Satisfying career decisions require good information, information about your own needs and desires and the world of work. While career counsellors can help you with the self-assessment component of career planning, investigation of the world of work is up to you.
Why should you spend the time exploring the world of work? Here are just a few reasons:
What Do I Need to Find Out?
Most important, you must discover if the occupation can meet your career
needs. Areas to
explore include:
Where Do I Start?
Career-related information surrounds us every day, everywhere. Every
magazine and newspaper you read and every person you encounter can be a
potential source of information. Some of the best sources include:
People
This source can be investigated formally or informally. Try brainstorming
with friends and relatives. You may be surprised at the number of new
ideas you can generate. The next time Uncle Charlie starts bragging
about his work, listen closely. You may learn something!
Informational interviewing is a more formal method for retrieving information. The premise behind these interviews is that most people love to talk about their work. Make sure that these interviews are prearranged and that you have questions prepared. Remember that while this is not an employment interview, it is a great opportunity to develop a network which may come in handy one day. And don't forget to send a thank-you note!
The Career Mentor Program makes informational interviewing easy for U. of Mb. students by finding the contacts and helping students prepare for the interview. All of our mentors are dedicated to helping students make satisfying career choices.
Media While numerous career-related books and publications are available, newspapers, magazines, films, and television and radio programs are excellent sources of information if you read them correctly. For example, an article on white collar crime can provide information on policing, forensic accounting and security consulting. Special educational programs are often highlighted in the media. Reading the employment want ads, even when not looking for a job, is a great way to learn about occupational options and potential employers.
Libraries are a wonderful place to start. University of Manitoba students can find a wealth of information in their own career library, the Career Resource Centre in 474 University Centre. In addition to books, videos, job search manuals and files on hundreds of occupations, you can find university and college calendars from around North America. Spend a few hours reading through some of these calendars. You may discover options that you never even knew existed!
Surfin' the Net Career-related information abounds on the World Wide Web. Not only is the information typically more up-to-date than many print resources but the graphic presentation makes research particularly appealing. A simple net search can yield vast amounts of great information.
Experience It! Don't just think about it, do it! Take the time to volunteer, job shadow, or participate in part-time or summer paid work. Not only will you learn about the job, but you will start to gain valuable contacts that may come in handy in the future.
Occupational research requires no special skills except a keen awareness of what is going on in the world around you. Don't hesitate - start investigating your future today!
Hook Up, Get Hired! The Internet Job Search Revolution - Joyce Lain
Kennedy
This book gives useful information about how to get onto the Internet, where
to look for on-line jobs, how to research company information, and how to
post resumes on-line. No past internet experience is required!
The On-Line Job Search Companion - James C. Gonyea
This book examines all aspects of job searching on-line, including career
decision-making and career planning the electronic way. Information
on how to set employment goals and effectively use job hunting resources
is outlined. As well, on-line educational programs that help you prepare for
your career goal (i.e. the "electronic university are described.
The Electronic Job Search Revolution - Joyce Lain Kennedy and Thomas J.
Morrow
This book explains how to search electronically for jobs in a straightforward, non-technical
manner. It outlines the various aspects of adding an "electronic edge" to
your job search skills by explaining such things as how resume database
services and electronic help-wanted ads work, as well as new trends like
the computerized job interview!(Yes, you read that correctly!) Its sister
book, The Electronic Resume Revolution, outlines how to write a scannable
resume that computers can read, how to keep yourself visible in databases
everywhere, as well as 30 model resumes.
As team leaders, we are responsible for all the clients on the ward. Our duties include assessment and charting on clients, making requests for additional staffing, reporting directly to the physician about the clients' test results, attending to the clients' concerns and making suggestions to physicians as to possible solutions. We are also responsible for duties which our Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) are unable to perform, such as starting IVs. A main part of our job is talking with the client's family, both in person and on the phone. We are also responsible for co-ordinating client transfers to other hospitals. As ours is a surgical unit, we are responsible for preparing our clients for surgery as well as preparing the necessary paperwork for the operating room. Our clients need to be well informed before they sign their surgical consent form.
Concordia Hospital is unique in the fact that we access practically all of our medications from a computer system. At times, we have agency nurses that do not have access to our computer and we have to access the medications for them.
One day each week we have "rounds". This involves working as a team with dieticians, social workers, home care nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists. Because of health care reform, early discharge is always the goal, and all members of the team have to be consulted in these decisions. We discuss each client's "total picture", (e.g. family support, type of dwelling client lives in) to see how much assistance the client will need upon discharge.
As bedside nurses, we are responsible for bathing and mobilizing clients, administering medications, changing dressings, providing emotional support, and a great deal of teaching, i.e. how to walk on crutches.
Pros & Cons
The most satisfying aspect of nursing is seeing a client come into hospital
acutely ill and be discharged a completely well person.
Nursing is an extremely stressful occupation. There is constant change, continuous inservices and new drugs to learn about. Nurses have to be "one step ahead" at all times. There are additional responsibilities added each and every day. Because of health care reform, nurses find their workloads are so great they are usually unable to care for their clients the way they would like to. Another downside is shift work which is often physically taxing but may work well for someone who has small children.
Education
In a hospital setting, there is usually a mixture of community college
diploma Registered Nurses and nurses with their Bachelor of Nursing. What
nurses find is that we are constantly learning "on the job", so with
experience comes knowledge that is not available in any textbook.
Nurses who wish to work in specialty areas after graduation will need to take further courses, i.e. for operating room nursing, you need a course available in Kingston or Edmonton.
Job Opportunities
Within a hospital setting, nurses are able to work in the operating room,
emergency, intensive care, psychiatry, pediatrics, maternity medicine,
and surgery to name some examples. Outside the hospital setting, there
are nurses working in nursing homes, private agencies, factories as
occupational health nurses, physician's offices, home care, and clinics
(i.e. Village Clinic, Youville Clinic). Other nurses may work as
researchers or as instructors. Experts say the nursing jobs of the
future will be in geriatrics.
Because of health care reform, jobs are scarce throughout Canada. However, there are plenty of job opportunities in the United States and Saudi Arabia. For the adventurous, there are nurses who work with "Doctors Without Borders" and similar organizations.
Hints for Students
Volunteering in a hospital setting is invaluable in gaining insight into a
nursing career. Students who volunteer are more likely to get a job with
the organization they worked in. There are also various agencies who hire
students as "sitters". Usually they keep clients company "sitting" at
their bedside. Usually in the summer months, many agencies are looking for
students when so many of their regular staff are on holidays.
Once you graduate, take any nursing job you can find even if it is not in your field of interest or if it is only on a casual basis. The important thing is to get your foot in the door. Once you start gaining experience, you are more "employable".
I spoke with a manager in the human resource department of a well-known accounting firm in Winnipeg, and this is what he had to say: "Our business is a local-run business with many associations with international accounting firms. The local identity is important, but we must look at the global economy."
Our source went on to point out the importance of NAFTA and the increasing circle of today's business. "Clients are looking for growth in exports. The iron curtain countries are open now; we must look for employees with an international scope. On a day-to-day basis, we deal with businesses that search for international opportunities."
Each month this manager meets with an international group, in London, in Paris, all over the world, to discuss the opportunities and effects of international business in Winnipeg. "This (international business) is an important opportunity to be aware of. You must recognize these opportunities (working or studying abroad) and take advantage of them. You cannot ignore the international scene. You might be missing some great opportunities."
A staff member at one financial institution that I spoke with emphasized the advantage regarding maturity level that a potential employee with international experience would have. "As far as education goes, most candidates look the same. However, in the interview process, a student who has either worked or studied abroad would most likely be more poised and mature in their answers that the average candidate. They would probably be hired over another candidate with no international flavor. He or she (the candidate with the international experience) has the advantage."
I spoke with a banker from the Bank of Canada and asked for a candid response to my questions about the advantages and disadvantages of international experience. "In order to establish monetary policy, we are continually researching how other countries solve their economic problems. We watch the values of their currencies, and try to discover how they work out their problems." He cited the evidence that the previous Deputy Governor had worked with the International Monetary Fund, and this gave him the advantage for initially getting the job. "International experience is an asset to any job".
Want more information on international work, internship, study, and exchange programs? Visit the World W.I.S.E. Centre, 541 University Centre, 474-6842.