CAREER DEVELOPMENT BY #ADVOCATEBRIANCHIDOMANGANYE Think about what you still need to fi nd out: what questions do you have? You will use these questions as a starting point to structure your research. Examples of questions include: “What can I do with a major in...”, “How much do psychologists earn?” or “What must I study to be ..?” Search • Use Google to search for information related to your questions. For example, if you want to fi nd out which type of work opportunities are available for social work students, search using key phrases such as “job titles social work major”. If you want to fi nd out information specifi - cally related to South Africa, then also add “south africa” to this key phrase. • Bookmark pages that you would want to return to and make notes about what you fi nd and what you would still like to fi nd out about. The following websites will help you to learn more about specifi c job titles: • Unisa Counselling & Career Development (bit.ly/careerareas) • PACE Careers (pacecareers/careercentre/Careers.aspx) • National Youth Development Agency (nyda.gov.za/images/stories/documents/ Occupational%20HandbookV2.pdf). The Careers and Occupations Reference Directory contains information about hundreds of different job titles, including information about job activities, related occupations, where to fi nd further information and possible reasons for considering a specifi c career. • Career Planet (careerplanet.co.za/). Learn more about career areas such as IT, tourism, engineering and more. The website also contains information about learnerships and student fi nance. • O*Net (onetonline.org/). Explore job titles related to different categories such as your interests, skills, values, typical work activities, and more. You could also browse through groups of occupations related to specifi c industries or economic sectors. • Prospects (prospects.ac.uk/). Explore different job titles related to job sectors, as well as what you could do with your major subject. university Learn without limits . of south africa 3Job-search portals • Another type of website that is useful in terms of researching specific job titles linked to different industries, is job search portals. • For example, you are interested in finance, but you are not sure which specific job titles are linked to this field; or you want to know what kind of qualifications are needed to be a business analyst. One way to do research about this is to search on a job portal for jobs related to this field and then note the different job titles mentioned. • Other information that you would also be able to find include salary information, which organisations/ recruiting agencies recruit in this field, what kind of qualifications and/or experience are needed and typical tasks related to a specific job. • Job search sites include PNet (pnet.co.za), Careerjunction (careerjunction. co.za), Careers24 (careers24/) and Indeed (indeed. co.za). Government positions can be viewed on info.gov.za/aboutgovt/vacancies/ index.htm. 4LinkedIn • If you have not done so already, start building your network on LinkedIn (linkedin. com) today! • Register for a free account and start connecting with your network online. • Join groups relevant to your career field so that you could participate in discussions, ask questions and provide answers about specific topics and search for people, organisations and jobs in your field of interest. • Do research about companies and employees to help you identify opportunities. 5Talk to others • Once you have done some research about specific options, talking to individuals in the type of job/ industry that you are interested in, is an effective way for you to get information about the field that you are interested in. The goal of these conversations are to explore your career options, to expand your network, to build confidence, to access information and to identify your own strengths and areas of development. • Before you interview someone, do research about what you would want to discuss with them - you could ask this person to “fill in the gaps” for you. • Start with people you already know: friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, lecturers, tutors and fellow students. Use online social networks such as LinkedIn to further identify potential people. As you are doing your research, keep record of the information you find and reminders to follow-up on certain information. You also need to be aware that you need to make a decision at some state.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 00:22:52 +0000
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