You Majored In What?

Want to know how the Wise Wanderings™ system works? Here’s what will happen when you read You Majored in What: Mapping Your Path from Chaos to Career:

You Will Apply Chaos Theory to Your Career

Wise Wanderings is based on chaos theory-not traditional linear theory. Linear theory says, “You’re an accounting major so you’ll become an accountant.  You’re an English major so I guess you’ll teach English.”

Chaos theory (despite its name) simply says that career planning involves too many complex variables to reduce it to simple statements like what you’re going to do with your major.

You Will Create a Wandering Map

The Wandering Map is the cornerstone of the Wise Wanderings system.  By creating this map, you will be able to connect the dots and see the pattern of experiences and skills you’ve already acquired. By the end of Chapter 2 you will have your own map be well on the way to discovering and expanding your network of possible wanderings.

You Will Explore and Develop Key Mindsets

Most college students know that they are developing new ways of thinking while they’re in school.  But have you ever stopped to identify the key mindsets you’ve developed and why they might interest an employer?  Becoming aware of your mindsets and their value is an important component of your sales pitch to potential employers.  Discover the 10 most valuable mindsets in Chapter 3.

You Will Analyze Your Major

Your major is a key factor in your knowledge base, but do you know how to apply it to your career plans?   How could what you’ve learned in your major apply in a work setting?  Don’t see a connection?  You will by the end of Chapter 4.

You Will Identify Possible Lives

My experience with liberal arts students tells me that they usually don’t have one career goal-they have ten.  And they’d like to do them all. Now.  In fact, one of the reasons liberal arts students have trouble focusing on one career is that they don’t want to limit themselves.  Sometimes you want to do something for just a year or two before you dive into that career. Map your possible lives in Chapter 5.

You Will Create a Personal Plan of Action

The Wise Wanderings system employs three planning strategies: the Probable Career Plan (when you know what you want to do), the Possible Career Plan (when you have several ideas for the future), and the Intention Plan (when you have no idea what you’re going to do).  You simply select which strategy best applies to your current situation and start applying it.  For a full explanation of the three strategies and to start outlining your personal plan of action, go to Chapter 6.

You Will Conduct Experiments

Believe it or not, wandering is one of most important things you can do in a job search.  The more places you go, the more people you meet, the more experiences you accumulate, the better prepared you will be for a variety of work situations.  All the time you’re wandering stay focused on one goal: learning.  Chapter 7 will help you discover and conduct interesting experimental wanderings.

You Will Create an Irresistible Resume

You can find tons of information about writing resumes on the internet.  So why do so many students write bad resumes?  Because a resume is a unique document which has its own set of rules and guidelines.  Ignore them at your risk.  Chapter 8 tells you the three most important things to consider when you write your resume.

You Will Ace the Interview by Telling Stories

Learning to tell a great story about yourself and your strengths is one of the most powerful ways you can ensure that you will be remembered in the interview process, selected for an interview from your cover letter, or sell yourself at a job fair, networking opportunity, or any number of potential encounters you might have with a possible employer.   You will start creating powerful stories in Chapter 10.

You Will Develop Your Business Writing Skills

Business writing shares some common characteristics with the academic writing you’ve been doing, but it’s actually easier and more direct.  Believe it or not, Ernest Hemingway, Jane Austen, and  James Baldwin have something to teach you about writing for the job market in Chapter 9.

You Will Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Go

You will graduate.  You will find a job.  You will start your life.  It may not be exactly as you picture it now: it might be better or it might be more challenging. Who knows?  But you’re starting an adventure and you might as well start it now.  Chapter 11 tells you the real story of some real students and how they moved from being a student to starting a career.