Career Counselling and Resources

Many students have difficulty answering questions such as “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and “What are you going to do with your degree?” The process of getting to know oneself and making satisfying career decisions can involve a lot of exploration and uncertainty.

At Counselling Services, we recognize that the level of satisfaction you feel about your career and life direction affects your identity, sense of meaning and purpose, self-esteem and relationships. Career counselling and appropriate resources can help you begin to make sense of confusion and take steps towards rewarding educational and work experiences.

Be sure to check out our upcoming events!

We offer the following career-related services and resources:

Individual Career Counselling

Individual career counselling can help you explore questions such as:

• What do I like? What am I good at?


• What is meaningful to me? What do I want out of life?


• How do I find out about the opportunities I want?


• How does my major fit into the picture?

Career counselling can also help you cope with stress and anxiety related to career decision-making, identify next steps in your career development and learn about useful resources. Your counsellor will help you clarify your questions and priorities, and may refer you to other services as needed. For instance, Career Services can help you with work search, while Academic Advising is your best bet for course planning.

Career Exploration Group

Are you uncertain about your major or career path? Do you wonder about career possibilities that might be a good fit?

In this six/seven-sesssion (each session 1.5 - 2.0 hours) group, you will explore how your personality, strengths, values and interests relate to your choice of major and career options. Through individual exercises, group activities and career assessment tests (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and/or Strong Interest Inventory®), you will deepen your self-awareness and begin to identify options and next steps in your career development. Information and resources will also be introduced.

There is a $20 testing fee for each test.

Graduate Student Career Exploration Group

Are you wondering how your graduate education can best contribute to your career development?  Do you know what content specific and transferable skills you want to utilize in your next job setting?  How about connecting your values, skills and lifestyle prefernce to yor career trajectory?

This seven-session group is focused on graduate professional development.   It will help you define your core motivators, explore research and networking, and help you move toward the rewarding career you want.

Through individual exercises, group activities and career assessment tests (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and/or Strong Interest Inventory®), you will deepen your self-awareness and begin to identify options and next steps in your career development. Information and resources will also be introduced.

There is a $20 testing fee for each test.

Career Assessment Tests

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® and Strong Interest Inventory® are assessment tests that provide you with feedback about your personality preferences and interests and how they relate to career decision-making and development. Each questionnaire is completed on-line and is followed by an interpretation session to discuss the results with a career counsellor. Cost is $20 per test.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®

The MBTI is a self-report questionnaire used internationally to help people understand their personality preferences, strengths and potential growth areas. The MBTI describes normal, healthy differences that exist between people and is a valuable tool for understanding both yourself and others.

The MBTI has implications for career exploration and decision-making. Your results will suggest work environments that may be most satisfying for you, and can help you articulate the unique contributions that you bring to your relationships and work settings.

Strong Interest Inventory®

The SII identifies your major areas of interest through 291 questions about your likes and dislikes. Categories explored include occupational fields, work tasks, school subjects and leisure activities. Your individual pattern of interests is then compared with those of people in over 100 occupational fields who enjoy their work. Having similar interests to people who are successful and happy in their work is one predictor of a potentially good fit.

The SII will not make your career decisions for you. However, if you are uncertain about your major or your future career goals, the SII is a useful way to explore occupational areas that may be satisfying. It is also a good source of ideas and information for planning your education and co-curricular activities.

“It’s a MAJOR decision” Workshop

In this workshop, you will explore what major(s) best suit your interests and learn how those majors relate to the world of work. You will also discover how to make the best use of the advising centres for help with educational planning.

The workshop is co-facilitated by representatives from Counselling Services, Career Services, and the Advising Centre for Humanities, Science and Social Science.

Career Resource Centre

The Career Resource Centre at Counselling Services includes a computer for research use, reference materials and a small lending library. Most directories of university programs are now online and Counselling Services does not receive many hard copies.  Library book topics include:

• Self-awareness


• Occupational information


• "What can I do with a degree in. . .?"

For a further selection, including labour market information, business directories and job search resources, visit the CIBC Career Resource Library at Career Services in the Campus Services Building.

Internet Links

The Internet contains a wealth of information about occupations, education and career development. Trying to sort through the vast array of websites can be overwhelming! Here are a few key sites to get you started.

Self-awareness

Career Development eManual

Career development manual from the University of Waterloo takes you through major steps in career decision-making and development

http://emanual.uwaterloo.ca/register/demo.aspx

Occupational exploration

Career Cruising:

An interactive Canadian career exploration site containing information about various occupations and educational programs, including interviews with people working in each of the occupations listed

Username: uvic
Password: careers

www.careercruising.com

Job Futures:

Federal government career and education planning tool, including profiles and outlooks for 265 occupations.

http://www.workingincanada.gc.ca/

Educational exploration

Canada

Directory of Canadian Universities

Directory of Canadian universities and university-level colleges, published and maintained by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada

http://oraweb.aucc.ca/showdcu.html

Canadian Universities.net

A guide to Canadian universities, colleges and career colleges

http://www.canadian-universities.net/

United States

Peterson’s Undergraduate college and university search and selection tool

http://www.petersons.com/

Peterson’s Graduate programs (Canada, US and select international)

http://www.petersons.com/

International

Braintrack

An up-to-date directory and links to universities, polytechnics, colleges and other higher educational institutions from 194 countries.

http://www.braintrack.com

Yahoo Education Directory Directory and links to colleges and universities around the world.

http://dir.yahoo.com/Education/Higher_Education/Colleges_and_Universities/By_Region/Countries

Google's University Search

http://www.google.com/options/universities.html

Last updated: March 2012