Exploring your Career Options (Part 2)

Exploring your Career Options (Part 2)

*refer to the Part 1 post that was blogged last week

Now that you have had the chance to explore your interests, values, transferable skills and determine the kind of work you would like to do, it’s time to explore whether or not those jobs are available and what sort of education/experience you may need to get into them in order to make a strong choice in your career goals.   

The next steps are doing Informational Interviews with local employers/employees in the industry that you have chosen to work in and exploring Labour Market Information (LMI) to determine the outlook of the occupation and whether or not there are opportunities now and in the future.  For the most part, there are a ton of websites out there that can help you explore LMI by region so you can get a clear picture of the opportunities. 

A few helpful websites for exploring Labour Market Information are:

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplaceskills/labour_market_information/index.shtml

Government of British Columbia

http://www.aved.gov.bc.ca/labourmarketinfo/

US Bureau of Labor

http://www.bls.gov/

Informational Interviews

Informational Interviews are a direct way to discover what opportunities are available in an industry/occupation and exactly what kind of duties are involved.  A good way to start with an informational interview is to make a list of companies that you would like to work for and find out who to talk to in the HR Department or who the Manager is.  Once you have this information, contact the person directly and tell them you are exploring opportunities in their industry/occupation and you would like to ask a few questions.  You will want to ask questions that are relevant and tell them that you are exploring their industry and the occupations available in that industry.  A few examples of questions to ask are:

·       What qualifications/experience are employers looking for when hiring someone in this industry/occupation?

·       Is there any training you would recommend for someone wanting to gain entry-level employment in this industry?

·       What is a typical day like for someone in this occupation?

·       What are the physical requirements of this occupation?

·       What are the employment opportunities for this industry?

·       What is the base wage for this occupation?

·       What is your favorite part about doing this job?

·       What is your least favorite part of the job?

·       What is the growth outlook for this industry?

·       My employment background consists of (brief description), do you think my skills/experience are a good fit for this industry?

Be sure that you write down a few questions that you would like to ask and practice asking them in the mirror to yourself before the informational interview.  Always thank the person you spoke to and even send a thank you card! 

Informational Interviews are great for knowledge, networking and even sometimes being hired for a job!