Career Counseling. Career counselors may be able to provide a variety of different functions for you throughout the job search. Initially, you will want help in determining who you are, and what you want to do. One way they can provide assistance is through individual counseling. Some words of advice: counselors, like everyone else, have different strengths and weaknesses. They also have varying levels of ability and different backgrounds. So, if you don't hit it off with one counselor, or if you don't feel this counselor can help you, feel free to talk with someone else, assuming your college counseling staff is large enough to employ a staff of counselors.
You must also realize that helping you determine ‘who you are’ is easier than helping you determine ‘what you want to be’. The reason this is so is because there are literally thousands of jobs and thousands of organizations you might be interested in. Since most career centers are not generally industry-segmented or occupation-segmented, because they're segmented in a different way (toward specific degrees, for example), the counselors don't necessarily have a lot of industry know ledge. It will depend upon the individual counselor.
Vocational Testing, Another self-assessment tool is vocational testing. The most valuable test for college students, in general, are the vocational tests which compare your interests with successful people in various fields. The Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory is the most helpful measure for determining your interests. A values clarification measure may help you prioritize your wants and needs.
Be careful not to depend on the results of any test, however, as the sole method of determining your career decisions. Testing is only one way of helping you determine your career path, and it's no surefire measure of success.
Career Planning Workshops/Seminars
Many career centers offer a variety of workshops and seminars to help you at every step of the way in the job-search process. Since most students and alumni need similar information, it's obviously more cost-effective to service them on a group basis. While the functions, content, and quality may vary, they generally deal with similar subject matter.
Private Counselors. You only have to look in the Yellow Pages to see there are many private counselors who will agree to talk with you, test you, tell you what you might want to do, and take your money. Be prepared for their fees. Many of them charge anywhere from $25 to $60 per hour, and it's amazing how quickly that can add up. Some of them are good; some aren't worth the money they charge. Once again, before you start paying someone a lot of money for their time, be sure to check them out. Ask them what they'll do for you. Ask them how many times you'll have to meet with them. Ask them for the names of some of their clients. Talk with these clients. Find out how much counseling they needed, and how valuable it was.
Continuing Education Classes
Another option is to take advantage of career development classes offered through a university or at a local community college. Talk with the people who will be teaching the courses. Find out what they plan to cover. Discuss your needs. See if they think they can help you. Get the names of a few people who have successfully completed the program. Remember, the job search is not terribly easy in isolation. The other students, as well as the instructor, can be the start of a job-search network for you.
position at a resort, a waitress job at a popular college pub, and a sales job in the cookware department of a large department store. Since you helped to work your way through college, the only other activity you've had time for is membership in the Sierra Qub. You've coordinated several hikes, and you've written articles for their newsletter.
When you initially look at what you've done, you see no recognizable pattern. After all, the jobs didn't exactly reflect your skills and abilities. None of them were intellectually stimulating, and none of them suggest the type of job you want for a career. Why you majored in sociology is now a mystery to you. Maybe at one time or another you thought of getting into counseling, but the time has passed and you're stuck with that degree.
You look at your background over again, and begin thinking in terms of the categories discussed earlier: school, work, and social environments. You quickly realize that organizing your background into manageable categories is a much better method of approach. It's much less confusing and gives you a point of departure. So you turn to the first category: school.
You think about your schooling for quite some time. You know you liked small seminars better than large lecture classes because of the professor/student relationship. Positive reinforcement is important to you, and the smaller classroom setting allowed far more interaction. You realize that this will undoubtedly be important to you in a work environment, as well.
You're still not sure why you majored in sociology, but you do feel you have acquired some good skills. You know how to do basic research. You write well. And you can organize projects very efficiently. You guess that you must have developed some other skills, but you're still not sure what those are. You think that maybe you need some outside help in analyzing this any further, so you make an appointment to see a career counselor at the college career planning and placement center.
In the meantime, you're ready to move on.
You turn to your work experience. Up to now, you have been dwelling on the somewhat "menial" nature of the work you've done. But when you sit down and think about it in more positive terms, you realize that you did learn a lot about work in previous jobs, and that you always did well in work environments. Your bosses liked you. You were usually given supervisory responsibilities. You always got along well with people-both other employees and customers.
When you discuss this further with your aunt, who is a human resources manager at a social agency, she suggests that all of your positions indicate you have 'people skills' interpersonal abilities. In addition, the sales clerk, head cook, and waitress positions evidence an ability to think on your feet, an aptitude for dealing with resources -cash, merchandise, and equipment - and an attention to detail. Beyond the specific experiences you have mentioned, she also suggests that your demonstrated capacity for working part-time and attending school indicates some additional abilities. They show you are able to organize your time well, and you can set priorities. It also establishes that you've had exposure to different organizational settings and diverse groups of people.
