Career Center
If you're not sure what you want to do, most colleges have
a Career Center. If you're still in school, or just graduated
use it! Even if you graduated a while ago or are in the middle of
a career change the Career Center can still assist. You can talk
to a counselor, look through job books, take an "Interest" exam,
pick up a JobTracker and even set up "information" interviews with
alumni that work in different fields. There is wonderful insight
to get from people in the field. Just beware, don't expect
an "information" interview to lead to a job. It won't happen.
However, if you hit it off and you keep in touch from time to time,
you never know what can happen. Quite honestly, my Career Center
has helped others, but never really helped me. I basically had to
take the "do it yourself" approach.
Do it Yourself
With the "do it yourself" approach, exploring the classifieds is
a great start in terms of checking out the different types of jobs,
how much they pay and what kind of experience they require. You
should comparison shop, and get to know the various options. Think
like a buyer, and take control of the situation.
Industry trades are a great source of information about companies.
Industry magazines and newspapers tend to have classifieds as well
as on line bulletin boards. By reading articles in industry trades,
you'll begin to notice company names that are featured or mentioned
repeatedly. You can begin to compile a list of these companies and
explore their Web sites to get more information on them and explore
their "culture" to get a taste of what they might be like. Larger
companies will often include annual reports as well as a job listing
Web page. However, you have to decide if you want to be with a larger
company or not, and if you like a more intense and restricted corporate
culture or a more relaxed and forward thinking atmosphere. Keep
this in mind as you explore and determine the parameters of what
you want.
