Research Career Options
Once you have hauled in your catch of possible occupations, you are ready to narrow these down and find the two or three that look like the most suitable candidates for your dream job.
How do you do this? By RESEARCHING. Finally, the opportunity you've been waiting for! Okay, I'll cut the sarcasm. This step is going to be time-consuming. But if you do your homework and spend a little time thoroughly researching and narrowing down your options, you just might end up with a lifetime of fulfillment and satisfaction rather than a lifetime of drudgery and regret. The choice is yours.
To help you minimize the time you have to spend in this stage of your career exploration, we've listed several different research methods you can use, in rough order of the time commitment they will require. You will want to use a variety of these methods, but start with those that take less effort first as you narrow down your options, and then use those that require more time as you get down to the few that are your most suitable options.
As you gather your information, you may want to use our career possiblities worksheet to keep track of what you have learned. Print off as many copies as you need to organize information on all your career options.
The Internet
As you found out when you were brainstorming for career options, there are a lot of Internet resources with occupational information. There are many other places on the Internet you can go to research individual occupations. These include websites of associations, homepages of companies who employ people in the specific occupation, and newsgroups related to particular occupations.
Libraries, employment and career centres
As well as electronic resources, there are also many print resources you can use to research different occupations. Again, many of the resources you used to brainstorm about occupational options can be used to do further research. And one advantage libraries and employment and career centres have over the Internet is that they have knowledgeable staff that can help you find the information you need. Plus, it's a chance to get out of the house!
Labour Market Information
One of the things you may want to take into consideration when researching a career is labour market information about your occupational options. Labour market information focuses on such things as working conditions, wages, trends, qualifications, and employer demands, as well as other factors which affect the market for labour.
- The Facts about Labour Market Information. Unclear about what labour market information is and how you can use it in researching your career? This article, from our nextSteps magazine, will help clarify matters.
- Labour market information from HRDC Alberta/NWT region. This site provides links to Alberta job futures, area profiles for Calgary and other Alberta communities, occupational profiles and labour market bulletins.
Informational Interviewing
This is where you get a chance to reverse the roles. You become the interviewer, and the person with the job becomes the interviewee. The goal of this process is to gather information about a particular job or career directly from the "horse's mouth" to help you find out if it is the kind of job you would be interested in pursuing further.
Volunteering
Volunteering provides you with a number of advantages. It gives you a first-hand look at an occupation that you are considering as a career. It is also a great way to network, and if you find this is the job you want, you already have some built-in contacts with which to begin your job search. It also enhances your resumé; employers will be very impressed if you have volunteer experience in the area in which you are looking for work. Through volunteering, you may also find that the job is not all you thought it was; and you can then look for job opportunities in other areas.
Working part-time
Like volunteering, working part-time gives you a chance to get a first-hand look at the job you are interested in and allows you to make contacts you can use as references for future jobs. Unlike volunteering, it allows you to earn some money while doing so.
Work abroad
Working abroad gives you the opportunity to combine a couple of objectives you might have for the future: travelling and career preparation. There is a wide variety of things you can do in foreign lands to gain job-related or transferable skills, while broadening your horizons and improving your self-management skills.
- Working Abroad - We devoted a whole issue of our nextSteps magazine to this topic. It's a great starting place to learn more about the working abroad option.
- So, You Want to Work Abroad? - From the University of Waterloo. Asks you why you want to work abroad, tells you how to go about preparing for it, and provides a list of additional resources you can use to further research this option.
- Print resources -The Canadian Guide to Working and Living Overseas, by Jean-Marc Hachey, andWork Your Way Around the World, by Susan Griffith, are only two of many different books that will give you some idea of the opportunities available to you if you want to work abroad. Check your local school or public library, or a career or employment resource centre, for more.
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