Creating a plan for career success
Once you’ve figured out which career path to follow, it’s job-searching time. With so many options, what’s the best way to launch your search and ensure it’s successful?
Meeting with a career advisor who can help put together an action plan tailored to your needs is an important first step, suggests Susanne Thorup, manager of Concordia’s Career and Placement Services (CAPS).
“There is the assumption that CAPS is here only for students’ final year, but the truth is that throughout your university years, you’re looking for part-time jobs, summer jobs, or internships, and you need cover letters, resumes and interview skills,” says Thorup, who encourages students to do some homework upfront: researching job titles, industries, and career paths.
“Students often want to bypass this step, but it’s the most important one in the process, even if they already know what they want to do. When you do in depth research, you’re not only learning about the industry, but also who the players are and what organizations you should be targeting,” she says. “You’ll also learn about different job websites and internet resources for your specific field.”
A visit to the Career Resource Centre, located on the fourth floor of the Henry F. Hall Building, is a must, adds Thorup. There, students can consult with an on-site librarian and access information on hundreds of careers, as well as discover the recruitment cycles for their targeted industries.
CAPS’ career fairs and panels offer invaluable information about industries. For example, because employers in the sciences don’t typically recruit on campus, events such as the upcoming Science Career Day on Wednesday, March 6 offer students an opportunity to hear guest speakers discuss careers in that field, as well as a Networking Café where they can mingle with industry representatives.
For career panels, CAPS brings in alumni to discuss their career paths and share tips on how to get started in a field, what a typical day looks like and what skills are required.
“Panels are particularly helpful, because so many students don’t have a direct path, and they can get information about how alumni got to where they are,” says Thorup, adding that CAPS will offer two panels in March: Careers in Graphic Design and Animation on Wednesday, March 13, and Women in Engineering and IT on Tuesday, March 26. Students can register for all workshops on the Counselling and Development website.
Finding out where the jobs are need not be so daunting, says Thorup.
“We have several workshops each term on job-search strategies and finding an internship,” she says. “CAPS has its own online job bank: Employers seeking Concordia students post thousands of jobs on our database, so that’s a wonderful place to start.”
CAPS also offers workshops on social networking through such sites as LinkedIn, and it sets up informational interviews between students and alumni. And the department recently launched a new online interviewing coaching system called Perfect Interview, where students can answer basic interview questions via a webcam, record their answers, and get feedback from a career advisor.
Related links:
• Career Resource Centre
• Science Career Day, March 6, 2013
• CAPS online job bank
• Perfect Interview