Wharton Undergraduate Students & Alumni

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Resources for Researching Careers

Researching career options and specific employers is a lifelong endeavor, whether you are a sophomore about to declare a concentration, a senior exploring post-graduate options, or a 40 year old seeking a career transition. The most effective career research involves using both written resources, as well as talking with people actually working in the field. Students currently on Penn's campus might also find it useful to attend some of the many employer information sessions (listed in PennLink) and career panels held each year.

The Career Services library houses books, periodicals, and newsletters which contain profiles of careers, as well as the types of organizations where the career opportunities exist. The Internet also hosts an immeasurable amount of information useful for exploring career options. To make your research less overwhelming, we have compiled a list of useful links to help get you started.

Career Information on the Web

·         Careers in Business - Designed to help you get started on a satisfying career in the business world. Contains information on a variety of business career fields, listings of current jobs and a variety of reference materials.

·         Career Exploration Links - A comprehensive collection of articles and resources to help you explore careers in a number of fields.

·         Entrepreneurship Resources - An excellent collection of links to a variety of resources for the budding entrepreneur.

·         Lippincott Library Selected Business Web Sites - Lots of neat resources!

Job Search Research Guide

Selected Business WebSites

·         Occupational Outlook Handbook - The US Department of Labor Statistics compiles this extensive guide to careers, which contains profiles of occupations, training and education requirements, salary ranges, and job outlook for the future.

·         Occupational Information Network - O*Net Online - Allows for quick occupational searches by keyword, job category, or knowledge/skills/abilities.

·         Vault Online Career Library: Over 60 guides (job search, employer directories, interviewing (including finance and case interviews) and guides to specific career fields are available to current Penn students for free through a license granted by the UBS Corporation. You will need your PennKey to access these guides. You can access the login information by clicking on the On-line Subscriptions link from our main Career Services library page: http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/library/

·         Wetfeet.com and WetFeet Insider Guides: A nice collection of career profiles, job search guides, and direct links to companies and organizations prominent in a variety of business fields. (This resource is accessible for free for current Penn students through a license granted by the UBS Corporation.) You can access the login information by clicking on the On-line Subscriptions link from our main Career Services library page: http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/library/

Alumni Contacts

·         Use the Penn Alumni Career Network to identify alumni in organizations and fields of interest to you.

·         Network with other alumni throughout the country by utilizing Penn Alumni Clubs or Wharton Alumni Clubs. If you plan to relocate to a particular part of the country, find the nearest alumni club to not only get advice about career options, but also to learn about the communities you are considering.

When exploring options, keep in mind that your concentration does not predetermine your career choices. In other words, you need not have a finance concentration in order to be competitive for rewarding and challenging positions. While your academic discipline may have some influence on your choice of a career, the skills and competencies you develop at Wharton are broad enough to make you competitive for many different occupations in a variety of fields.