Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday!

Given that November is designated as National Career Development Month, I am convinced that active planning for one’s career is more important than our careers themselves! Putting it differently, our careers are too important to leave them to chance. To be clear, I am not talking about unforeseen circumstances in our careers that could lead us in directions and to dimensions that we could not have planned for, or even envisioned. Planning, however, is a must if we are to decide on a trajectory for our professional lives.

More broadly, career management requires both structured and active decision-making to ensure an impactful and satisfying professional path. Clearly, for college students, identifying our course of study at the university is a foundational element of career planning and career management. That is not to say that by choosing a college major we are constrained to careers within the boundaries of that major. In fact, great careers have been established outside of areas of college concentration but because of the areas of concentration.

It all starts with a career plan complete with short- and long-term goals along with identifying actions we must take today to achieve them. The good news is that, here at S&T, through Career Opportunities and Employer Relations, we offer an array of services for students, alumni, faculty and staff, and even for employers, that offer career development and pathway opportunities with remarkable outcomes. To our students, I say, regardless of your status, classification or field of study, begin your career-planning process soon and reap the benefits of designing and building a successful career. To begin the process, you don’t even have to have every detail nailed down or think that you are unsuccessful if plans change. Good planning does, however, require gathering information, developing knowledge of self and career options that are of interest, and what it takes to pursue them – and then setting goals and working toward achieving them.

This fun process can include extracurricular activities related to career interests, finding a mentor, shadowing a person in a field of interest, being part of a research team or many other interesting approaches that will help you get closer to a career goal. You might be surprised to learn that S&T also offers tips on maintaining an appropriate social media presence and how to respond to job offers or rejections professionally. You can also gain these valuable experiences through our internship and co-op opportunities. In addition, S&T's Career Development Council, a group of industry professionals, is interested in engaging and partnering with our students.

Making career plans — the difficult decisions that affect our future — is never easy. Harder still is leaving our future to chance with unpredictable consequences. Clearly, we are both responsible and accountable for the eventual outcome of our journeys. Tomorrow we will be accountable for our responsibilities of today, and it is not sufficient to just prepare for a great career, we must ensure that we will succeed by planning for one. Subscribing to a process of planning, developing and implementing actionable career plans will enhance our chances of success and achievement of our envisioned destiny.

Warmly,

-Mo.

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Check out the latest news from S&T:

• Remembering Dr. Elizabeth Cummins
• 1,174 flags placed to honor veterans
• Recognizing National Philanthropy Day

Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu