Every body good at something:
I think a lot of people make the mistake of never deciding what it is they want to do. For the longest time I just wanted a job – any job. But it’s like anything else, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s pretty hard to find.
Take some time and really think about the kind of job you want. |
So finally I sat down and made a list of the things I’m good at doing and like doing. I always liked to write, so I put that at the top of my list.
There are things you’re good at too. I know that when you’re having trouble finding work it sometimes feels like you’re not good at anything. But it’s just not true. Everybody’s good at something!
On pages 5 and 6, you’ll get some help with assessing your interests and abilities and some of the jobs that relate to them. But before you start, here are a few things to keep in mind:
It’s not always possible to get a job you like. Work is scarce. But remember that every job gives you some sort of experience and can lead to other jobs.
If you get a job you like, you’ll probably do better at it, enjoy it more, and stay at it longer.
If the job you want seems a little out of reach right now, you can work toward it in stages. Aim for an entry-level job (e.g., receptionist, messenger, mail clerk, etc.) in the type of company or industry that you want to work in. Even if the job seems unrelated to the one you want, it will give you a great opportunity to learn about the industry from the inside and make valuable contacts. The experience will put you in a better position to move ahead, either in that company or in a different one within the industry.
Figuring out what u want:
You might have some ideas of what you’d like to do, but there are a lot of different types of jobs out there that you probably don’t know about, or just haven’t thought about. To get a clear idea of all your job options, start by listing all your interests and abilities. To help you get started, here are some questions to ask yourself.
Assessing Your Interests and Abilities
- What recreational things am I really interested in?
- What things do I consider myself good at doing?
- What have other people told me I’m good at?
- What school subjects am I most interested in?
- What school subjects am I good at?
When you’re finished, take your list of interests and abilities to a school or employment counsellor, resource centre, or library. Ask for help in using their resources to see what jobs relate to the items you’ve listed.
The following chart gives you an idea of how different interests and abilities can be applied in actual jobs.
| Interests and Abilities | Possible Jobs/Job Areas |
|---|---|
| skateboarding; cycling; hockey; snowboarding; wind surfing; baseball | specialty sales; equipment promotion; equipment design; repair work |
| playing and recording music; going to concerts | record promotion; music store sales; instrument repair |
| taking care of pets | vet’s assistant; dog groomer |
| photography | photo journalist; portrait photographer |
Now try to put your list of jobs in order of what you like, then, in order of how much demand there is for each job.
What skills and knowledge do you need to have to get the job(s) you want? Ask your high school guidance counsellor or an employment counsellor to help you figure out the tasks involved in those jobs and the skills and knowledge required to perform each of those tasks.
Your next step is to look at how you can develop the necessary skills and knowledge. Here are some ideas:
- Plan information interviews with people who work in that field, including employers.
- Consider what types of volunteer work could help you get relevant experience and skills.
- Read industry and trade magazines and other material.
- Look into courses and seminars through continuing education departments (at the school board, community college, and university), community centres, and private training schools.
Get more suggestions from counsellors, teachers, employers, neighbours, your friends, their parents, and your family.
How and where to look for job:
Talk to employers and former bosses. Talk to your friends, relatives, neighbours, everyone. Phone people and send letters. Knock on doors. This is called networking. |
- Talk to people. Employers, friends, relatives, neighbours, employment counsellors, everyone. This is no time to be shy. Tell them what kind of job you’re looking for, ask them to tell you if they hear of anything, and ask them to check with their friends too. Most people will help if they can, and nobody will get mad at you for asking. It makes sense to have twenty people looking instead of just one. Ask them if they’ve heard of any job openings in your community and the field you are interested in. This is called networking.
- Visit employment centres. Human Resource Centres and counselling centres help people with their job search. Use them. But remember that going to an employment centre is like going for a job interview. Look your best. For more information about these centres, call the Employment Ontario Hotline at 1-800-387-5656 or (416) 326-5656.
- Try the walk-in method. Even if there’s no job ad in the paper, choose companies you want to work for and visit them.
- Talk to former employers. If you’ve had jobs before, talk to your former employers. If they don’t have any openings, they might know of someone who does.
- Read the job ads. Make sure you check the “Help Wanted” ads in your newspaper every single day. A lot of ads ask for experience, but don’t get scared off too easily. If it’s a job you think you can do, go after it. If you can convince someone that you have the skills to handle the job, he or she might decide your positive attitude is more important than your lack of experience.
- Search the Intenet. If you have Internet access, search employment sites.
Map out a route each day:
How do you let a company know you’re available for work. One way is to apply in person. This is a direct way of marketing yourself.
Plan your day wisely, and you’ll save time and money. |
It’s a good idea to plan your time wisely by mapping out a route each day. For example, if you’re looking for a job in a record store, you can plan it so that you visit all the record stores in a certain area of your city or town in one day. That’ll save time and money.
Here’s a way to do that step by step:
- Go through the Yellow Pages of the telephone book and make a list of all the companies that might use someone with your skills. Companies are listed in the Yellow Pages according to what type of business they are. For example, if you’re looking for record stores, look through the “R” section until you come to “Records, CDs and Tapes”. All the record stores in your area will be listed in that part of the book. Also check the Internet.
- Depending on what kind of business you are interested in, there may be hundreds, so list 30 or 40 at a time.
- Write them down, with their addresses. Then use a map to separate the list into different areas of your city or town.
- Once you have a list by area, you can drive or take public transit to that area and then go to each place on foot.
- When you visit a company, ask if you can speak with the person responsible for hiring new staff. Explain who you are and what kind of work you’re looking for, and ask if you can fill out an application form.
Most employers will ask you to fill out an application form before they’ll give you an interview. The way you fill out an application form can mean a lot to an employer. If you don’t follow the instructions on the form, he or she will think you can’t follow instructions at work. If your completed form is sloppy, the employer may think you’ll be a messy worker. So be careful, and keep it neat.
Filling out these forms can be a little tricky because every form is a little different. But if you take your time, you’ll do just fine. Here are some things to remember:
- Be neat. If your form looks sloppy and hard to read, an employer won’t even bother to read it.
- Read each question twice before answering. Always make sure you know what is being asked.
- Print in capital letters. Try to keep all the letters the same size and keep them between the lines.
- Use a pen, never a pencil. If you make a mistake, cross it out neatly with a single stroke through each incorrect word.
- Once you’ve finished, read over all your answers to check your spelling and grammar. Ask someone else to read them over to check for mistakes that you may have missed.
- Don’t forget to sign the form.
- A lot of the information asked for on an application form can be found on your résumé, so keep it handy when going door to door and filling out application forms.
A résumé is a short description of who you are and what you’ve done – a kind of ad for yourself.
It’s really an important thing to have. A lot of employers keep résumés handy so that when a job opens up, they can just go through them and pick out people to interview for the job.
- There are two types of résumés:
Chronological: This type of résumé is the most commonly used. It lists your work experience in reverse chronological order, which means that your most recent experience is listed first. This résumé emphasizes your work experience.
Functional: This type of résumé lists your skills in order of importance with examples of work experience given for each skill. This résumé emphasizes your skills.
- Here’s a short list of words and phrases that might help describe what you’ve done:
Assemble: put parts together
Assist: help someone
File: put things in the right order
Handle: move goods or materials or look after money
Initiate: start something
Operate: run machinery
Organize: turn a plan into action
Plan: decide what should be done and how to do it
Prepare: get something ready
Sort: put things in a certain order - If you need help writing your résumé, visit a counselling centre or a school guidance office. Call the JobGrow Hotline for the location of the counselling centre nearest you.
- Your résumé must look neat, or nobody will bother to read it. To an employer, a sloppy résumé means a sloppy worker. Make sure your résumé is typed or done on a computer. Then make plenty of good quality copies.
- From now on, take copies of your résumé whenever you’re looking for work, and leave one behind at each place you go.
| Personal information: | Put down your name, address, and telephone number, just as in the samples. |
|---|---|
| Work experience (chronological résumé): | List all the jobs you’ve ever had, starting with the most recent. You can follow the style used on the previous page– date of employment, position, name of company and address. |
| Skills and experience (functional résumé): | If you are using a functional resume, list each of your skills with examples of work you have done when you’ve used those skills. |
| Employment (functional résumé): | List the date of employment, position, and name of company. |
| Education: | List the last year you went to school and what grade you completed, the name and address of the school, and any awards you received. |
| Extracurricular activities: | List all the teams, clubs, and other activities in which you have taken part. |
| Volunteer work: | List all the volunteer work you’ve done (for example, in a hospital or community centre, etc.), the name of the organization, and the type of work you did. |
| Licences: | If you have any licences (for example, a hairstylist’s licence or a driver’s licence), list them here. If you don’t have any, just leave this part out. |
| References: * | On a separate sheet of paper, list three people who would say good things about you if the employer phoned and asked. Don’t use relatives or friends. Teachers, school counsellors, and former employers make the best references. Put down their names, jobs, places of employment, and their phone numbers. But remember, if you’re going to use someone as a reference, ask that person first. |
If you hear of a job opening or read an ad in the newspaper, the best thing to do is phone for an interview right away. But some ads ask you to reply in writing. In that case, you should mail or drop off a cover letter and a copy of your résumé. The letter should say where you heard about the job, outline why you think you could do the job, and ask for an interview. Don’t forget to highlight your skills that match the qualifications of the job.
Make it neat |
Just like with your résumé and your application form, it’s important that your letter be neat. Unlike résumés, cover letters can’t simply be duplicated. Each job means a new letter.* Make sure the letter is typed or printed from a computer. After looking over the sample cover letter below, try a couple of your own and then have a teacher or employment counsellor look them over.
* Be sure to spell the employer’s name and address correctly. Also remember to include your name and telephone number in the letter.
| 23 Elm St. Ms. Natalie Rogers, Service Manager Dear Ms. Rogers, Please accept my application for the position of apprentice mechanic, advertised in the Anytown Sun. I have always enjoyed working on cars, and have often made car repairs for friends and relatives. I worked as a pump attendant at Al’s Auto Service on Main Street last summer. I gained a lot of experience there in minor car repairs and maintenance, which I think would be valuable to your company. I am enclosing my résumé, but would very much like to talk with you in person. I look forward to hearing from you. Yours truly, John Gomez Encl. |
Interview:
I know interviews can seem pretty intimidating. I used to hate going to them. But I found the more interviews I went to, the less intimidated I was. After a while, I was hardly scared at all. Just like everything else, there are rules to remember. Read this section, practise, and you’ll end up almost looking forward to interviews.
Make sure you look your best when going for an interview. First impressions are very important. |
Before you go to an interview, find out a little about the job you’re applying for. An employment counsellor, or someone you know who does the type of job you are applying for, should be able to help.
I’ve written out some of the questions that interviewers seem to ask a lot, so you can practise your answers. If you have any trouble, try writing your answers first. Then say them out loud. Don’t memorize, just say what you’ve written in your own way.
- Tell me about yourself.
- Have you had any experience in this type of work?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- What would you like to be doing five years from now?
- What do you do in your spare time?
- What subjects most interested you at school?
- Do you work well on your own?
- Do you mind working overtime or on weekends?
- What do you know about our company?
Things to bring:
- Two pens (ones that work!).
- Any papers or documents you might need, such as your social insurance card, driver’s licence, or school reports.
- Two copies of your résumé – one for the interviewer and one for yourself.
Rules:
- Look your best. This is really important. Like it or not, the way you present yourself will mean a lot to someone who’s thinking about hiring you.
