PathwayU

Making career decisions can be stress-inducing. Some of you may feel like you have too many choices and can’t decide on just one, while others may not be excited about any of their career choices.

Career decisions are part industry exploration and part self-awareness. It is important to know what, for example, an HR Business Partner does in a typical day, the types of projects they work on, and what strengths and skills are required for the role. Equally as important is knowing how that role aligns with your strengths, values, interests, and personality. This is why being an HR Business Partner might be one person’s dream job and another person’s nightmare!

Students often consider just one factor when picking a career. For example, they want to make a lot of money, so they pursue Investment Banking; or they want to give back so they become a teacher. However, there are a lot of career paths that will make you a lot of money or allow you to give back. By digging deeper, you may decide that you want to make a lot of money while also having a dynamic work environment where you work with a lot of people and aren’t confined to an office - hello tech sales!

In order to deepen your self-awareness and expand your career possibilities, the Orfalea College of Business has launched a new resource for students called PathwayU. In PathwayU, you will take four assessments that evaluate your workplace preferences, values, personality, and interests. Taking all four assessments takes less than 30 minutes. The results then show you which career pathways align most closely with your results, across industries.

To use PathwayU, follow the following instructions:

1. Visit https://calpoly.pathwayu.com Links to an external site.and click "Join Now" to set up an account using your Cal Poly email. You will receive a confirmation email to verify your account. If you are a returning user, use your email and password to login.

2. To begin the assessments, click Start Your Journey.

3. This will guide you through all four assessments: Interests, Values, Personality, and Workplace Preferences. You do not need to take all four assessments in one sitting, but once you start an assessment you must complete it in its entirety or your progress will not be saved.

4. If you have completed some of your assessments already but not all of them, simply return to your Assessments page and click on any remaining assessments to finish them. Once you have completed all four assessments, your summary page will show each of your assessments completed with a green checkmark and an overview of your results.

5. From this page, you can click on the tabs of each assessment to view extended feedback about your unique results.

6. Click on the "Careers" tab to explore potential career matches based on industry or subject.

NOTE: Self-assessment results do not define who you are or encapsulate the complexity of your goals, interests, personality, etc. These results are merely a helpful starting point to evaluate how certain careers may align or not align with your results. If a career path you are pursuing is a "weak" or "fair" match, that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't pursue that path. However, you may want to make an appointment with a Career Counselor to discuss your results.