Career Planning 1-2-3
Stage One – Know Yourself
Before you start to look for a job, think about your career first. Choosing a career means more than finding ways of making a living. Your work will determine many aspects of your everyday life, so your career choice needs careful planning and considerations.
A good self-understanding can help you realise what sort of occupation and work environment would fit you better, so you are able to build your career on your interest and abilities.
Don't let your major of study limit your choice. Think big and think out of the box. Employers look beyond your academic qualifications. Your personal attributes and core values also count.
Two online systems are offered respectively by CEDARS-Counselling & Person Enrichment and the Careers & Placement team to help you understand your strengths, your personal attributes and your career interest:
Psychological Assessment (by CEDARS-Counselling & Person Enrichment) - Areas of assessment include personality, work-related personality and cognitive abilities.
Prospects Planner (by CEDARS-Careers and Placement) - It is a web-based career guidance system designed to help you with your career planning.
Stage Two – Making a Right Match
Career fields popular among students do not necessarily mean that they match your skills and personalities. Understanding what employers of a particular field look for and what the nature of a certain job is exactly about can help you make a more realistic career plan. Conduct plenty of research by:
- attending recruitment talks, professional seminars or functions alike
- talking with other people – your friends, your friends’ friends, mentors, career advisors, etc
- gathering information from websites and publications
- acquiring and testing your skills and abilities in paid and unpaid work assignments, including voluntary work
- experiencing a career field yourself through internships , placements, summer jobs, etc
Stage Three – Taking Action
After making a right match, you need to take action. Preparing a tailor-made application, practising interview skills and developing a strategy for achieving your career goal are important to make your dreams come true.
Be proactive and look beyond advertised job openings! Approach companies of your choice even though they do not seem to be advertising jobs. Acquire networking skills and start to build your network! By developing contacts, you can get information about your desired work and the employers in that industry. That may even help you win a job in the end.
Words of Wisdom
Analects of Master Shifu (Personal Qualities You Need for Job Hunting)
The “Analects of Master Shifu” （師傅論語）is a record of discussions that Master Shifu held with his students about career planning and job hunting.
Book 1 – Persistence and Endeavour
Master Shifu asked, “Isn’t it helpful to look for jobs with persistence and endeavour?”
Student Ming said, “Persistence and endeavour are abstract concepts that employers can hardly observe in the process of job hunting. Thus, they are not so important.”
Master Shifu explained, “Though personal qualities such as persistence and endeavour may not be shown explicitly to the employers during the interview, these qualities are very important because the process of job hunting can possibly be long and difficult. Without persistence and endeavour, one can easily give up and thus can never realise their career goals.”
Book 2 – Honesty and Integrity
Student Bak said, “If a job applicant is asked a question that he fails to answer or he feels embarrassed to tell the truth, will it be better for him to lie so he can respond to the question without leaving a bad impression?”
Master Shifu replied, “The worst thing of all in the process of job hunting is lying. The employer does not expect you to know all the things. Some questions are raised to observe how you think and react when you face difficulty. Thus, being honest and telling the truth would not be bound to give a bad impression on employers. On the other hand, your integrity will be questioned and undermined if the employer finds that you lie. This is far more detrimental than not knowing the answer as no employers can tolerate employees without integrity.”
Forum
What other personal qualities are important for job hunting? You are encouraged to share your views and exchange ideas in the discussion forum.
