Grow Your Career

PHASE 1: SELF-ASSESSMENT

The transition from school to work after graduation can be difficult. It is very useful to start researching and gaining experiences early to help smooth the transition. These could include getting involved with extra-curricular clubs, volunteering, summer and part-time jobs, or simply talking to people about what they do. The more experience you have, the more transferable skills you will develop and the more you will learn about yourself.

Carleton’s Career Centre offers personality and interests assessments that are reviewed one-on-one with students and a professional career counsellor. This helps student s understand how to use this information to inform career research and decision-making. These tests are not crystal balls that can tell you exactly what you should be when you grow up. They serve as a starting point and guide for moving into effectively researching career options...

PHASE 2: RESEARCHING CAREER OPTIONS

To find out about anything most of us rely on internet, but it can be a tangled and misleading jungle of information. Job postings are probably the most deceptive creatures out there. Many sites have been created to make the labour market less mysterious, including sites like career cruising and Working in Canada which explain duties and requirements of a variety professions and occupations. LinkedIn, the Yellow Pages, and other industry directories are a great way to start learning about specific companies, and to find out about the sectors of the economy more broadly you can consult the list of Canada’s sector councils.

Reading about jobs and companies online is a great place to start, but it is highly advisable that you contact someone in a position of interest to you to ask them for an information interview. Deepen your understanding of a field by asking questions about their career path and relevant advice for you. Accessing established working professionals in this way gives you invaluable insight into the details and culture of particular work settings – as a bonus, it can also kick start your professional networking.

PHASE 3: Decision-making and Goal Setting

One way or another, most of us are trying to answer the question – "what are you going to be when you grow up?” Instead of trying to figure out exactly what you will do for the rest of your career, focus on questions such as: who am I? what type of career path am I looking for? and, what’s out there? How can I gain experience and skills in particular areas?

You will want to do your homework and reality-testing before committing to a particular career path, especially if it could cost a lot of money. Through this process you may even discover other career options that suit your criteria. The point is not that you end up exactly where you planned, but that you have a vision which can practically guide your next steps – taking action in the present will create opportunities down the road that you cannot always predict.

PHASE 4: Targeted Job Search

Did you know that roughly 80% of jobs do not get posted? Even when jobs are posted, the qualifications can be ambiguous, and on-line applications don’t provide you with any feedback. Additionally, the range of open jobs do not represent what might actually be possible in the hidden job market. Generally speaking, while most job seekers prefer to search and respond online to advertised openings, employers prefer to rely on informal processes like networking.

Networking is often a misunderstood concept. It is not simply schmoozing at social functions, or asking people for jobs. Cultivating productive working relationships requires that the other party knows that you are serious about their needs as well as your own. You want to position yourself so that you have an inside track at organizations of interest; so that when something changes and they need to hire someone a) you hear about it and b) they already know you. Effective networking involves intentionally building relationships that over time will help you gain information, referrals and exposure in the labour market.

Probably the biggest barrier to networking effectively is lack of patience. Landing a job is a process. All your job search activities, whether cold calls to hiring managers, a well-researched and tailored cover letter, information interviews or volunteering at professional events, are like seeds that you plant towards potential jobs. Some might not sprout quickly or at all, while others may do so almost immediately. In the long run though, expending small, regular efforts to tend to these seeds is the best way to grow a fruitful career.