Reading Week – Job Search or Bon Voyage…or Both?

Author: Liz Evans, Peer Advisor 

I have always been jealous of those people who have the money and the time to go away for reading week, and so, as it is my final year at Laurier, I have decided that this year is the year I am one of those people. Some of my close friends and I are planning a Cuban vacation for the week, but not without some difficulties. Midterms the weeks before and after, as well as large projects, have everyone a little apprehensive about going. This year being my last at Laurier also means that I need the extra time to contribute to my job hunt, or I will have nothing to do after school ends.

Here is my strategy:

• Do all assignments before you leave the country, then you don’t even have to think about them, and you won’t be cramming to get them done
• Take study notes for midterms with you for the plane ride. The way I see it, you will at least look at them on the way home when you are all vacationed out, and you’ll feel slightly better about your tests
• Use the weekend before you leave to write up some cover letters and spruce up your resumé, then send them out and check job postings a couple times during the week before you leave. When you get back, it will be perfect timing for some follow-up emails and thank-you letters.

Let’s face it, you’re not going to be burying your head in a textbook when you could be staring at the ocean. But with some preliminary preparation in the weeks leading up to the break, and using that airplane time wisely, you can stay on top of your job search and academics and still enjoy that well deserved break.

It will be mildly stressful before and after my trip, but I still say “Bon Voyage!” If others can find the time to go away, I can too, and even find the time to keep my job search strong.

Work and School Demands a Different Sort of Intelligence

Author: Mehak Bhatia, Peer Advisor

Recently, I had a discussion with one of my professors where I mentioned my belief that working at a professional job seems harder than being a student.  Contrary to my opinion, my professor said that attending classes is certainly more difficult since it demands more intellect. While my professor might have a point (depending on the type of ‘job’ of course), these past few months I have been balancing an academic and professional volunteer role and I am starting to strongly realize that the workplace demands far more practical and social intelligence to succeed.

For instance, as a Peer Advisor with the Career Centre I sometimes feel that conducting a resumé critique is more challenging than my studies. Reading a textbook allows ample time to process the information and organize thoughts, whereas, conducting a resumé critique demands thorough, ‘on-the-spot’ analysis of a resumé within about ten minutes. Making mistakes while taking notes during a lecture does not affect anyone but me, but conveying the wrong idea during a resumé critique might cost a student his job. Communicating difficult ideas effectively while keeping every student’s needs and learning styles in mind feels a lot more challenging to me than working independently at school.  Extending thoughts beyond my specific area of study and into another student’s area of interest to gain a better perspective of their needs can also be more thought provoking.

Most of the time, working independently at school pays off (at least in the arts, maybe less so in business where many projects are team-based). In contrast, working as a co-operative team player is key to success at work. Moreover, the workplace also demands compliance with a specific code of conduct that maintains professionalism. Therefore, for someone like me who is managing school and work simultaneously, it becomes important to understand the difference between the environment at school and at work and to shift my approach accordingly.

Academics certainly promotes mental preparation, however, practical and social intelligence are another important aspect of being successful in the future. Therefore, it is essential to find outlets that help build your practical and social intelligence so that when you enter the workforce as a graduate, you won’t find the transition so challenging.

OK – I’ve Got the Job, Now How do I Keep it?

Author: Megan Wibberley, Peer Advisor 

I have always been full of questions, it doesn’t matter what you have asked me to do, I will have at least a couple questions about it.  In elementary school my teachers always used to make comments about it on my report cards, “Megan needs to try working on assignments before asking questions,” “Megan needs to work more independently,” or “Megan needs to ask less questions.”  One thing I am trying to watch is that I don’t carry this behaviour into my job.  Employers want to see that you can work independently and don’t run to them with every question you have.  They have hired you to do a job, asking a lot of questions start to make them feel like they are doing your job. 

I am trying really hard in my summer jobs to watch how I approach questions I have regarding assignments.  Mostly I try to have a solution when I talk to my employers. Instead of saying, “I don’t understand,” I would say “I am not totally sure what you wanted here, but I was thinking something along this line.”  Employers want to know that you thought through some possibilities before you come to them.  Once you get a job, it is very important to continue to prove yourself, right from the interview to the everyday work, which will of course involve problem solving. 

Another key factor is to gauge your employer.  They are all different and some may prefer that you to come to them before you spend time working on something because it may be a quick question that they can answer and then you can move on.  Personally the majority of people that I have worked for like to see that I have put thought into something before I ask questions.  They want to know that I have done the leg work and not just being lazy.  Most of the time when I asked questions prematurely, I was asked, “what do you think?”, and usually I didn’t have a very good answer because I hadn’t thought it through.  This resulted in my feeling pretty stupid, and I also felt like my boss was frustrated with me, which isn’t a great feeling.  Sometimes even approaching a colleague about some questions may help as they will likely have completed a similar project and have some suggestions. 

In any case, it is important to treat you career like a long interview, at least when you are starting out in a new job.  Even more so when you are a student working for a company that you would like to work for in the future.

Be True to Yourself When Planning Your Career

Author: Karleigh Buist, Peer Advisor

As a second year student, I am able to look back at the journey I’ve had to get to Laurier and I am able to appreciate all of the experiences that I have had along the way. I recall being a senior high school student and being so unsure of what my next step in life was going to be. Thankfully, my family was very supportive of my decision to attend Laurier for the Communications Studies program. I couldn’t have asked for a better support system; my parents have remained very open and supportive of all of my endeavours.

I think that it is very important to follow what is true to you. Knowing that I would be happy and content in my decision to attend a university close to home played a large role in my final decision to attend Laurier. It was important for me to follow what felt right for me, instead of making a decision to please someone else. I think that following through with your dreams is an important aspect in becoming who you want to be. In order to be an individual, you must step outside of the sometimes narrow view that has been set out by others.

I recently found out that Katy Perry had also been faced with the tough decision of following her own dreams. Perry’s parents are Christian Preachers who have struggled with her pop diva career path. Instead of giving in to what her parents believe is an acceptable lifestyle, Katy has remained true to herself and pursued her career passion. I think that this is a very telling story about how important it is to listen to your own needs and keep that at the forefront of your priorities when selecting a career.  

After spending my first year at Laurier, I have learned how lucky I truly am to have a supportive family and friends. However, I have encountered many friends at university who have chosen a certain program to please someone. I think it is an important lesson to learn that you are the person that will eventually have to live with your decisions. It is important to be happy with the direction you are headed in. Keep that in mind as you plan your career path.

December Summer Job Search Preparation

Author: Alexandria Malcolm, Peer Advisor

Once exams are finished you can just go home, relax and not concern yourself with anything school related. Well at least that’s what most students hope is the case. I was recently asked, “what will I be preparing during the Christmas holidays?” My first reaction was that I had no idea what exactly I was to be preparing for. After much thought and consideration, all the answers pointed toward a summer job search!

During the holiday season, it is wise to begin preparing your resumé and researching summer job opportunities. December is the best time to start looking into jobs as a lot of summer positions are posted early. Although it seems strange to be looking for a job four months in advance, I can promise you it will be extremely beneficial since starting in December on your networking with employers and company research may result in your landing a job early in the New Year. You’ll thank yourself in the end as having a summer job lined up at the beginning of the winter semester will certainly free up your time to focus more on school.

Informational Interviews Help Find the "Right Fit"

Author: Trevor Belkwell, Peer Advisor

I have been told that finding the right career is like buying a new pair of shoes. You can do as much research as you want on the internet or magazines about a career (and for that matter shoes), however, you cannot truly understand if a job is right for you unless you really know everything about the job.

It’s like going all the way to the mall to buy a pair of shoes without trying them on. However, when you get home you find out that they aren’t the right fit. Would you wear uncomfortable shoes for thirty years?

I am not saying to totally neglect researching occupational descriptions or labour market conditions – certainly this information is very important to finding the right career. However, what would be better than asking someone who already does that particular job?

Before spending several years and many thousands of dollars on an education to land that dream job, make sure that dream job is the right fit for you through an informational interview.

An informational interview is an opportunity to have a conversation with someone working in a particular field that will provide you with an enlightened perspective of what the job is really like. It is not a job interview, and the purpose is not necessarily to find job openings.

The thought of initiating an informational interview to some may be intimidating, so the Laurier Career Development Centre has taken the fear out of Informational Interviewing by creating the Alumni Sharing Knowledge database: http://www.lauriercc.ca/career/students/planning/grad/ask.htm.

The ASK Program allows students and graduates the chance to connect with participating Laurier alumni and learn first-hand about their particular career. You would be surprised at how willing most people are to take time out of their day to answer questions for someone interested in their profession.

Some other benefits of Informational Interviewing include:

• improved communication skills and confidence speaking with professionals
• first-hand knowledge that can help you in a job search
• intiatived a professional relationship and expand your network of contacts in a specific field

So before you choose a career, take some time to spend a day in the shoes of an individual already in that career to make sure it’s the right fit.

Professional Branding: Stand Out in Career Exploration

Author: Mike Gregor, Peer Advisor

Are you a brand?  As a potential student, volunteer or employee, this is a question I think you have to ask yourself.  Why?  Because employers already have. 

When I ask the question, I am by no means asking if you have your own theme song, although that would be quite impressive.  I am asking if you are aware of your skills and can you communicate them effectively.  It’s as simple as that. 

I define a professional brand as: “a creative and consistent representation of an individual’s professional qualities as communicated across a variety of career-related materials and mediums.”  

No question, employers hire the most experienced and suitable candidates.  Therefore – you should focus on the content of your resume, interview responses, online professional profiles, etc.  We both agree on that.  My argument is to not ignore the context of these career materials and mediums.  

Your professional brand can be as inclusive as a set of core qualities that you possess or as extensive as a set of formatting, fonts and colours consistently applied to your resumés, business cards,  social media profiles, email signatures and tattoos (if you’re that intense).  As I said above, knowing and communicating your core qualities – the traits you bring to every, and any job – is your professional brand.  Adding the consistent formatting (and even a professional logo) simply adds to the ‘communicating’ aspect. 

True, some individuals may see professional branding as our culture’s materialization obsession at work.  This is a fair argument and professional branding (at least my definition of it) could reach such infamy in the near future.  The line, in my opinion, is clear.  People buy cars, electronics and Ugg boots to fit in.  I have a professional brand to stand out. 

At the end of the day, definitely go ahead and amaze the employer with your education, work and volunteer experience.  That should be your goal.  But how will you achieve that feat with a resumé written in crayon?

Seeing Value in Transferable Skills

Author: Mehak Bhatia

Eight hours of full time research in a lab, volunteer shift at a hospital every weekend, and a part-time job as a peer health educator? It sounds like the perfect volunteer profile for someone wanting to go to medical school. However, I commit to none of these above extra-curriculars, and instead am proud to say that I volunteer as a Peer Advisor with the Career Centre. Why? Because it is about transferable skills. 

Although my role with the CDC does not have a medical/health-care dimension to it, I believe that working as a peer advisor is worthwhile for me. This is because it provides me with an excellent opportunity to refine my communication skills and get more familiar with an appointment-based job. Recently, in my shadowing appointment with one of the career consultants, I realized that while conducting a resumé critique, you really need to confront people with what changes they might need to make so as to make their resumé professionally competitive. For someone like me who finds it hard to gather the courage to challenge people, I think conducting critiques will be great way to develop that skill. After all, one of the basics of the job as a physician is that we are confident enough in letting patients know what changes they need to make to live a healthy lifestyle. 

As a physician, I will be required to demonstrate patience, calmness and control when listening to patients. Thorough analysis of the patient’s health and a detailed feedback that facilitates continual improvement in the patient’s health will be an integral part of my job as a physician. Performing resumé critiques as a Peer Advisor will allow me to exercise such interpersonal skills while I evaluate people’s resumés and use a strength-based approach to provide them with constructive feedback. 

Analyzing someone’s medical history might be totally different from evaluating someone’s resumé, but skillfully addressing and resolving other’s concerns so as to bring about positive change is an indispensable part of the job of a physician, and peer advising at the Career Centre is one of the few positions that will assist me in establishing the foundation for this very important skill.

So when you are searching for a meaningful volunteer position, don’t be confined by the belief that it has to be a role that is obviously connected to a career (e.g., volunteering at a Legal Aid because you think you might want to be a lawyer). Seeing the value in various volunteer positions and the transferable skills you can gain are equally as important.

So Those Ridiculous Interview Questions Have a Purpose?

Author: Liz Evans, Peer Advisor

I remember I had an interview a little while back where I was asked, “If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?” I was taken by surprise, froze, and didn’t give a very good answer. I have now repressed that memory deep down and no longer recall how I answered it. We have all had this happen to us. The interviewer asks us a question we did not fathom them asking and we freeze up because instead we are striving to understand what answer they are looking for.

Essentially, there are only 3 types of weird interview questions:

1. The “What Would You Be?” Questions: These are the ones that include “If you were an animal, what would you be?”, “If you were a brick in a wall, which brick would you be?”, or, “What superhero would you be?”

2. The “Get to Know You” Questions: These questions try to find out if you are a good match to the company culture. Questions like, “What is your favorite color?”, “How do people react to you when you walk into a room?”, and, “What book is currently on your bedside table?”

3. The “Intelligence” Questions: You may come across some questions such as, “Why are manhole covers round?”, “How would you explain a database to a 5 year old?”, “What does this painting mean to you?”, and, “You have a box of matches, a candle and a thumb tack, how would you hang the candle on the wall and successfully light it?”

The connecting motive for all these questions is to gauge who you are, how you think of yourself, how your train of thought works, and how well you think on your feet (creativity). The way to answer all of these questions is to avoid worrying about there being an absolute right or wrong answer – because there isn’t. Instead, your strategy in these questions is to think about what skills the job requires and creatively make those connections. To prepare, it helps to make a list of these skills ahead of time. Then when asked the question, take a deep breath and collect your thoughts before you answer. Remember to relate your answer to the job you are applying for, but don’t forget that a little personality and appropriate humor goes a long way!

Avoiding Your Job Search May Cost You

Author: Megan Wibberley, Peer Advisor

I decided this year that I was going to focus my energy on school, get through this year, and then I can worry about what is next. On Friday, in my avoidance technique of school work, I did a few searches on Navigator for jobs that would be applicable to my degree (geography). To my surprise there were a few postings that interested me, but unfortunately they both closed this weekend, which did not give me enough time to prepare an effective cover letter and cater my resumé.

Avoidance is clearly not the best method for figuring out what comes after school. It is good to get your head into your job search while you are still a student. I find that if I take at least a half an hour per week monitoring company and job posting websites, then staying on top of possible opportunities does not become a time consuming task. Delaying it, however, may cost you that perfect opportunity.

It can take time to figure out where to start looking for a job. A great place to start is monitoring job postings that come through the Career Centre’s Navigator system. They offer job postings for graduating students, as well as immediate full time jobs for students who have already graduated. You will also continue to have access to this even after you graduate. The federal as well as provincial government also offers many graduating student opportunities that are worthwhile to keep your tabs on. I found my summer job last year through the Federal Student Work Experience Program (FSWEP). Even though it took a while to get my profile all set up and working, it paid off in the long run. A simple Google search will also help you find sites that specialize in jobs for specific fields. For example, Work Cabin (www.workcabin.ca) is one that I look on regularly, as it is Canadian and focuses on green careers. The Career Centre offers a good resource called, ‘What can I do with my degree?’ which offers information on many different fields and occasionally offers field specific job posting sites as well: http://www.lauriercc.ca/career/students/planning/major.htm

I find that keeping myself ‘in the know’ when it comes to jobs makes me feel reassured. It’s also important to remember that finding a job does not rest solely on your checking websites. You also need to tackle the ‘hidden job market’ through networking initiatives. By doing a combination of both, I feel that I am working towards my job search, rather than doing what most of us would prefer to do – avoid.

If you are having trouble starting this process, come into the Career Centre and attend the Job Search and Networking Workshop. There are many resources and people to talk to that can help you get started, and feel less stressed about this process.