Explore Your Purpose: Find Your Fit, Design Your Future

As an Augustana student, you have multiple opportunities to explore who you are and how you want to live that out with and for others in the world. Whether you are exploring majors and careers because you just haven’t found the right fit yet or because you are changing direction, there is room for you and your decision process on this page. Use the resources below to help you determine the next best steps, identify your strengths and interests, and design your life to meet the needs of the world around you.

Exploration involves intentional thinking, acting, and reflecting on these questions as we move through each stage of life.

Start with curiosity. Exploration isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about paying attention to what lights you up and what you want to learn more about.

  1. Identifying Interests Journal Practice
  2. Take an Interest Assessment
  3. Research Majors
  4. Try a Career Quiz
  5. Engage with Viking Score: Exploration

You’ve identified areas of interest—now it’s time to take action. This stage is about testing your ideas, gaining experience, and learning by doing. These resources will help you explore careers, try things out, and build clarity through real-world insight.

  1. Design a Prototype: Test Your Ideas in Real Life
    • A “prototype” isn’t just for engineers, it’s any low-risk way to try something out before committing.
    • Start small and experiment:
      • Volunteer in a related field
      • Take an elective course or online module
      • Join a student organization aligned with your interests
      • Set up an informational interview with someone doing work you admire (find Augie Alumni through Viking Connections)
    • Tip: Prototyping is about learning, not being perfect. Keep track of what energizes or drains you.
  2. Research Careers or Fields of Interest
    • Use trusted databases and tools to explore what different careers involve, including duties, skills, and labor market trends.
    • Once you’ve identified a few areas that interest you, learn more through these tools:
      • Labor Market Insights offers easy access to real-life employment data from across the U.S., including salaries and job growth by region and industry, which majors connect to high-demand career fields, top employers in your area of interest, and more
      • Occupational Outlook Handbook allows you to search by job title or industry to view descriptions, pay, outlook, and education needed
      • Field of Degree to Career Outcomes (BLS) allows you to find out how others are using your field of study in the real world
  3. Engage with Viking Score: Exploration

Knowing your next step is empowering, but checking that it aligns with your values, goals, and definition of success is even more powerful.
This is your opportunity to pause, reflect, and ask: Is this path a good fit for the life I want to build?

Check your alignment with your values and long-term goals.

  1. Personal Values Assessment (Paid tool) or Free alternatives:
  2. Naming and acknowledging your Interests Journal Practice
    • Once you’ve explored your values, ask:
      • Does my chosen path reflect what matters most to me?
      • Are there small adjustments I could make to bring it more into alignment?
      • Are there alternate paths that could reflect my values even more?
      • Bonus: Bring your notes to an appointment with a Career Coach!
  3. Engage with Viking Score: Exploration

You want your work to matter, not just for your career, but for your community and the world around you.
This section helps you connect your purpose with real-world needs through service, reflection, and exploration of where your values meet action.

  1. Assess the Needs of the Community Around You
    • Before you jump in, take time to learn what your community actually needs.
    • Explore issues that matter to you, locally or globally. Some topics might be food insecurity, education equity, sustainability, mental health, or economic mobility
    • Ask yourself: What upsets you? What gets you fired up? Where do your skills and concerns overlap?
    • 🔗 Volunteer & Community Service Opportunities
  2. Purpose in Life Quiz
  3. Journal Prompts: Living Out Your Purpose at Augustana
    • What is one cause, issue, or need that deeply matters to you, and why?
    • When do you feel most fulfilled or useful?
    • What does “meaningful work” mean to you right now?
    • Who on campus is already doing this kind of work, and how could you get involved or learn from them?
    • What’s one small step you could take this semester to move closer to your purpose?
    • How can your academics support this purpose?
    • What obstacles might make it hard to live out your purpose, and how might you overcome them?
    • How will you know you’re on the right track?
  4. After Augie Podcast
    • Listen to real alumni share how they discovered meaningful careers and found purpose in unexpected places.
    • Listen to the After Augie podcast 
  5. Engage with Viking Score: Exploration

Wrap-Up & Next Steps

Exploration isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about asking the right questions, trying new things, and paying attention to what energizes you. No matter where you are in your journey, unsure, curious, testing options, or seeking meaning, there’s a path forward.

You don’t have to figure it out alone.

Meet with Keri Bass, our Career Coach for Exploration, to:

  • Reflect on your interests, values, and purpose
  • Make sense of quiz or assessment results
  • Brainstorm academic and co-curricular options
  • Create a plan for your next steps

➡️ Schedule an appointment with Keri Bass

This is your time. Explore boldly, reflect deeply, and take the next step with confidence.