Originally written by Juliana de Souza at the UBC Career Centre.
Who you are matters – especially as it relates to your career. In fact, the things you have done, the places you have gone, your family, friends, and community all matter.
Knowing what’s important to you is central to your career journey. To develop career ideas and explore next steps, you need to better understand your interests, values, strengths, and skills and how they relate to meaningful work and the life you want to lead.
Where should I begin?
Begin with you! You know yourself best, but it’s a good idea to pause once in a while and take stock of how you’ve changed, grown, or stayed the course. New information and a deepened sense of self-awareness can help you clarify your goals and more effectively navigate your career. Over the past term, the classes you took, the extra-curricular activities you engaged in, and the people you met exposed you to new ideas that may have strengthened or changed your values and curiosities.
Try to answer these questions:
- What am I curious about?
- What do I already know I’m interested in?
- What experiences have I had and what did I learn about myself from them?
Reflect on the past term
Self-awareness is an important part of career development because it forces you to look at yourself objectively and make adjustments. Examining your strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments, and failures from the past term can help you to move forward with reenergized goals, fresh career objectives, and improved strategies.
Looking back on this semester, ask yourself:
- What are my strengths? Uncover your gifts and learn how to describe your talents.
- What new skills did I learn? Where else could I apply these?
- What mindset shifted or changed as a result of my experiences?
- What values have informed my decisions? Values can be both chosen and inherited, and can have great influence on your career exploration.
- Where do I have room to grow?
Seek opportunities with intention
Many students will spend hours looking at job postings online hoping to find the perfect match. While there is nothing wrong with browsing for jobs, reflecting on who you are first may give you clarity so you can explore with intention and refine your search. For instance, if you have noticed that you are at your best when working in groups exchanging ideas with your classmates, collaboration may rank high on your list of values. Identifying careers that allow you to collaborate with others will increase your chances of finding a fulfilling job.
Check out the following resources to explore the world of work in relation to what matters to you:
- Career Cruising – Sign into UBC’s CareersOnline, then under “Recommended Links” (on the right side) select “Career Cruising: Discover more career choices” to get access. Find new ideas about how to connect your interests with different career paths under the “Assessments” tab.
- O*Net Online – Search for occupations based on your values and areas of interest.
- Industry profiles – Get new job ideas by learning how other professionals have combined multiple interests in their careers on Roadtrip Nation.
- Alumni, your professors, and fellow classmates can also help you dig deeper into your self-awareness quest. Their stories can empower you to make your own choices.
Hear from an Arts alum
Emily Cheung, a 2017 Arts grad and Political Science major, participated on an alumni panel describing how exploration and self-awareness can help one design their career. Emily, a Production & Digital Marketing Coordinator with Nintendo Canada, learned the importance of creativity while at UBC. Listen to Emily’s story.
Stay excited about your career
As a student, you are living a busy life, and sometimes it is easy to let go of moments that could teach you more about yourself. As the end of first term approaches, find time to reflect on your experiences and think about the experiences you would like to have next semester.
Explore tips for staying excited about your career and attend the next Arts Career Conversations in January, titled The Art of Tech.
Understanding yourself and the person you are becoming is essential to building your career and moving in a direction that feels right for you. Self-awareness will not only help you to identify areas of interest in your career exploration, it will also put you in an advantageous position to present your strengths to prospective employers confidently. At the end of the day, you are the expert of your own life, so cultivating self-awareness will help you align your behaviour with your values leading to a greater sense of clarity, purpose, and success.
Have questions or want to have a career conversation? Sign up for an appointment with Arts Career Strategist Robyn Stalkie through CareersOnline by clicking the “Advising” tab at the top.
