Throughout the course of the career exploration project, I did a lot of research on a wide variety of topics– different careers, potential graduate programs, available jobs, and cover letters to name some. In doing this, I realized that career-related research requires the careful consideration of many different factors. For example, we decided which sites provided reliable information about things like job descriptions, found a job that coincided with our own experience and interests, and then thought through whether or not a job would be economically feasible for a particular location. This process of holistically thinking about a job is without a doubt one of the most important takeaways from this project.
For the project, I decided to explore a career as a history professor. To do this, I focused on the job description of a professor of classics position at the University of Virginia (I chose classics because, from what I have seen, there is some overlap between history and classics). Additionally, I elected to investigate this career because I knew it was compatible with some of my interests– I am interested in teaching, and I also greatly enjoy history. What I think excites me most about this career, however, is that it is multifaceted, with responsibilities that include research, teaching, and interdisciplinary collaboration. My interest in careers with an assortment of responsibilities was not at all obvious to me before embarking on this project, but this was definitely a paramount discovery about myself, and it will certainly remain in my mind with career decisions I make in the future.
Owen Schuster
