VOCATIONAL ASSESSMENTS
When a student is exploring which major to choose (or to change to), discussing results of one or more vocational assessments with a career counselor can be helpful.  Career Services offers the following assessments free of charge:

Focus is an online vocational and career exploration program that can help students learn about career paths that match their interests, skills and life/work values.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is a personality assessment tool that can help students identify work environments and career fields that may compliment their personal preferences, understand and manage job challenges, and evaluate job opportunities.  

SkillScan is a "hands-on" assessment of a student's strengths and transferable skills, which is helpful in exploring career options.  In addition, the assessment helps students describe those strengths as they prepare resumes and cover letters, and in job and internship interviews. 

CAREER RESOURCE LIBRARY
Housed in our office at 200 Southwick Hall on UML North, our library includes a variety of career-related books, trade journals and directories containing information on finding and preparing for internships, jobs, and graduate schools, and specific career fields. Videos and handouts help students prepare effectively for interviews, job fairs, networking and the job search.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS
Professional staff members offer interactive workshops throughout the academic year on a number of career topics, including the following:

• Resume development
• Cover letter writing
• Interview skills
• Job search strategies
• Career fair preparation
• Skill identification
• Networking
• Negotiating  

Faculty members often invite career services professionals into their classes to make presentations related to their particular student group.  These classroom presentations offer a great opportunity for specific major-to-career information sharing and discussion.

 
ONLINE CAREER RESOURCES
The Career Services web site provides access to several online career resources to serve our students' 24/7 information needs.  Job search advice and links to many recruiting employers and job search engines are easily found on our site, as are online tools designed to help students fine-tune career goals and research potential occupations. Our online resource What Can I Do With This Major can be helpful to those interested in seeing how specific academic majors translate into careers.  Additional services are available to students who set up a free UMass Lowell Career Services online account, including Career Search, a powerful industry research tool that contains more than four million records letting students research potential employers by key words, industry type, geographic location and size.

To conduct company and job research during office hours, students are also welcome to use one of Career Services' several computers with Internet access.

UNIVERSITY CAREER ADVISORY NETWORK (UCAN) MENTORS
The Office of Career Services is continuously adding to a database of professionals, including UMass Lowell alumni and other friends, who have volunteered to act as an information resource for students.  We invite parents of students to become UCAN mentors for UMass Lowell students as well.  UCAN mentors, representing a broad range of occupations and industries, agree to talk with students about their career interests and networking sources. Students with an online Career Services account can easily access this database. 

 
JOB SEARCH RESOURCES
Career Services provides several ways for students to connect with employers.

• Career Fairs and Events - Each semester, Career Services hosts job fairs and events to bring students and employers together.  Before our Career Fairs, we conduct workshops with students to help them prepare to interact with recruiters and make the most of the experience. 
• Job Postings on the Web - Through our online recruiting system, employers make job listings accessible to UMass Lowell students 24 hours a day.  Students access these listings through their free online Career Services account.
• Co-ops, Internships and other Career-Related Work Experience - "Hard copy" listings of internship, cooperative education, and pre-professional opportunities for our students are maintained in directories in our office, and many opportunities also are accessible to students through their online Career Services account.  Students interested in pursuing internships through The Washington Center (in which they work in any one of dozens of fields in private, public, and non-profit organizations in Washington, DC) can also obtain needed guidance and application materials in Career Services.