What do you want to do with your life? And how do you go about earning the degree or certification necessary to begin working? Everyone has to answer these questions, sometimes several times throughout their life, when deciding what kind of career to pursue.

The OU Online Career Development Center is a new, free resource designed to help students and alumni explore career options from more than a dozen professional fields to find their perfect match.

What You’ll Find

Whether you’re a prospective student or undergraduate who wants to learn more about possible careers to determine your academic goals, a graduate student who wants to narrow the focus of your career search, or an alum looking for a new career field, OU Online’s new career development site can help you make choices about your career with confidence.

• Prospective students – Get help choosing a degree or career path that’s right for you.
• Alumni – Access career and educational resources for finding your next job or pursuing an advanced degree.
• Graduate students – Whether in-person or online, find resources to help you navigate your graduate program while preparing to enter your chosen career field.
• Employers – Find highly skilled and motivated candidates to fill your job openings.

Selecting one of these paths begins the Career Development Center process of curating a variety of resources designed to help you explore different degree and career paths quickly and efficiently:

• News & Advice – Access curated articles for insight into a variety of fields. Articles can be sorted to deliver career and professional development advice, industry insights, student and alumni stories and employer spotlights.
• Career Resources – Find direct links to relevant OU Online degree programs, as well as industry-specific resources and organizations that can help you make educated choices.
• Gain Experience – Explore virtual internship and experience programs with companies from across the nation.
• Job Opportunities – View current job openings from more than 400 U.S. employers in a wide variety of fields and gain additional insight into the skills and attributes employers are searching for.
• Build Career Skills – Read articles and advice on how to create a resume and cover letter, prepare for interviews, find mentors, negotiate a job offer, prepare for graduate school, and more.

You’ll also find additional career resources, including professional memberships and mentorship opportunities that can help you not only develop a network of professional contacts, but also a support network of individuals who share a similar background for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, women, veterans, international students, first generation students, and people with disabilities.

Powerful Search Tools

Perhaps the most robust tools the Career Development Center offers are Explore Career Paths and Labor Market Insights.

Explore Career Paths allows individuals who aren’t quite sure what career they want to quickly find job areas that match their interests within a professional field. Choose from one of 14 different fields, including business, education, IT, law, arts and media, STEM careers, government, architecture, counseling, diversity/equity/inclusion and more. As you refine your choices, the curated information in News & Advice, Career Resources, and other sections will change to match your areas of interest.

Labor Market Insights allows users to take a deep dive into each field by presenting data from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration database to give you a real-time look at market data about your chosen career field. Not only will you learn about the core tasks required of positions in each profession, you’ll also find data about the latest employment trends and projections, a list of top employers in the field, expected educational levels of employees in the field, and annual earnings expectations.

Current Students and Alumni

Current graduate and undergraduate students will find a plethora of resources at their fingertips in the Career Development Center, with free access to tools like:

• LinkedIn Learning – Gain new skills or earn certifications in a variety of areas to add to your resume.
• Handshake – Meet with career advisors for resume advice, mock interviews, career planning, and information about career fairs and job and internship opportunities.
• OU Connection – A new service that provides current students, faculty, staff and alumni a way to reconnect with former colleagues and create a network of professional OU graduates who can serve as mentors to current OU students.

Students will also find information about OU Online graduate programs that relate directly to their searches, making it easier than ever to discover and apply to relevant degree programs.

Visit the OU Online Career Development Center website for more information about how to take the next step in your academic or professional career.