Record Keeping, Keep good notes on your discussions, either during or immediately following each meeting. Evaluate what you learned and record the names and addresses of any new contacts in an appropriate place. Well kept records will be an asset when you definitely decide what you would like to do and make the transition from an information seeker to job hunter.
Thank-You Notes. Send thank-you letters to each person with whom you talked. A few lines can indicate your appreciation of their time and the value you derived from the meeting. This gesture of old-fashioned courtesy can also help you to be remembered should you contact the individual again in the future.
Being careful not to make a pest of yourself, keep your contacts informed of the progress of your field research and the assistance any of their referrals gave you.
Resources suggested above to develop a list of people to contact who could be helpful to you in researching you career field. Prepare the questions you wish to discuss with them and begin arranging appointment times for meetings with them. Set up your record-keeping system so that you can track your progress.
Many people are influenced in their research of the world of work by so-called "employment trends," forecasts of what industries and professions will be "hot" in the upcoming year or decade. Such information should be used, if at all, with extreme caution for several reasons. Most of the data that is used in such forecasts are based upon very limited examples and time frames. For example, one such study queries only college recruiters, even though many job categories are filled in ways other than through on-campus recruiting efforts. Much of the information is usually collected early in the academic year-prior to most job-hunting activity-to be available for announcement to the media before the end of the year. As a result the data is incomplete and usually only reflects the areas of the very highest job market demand.
Employment trends are rarely categorized by geographic region, so that there may be a high demand for the field of your choice nationwide, but a glut of qualified applicants in the specific area where you would like to live.
If you consider employment trend information, you should check the information specifically with people who are working in the fields of your interest. Do not assume specific forecasts are valid without verifying the information first.
You may have better luck keeping abreast of employment changes by keeping informed of the general activities in the career field in which you are interested. Watch for information in daily newspapers or subscribe to newsletters published by trade or professional associations representing your area of interest. Here are three examples from among hundreds of such newsletters published by associations: the Landscape Architecture News Digest, or Theater Journal, or the American Journal of Computational Linguistics or the newsletter of the American Association of Exporters and Importers.
Work Experiences
A fourth and final method of finding out about the world of work is to sample various work experiences. As a student, you have many opportunities available to you that members of the public at large can rarely consider. Your college years are a time to explore new areas of learning, and work can be one of those areas. Some of your most valuable work experiences may have been other than regular, full-time employment. Experiences such as internships, co-operative education opportunities, volunteer and part-time work, summer jobs and even some extracurricular activities not only give you a chance to test a career interest on a temporary basis, but can serve as marketable experience to help land permanent employment in the same or a related field.
Many employers view experiences such as internships, co-operative education, and summer jobs as "mini-careers," and having one or more of these experiences in your background increases your chances of succeeding at a new position and reduces the risk to an employer in hiring you. If you are still a student, these opportunities are readily available to you and it would be to your advantage to make use of them. You can apply theoretical concepts found in the classroom to real-world experiences in order to enhance your learning and marketability. If you are uncertain about career objectives, a work experience can be an ideal opportunity for you to explore career possibilities. Work experience also provides an important way for you to develop and demonstrate your knowledge, skills and abilities, and personal qualities. Part-time, volunteer, and summer jobs can have the same benefits as some of the more structured learning experiences if goals are initially established, your performance is evaluated, and the experience relates to your career or academic interests.
If you are a recent graduate or soon-to-be graduate, do not overlook the work experiences you had while a student as you reflect upon the factors important to you in your future career.
Internships
Internships cover a broad and varied type of field experience. Internships are intended to provide work opportunities that blend classroom learning with your area of employment interest. The experience may or may not be paid or volunteer, may be awarded academic credit, and may be for varying lengths of time. The experience is related to either educational or career objectives, or both. Internships can range from informal arrangements to highly structured and more formalized programs such as cooperative education. In an internship arrangement, the sponsoring supervisor agrees to take more time than he or she typically would with a new employee to explain the how’s and whys of the position, department, and organization. In exchange, you would provide assistance on a project or work activity that complements your education or relates to your career goals. The advantages of internships can be classified according to the developmental opportunities which they provide: cognitive development, career development, and ethical development.
Cognitive Development-Internships provide the opportunity to put theory into practice and to apply the knowledge and ideas developed in the classroom to a tangible work situation. This not only adds an important experiential dimension to learning, but often stimulates new interest in classroom learning. Further, internships frequently help the student develop a genuine interdisciplinary perspective.
