Staff Development
Contact Us

Professional Development
Kendall Hall, Room 216
530-898-6433
pdev@csuchico.edu

Regular Hours
8 a.m.–5 p.m.
Monday–Friday

Plan Your Career

Create Your Career Pathway at Chico State

Create your own career growth plan that includes reflection, exploration, personal growth and career planning. Discover your strengths, explore options, and foster your career growth through experience, exposure and learning.

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Reflect and Self Assess

It is important that you spend adequate time taking an inventory of your interests, skills, values, personality and work environment preferences. While there are many tools to assist, we suggest you try one of the following:

  1. Career Center: CSU, Chico employees have free access to the Career Center’s tools, including Career and Major Planning. From there, you can jump to the Focus2 Login to complete the self-assessment tool. This is ideal for early-career employees or selecting a major.
  2. Online career exploration tools: for example, the O*NET Interest Profiler(opens in new window), My Next Move(opens in new window) and O*NET Online(opens in new window) are sponsored by U.S. Department of Labor, statistically reliable and FREE.
  3. Or, self-reflect with these additional links:

reflect

Update Your Resume

Review your current resume. Does it reflect your strengths, experiences, and transferable skills needed for your dream job? Your resume contains your background, skills, and accomplishments. Updating your resume from the lens of your career aspirations can help you identify areas you may have missed or may need to include.

Résumé

Explore & Set Goals

Explore options that align with your personality, interests, values, skills and strengths.

Review a job posting for a position for which you aspire to apply. CSU Chico job postings are available at the following sites:

Complete a Skills-Gap Analysis

  • Identify Job Requirements Beyond Skills – look at job postings and job classifications to see what you may be missing
  • Learn more about how to map out your career path and gain experience for your long-term goals. Consider if there are target positions that you may need to gain experience for your dream job.

Complete an Individual Development Plan

Other tips:
  • Know the value of your total compensation at Chico State (salary + retirement + benefits)
  • Review your current position description
  • Try taking a class
  • Getting a degree? Add an internship
  • Consider volunteering to gain experience to transfer to your dream job 

goals

Network

Seek out coaching, mentoring, and ongoing feedback from your supervisor, clients, and coworkers. Consider contacting departmental managers for informational interviews.

network

Prepare for Interviews

Before you apply for a position and land an interview, be sure to tailor your resume:

You work on campus, so doesn't the committee already know what you do?

It is important to realize that candidates that interview successfully express their knowledge, skills and experience effectively during the interview – even if they know everyone in the room! Savvy candidates know that they are competing with others from both within and outside the organization, and prepare as if they are from off-campus. They dress professionally and prepare to answer the questions thoughtfully and thoroughly.

Here are some tools to prepare you for great interviews:

interview

Manage your Career

Chico State is a community. It is important to realize that how you handle yourself with your peers, co-workers, and managers today can have an impact on your future job opportunities. Cultivate positive work relationships now rather than wait for the perfect time or co-worker. Develop effective habits to maintain a high level of performance.