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Working at Cornell

2. Explore Opportunities

Explore your career potential and choose from a variety of opportunities for career enrichment.

Now that you understand what’s important to you, and have identified what you want out of your career and recognized skill gaps, it’s time to chart your path, act goal oriented, and engage in enrichment opportunities.

  • What are some goals that you want to work towards?
  • What do you want to do?
  • What do you want to learn? 

Creating short term, SMART goals with small achievable deliverables allows you to move at a quicker and steady pace.

Explore potential for career growth at Cornell using the following resources and tools:

  • To Explore On Your Own

    Opportunity Finders

    Use the Opportunity Graph in Workday to see the possibilities for your next move. Or check out the various career path opportunities in Career Navigator and gain an understanding of the generic descriptions and job attributes. Browse current job openings across the university, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and Cornell-affiliated organizations, and sigh up to receive job alerts!

    Learning

    What skills do you need to develop or polish? What are some professional development opportunities that you can take advantage of?

    Organizational Development & Effectiveness (ODE) offers a variety of programs and workshops (register through CULearn) that can help you improve any aspect of work that’s relevant and specific to you, build on professional knowledge, skills, and effective working practices, and ensure you have everything you need to put your best foot forward.

    Check out LinkedIn Learning and Skillsoft for subjects and courses for every step of your career. Access free on-demand courses through eCornell via CULearn or sign up for a Professional Certificate Program using the Cornell Employee discount.

    As a Cornell employee, take advantage of the education benefits through the Part Time Study Program or get your degree by enrolling in the Employee Degree Program.

    Career Profile in Workday

    Update your Career Profile in Workday. Your career profile in Workday is your way of showcasing yourself and your experiences, skills etc. Update your profile to reflect your skills, job history, interest, education, and certifications. This is a part of your professional branding and helps define what you want hiring managers and internal recruiting specialists to recognize about who you are.

    How to update your Career Profile:

    1. On the Workday landing page, type “edit career profile” in the search bar at the top of the page. Select the Edit Career Profile option.
    2. This will launch the Career Profile screen with a menu of skills, job history, interest, education, certifications, and summary on the left in the blue bar. The center of the screen will have the skills section ready for you to edit.
    3. You can go start the sequence of steps to enter your skills,  job history, interests, education, and certifications by clicking Add/Edit.

  • To Explore With Others

    Gigs

    Gigs are typically short-term experiences or projects that can help share or build skills, develop leadership, and establish new connections across the university. Workday's Talent Marketplace connects employees with gigs. Learn how gigs can support your career and how to get started!

    Mentoring

    Mentoring is one of the most effective and rewarding ways to build skills and networks. Check out the Career Hub in Workday for mentorship matching! 

    Coaching

    Coaching helps you to be more successful in leveraging your skills and talents in your role and in all areas of your life. It can help unlock your full potential!

    Networking

    Connections, connections, connections! Networking is one the best ways to build relationships with the people you’re keeping in your sphere over the course of your career. It’s one of the best ways to gather information, learn about resources, and speed up the process of getting to know the people you need to connect with! Informational interviews are excellent ways to explore careers and make professional connections.

    Network without nerves using these tips: Expert networking tips for introverts

    Meet With Your People Leader

    Your People Leader can help you explore new careers or help you find what you need to take the next step in your current job. Complete the Individual Talent Profile together with your People Leader – it’s a tool to better understand your career aspirations and goals. You can ask for stretch assignments  and opportunities - anything that will enable you to stretch yourself and grow.

Not sure where to start? Reach out for a career consultation at Career Development Services.

Continue to Step 3: Act On Your Plan