Brooke, Barnett- Writer
Career paths aren’t always linear (meaning they they don’t always go in straight line like we expect), but it actually is way more of a Zig-Zag pattern rather than straight forward! Try not to get caught in that tunnel of strict planning and narrow mind-set for if you do, it may make you feel discouraged when your plans change direction.
Now-a-days the world is changing so frequently it is incredible! We and the world will always be constantly evolving. I talked to a few people and they have said that they found that it is really hard to plan five, two, one year ahead and sometimes even months in advance for certain things. Things can’t always be a straight path and set in stone.
“Treat this more as an adventure or journey”
~Christine Barnett, Associate Director, Employer Engagement @ SFU Beedie Career Management Centre
Try to broaden and expand your horizon when wanting to get some experience. Even if you don’t like the experience that is still fine! It was still a thing you tried and if you hadn’t then maybe you would have gone/ will go blindly into that field without knowing enough about it. Then imagine the horror when you realize you don’t like it. That would be a waste of time in some cases. One example is when my step-mom job shadowed when she was in school.
Here is the story:
My step-mom thought that she would become a lawyer, yet now she is helping students at Simon Fraser University (and helped me out with this article). So how did that happen? Well actually long story short when she was in university she was getting her arts degree to go into law school. Her aunt worked at a law firm at the time, so she then asked if she could see what it was like. Her main thing was that she wanted to be in a courtroom, like the lawyers in movies. Yet when she got there, she found out that the lawyers that go to court the most are criminal lawyers, and that wasn’t what she wanted to do. In the end, it was good that she took the time to check it out before trying to get into law school. And she would have spent at least 2 years to study something to get into a career that she wouldn’t have even liked!
Now here are some tips and tricks for you if you want to start maybe looking for a career that may suit you!
- The main thing when looking for what you maybe want to do is to keep your options open and try many different things that might interest you to see if you would like to pursue it.
- Think, when you wake up what do you automatically do or what do you always try to do on a daily? Some feed their pets, some read a newspaper, some try to write etc… But that can also help you because you subconsciously do it, whether or not you love it. My one friend found that she would always make time for spending time with her pets, so when she went into looking for a part-time job she wanted to work with animals cause she loves her own so why not try to get a job where she could work with other animals!
- Keep positive and optimistic. So what if you get rejected from say a dream job that you have always wanted that you spent time studying, do not let that drag you down! There almost certainly will be a place that will want you! You cannot let one rejection pull you into a pit of worry, confusion and etc, you have to climb back up and keep forward!
*Partial credit goes to SFU Career Advisor and SFU media.
