Put Your Career Compass Into Action
Your career journey is uniquely yours, but you don’t have to navigate it alone.
The Career Compass helps you discover your interests, explore possibilities, build skills, set goals, and connect with people and opportunities that can help you move forward.
Career development isn’t a straight path, and there’s no single “right” place to start. Choose the activities that make sense for where you are today and keep building from there.
Start anywhere. Take the next step. Keep building.
How to participate
1. Get your Career Compass
Pick up a Career Compass booklet from the Career Development Center in MHC 123. Your booklet is your physical guide to activities, resources and milestones throughout your journey.
2. Explore the Compass
Select activities you can complete connected to the four Career Compass stages:
- Explore — Build self-awareness, explore possibilities, and discover what matters to you.
- Connect — Build relationships, engage with your community, and connect with people and opportunities.
- Prepare — Build skills, gain experience, and take steps toward your goals.
- Launch — Put your preparation into action, pursue opportunities, and determine what comes next.
Find examples below
4. Record your progress
As you complete qualifying activities, record them through the Career Compass Pathway in TommieLink and mark your progress in your physical booklet.
5. Celebrate your milestones
Reach three completed milestones and stop by the Career Development Center to have your progress recognized.
Complete five milestones to complete the semester Career Compass experience and qualify for additional recognition and the end-of-semester prize drawing.*
Ways to Engage
Start by understanding yourself and exploring what’s possible. Identify your interests, values, strengths, and skills while discovering majors, careers, industries, and experiences that could be a fit. Your direction can evolve as you learn more about yourself and the world of work.
Compass Activities:
- Complete PathwayU Assessment
- Sign-up for a Major & Career Exploration Appointment
- Learn what you can do with a major
- Explore career paths and industries
- Activate a Handshake Account
- Visit the Career Development Center
- Follow @USTCareer on Instagram
- Arrange a job shadow of a professional
- Draft your resume– consider a drop-in appointment if you are just getting started
- Explore a research opportunity through UROP
- Consider a campus club or organization
Career development happens through relationships and experiences. Connect with alumni, faculty, employers, peers, and campus communities to learn about careers, expand your network, and discover opportunities.
Compass Activities:
- Sign up for St. Thomas Connect and message an alum
- Complete an informational interview
- Participate in a networking event
- Attend a Career Development Center event
- Attend a Career Fair
- Join a campus club or organization
- Seek a leadership opportunity on campus
- Explore professional associations in your field
- Connect with faculty about research, career interests, or future opportunities
- Explore opportunities abroad with GoinGlobal
Turn exploration and connections into action by building the skills, experiences, and materials you need for your next step. Coursework, leadership, internships, employment, and other experiences can help you build and demonstrate your readiness.
Compass Activities:
- Draft or update your resume
- Use Jobscan to tailor your resume
- Create or update your LinkedIn profile
- Update your Handshake profile
- Develop an elevator pitch
- Seek a leadership, volunteer, or experiential opportunity
- Finalize a summer opportunity
- Apply for an internship or other experiential learning opportunity
- Apply to attend a conference through UROP
- Research companies and opportunities in your industries of interest using the Labor Market Tool
- Schedule an internship search appointment
Put your preparation into action and take your next step, whether that’s pursuing an internship, job, graduate school, or another opportunity. Reflect on what you’ve learned, recognize your growth, and use it to shape what comes next.
Compass Activities:
- Complete a practice interview
- Prepare for job offer and negotiation or graduate school
- Set your LinkedIn profile to Open to Work
- Post on LinkedIn about your career plans or next steps
- Check in with faculty about references or letters of recommendation
- Complete a LinkedIn profile scan on Jobscan
- Update your network on your future plans
- Reflect on what you have learned and identify your next career step
- Revisit your goals as your interests, experiences, and plans evolve
Prize Drawings *
Complete at least three verified milestones for a chance to be one of five students selected to receive a $50 Tommie Store gift card. Complete all five verified milestones for a chance to be one of two students selected to receive a $100 grand prize. Terms and conditions apply.
Need Help
Not sure whether an experience counts or which step to take next? Bring your booklet to the Career Development Center. A staff member or Career Ambassador can help you identify the right milestone and next action.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Start with the step that is most useful to you and complete the milestones in any order.
No. The QR code opens Career Compass resources. A milestone is completed when you take and verify an eligible action.
No. There is no digital tracking at this time.
Yes, when it clearly supports career readiness and is verified by an approved partner or through a brief CDC or Career Ambassador check-in.
No. Qualifying faculty-mentored research, scholarly, or creative work offered through a department, college, or another approved route may count.
Bring any available completion information to the CDC. Replacement and transferred-credit decisions must follow the published campaign terms.
Ask the CDC or a Career Ambassador. The goal is to confirm the career-readiness outcome, not force an experience into the wrong category.
Normally, one activity earns one milestone. Any exception should be approved by the CDC because it must demonstrate two distinct outcomes.
Complete and verify the required number of milestones, then submit the required completion information by the published deadline.
