Researching careers

Once you understand your skills, interests, values, needs and the impact you wish to make, the next step in planning your career is to gather quality information regarding occupations and the labour market.

If you do not have ideas for potential occupations to research, try one or more of the following:

• Book a career planning appointment with a career advisor to explore career paths that fit with your skills, interests, values and needs

• Review print materials from the University of Waterloo Library or your local library, as well as online resources on the Centre for Career Development website. Some resources relate various occupations to university or college majors (e.g. "What can I do with a major in ...?") or to personality traits (e.g. jobs for adventurous types). You might also read compilations of occupations listed alphabetically or by field (e.g. health jobs, environment jobs, etc.)

• Brainstorm occupational ideas with people you trust

• Confirm your findings

• Informational interviews

• Job shadowing

• Gaining experience

Once you have narrowed your options, it is important to verify what you have learned so far and to obtain more detailed information about a particular occupation: is it really what you think it is?

Using Labour Market Info and industry newsletters for researching work

Labour Market Info (LMI) refers to information that gives you a stronger sense of the latest trends and news in your targeted industries. LMI lets you know the current trends of an industry and has the potential to give you great insight into a competitive job market.

Some of the things you can learn on a site dedicated to LMI include:

• Overview of job postings, including when jobs are more frequently posted and geographic data of job postings

• The types of jobs that are in demand now and which employers are posting these roles

• Up-to-date technical skills and tools that are required or sought after by employers

Outside of LMI sites, you can perform further LMI research by staying up to date with industry newsletters or news sites. Newsletters and news sites can give you further information on the latest discussion topics and competencies in demand in the industry you are interested in. You can type into a search engine “X INDUSTRY NEWSLETTER” and see the results. When you come across an interesting site, you can sign up for a newsletter or updates.

You may also wish to consult employers’ rankings. Canada’s Top 100 does an annual ranking of employers based on certain criteria across Canada. Explore the criteria that speak to you.

Here are a few potential areas to explore:

• National employer rankings

• Municipal (Waterloo) employer rankings

• Best Diversity Employers

• Greenest Employers

Informational interviews are a great way to confirm your research. Think of it as engaging people who can provide insight and in-depth information on careers or employers of interest.

Informational interviews can be beneficial because they allow you to:

Preparation

It is very important to prepare for an informational interview in advance. Knowing yourself well can make it easier to talk about your career goals and questions in a professional setting.

You may use the Information interview worksheet (.doc) below to help you prepare for and record the information you gather at an informational interview.

Conducting the interview

Decide which areas you want to explore and prepare questions to obtain the necessary information. A key method to ensure that you gather relevant information is to ask questions based on your skills, interests, values, needs and the impact you wish to make. This will help to ensure that you are not forcing yourself to fit into a job, but that the job and environment are the right fit for you.

It will be most effective to identify your questions.

After you have completed your occupational research and information interviews for an occupation, job shadowing could provide a close-up view of the occupation.

To locate someone to job shadow, use the same strategy you used in arranging the information interview but ask for a half- or full-day commitment.

By the end of your job shadow experience, you will likely have a greater understanding of the job components, the work environment and your likes and dislikes related to this occupation. If the job fit is not as good as you had hoped, ask your contact to recommend other organizations or types of work for you to consider.

If you set up more than one job shadowing experience, consider investigating different work cultures and environments to understand your preference.

Getting hands-on experience is one of the best ways to determine whether the nature of the work you are considering fits with your skills, interests, values, needs and desired impact.

Benefits of hands-on experience:

• Establishing a positive track record and gaining referrals for future jobs

• Building a network related to your chosen field

• Assessing your work-related strengths and weaknesses

• Demonstrating your initiative and skills

Work-integrated learning

Work-integrated learning (WIL), such as co-op, internships, the EDGE program, practicums, applied research and course-integrated WIL, is a way to get experience that integrates your academic studies within a workplace setting. Depending on the type of WIL, opportunities may be paid or unpaid, full-time or part-time, and of different durations. It can be a great way to develop your skills and understand what different types of work are like.

Work-study programs (government-funded positions)

These positions allow you to work up to 10 hours a week over the school term and help finance your education. Carefully read the work-study notices and contact the hiring manager if the information is unclear. Work-study positions enable applying your knowledge in different settings and provide work-related skills.

Summer, casual, contract or regular employment

Through experimentation, you will learn what you like and don’t like, what you’re good at and areas for development. These experiences can provide you with the added benefit of gaining work-related skills that your future employers will be seeking. University of Waterloo students can access job opportunities through WaterlooWorks.

Volunteering

Volunteering allows you to investigate options and gain unpaid work experience in various work settings and fields. If volunteering might fit your needs and goals, think about what you would like to give to the community and what you would like to get in return. To locate volunteer opportunities, check out the volunteering section on the Centre for Career Development (CCD) home page. The CCD runs the Volunteer Fair every fall and winter semester. If you are in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, the Volunteer Action Centre is also a helpful source of volunteer opportunities. Many cities have similar centres you may wish to investigate.

1. Explore: Application documents for various careers