What's Next? Planning Your Career and Getting a Job
Consider your experiences and your dreams to decide what your next step is.
After your long, difficult undergraduate journey, you're finally graduating and off to new beginnings! While this is exciting time, it can also be scary, as you'll be forced to evaluate your future goals and career aspirations.
Questions going forward
Do you want to go to graduate school? What organizations that align with your professional aspirations can you see yourself working with? What opportunities have you experienced in your undergraduate experience that make you a competitive candidate? You'll want to think about these and other questions as you decide your next steps.
Evaluate your undergraduate years
When planning your career post-graduation, take a look at what you accomplished in your undergrad! There are many ways to show employers you'd make a great candidate.
Work placements
If you partook in Ontario Tech's work placements, like the co-op or internship program, you had the opportunity to apply practical concepts learned in class to a real work setting. In doing so, you developed new skills and strengthened the ones you learned at university. You got valuable experience in your field, and developed some insight on what roles you might want to take in your future career.
Leadership roles
Employers also value those who partake in extracurricular leadership positions on and off-campus. Leadership roles show off your passion, teamwork skills and creative problem solving. Clubs, sports, student politics: there are lots of chances to develop a leadership stance before graduation.
Research experience
Lastly, any research experience you gained, from research-based courses to taking part in an undergraduate research role for a professor, can be a valuable and relevant experience to companies! Plus, you'll connect directly with professors and students who share your interests, which is a huge bonus.
Visit the Career Centre
Ontario Tech's Career Centre is home to some amazing services to assist you academically, personally and professionally! The Career Centre offers a variety of workshops throughout the year on a wide range of topics, like resumé and cover letter building, interview skills and more! You can also make an appointment to meet with a Career Counsellor to discuss anything from job hunting techniques to what careers and job paths are best suited to your personal skills and interests.
The Reverse Career Fair
One of the Career Centre's most unique events is the Reverse Career Fair. Instead of students attending a traditional career fair, where employers have booths set up and students learn about jobs available, students set up tables with posters and displays about themselves. The Career Centre then arranges for employers to attend the Career Fair and learn about the students' achievements directly.
Consider graduate school
If you're looking to become more specialized in a sector of the subject you studied, then grad school can be a great place to develop your skills and knowledge. Graduate school can also advance your qualifications and increase the chances of getting a job in your desired industry.
Whatever you choose, stay strong, and good luck!
