prefer more or less. They can highlight or bookmark all of these. The next resource is indeed.com. The student can plug in any of the majors, careers, or tasks that were of interest and see what comes up. This gives a sense of real-world positions available. The next steps would be informational interviewing (which they can also do with professors at the school) and job shadowing. I let the student know that I can support them through the process and that it is a long-term project which will get more and more accurate with more time spent on it. As the student takes new classes or tries new jobs they can return to these sites to adjust their interests.
Marcie's Feedback
Excellent! It is clear from your answer that you have a detailed process in place to help students who are unsure which major to choose. The interviewer will undoubtedly be impressed by your knowledge and thoroughness in this area. Great job!
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