Specialized Career Advisors

As my last post I would like to create a discussion board below about specialized career advisors. I personally found it very helpful when I found a resource that was relevant to my field of study. The link below will actually help you find careers in the financial sector of the market based on your: interests, education (optional), designations (optional), and skills (optional). This was eye-opening for me because it showed me how many different types of jobs I can pursue in just one sector of the market.

I am very satisfied with this website and hopefully below we will be able to find the marketing, human resources and accounting variations to help people who are studying in those fields. From this you will see that just because you may not like one job in the sector that you have to leave it as a whole. No, you can just pursue other jobs in the same sector that may pique your interests more. If you could also give your own personal rating of the website as well it would be greatly appreciated. For simplicity we will make the rating a max of 10. An example of the type of posting I am looking for is placed below.


 Example:

Field: Finance 
Link: http://www.explorefinancialservices.com/

• This is an excellent resource for students in the field of finance
• The results after filling out the information is well displayed and incredibly relevant
• Over all I would rank it at a 9.6/10

Workopolis

Now a few blog posts ago I was talking about TalentEgg which can be used by current students and recent grads to find jobs strictly available to them. Today I am proud to announce that we have another source open to us and its interface is very user-friendly. The site is called Workopolis.

Workopolis has a section devoted (much like TalentEgg) to students. What's really nice about the Workopolis version is that you can screen for: summer jobs, internships, full-time or part-time work. So you can find jobs according to your availability and requirement. The link to the student section of the website is placed below. I would highly recommend making an account on the website and frequenting it to check for jobs that maybe of interest to you and to also familiarize your self with their interface.

http://www.workopolis.com/EN/students/student-jobs

In the comment section below I would like to have links posted of your own favorite or preferred job websites. also in a quick 1 or 2 sentences explain why you like it. Also feel free to comment about your own personal experience with Workopolis.

Post-Graduate Certificates

In my earlier posts I remind people that they should not be afraid of changing careers or seeking knowledge in fields other than the ones they majoured in. The idea behind this is that you may have your opinion about a career change in the future or you have another interest worth noting outside of the field you studied. Studying something alongside your majour is okay and --in my opinion-- should be encouraged since it will allow you to round out your skills more.

So how does one pursue another field of interest after graduating and receiving their degree/diploma? The answer is through post-graduate certificates. Post-graduate certificates come with a wide array of subjects and in some cases, designations. And fortunately like some undergrad programs, they also come with internship and co-op opportunities. This will allow you to sample what is out there for you in the field of your post-grad study. I would highly recommend finding post-grad programs with co-op placement as it will give you a chance to use your under-grad background with your post-grad certificate in the workplace.

In order to achieve apply for a post-graduate certificate, you must have a degree or diploma from a recognized institution. Sheridan itself offers opportunities for individuals to obtain these post-graduate certificates at all campuses. for more information about what kind of certificates are available you can visit the link below.

http://www.sheridancollege.ca/Programs%20and%20Courses/Full-Time%20Programs/Area%20of%20Interest/Graduate%20Certificates.aspx?utm_nooverride=1&gclid=CIW299vS1K4CFe4DQAodEUpscA

Talentegg

In my previous blog post I was talking about getting a summer job or a co-op placement to help you determine more specifically what you would like to do in your field of study. I brought this suggestion up to a friend of mine as well but he mentioned that it isn't easy to get a job as a recent graduate. His rationale was that companies would hire people with a lot of work experience over a new graduate. Sadly he did have some truth behind his words. So the question then becomes how can I get people to give me a shot at getting more experience before they turn me down for not having enough experience?

The answer to this is actually at sites like the one I have the logo of at the top of the page; Talentegg. Talentegg is a job hunting site that is ONLY available to recent graduates and students who are currently attending a post-secondary education. The companies that post their jobs on the website are strictly looking for students or recent graduates not people who have been in the job market for a while. This gives us a shot at gaining experience so we can compete against individuals who have been in between jobs.

This site can also be used by students who wish to pursue a more professional job over the summer break. And again going back to the previous blog post, this can be incredibly useful for the student themselves.

So a couple of questions for the readers now:
 Do you have any personal experience with using Talentegg?
Do you know other sites like Talentegg?
Do you believe that sites like Talentegg are effective?

Optomizing on summer and co-op work terms

Regardless of the program you are currently studying at Sheridan College, I would highly recommend that you try to secure an entry level position while in the co-op program or during the summer. This will be beneficial for you in two ways. One, this will get some experience under your belt so you look like a more appealing candidate to hire upon graduation. Two, you can try different jobs while studying to figure out where you want to be upon graduation and start planning out your career path more accurately.

This is something I plan to do personally. Right now I am currently split between going into personal finance field or looking into working as a broker. By working during the summer or during the co-op term I will be able to see where my interests lie and alter my career path accordingly. If i feel the path of a broker is for me, than i will alter my education patch so i can write the CSC and go to university and get the CFA designation. If I feel personal finance is for me than I will again alter my courses so that upon graduation I can get my designation as a CFP.

Are you in a predicament between 2 focuses of your majour as well? How do you plan to overcome them? Leave your answers in the comment section

Job Shadowing

One of the best ways to learn about a career is by job shadowing. Job shadowing means that you --for one or more workdays-- work with a professional in their field. This will give you direct insight into what is required on the job and have an individual to give you their personal experience. Those are two strong reasons to try to do this as soon as possible in your professional development. You will be able to form your own personal opinion and have someone who does the job for a living give you theirs. But
prior to going on a shadowing experience, gather information about the organization. The shadowing experience will be more meaningful if you research the facts about what type of industry the organization is, what products or services it offers, and the organizational structure. Also don't be afraid to ask educated and well-thought-out questions during your job shadowing experience as it will make you more knowledgeable about the position. Finally develop your ability to work with persons of different educational, economic, cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds so this will remove any bias that you may have about the job based solely on the person you were shadowing.

If you have any of your own personal experiences job shadowing please feel free to comment. Also feel free to leave tips on how to be more effective as an individual who is shadowing a professional.

CareerCruising

The past few blogs have been centred around identifying skills and finding jobs where those skills can be used. For many, that's where the hurdle is. Not having been exposed to the actual work world, we really don't know too much about jobs that can utilize our unique talents. Fortunately there is a great website that can help with this and it's called CareerCruising. CareerCruising actually has its own questionnaire to help identify skills that you may have. If you feel that you have enough intrapersonal knowledge, then you can skip right ahead to finding jobs based on traits such as having the ability to work and process numbers quickly. Now CareerCruising is a pay-to-use site but fortunately, being Sheridan students, you can log on to the site using the link below and inputting your student number.

http://www.careercruising.com/home/Lib_Sch_Login.aspx?HTTP_REFERER=www.sheridancollege.ca

Please leave feedback about your personal experience using this website such as:
Was it helpful for you?
Is it easy to navigate?
Have you used  this site before?

Free Online Self Assessments

Previously I made a post that gave steps towards finding the right career for you. One idea I took personally from that was step #4: taking online self assessments. Again many people (myself included) already think we know where our strengths and weaknesses lie but I was shown different by some of the self assessment tests I had written online. I had discovered that I have a strong sense of teamwork and an ability to work cohesively with many different types of personalities. I also discovered that some times I may not clearly be able to communicate ideas I can bring forward in team meetings. So here is one of the online tests I wrote. Its absolutely free and will help you discover traits about yourself you may not have known existed. Post below with some of the findings you got from this test.

http://www.3smartcubes.com/pages/tests/career_skills/career_skills_instructions.asp

Some helpful Youtube videos

Now reading blogs and articles on  career selection can get boring. So to switch things up a little, I have linked two very short videos that are actually incredibly insightful.

Please take a look at the video link below. It's 6 simple steps (for step 5 you have to look at the Canadian equivalent). Overall the steps look simple and can easily be dismissed as "useless" but I would highly encourage everyone to legitimately try this.

In this video the commenter goes on about how you really have to remain true to yourself in order to properly screen what maybe the right job for you.

Career Coaching

Hey guys,

The idea behind this blog is to get you help in possibly finding the right job/career for you in the future. So to start this off, i would like to just ask a few simple questions just to get this going:

1. What career are you thinking of pursuing in the future?
2. What made you choose this career?
3. Have you had any guidance to selecting this career?
4. And if so, who did you ask/what service did you use?

I will do my best to give you feedback and possible advice that I can offer you but take it with a grain of salt. Do your best to inquire about where you plan to be in the future because it affects you directly. Further on in other blog posts, I will talk more about the advice that was given in the book and other online sources that I found very helpful on this topic. I will also welcome any resources or advice that you can offer on this topic.