Our Career Development Model: Envisioning Your Career Journey

Our career development framework provides a way to recognize where you are in your career development journey, identify what motivates you, and pursue your next steps with knowledge and confidence. You can start at any of the three interconnected phases and advance as you learn about yourself and what drives you in your career. Embark on a life of continuous learning and engage in meaningful, purposeful work – at Stanford and beyond.

Career Development Framework

The Stanford Career Education framework provides a plan to guide students and alumni in their career development. The framework also helps assess motivators and to identify the next steps with knowledge and confidence. Students can start at any of the three interconnected phases and advance to the next phase as they learn about themselves and what drives them in their careers.

Use the framework descriptions, helpful conversation starters, and a sampling of CareerEd resources to support your student during each developmental phase.

Learn about yourself and the world around you. Explore career fields to learn about what will make you thrive. Identify and reflect on your identity, skills, interests, and values. Discover what is meaningful to you based on your intersecting identities.

In this phase, you will learn to:

Identify your skills, interests, and core values
Consider how your identity, communities, and experiences impact your development
Define what is meaningful, purposeful, or impactful to you
Utilize multiple resources that will help you explore career fields and learn about yourself
Identify multiple career fields and/or roles of interest

Connect what you’ve discovered about yourself to meaningful opportunities in career fields of interest by articulating your knowledge, skills, and interests in written, verbal, and digital formats. Learn from others and seek and apply to opportunities that align with your identities and values.

In this phase, you will learn to:

Identify and leverage relevant resources, people, and networks to find and access opportunities of interest
Design plans to develop your skills, refine your interests, or clarify your values as they relate to career fields of interest
Connect your skills and knowledge to opportunities of interest
Create application documents and online portfolios that articulate your identity, skills, interests, and values
Communicate your identity, skills, interests, and values through conversations and/or interviews with alumni and employers

Engage in opportunities – jobs, internships, classes, volunteering, and more – that align with your identity, skills, interests, and values. Learn to navigate diverse work cultures and continue to refine your sense of self and purpose.

In the Experience phase, you will learn to:

Identify the extent to which the opportunities you undertake are in alignment with your identity, skills, interests, and values
Articulate an understanding of how you can engage in inclusive practices in your workplace
Advocate for your needs and wants as you pursue and enter into opportunities
Engage confidently within professional cultures
Identify your unique contributions and areas for growth in your experiences

Reflect intentionally as you advance through the three phases of career development in the experiences you will have at Stanford and beyond.

What can you do to achieve these learning outcomes and advance your career journey?

Here are some ideas ...

Steps You Can Take

Schedule a career coaching appointment to discuss your interests
Complete the Meaningful Work Kit
Take a self-assessment (like Strengths, Strong Interest Inventory, MBTI)
Conduct an informational interview with an alum using SAM or LinkedIn
Research different industries and job roles online
Attend a coffee chat to learn about employers

Steps You Can Take

Create application documents (like resumes and cover letters) and online profiles and review them with a career coach
Attend a career fair or employer info session
Attend an employer/alumni mixer through CareerEd or an academic department
Attend a LinkedIn, Resume, CV, or Interview workshop
Participate in an ILPL course to enhance your professional digital presence
Access career resources (like LinkedIn Learning, Big Interview, and more)

Steps You Can Take

Embark on internships, research projects, volunteering, or jobs
Meet with a career coach to reflect on your experiences
Access resources and/or meet with a coach to learn how to negotiate offers
Take the CareerEd post-internship reflection class, UAR13
Identify potential mentors in your experiences and with resources like SAM, the SAA Alumni Directory, and LinkedIn