Minds on.

Omar is 22 and, about a year ago, was very excited to have completed his Blasting Techniques Certificate and Resources Drilling and Blasting Diploma in only five college semesters. While the program was academically intense with many theoretical aspects, it also offered hands-on components including labs, field assignments, and even two brief co-op placements. With his academic credentials now complete, Omar gained the skills to work in a variety of fields, including construction, mining, drilling and blasting - and even with special effects on movie sets.

However, almost a year later, Omar is becoming frustrated as he continues to sift through newspaper ads and Internet postings in search of job openings that align with his academic profile, employment history, and experience. His efforts, for the most part, have been futile. In fact, in all of this time, he has located only a handful of applicable postings and, though he applied to each, was offered only a single interview.

Omar is losing his motivation and is beginning to fear that much of what he learned in his studies will be lost or forgotten. Occasionally, he even questions the time, finances, and effort he has invested thus far. Like many, Omar assumed that once his program was complete, there would be plenty of work opportunities, and all he would need to do was apply.

Finding Job Opportunities and Launching One’s Career

What is Omar missing as he searches for a job? What advice do you have him to make his job search efforts more effective?

Action.

Success is a mixture of skills, competence, luck, and hard work: with a bit of effort, I believe the world can be at our feet.

Former Canadian Astronaut and Governor General Julie Payette

Think About It: Community Involvement, Leisure Activities, and Career Preparation

Many of the skills and much of the knowledge that we acquire as we prepare for success in our chosen occupation aren’t gained strictly from the educational and/or training programs in which we enroll. Often there is also valuable learning through our community involvement and leisure activities as well. Think, for instance, of teachers.

  • What important knowledge and skills are required for success as a teacher?
  • What community and/or leisure activities may contribute to the acquisition or strengthening of each of these?
This is an image of a young woman applying face-paint art to a girl at a community event. She appears quite talented as she concentrates intently on the intricate details of her art. In the background a young boy waits his turn.

Think for a moment of all of the community and leisure activities in which you have participated. What knowledge and skills have you gained from these experiences that will help you succeed as a worker?

Record your thoughts by simply sketching a rough mind map. On it, you should list as many important pieces of teacher-focused knowledge and skills as you can think of.  Then, connect each skill to an example of, or a type of, community or leisure activity that may have assisted in its acquisition or strengthening. Here is a partially completed example:

This is a mind map with Teacher in the middle. Around Teacher are 4 boxes that say Knowledge or Skills. Attached to each Knowledge or Skill box is a box saying Community or Leisure Activity. Also around the Teacher box is an Organization box leading to a Fundraiser Volunteer box. The last box around the teacher box says Communication which leads to a Member of Volleyball Team box.

Work With It: Portfolio and Reflection - Community Involvement, Leisure Activities, and My Career Aspirations

Now, turn your attention to yourself, reflecting on your own career aspirations and life experiences to date. Repeat this exercise, except this time, use the occupation you hope to acquire, the knowledge and skills that are important to this occupation, and the community experiences and leisure activities you are, or have been, involved in that have contributed to the your personal development of each. To make it easier, you may also include community experiences and leisure activities in which you intend to participate later in life.

You may construct your mind map by hand or by using software such as:

  • Google Draw;
  • Paint;
  • Publisher;
  • Google Presentations;
  • PowerPoint;
  • Google Docs; or
  • Microsoft Word.

or online mind map/concept web tools such as:

Name the document, “Community Involvement, Leisure Activities, and My Career Aspirations.” 

Learn About It: School and Community Support Services

Pinpointing your career destination and plotting your path is not a journey you need to, or even should, undertake alone. There is an enormous variety of supports, resources, and tools at your immediate disposal, in addition to the support of family and friends.  Accessing them is a simple as a few key strokes, a quick call, or a knock on the door.

Establishing a supportive network with individuals and groups in your school and community can be as important to reaching your career goals as your education or training, itself. In many cases, the most obvious, and perhaps most important, are teachers and guidance counsellors. Also significant, however, are employers and workers currently in your field of interest.

This is an image of a long padded sitting bench flanking a wall containing large windows. A wall mounted screen, containing a projected slide from a presentation, indicates that it is an educational setting. Seated on the bench is a smiling male teen facing and listing intently to an adult male. Both are in casual clothing and have relaxed postures.

Establishing a network is essential to supporting you in your postsecondary and career endeavors and revealing opportunities that, otherwise, might be invisible to you.

There exist several school and ‘community support services’ available to help you with the following aspects of the “job hunt.”

They can also provide you with information on many aspects of post-secondary education and career planning including such items as:

So, what exactly are these ‘community support services’? Primarily, these include community agencies, outside of school, that are there to support you and provide you with the information and tools you need as you plan and undertake your postsecondary and career path.  Here are some examples:

Work With It: Portfolio - My Postsecondary and Career Support Network

In this task, you will locate and investigate community support services that will help you meet your postsecondary and career goals, focusing primarily on those most pertinent to you given your location, circumstance, and career aspirations.

Create a document, naming it “My Postsecondary and Career Support Network.” In it, simply:

  • list all of the individuals, groups, agencies, services, programs, etc. that you intend to consult and utilize during your journey towards realizing your career goals.  Make sure to  include their contact information;
  • Indicate, for each, how the particular individual, group, agency, service, program, etc., will support you in your postsecondary and/or career endeavors.

Of course, it is obvious to start with those in most immediate proximity to you (e.g., staff at the school you attend) but where should you go from there?

This is an image of several people, each represented by a 3D cartoon figure. One of the figures is standing in the middle of the white image on top of a gold circle. Encircling the figure are the eight other figures, each looking outward and standing on their own gold circle. The gold circle in the middle is connected to each of the surrounding gold circles with gold lines, representing a connection between the figure in the middle and the surrounding figures.

You are never alone as you plan and pursue your education, training, and employment. Who will be in your network?

A good place to continue discovering and establishing these connections, whether they be important to your now or in the future, is Employment Ontario, specifically its Find Employment and Training Services tool.

Use this a ‘jumping off’ point and see where it takes you as you investigate all of the people, agencies, services, and programs at your disposal.

Learn About It: Establishing Your Network and Tapping the ‘Hidden Job Market’

If you are not yet fully convinced of the importance of your ‘network,’ consider this - most jobs that become available these days are filled without ever being advertised. “According to some estimates, unadvertised positions account for up to 80% of hires.” Such positions are commonly referred to as the ‘hidden job market.’

According to conventional wisdom, the hidden job market (i.e., unadvertised job sources) is becoming increasingly important to job seekers because few open employment opportunities are ever posted somewhere public or easily accessible.

In 1972, author and public speaker Richard Bolles, published ‘What Colour is your Parachute,’ a book about discovering who you are, and what you want in life, along with how these relate to job-hunting and changing careers. Each year, since 1975, the book is revised and re-released.

The following interactive is an adaptation from Bolles’ book. It illustrates the difference between how employers hire and how job searchers actually look for work. The order emphasizes the importance of your ‘network’ when seeking employment.

Long Description

Think About It: How Workers Search for Jobs Versus How Employers Actually Hire

What did you notice happened to the order of the steps?

The fact is that when seeking employees, most owners/manager/supervisors typically follow the progression of steps in full reverse of how most workers actually look for jobs.

What, then, are the messages here? What does this mean to you and how you will approach job searches in the future?

Work With It: Portfolio - Establishing My Network and Tapping the ‘Hidden Job Market’

Consider the first four steps contained in the model:

  1. Promotion from within the company
  2. Someone known to the manager/supervisor
  3. A referral from a friend or co-worker
  4. Resumes in manager’s file - names of people who have contacted the manager recently about a job

Create a document, naming it “Establishing My Network and Tapping the Hidden Job Market.” Your document should detail the precise actions that you have taken, and/or intend to take to establish your network and use it as you plan and undertake your postsecondary and career planning, as well as tap the hidden job market.

To help you, consider the tasks you completed in this activity, as well as the abundance of resources available that offer strategies. Here are some, but please do not feel you must limit yourself to them:

Consolidation

The future depends on what you do today.

Civil Rights Leader Mahatma Gandhi

Perhaps the most significant lesson from this activity is the absolute importance of establishing and maintaining a network as you complete your education, search for a job, and move through your career. Going it alone can inhibit your potential and limit opportunities for job acquisition and promotion.

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