22 Exploring Your Professional Self

Learning Objectives

In this section, you will

• reflect further on your career choices
• learn about the top skills and attributes that employers in the United States look for in job candidates
• get tips on writing cover letters and resumes
• learn about networking

Choosing a Career

It is important to understand that you will have different careers throughout your lifetime and that your current major may not align with the career(s) you are considering. To help you gain clarity about your direction, take some time to briefly respond to the following questions:

• What is one career you are interested in pursuing once you graduate?

• What about it is appealing to you?

• Do you know anyone who works in that field?

• Have you selected a major that will prepare you to work in that field? How do you know?

In thinking about possible careers, it may also be helpful to consider the following questions:

• How does it match your skills, interests, strengths and values?

• Do you want your work to be an expression of who you are?

• Will having a career in this field be satisfying? Explain why or why not.

• Have you thought about who will benefit from what you do?

• Do you want your career to have a positive impact on the world?

Matching College Skills with Career Skills: NACE Competencies

You may wonder if you have the skills you need to be successful in your career of choice, and if you are developing the kinds of attributes that future employers may be looking for when filling positions. You might be surprised to learn that many of the competencies you build in your classes and other life experiences are often precisely what future employers are hoping to find in a candidate. For instance, you will take a lot of classes at LaGuardia that ask you to develop creative solutions to real-world problems in assignments or participate in group research and presentation projects. Beyond classes, you might be engaged in cocurricular activities or volunteer work in which you show initiative and build a strong work ethic. Every year the National Association of Employers and Colleges (NACE) conducts a survey to identify the attributes employers look for in recent college graduates. Here are the most recent findings:

NACE Job Outlook 2025

Figure 1. Attributes Employers Seek on a Candidate’s Resume (Source: Job Outlook 2025, National Association of College and Employers) 

 Employers responding to the 2025 NACE survey rated problem solving and teamwork as the most important traits they look for in new hires, followed by written communication skills, initiative, and a strong work ethic.

Hopefully, you’ll find that you are on a good path towards career readiness as you have engaged in research projects (which strengthen problem solving skills), or maybe you have worked in a group project (team work), and you have probably already built your written communication skills by writing essays in various genres in ENG 101, for instance.

Taking Action

Once you have identified a career that you may be interested in pursuing, there are several steps you can take to find out more about it and move towards your career goals. There are multiple ways of moving towards these goals, and it helps to think ahead and make a plan. For instance, consider the steps outlined in the career roadmap below:

This chapter helps you think more deeply about several of the steps outlined in the career road map.

Connect:

Identify a person you know (e.g., peers, family members, friends, LaGuardia alumni) who works in a career that you are interested in. Reach out to ask if they are willing to share their experiences with you. To prepare for the conversation, develop questions that will help you learn about the career. For some ideas for questions you might want to ask, see here.

Another way to connect is by building networks. To learn more about networking, watch this video by Isaac Serwanga:

Apply:

Cover Letter

Find a job or internship within your field of interest and write a mock cover letter for an application. In your cover letter, consider answering the following questions:

• Why are you interested in this position?

• What can you contribute to the position/company?

• What skills do you have that match this position?

• What have you done that qualifies you for the job? (includes work, volunteer, and other experiences)

For cover letter samples, see here.

Resume

When writing a resume, consider including these key elements (suggested by LaGuardia’s Center for Career and Professional Development):

• Contact information: Name, Geographic location, phone, LinkedIn / Github link, and email address (professional).

• Profile or summary of qualifications outlining your introduction, interests, soft & hard skills, and language abilities.

• Education that you are currently pursuing or have completed.

• You can add your relevant class courses and projects to showcase the knowledge and skills you have achieved when you completed those courses.

• Awards/Honors: Dean’s List, Recipient of a scholarship, or honor society

• Relevant Experience/ Professional Experience/ Additional Experience

• Extracurricular Activities/Volunteer: Includes clubs, sports

• Internship/externship/work experience – add accomplishments, not job description

• Include work outside of the United States -provide a brief description of the company/org

To get support with cover letter and resume writing, contact Career Services.

REFERENCES, LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS

Hunter College: The City University of New York (2026). Résumé  and cover letter guide. https://www.hunter.cuny.edu/students/career-center/students/resume-and-cover-letter-guide/#lettersamples

National Association of College and Employers (2025). Job outlook 2025. https://www.naceweb.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2025/publication/research-report/2025-nace-job-outlook-jan-2025.pdf

Serwanga, I. (2018, Jan. 25). The 3 bones of networking for student success [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OTPJZnBP8s