The Career Foundation

Developing Human Potential

resume

The Honest, Panicked Thought Process of a Post-Secondary Student in 2019

By

Post-Secondary Student Fears: Three black icons are set against a light blue background: in the centre is a paper with a large red sad face on it, on the left is a dollar bill, and on the right is a briefcase.
Not making enough money to be independent, having a lacklustre résumé, a sparse job market, and getting stuck in a bad career are all regular concerns for most post-secondary students — and I’m no exception.

Being a post-secondary student is terrible in many ways, but I think the worst part is stressing about life after graduation — isn’t that what all the painful study sessions and papers have been for? These are the three terrifying, career-related thoughts that run through my mind almost daily. To fight these fears, I’ve also laid out three student career ‘reality checks’ I typically use to calm myself down. Prepare for the darkness, but also a bit of hope? Maybe?

Do I have enough on my résumé?! I need more on my résumé!

Finding relevant work experience that’s flexible with full-time studies is hard, depending on the field you want to go into (if you even know what that is). Students who need a job to keep up with bills might be forced to sacrifice relevant extracurriculars for paying work that’s totally unrelated to their field. Even if they do manage to accumulate some experience through this minefield, it never feels like enough. So, maybe I should take on more to get that extra edge — but will I end up burning out? It kind of feels like I have to risk it, if only to increase my chances of getting a job in my field after graduating.

Sure, I have extracurriculars and volunteering, but I don’t have actual work experience. Sure, I have some relevant work experience, but it’s only one job. And sure, I’ve worked multiple jobs; however, they were all with the same employer. Nothing will ever be enough, and it all feels like an uphill, unwinnable battle.

Reality check:

Chances are, I (and you) have more experience than at least one or two friends or younger family members. At least I’m thinking about work experience, which is honestly more than I can say for some people around my age. If you’re thinking about your future, you’re a step in the right direction. However, there will always be someone who’s done more than me. But I also have some skills and characteristics that may give me the edge over someone else out there — which I should definitely play up.

What if my experience doesn’t matter and I’m a failure who lives on the couch forever?

Assuming I do have enough work experience that’s relevant, there will be no jobs for me. This kind of thinking is especially common among university graduates in non-STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields, who are consistently told the job market is set against them. Why should I be any different? I don’t have any crazy connections in the industry. There will be, like, five jobs that I’d be good for, and they’ll all be taken by people with connections or more experience or better experience. I’ll be stuck without a job, and I won’t be able to afford rent or food or bills. I’ll have to move back in with my mother — I hear it’s really common now — and I’ll live on her couch until the end of time.

Reality check:

There. Are. Jobs. Maybe not as many as in most STEM fields, and maybe they don’t pay as much, but they exist. The idea of non-STEM grads having pitiful employment opportunities is true to an extent, but it’s also been blown out of proportion by high school science teachers and anxious parents. Make no mistake, a lot of new graduates will struggle to find field-related work, but there aren’t enough coffee shops in the world for all of them to be baristas forever.

Post-Secondary Student Fears: A large pile of papers sit on a desk.
Look at all these résumés! Look at them all!! How can I possibly compete with all of these? Are they all better than me? Will I be a complete failure?!

I’m going to get stuck in an industry I hate right out of school and die miserable…

If I do find a job out of school, it’s going to suck. For those who need a full-time job immediately out of school, the future looks bleak because they don’t have the option to wait for a field-related opportunity. I can see it: I’ll get a degree in a field with few jobs and find a more attainable position in an industry where it’s easier to find work. The pay will be decent, it’ll be full-time, and maybe I’ll even get benefits. I’ll tell myself it’ll only last a few years while I pay down debt and get on my feet financially. I’ll be pretty good at the job and get promoted. Years will pass, and next thing I know everything on my résumé will be in this boring field that was supposed to be a starter job and somehow became my entire career.

My degree will have gone to waste, and I’ll have forgotten what my passions ever were in return for a steady job and financial security. I’ll end up trapped in this sad industry, never able to escape because all my experience will be in that one basket, and then I’ll retire and not have accomplished anything meaningful at all.

Reality check:

I’m still young! (And it’s shocking how many students forget that). Is it possible that I’ll trap myself in a career I don’t like just to pay bills? Yes. Has this happened to people before me? Yes. But that doesn’t mean I have to resign myself to that fate without ever trying. I could also get hit by a bus tomorrow, and people have been hit by buses in the past, but I can’t assume that this is my inevitable future. It’s also possible I’ll stumble into a career I never imagined but love doing. I just have to give myself a chance.

Blythe Hunter is a volunteer with The Career Foundation. 

A Short Collection of the Silliest Career Moves I’ve Seen in the Last 15 Minutes (as Told by an Employment Specialist)

By

Silliest Career Moves - Coffee spills from a mug that's been tipped over. Work papers, magazines and other paraphernalia are shown stained with coffee.

Of all the social service capacities, “Employment Services” feel like the mid-point where people from every walk of life and experience come together for a common purpose. As an Employment Specialist, I’m involved in assisting clients through a myriad of career-related options to enhance and develop their overall potential. This includes self-marketing activities like résumé and cover letter writing, to methods one can use to access the Hidden Job Market, as well as skills enhancement through retraining programs (e.g., Second Career). It affords me the privilege of meeting many fantastic people with as many far-ranging experiences. It also affords me a firsthand look at the disastrous – if sometimes comical – mistakes many job seekers make.

The following list, through tears of merriment and exasperation, was jotted down over a single 15-minute period as I assisted my colleagues in reviewing applications for a Hospitality Hiring Event.

Failure to read the job posting and/or tailor your application to it

For one, the hospitality sector is unrelated to hospitals and mechanical engineering. A strong job search requires the job seeker to read the details of a posting and tailor their application as closely as possible. Moreover, hospitals are very competitive work environments to enter. If your goal is to work in a hospital, one needs to know what hospitals generally expect. If you can’t see the difference between ‘hospitality’ and ‘hospital,’ you are wasting more than just your own time.

The same applies to engineering. Even if you’re an engineer looking to change career paths, a mechanical engineering résumé will not assist you in applying for work in hotels, restaurants, or tourism. For this, you need to craft a skills-based résumé to show that you have the transferrable skills to enter an industry in which you have little to no experience.

Refusal to consider logistics

A “willingness to relocate” is an attribute many employers will appreciate. However, the Hospitality Hiring Event I’m referencing was set to take place in less than a week’s time. If an event is taking place in Toronto and you live in Calgary, a conservative estimate puts the drive to Toronto at 33 continuous hours across 3,419 kilometres (and that’s with taking a route that crosses the American border). It’s certainly a much shorter flight, but is it really worth it – especially if you don’t end up getting a job offer?

For those applying outside of Canada, you need to factor in the visa requirements of working in Canada if you are neither a citizen nor a permanent resident. Has this been factored in, along with the cost of a flight, accommodations, food, and the duration of your travel? Unless plans to relocate are directly addressed in an applicant’s cover letter, the employer will likely assume that out-of-area applicants don’t actually know or understand what they’re applying for.

Questioning employer antics (or simply being rude)

We’ve probably all had that dream where we’re at school giving a speech or taking an exam on a subject that we know nothing about. It’s terrifying. However, with regards to job search the best advice is quite simple: if you don’t know why someone is calling you, play it safe and remain polite at all times. It’s fine to ask polite, proactive questions as needed. I was taken aback at the number of applicants I called who became hostile because I was calling them at school, at work, or while they were sleeping (it was around 10:30 a.m., for the record). This anger seemed exacerbated by those applicants who also had no idea why I was calling them, despite my simple straightforward introduction.

Hostility within a job search is wrong at every level! It’s not the employer’s responsibility to keep a record of your job search – that’s your responsibility. The world is small, and burning bridges anywhere is ill-advised. Remain courteous at all times and keep a list of all your applications, including the employer’s name and address, the position applied for, and the date of your submission.

Using the wrong name and/or wrong phone number on your résumé

Just don’t do that. Use your name on your résumé. If you have more than one name, you should make life easier for the employer (and you) by using the same name on your résumé and in your email address. The same philosophy applies for your phone number. This includes having a clear voicemail message with your name in it and no one else’s. Many companies, banks in particular, have strict privacy policies regarding messages left on voicemail that do not clearly state who the recipient is. A simple, clear, and friendly message with your name is the best policy for job seekers. This is a simple yet highly important rule to follow.

Lack of attention to detail, practicality, courtesy, and common sense seem to be an Achilles’ Heel for more than a few job seekers! However funny these mistakes seem, they are really and truly only fun to giggle at when you are employed. So take a breather, adapt to the best practices, and brightly move forward! You’ve got this (We hope…)!

Jason Douglas Smith is a Training Application Coordinator with The Career Foundation, and has successfully directed clients in not only developing personalized job search strategy plans, but in circumnavigating the rigorous demands of applications for provincially-funded retraining. When not working, this self-professed Futurist can often be found reading, writing and barbecuing in his native Burlington.