Exploration and Discovery

Career Exploration

Career Exploration is the process of finding a rewarding career path, as well as specific jobs within a particular career path. Think of career exploration and planning as building bridges from your current job/career to your next job/career.

We have a variety of tools and resources to help you and recommend you start by watching this Career Exploration workshop video.

Conducting Career Research

The Conducting Career Research recording will review strategies to help you find relevant information about industries, companies and geographical areas of interest.

Career Cues & Exploration Panels

Hear from Carlson alumni as they discuss the elements of their work and a typical day.

In addition to the Career Cues videos, below you will find recordings to panels that dive into other specific industry and functional areas.

Career Exploration Panels:

MBA Careers Overview (October 2024)
Careers in Sustainability (April 2023)
Consulting (March 2022)
Product Management (April 2022)
Social Impact careers (October 2022)
Leadership Development Programs (December 2022)

Career Exploration Tools

Careernomics

Access Careernomics by registering with your UMN email address. View company profiles, browse graduate leadership development programs, and start identifying companies that sponsor H-1B visas. *This platform is geared towards Specialty Masters and early career professionals with less than 3 years of experience.

MBA-Exchange

Access MBA-Exchange by registering with your UMN email address. View 1000+ company profiles, browse 500+ graduate leadership development programs, and identify companies that sponsor H-1B visas.

Hedgehog Project

Hedgehog Project is a great site for learning about professional career paths (create account with your UMN email account)

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Bureau of Labor Statistics - This government website provides information on career outlook, growth and salary expectations and a variety of other career-related resources.

The Book of Lists

Each year Book of Lists provides essential information on the leading businesses in regions and industries. Popular lists include: Largest manufacturers/accounting firms/public companies in Minnesota, Fastest-growing banks in the Twin Cities, 100 largest nonprofits, etc. This is a great resource to use if you need help getting started on your target company list!

The CBCC purchases the Minneapolis/St. Paul book each year and it is located in the CBCC office for your reference.

Company and Industry Research Tools

Invest time in researching companies to identify your best fit, Check out the websites, Facebook and LinkedIn pages, Twitter feeds, and Google alerts for any potential companies you may be targeting.

U of M Libraries - resources to help you do research on companies, industries, nonprofits and more.
Go through this CSOM Graduates and Companies List to see where CSOM graduates have secured roles post-program.
Reference USA - A free database of companies and industry segments allowing you to locate and research companies you want to work for. Reference USA has the details on 24 million U.S. businesses included 200,000 human resource contact names, business descriptions, company size and website links to job postings.
Going Global: Looking at careers outside of the US? This database provides access to more than 400,000+ company profiles for several industries in 190 countries.
Handshake - Handshake is a useful tool for discovering company recruiting, campus events and application deadlines. See our google site page for more information about using Handshake in your career search.
Medical Alley is a great resource to learn about the amazing companies contributing to the healthcare and medical device community in Minnesota.
Check out the websites, Facebook and LinkedIn pages, Twitter feeds, and Google alerts for any potential companies you may be targeting.