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Journey kit

Journey kit image Career planning is a lifelong process. It includes choosing an occupation, landing a job and growing as a professional. This might happen several times in your lifetime as you redefine yourself and your goals.

By completing the resources in the journey kit, you'll be able to:

Understand yourself in relation to your career goals.
Research your career options and identify viable career paths.
Connect with career opportunities.
Organize and implement your work search.
Build effective professional relationships.
Manage your ongoing career development, including:
- success in the workplace,
- professional development,
- career transitions, and
- personal growth.

Download a hard copy of these learning objectives.
Not sure where to start? Check out our pathway tool to learn how we can help.

Research your career options

When you were little, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was a simple question—now, it might seem daunting. Never fear: we can help you find a career that suits your goals. Check out the tabs below, or work with a career educator to explore career options.

Know
yourself

What motivates you? Do you like working with people? What does your dream job look like? Answer these questions and more with help from this section. Once you’ve settled on your goals, you can start working towards them.

What are your career motivators?

Career motivators are what energize and motivate you when you think about what you want to accomplish in your career. They’re concrete descriptions of what you want to achieve. They’re not job titles (like “doctor”) or general phrases (like “money” or “happiness”). Understanding your motivators can help you settle on a career.

There are three types of career motivators:

Contribution motivators: These are what you want to spend your time doing. They include competencies (skills, knowledge and attributes) you want to develop, things you want to create, or passions you want to pursue.
Work environment motivators: These things are important for you in your workplace. They include the physical environment, work culture, work structure (hours, schedule, etc.), and how you like to work with others (as a leader, supporter, advisor, etc.).
Lifestyle motivators: These are what your career lets you do in other areas of your life. These include money, time, travel, relationships, and your work/life balance.

It can take time to uncover your motivators, and it’s tricky to separate what you really want from what you feel you “should” want. It’s a good idea to revisit them from time to time.

Sample motivators

I want to use my research and writing skills to produce content targeted at youth audience (contribution motivator)
I value a professional environment that has a corporate feel but is vibrant and exciting (work environment motivator)
I'm willing to work as much as a need in order to get started, though I can see that down the road I'll want to work a more standard work week (lifestyle motivator)

EXERCISE: Use the worksheet on the What are your career motivators? resource to identify your motivators.

Set
goals

Goal setting is an essential part of career exploration. Your goals will change depending on your academic, work and life experiences.

Challenge yourself to set short-term and long-term goals. What career options are available with your education and experience? What if you were to get further education, training or experience?

Types of goals

You can work with a career educator or co-op coordinator to identify three types of goals:

Work-related goals: What do you want to accomplish in your current position? What job do you want to reach in the long term?
Education-related goals: What do you want to get from your academic program? What other programs do you hope to complete in the future?
Volunteer-related goals: What volunteer opportunities are you interested in? How would volunteering help you reach your work and education goals?

How to plan your career goals

Once you’ve completed the worksheets in the “Know yourself” and “Identify your options” tabs of the “Research your career options” section, you’ll have created a list of careers you might want to pursue.

Having trouble picking a first choice? Keep your doors open and work towards a few different career goals. As you pursue them, you’ll probably find yourself drawn to one or the other, or you could combine aspects of different careers

How should you work towards your career goals?

Once you’ve picked a career goal (or several), you can set short-term and long-term steps you’ll need to take to approach it. This will help you:

identify what you need to accomplish
focus on a specific pathway
develop individual responsibility, ownership and accountability for your goals

Use statements like “I will do…”, “I will accomplish…”, “I will be…”.

EXERCISE: Use the worksheet on the How to plan your career goals resource to write down your work-, education- and volunteer-related goals.

Define your
options

There are so many options for your career path - start by exploring the external sites in the tab called "Possible careers" to get a sense of the possibilities. Don't worry about selecting the perfect career from the get-go -- your career will likely evolve as your change your mind or develop new ideas. Here are a few places to start your career exploration.

How to brainstorm career ideas

How to brainstorm career ideas

What’s your post-grad plan? These steps can help you uncover potential careers.

EXERCISE: Follow these steps to explore career ideas and use the worksheet on the How to brainstorm career ideas resource to record them.

Step 1: Make a list of every single type of career you find interesting. Don’t be shy—include short-range and long-range career ideas.
Step 2: Chat with your friends and family and ask them what type of work they think you’d enjoy. Write down their ideas.
Step 3: Find out when Co-op and Career is holding the next "What can you do with your degree?" session for your program to hear from alumni in your field. Or, download the “What can you do with your degree?” information sheet for your program.
Step 4: Explore these online resources to broaden your search.
- Career Cruising ((contact Career Services for the User ID and Password): Click on “career matchmaker” and follow the directions, then print your “career suggestions” and highlight jobs that catch your eye.
- Eluta : Click on “new grads”, and then select your degree area and field of study. Click “find jobs” to generate a list of Canadian employers who hire grads with your degree.
- Google: Try typing in “What can I do with a degree in…” followed by your program or degree.
Step 5: Explore some job posting sites and print out postings that interest you. Don’t worry if you’re not qualified for these jobs—the postings will help you identify career options to research.
Step 6: Look at your results so far and highlight your favourite career options. You can also meet with a career educator to talk about your goals.

How to research your career options

Once you’ve put together a list of career options that interest you (see the How to brainstorm career ideas resource), the next step is to do some research to find the path that fits. There’s so much career information online that it can be overwhelming. A systematic approach can save you time and frustration.

What type of information should you gather?

Consider four types of information when researching career options:

The basic requirements of the work (education, experience, skill)
The typical characteristics of the work (salary, working conditions, work prospects, work culture, the form or structure of the work)
Where the work is done (geographic area, type of organization)
The career path options (related kinds of work possible in the short-term and long-term)

To be effective in your research, you should consult many different sources.

EXERCISE: Choose 1-3 career options you identified using the How to brainstorm career ideas resource, then use the worksheet on How to research your career options to investigate further.

See possible
paths

What kind of career is a good fit for you? Want to know how to get there? Start by exploring the resources below.

Visit Eluta (job posting site) to find out which employers recruit people with your degree (go to "Search Top Employers" tab on the top left of the screen, then choose "The Career Directory: New Grads")
Check out Career Cruising (contact Career Services for the User ID and Password), BC Work Futures, Working in Canada and O*Net (US site) to look into what it takes to pursue different careers
Wondering which jobs will be in demand in the next few years? Check out the BC Labour Market Outlook to find out what jobs are in demand
Gateway to Careers: a Canadian site offering advice and guidance to help you pick a career that works for you.
University Affairs' career advice website: A site offering tips on everything from the job hunt to managing your career.
HR Council for the Non-Profit Sector: This site lets you match up your skills with possible careers in the non-profit sector. It's a great learning resource!

Consider careers
for your degree

Wondering where your degree can take you? Co-op and Career offers What can you do with your degree?" sessions throughout the year, where you can hear how alumni in your program transitioned from university to the workforce.

Can’t make it to a session?

We've put together a "What can you do with your degree?" sheet for almost every program at UVic. Your sheet includes information about:

popular jobs for grads from your program
where to find work related to your degree
professional associations in your field
competencies you can develop through your program
information about core competencies
where to find job search help

Search for your faculty and program below to download your "What can you do with your degree?" sheet. Want more information about the competencies you can develop through your program? Check out the list of detailed program-specific competencies. Need help? Drop by for some guidance from a career educator.

Faculty of Business

Business

Faculty of Education

Faculty of Engineering

Faculty of Fine Arts

Faculty of Human and Social Development

Faculty of Humanities

Faculty of Law

Faculty of Science

Faculty of Social Sciences

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Sign in to the C&C portal

What is the C&C portal?

The C&C portal is where you'll find:

job postings (post jobs or apply for jobs)
co-op job postings
a casual work registry
a tutor registry
Co-op and Career event info
and more

Co-op & Career

Journey kit

By completing the resources in the journey kit, you'll be able to:

Research your career options