By Patricia Monaghan
Finding a job is one thing, finding a career path that you hope to follow for the rest of your life is an entirely different animal. Before you find someone to take you on as part of their staff, you have to decide where you want to be, where you’ll be successful, and in what situation you’ll be most likely to thrive; this is going to involve a lot of self reflection. There are companies to which you can pay an enormous amount of money to help you self reflect, or you can figure it out on your own for free.
Indentifying your Best Career Path
First, narrow down your interests in terms of what you want to work with. Do you like to work with people, ideas, data, or objects? Deciding what you want to work with will help you to focus your career path search. You’ll also want to weigh the importance of salary, benefits, and stability against your ideal job. Would you be willing or able to pass over your ideal career in favour of an impressive salary and benefits package for a less than ideal job? You’ll also have to determine whether you would prefer to work for a large organization or small business. In a large organization there is certainly more opportunity and prestige in any position; however, employees of a large company often move up the corporate ladder much more slowly as it is easy to be overlooked amongst all of the competition. In a small business, employees tend to climb the ladder fairly quickly; unfortunately there isn’t a great distance to climb.
What are you Qualified to do?
Once you’ve identified what you’d like to do, you’ll have to evaluate your own skills, abilities and experience to determine whether you are hireable in your field of choice. To determine which qualities employers are looking for, visit job boards and employment agencies and read the job descriptions and requirements of desired job candidates. Some specific qualities to which you should pay special attention are:
- Computer Skills- Literacy and skill level in certain programs may be a requirement in your field. If you find a common program that you are not familiar with, there are many classes available to you. Once you become competent with the software be sure to outline it in your resume.
- Leadership Abilities- Many jobs will specify that they need candidate with strong leadership abilities, or team players. Consider your past experience with school assignments and group projects, any previous work experience, and even team sports and extracurricular activities to determine your leadership abilities.
- Education- Certain fields may require particular courses or degrees. Many will insist on seeing transcripts. If you do not possess the education required, start researching what schools provide the coursework.
- Experience- This is a common problem when entering a new field. You need experience to get the job, but you can’t get the experience until someone is willing to hire you! Fortunately, when claiming experience in a position, it does not necessarily have to be paid work experience. You are able to obtain experience through volunteer work, internships, co-ops, freelance, and contract work. If you do not have the job experience to enter your field of choice, simply find a way to get it!
Once you have identified your ideal career path, and become qualified to obtain a job, all that’s left is to find one! You have many resources at your disposal in any job hunt. You can contact agencies, search the web, go to the library, visit career fairs, monitor the classifieds, or join a professional organization. Apply to as many jobs as you can find, competition can be fierce and having a foot in every door will certainly enhance your odds of finding your ideal job. Finally, once you’ve started to line up interviews, be sure to make the best impression by Conducting a Perfect Interview. Good luck on your job hunt!