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Major and Career Exploration

Exploring Majors and Careers at Viterbo

At Viterbo University, the advising and career development team provides support and resources to aid in the development of values-based academic and career paths that will leverage your gifts, talents, and goals.

Our career advisors provide a wide range of academic and career advising, degree planning, and other major and career discovery services and resources to help you choose the right major and career.

We boast a four-year graduation guarantee. When you use our services early and often, you will join the ranks of our successful students. For the last 10 years, our students have enjoyed a 95%+ placement rate,  which means our students found jobs in their fields of study or a related one.

We are committed to providing major and career discovery services and resources that honor unique identities, encourage self-discovery, and help individuals gain valuable experience to develop as professionals and launch their post-Viterbo plans.

Examples of Our Major and Career Discover Offerings

Our advising and career development team  consists of professional career advisors, including:

  • an Academy Certified Resume Writer
  • a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach
  • Global Career Development Facilitators

Career advisors are also available to meet with prospective students and their families to discuss career and major exploration services and resources.
Detecting early signs of student success or concern
Our department leads the use of Starfish , our early alert system, which provides "kudos" for exemplary progress or "flags" for areas of concern. Starfish’s mission is to motivate students who are doing well and identify students who are having some academic difficulty.
Integrating real-world learning
We are one of only 25 member institutions of the Council of Independent Colleges  Consortium for Work-Based Learning. This program integrates real-world, employer-designed projects into existing courses that will equip you with skills, real-world experiences, and professional connections to support your future career success.
Even more major and career discovery services and resources
Our Advising and Career Development team also oversees:
•    Academic Advising
•    Academic Accommodations
•    Collaborative programming for Viterbo’s First-Year Experience  and Second-Year Experience
•    NetVUE grant for integrating vocational development with curricular and co-curricular activities

 

Assessments

We offer a variety of career assessments to help you learn how your unique characteristics, such as interests, personality, and strengths, lend themselves to different occupational areas. Many of these assessments can be taken independently, and some must be interpreted with a career professional. Regardless, our career advisor is happy to help you make sense of your results and apply them to your life.  

Career One Stop SkillsProfiler 

This tool helps you to create a list of your skills and matches them to occupations that use those skills.

Challenge Mindset Card Sort 

The Challenge Mindset helps us find purpose and impact. The SparkPath Challenge Cards enable students discover a career path based on exciting, real-world challenges… not job titles. Use our code: Viterbo2024 to sort the challenges and find out what interests you! 

    CliftonStrengths

    CliftonStrengths helps you identify and better understand what you naturally do best, and gives you clues as to the type of work environments and roles in which you are most likely to thrive. Uses 34 Talent Themes to create your personalized Strengths Insight Report and Action Planning Guide

    MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator)

    The MBTI is a personality assessment designed to assist individuals in understanding how personality preferences can affect academic, career, and lifestyle choices.

    Links to free MBTI assessments:

    Descriptions of the personality types:
    https://students.usask.ca/jobs/careers.php#TakeaCareerAssessment
    Psychological type profiles:
    http://www.typelogic.com/

    Pathway U

    PathwayU is a platform that helps individuals take stock of their current sense of purpose through interest and values assessments that direct you to career clusters. 

    Strong Interest Inventory®

    The Strong Interest Inventory is one of the most widely used career assessment tools in the world.  It helps students identify their interests and extends their understanding of how interests can support academic and career success.  It uses themes from the Holland Codes to help users identify majors, workstyles, and careers that align with their work personality types. 

    Transferable Skills Assessment

    Take this assessment to identify your top skills. Use your results to market yourself, identify potential career paths, build your strengths, or become aware of  skills you'd like to improve.

       
        Career Advising

        If you are currently “un-majored,” don’t feel you fit with your present major, or want to talk about crafting a path to career success, you would probably benefit from career counseling.  Our career advisor  is available to listen to you and administer assessments that will help you to understand how your interests, personality, and strengths help shape your choice of major and career. 

        Schedule an appointment via Starfish. 

        Career Resources
        O*Net (U.S. Department of Labor)
        • Collects, organizes, describes, and disseminates data on occupational characteristics and worker attributes for over 1,100 occupations.
        My Next Move (U.S. Department of Labor)
        • Interactive tool for job seekers and students to learn more about their career options. The site has tasks, skills, salary information, and more for over 900 different careers.
        The Occupational Outlook Handbook (Bureau of Labor Statistics) 
        • Offers career information on duties, education/training, pay, and outlook for hundreds of occupations.
        Career Outlook (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
        • Includes data and information on occupations/industries and pay/benefits.
        CareerOneStop
        • Provides employment and career information with integrated tools to help students.
        Viterbo Todd Wehr Memorial Library Career Resources
        • Offers additional information on careers/vocations, career choices, resumes, cover letters, interview process, and resources to get started on your job hunt.
        Career Action Plan

        Not sure where to start? Check out our Career Action Plan, which outlines useful steps to take each year of college.  

        Informational Interviews
        Informational interview: A conversation you initiate with someone who works in an industry that interests you.  
        • You are the interviewer, rather than the interviewee.  
        • The purpose is to obtain information, not to get a job.
        • Conducting informational interviews can help you explore careers and expand your professional network.
        Job Shadows

        Job shadowing provides you with an opportunity to observe professionals in their occupations.  As you see what the employee does in their daily work, you can ask questions similar to those in an informational interview.  This type of experience should give you insight on whether an occupation will be a be a good fit for your post-graduation plans.

        Pre-Health Shadowing: https://www.prehealthshadowing.com/ 

        Mayo Clinic Health System Job Shadow: http://mayoclinichealthsystem.org/locations/la-crosse/careers/educational-experiences

        Gundersen Health System Job Shadow: GHSJobShadows@gundersenhealth.org

        Call GHS Medical Education main office line at 608-775-2081

        Life in Harmony Music Therapy Job Shadow: https://lihmt.com/job-shadowing/

        Aptiv (formerly Riverfront, Inc.) Job Shadow: internship@riverfrontinc.org

        UW-La Crosse Student Health Center Physical Therapy Job Shadow: https://www.uwlax.edu/student-health-center/physical-therapy/#tab-pt-job-shadowvolunteer 

        Scenic Rivers Area Health Education Job Shadow: https://www.scenicriversahec.org/job-shadowing

        Organic Valley Job Shadow: hr@organicvalley.coop

        Major Exploration
        What Can I Do with this Major?

        Whether you're exploring majors or searching for information about your chosen field, this website will help you connect majors to careers.

        OOH Field of Degree

        Each page provides a glimpse of workers with a particular degree and shows occupations, outlook, and more for people in that major. Click on an FOD link to explore this information, which includes links to relevant profiles in the Occupational Outlook Handbook.

        Explore Viterbo Majors and Minors
        • Viterbo offers more than 50 academic programs. Don't want to limit yourself? Double major or pursue a minor.
        • Common Exploration Courses: 
          • CRMJ 150: Introduction to Criminal and Community Justice
          • ECAS 100: Truth, Beauty, Goodness
          • EDUC-150: Introduction to Education
          • MGMT-101: Introduction to Business
          • SOWK 210: Introduction to Social Work
          • UNST-110: Major Exploration
        LinkedIn
        • The Alumni feature in LinkedIn is a great way to explore majors and careers. To view Viterbo University alumni, search "Viterbo University" in the search box and select "Viterbo University School." Then click "See Alumni." You may now view 8,000+ alums and where they live, where they work, what they do, what they studied, what they are skilled at, and how you're connected. You may use this to explore various career and set up job shadows or informational interview. 

        If you need help setting up a LinkedIn profile to connect with alums, schedule an appointment with Career Services.

        UNST 110 and 310

        UNST 110 - Major Exploration: This 1-credit course is designed to facilitate life and career decision making. Students will be involved in activities that encourage examination of personality characteristics and interest, personal and occupational values, as well as abilities, skills, and aptitudes. Students will explore the world of work and requisite academic preparation, generate occupational and academic goals, and make knowledgeable and appropriate decisions. This course is designed for entering and undeclared students. Offered each semester.

        UNST 310 – Career  Professional Development Seminar:  This 1-credit online course is designed for upper division students who want to prepare for internships or life after college.   Students will develop greater awareness of how their interests and personality affect career choice.  They will also investigate possible career paths, as well as develop application materials, create effective search strategies, and practice interview skills to prepare for the next steps in their career development. Offered each semester.

        Visit a Career Fair

        Visiting a Career Fair can be an excellent way to learn more about opportunities available in the area and to network with potential employers. For guidance on how to take advantage of a career fair, refer to our career fair guide. Check out current opportunities today on our events page."