- Plan your career
- Discover who I am
- Learn about your personality, interests, values, skills, and abilities; start to define your career goals; and begin to shortlist your options
- Explore my options
- Learn how to conduct occupational research, options for studying and working, and trends in the world of work
- Choose my direction
- Learn how to evaluate your options, make a decision, and take action
- Achieve my goals
- Learn how to define and reach your goals through goal setting exercises, work and volunteer opportunities, extracurricular involvement, networking, and professional development activities.
- Join the workforce
- Learn how to write a resume, develop your interview skills, network like a pro, and find the hidden (and not-so-hidden) job market
- Continue to develop
- Learn about re-careering, relocating, leaving a job, losing a job, and professional development
- Home page
- Go to the Plan My Career home page
Job Search Guide
Download the Job Search Guide
An effective job search is an important tool in building a successful career. To compete in today’s job market job seekers require self-knowledge, persistence, ingenuity and substantial amounts of hard work. Looking for employment is a full-time job! It is not enough to be highly qualified for a position.
Those who are successful in obtaining a job that they enjoy do not necessarily possess high grade point averages and/or substantial work experience. Knowing how to search for a job effectively can be as important as the specific qualifications required for the position. An important key to finding a good job is to spend the necessary time preparing yourself for your job search.
The job search can seem overwhelming, even to the most seasoned veterans of the process. Some job seekers have an unrealistic picture of how much time the job search takes. It is never too late to start making contacts. A good time to start looking for a summer job is in the fall. Monitor the job market year round. This can also be beneficial if you are looking for an internship contract, on-going positions or a co-op opportunity. Your search for employment should be full time if you have graduated or are currently unemployed.
Take a broad approach to your job search. Always strive for and achieve a balance among research, preparation and action. If your job search activities are to check classified advertisements and randomly send out your resume, you will probably yield minimal rewards. You can significantly increase your chances of finding the right job and getting hired by developing your network, researching employers and targeting those employers that are a good match with your skills, interests and experiences.
This week at the SECC