Explore Popular Industries
Career Discernment
We have resources for exploration, an established process to help you narrow your choices, and strategies to create an action plan. There are many things that contribute to your career discernment and exploration journey. Remember that this is a process that varies from individual to individual, so take the time to consider the following as you begin exploring a meaningful path that aligns your values, interests, strengths, and skills.
Step 1: Establish Priorities
Everything you have done up until now will help inform your career decisions. Start by learning about yourself and ask questions like:
- What do I value?
- What energizes me?
- What are my inherent strengths?
And also consider career-focused questions like:
- Where would I like to reside (geographically)?
- What is my ideal work environment?
- What skills do I need to be successful?
- What type of office culture is important to me?
Step 2: Identify Your Strengths
Next, explore your strengths — these can be both hard and soft skills — and identify ways in which you can transfer these into different functions and roles. If you are unsure of your strengths, there are many resources to help guide you. You can learn more by Understanding Your Strengths.
Step 3: Take Action
Ultimately, keep in mind that your career development is your responsibility. It is up to you to be an active participant in your career journey and in your decisions - no one can make those decisions for you!
Popular Industries
Analytics
Business analysts take mountains of data and probe it to spot trends, make forecasts, and extract information to help their organizations make better-informed business decisions. It is a rapidly expanding field with a massive scope of opportunities that cross all functions and industries in the marketplace.
Defining analytics as a function can be fairly complex, as organizations vary in the way they deploy analytics. In organizations with centralized analytics teams, analytics could either be defined as its own function or fall within an information technology function. However, in organizations with a more decentralized approach, analytics typically falls under another business function (e.g., marketing, operations, finance).
Similarly, analytics can be defined as its own industry (i.e., companies that develop and distribute business analytics services to companies in all industries) or fall within the broader scope of another industry (e,g., technology, financial services, consulting).
Resources
- Networking & Professional Development Organizations/Resources:
- LinkedIn Group: Notre Dame MS in Business Analytics
- INFORMS
- Business Analyst Learnings
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Case Interview Prep:
- LinkedIn Article: Cracking the Coding Interview
- Udemy Courses: Business Analytics & Intelligence
- Technical Interview Prep Resources
Consulting & Strategy
Consulting is both a functional role and an industry. Consulting roles are focused on helping organizations improve their performance.
With an emphasis on analyzing business challenges, consultants leverage their specialized expertise to develop appropriate business solutions and provide objective recommendations to their clients. Traditional consulting roles are typically external advisors to organizations. A consulting career path typically contains a wide variety of work and preparation for internal strategy roles, access to large networking and potential growth opportunities and frequently tackle significant business challenges. Requires strong presentation skills and ability to compose comprehensive written reports following required research and related analysis. The work is typically fast-paced in a deadline-driven environment.
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Financial Services
There are several career options within the Financial Services sector, but they all have one common element: following the Financial Markets. This includes the equity markets, the fixed income (bond) markets, the currency markets, the commodity markets, and variations of these markets such as derivatives, convertibles, and futures. The financial services and banking industries are multifaceted. Many job functions exist, catering to a variety of skills and interests.
Banks
- Investment Banking
- Research
- Trading
- Sales
- Commercial Banking
Institutions
- Private Equity
- Portfolio Management
- Research
Public Accounting
- Consulting
- Due Diligence
- Transaction Advisory
- Valuations
Corporate
- Corporate Development
- Investor Relations
- Treasury
- Business Intelligence
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Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is another career path option for those who may wish to launch their own venture and/or join an existing start-up. And while start-ups offer traditional functional opportunities (e.g., finance, sales/marketing, operations), the nature of the work and compensation packages may vary significantly in a start-up company depending upon the stage they are in. Firsthand.co provides a good overview of resources.
Marketing & Sales
The purpose of marketing is to communicate companies' products, services and ideas to consumers. The goal is to succinctly educate consumers on Product, Price, Placement and Promotion. The work includes researching the market, analyzing data and identifying trends; providing strategic counsel and presenting regularly to internal and external customers to enforce brand guidelines; possessing an almost uncanny skill and have passion for writing inspiring briefs and communication plans; strong sense of storytelling and understanding of the business rationale and goals of each campaign and the ability to understand what is relevant, on-trend, and outdated. Job titles may include Account Executive, Creative Assistant, Marketing Promotions Specialist, Media Assistant or Copywriter.
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Technology
Utilizing technology is a fundamental necessity across all industries and those knowledgeable of it are currently in high demand. Standardizing processes, collecting, protecting, and analyzing data, solving unmet needs, and improving efficiency are all the basic goals of technology implementation. The technology sector refers to the research, development, or distribution of technologically based goods and services. This sector contains businesses revolving around the manufacturing of electronics, creation of software, computers, or products and services relating to information technology. It offers a wide range of products and services for both customers and other businesses.
On the business side, companies are dependent on innovations coming out of the technology sector to create their enterprise software, manage their logistics systems, protect their databases, and generally provide the critical information and services that allow companies to make strategic business decisions.
Like many industries, there is a wide array of career paths available within the technology sector. Job titles could include IT Analyst, Network Engineer, Applications Developer, Computer Information Research Scientist, Network and Computer Systems Administrator, System Architect and Web Developer. Along with the technical skills, the most successful tech professionals have excellent communication skills, analytical abilities, creativity, perseverance and problem solving ability to help others by being resourceful in finding ways around technology hurdles.
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Nonprofit & Social Impact
Nearly 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the US generate almost $1.5 trillion in spending per year and employ about one in 10 American workers or 13.5 million people, making it the third largest labor force behind retail, trade and manufacturing. And, these are only the U.S. nonprofits. Usually defined by what it is not, the nonprofit sector definitely has a bottom line and focuses on utilizing every donation, grant dollar, and government funding wisely to achieve a mission that serves society. Careers in this sector, in many cases, parallel those in the for-profit sector and require the same professionalism, intensity in internship and job search strategy, and top-level skills and qualifications. Most amazing about the nonprofit sector is the breadth and variety of industries inside the sector which may include Arts, Culture and Humanities, Education and Research, Environmental and Animals, Health and Human Services, International and Foreign Affairs, Public and Societal Benefit, and Religion.
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Sports
There is a growing interest in the Sports Industry, which is a segment of the Entertainment industry. The Entertainment industry consists of companies focused on providing entertainment through various channels, including radio, television, film, and theater. The Sports industry includes companies that are involved in facilitating, producing, and promoting activities focused on sports. It can be difficult to break into the Sports & Entertainment industry, so it’s important to leverage networking and resources to gain access to opportunities.
Resources
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Team Work Online
- The majority of professional teams partner with Team Work Online to advertise positions; however some teams post positions through their own website, so it is always wise to check a specific team’s website.
- Links to client recruiting systems, and search functions according to sport, location, job title, team name, level of position and functional area.
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NCAA Market
- Job opportunities for students and individuals interested in college coaching and athletic administration.
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NACDA Jobs
- Job opportunities for students and individuals interested in college coaching and athletic administration.
- Work in Sports
Healthcare & Health Science
The healthcare field is vast, employing over 22 million people in the U.S., with hundreds of job titles and a multitude of fields and career paths. The field isn’t limited to licensed medical professionals; but also provides opportunities in diagnostic, preventive, remedial, and therapeutic careers. Being a healthcare provider is well-suited for individuals who have an interest in human science and a strong desire to help others in a direct, hands-on way.
Further, healthcare opportunities are also available in research & development, advocacy & policy, education, business (administration, sales, marketing, operations, finance, human resources), consulting, and communications.
Healthcare settings vary broadly as well and include: hospitals, clinics, medical and dental practices; diagnostic imaging facilities; long term care facilities; hospices; schools; governmental agencies; businesses and other private, public, and nonprofit organizations.
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Consumer Products
Consumer product goods (CPG) are foundational to the modern economy. The consumer products industry manufactures and markets any product or commodity for purchase or consumption. It can be divided into several groups: food & beverage, cosmetics, eco-friendly products and small appliances. Careers can be explored in project management, marketing, logistical distribution, supply chain coordination and customer satisfaction which all contribute to creating demand in a competitive marketplace.
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