This past weekend, the Career Center hosted “Know Thyself 2024”, an interactive workshop that helped students introspect and determine ways to channel character traits into career paths.

Hosted in the Fillius Events Barn and Tolles Pavilion, the event was open to all class years and was coordinated by professional Career Center staff, including Associate Directors for Career Development Victoria Valgulick and Sarah Dustin alongside Melissa Marietta, the Career Center Executive Director. Light brunch and refreshments were provided, and Career Center student employees were present to facilitate the event’s proceedings.

Once check-ins were completed and name tags distributed, participants enjoyed food and beverages before settling in. Valgulick and Dustin introduced themselves and kicked off Know Thyself 2024, outlining the

day’s packed schedule. Contrary to last year’s Know Thyself, which revolved around pairing personal attributes with appropriate career paths, this year’s event focused more on interests.

“You will be happier and more successful in your job if you focus on your skills, values, and interests. Who you are, what you are good at, what you value and what you are interested in is so important in finding the right career for you. I want students to go try things and reflect on why they did or did not enjoy their experiences. Know Thyself is so important since it will help students make broader, more creative decisions about the path they will ultimately pursue,” said Marietta.

The Career Center instructed students to use the “Holland Code”, a method developed by American psychologist John Holland that correlates personal interests with career paths. The Holland Code has six personality categories: Realistic, Conventional, Investigative, Enterprising, Social and Artistic. For instance, a social individual might be well suited for a career in public service. Social individuals are more likely to be personable and have strong active listening skills, along with values in cooperation such generosity and service to others.

Following the assessment, students were tasked with ranking their top three interest areas. For many, their results reflected a combination of multiple categories. Once their top interests had been determined, students were grouped based on their classifications and went on to engage in discussions about career aspirations and steps regarding internships or jobs in the near future. “I expected myself to be more of an investigative person, but I actually am more of an artistic and social person. I hope to use the results to not only help myself choose future classes I will enjoy at Hamilton but also a career that I’ll be happy

with in the long run,” said Panharith Pov ’27 said.

Following the group activities, first year students made their way to the Annex for major and minor exploration, while all other students remained in the events barn to discuss networking strategy, interviewing and job scouting. Both activities were monitored and facilitated by Dustin, Valgulick and Marietta. “Being able to connect with like-minded peers was valuable and fascinating, especially when looking at the ways our activities and involvements differed,” said Alexia Sayers ’27 said.

Finally, as part of the program’s closing activities, prizes ranging from water bottles, hats, notebooks and speakers to airpods and Utica Coffee gift cards were raffled. In the span of three hours, students were able to delve deep into their interests, converse with similar peers over overlapping career aspirations and engage in various constructive career-building activities.

“Going forward, we will continue having programming dedicated for athletes and student organizations, but our next larger event will be senior specific: The reception with the trustees in early March,” said Marietta.

Know Thyself 2024 proved to be a great success. The event provided students with the tools for clarifying their career exploration

questions through introspection. Thanks to the support from professional Career Center staff, Hamilton students, from first-years to seniors,have a clearer understanding of their professional future.