Pick a Career You Will Love

I bumped into a student on the bus today and she asked me what it was like to work - why people always say that going to school is more fun than working. I explained to her that, in school, you learn many different subjects and topics each day. Every day is fresh and exciting because there are new concepts, new ideas, and often very different ideas. At work, however, you are learning the equivalent of one subject every day for 8 hours each day. You might get very good at that subject and become a specialist in it, but it is the same thing every day. She didn't like the sound of that. I think everyone likes variety.

It's funny how students work so hard to get to the working life, only to become embittered over time by the monotony of their career.

What can be done? Here are some ideas:
_________________________________________________________________

1. Choose a job where you'll do something you wouldn't mind doing every day, 8 hours a day. If you really, really like the subject that you're working on, it won't be so bad.

2. Take breaks. Sometimes working folk forget to take breaks. They work, work, work, work, work, and then burn out. If they took more regular breaks, they wouldn't be fried by the end of the day.

3. Make friends at work. It's fun to have people to share experiences with and to vent with in case of a bad day. You're going to spend most of 5 days a week with your co-workers, make sure they're people that you like working with.

4. Try out new opportunities. Maybe you're thinking about a change in career, or there's something you've always wanted to try out? Go ahead and taste test these opportunities. Take baby steps by taking a part-time course, doing some freelance work, attending some related groups or workshops, or taking on a volunteer opportunity. Sometimes, the little changes are enough to make working life more enjoyable.

5. Worst case scenario, get a new job. Sometimes you'll really hate your job and nothing about it will make you happy. It's okay to get a new job. Most of the students in our generation will end up changing their careers sometime in their life. If things really aren't working out for you, get out and start fresh. Don't force yourself to stay in a situation that might make you ill overtime because it's stressing you out so much.
_________________________________________________________________

So there's my two-bit on working life and how to make things better for yourself.
Cheers!

Student Resources for Life

I spent all weekend searching for useful links for the Student Resources section of Mytutorlist. It's a lot of work! Hopefully, all my searching was not futile, and the resources now listed will be useful to the students that frequent Mytutorlist.

Having gone through the struggle of being a student and having somewhat broken free of the never-ending search for the perfect career, I know how hard it can be to be a student looking forward into the unknown of post-secondary school and job-searching. The stress is unbelievable, and there is so much pressure to succeed and to live up to the expectations of your family and friends. You constantly wonder if you'll ever be done of exams, and you can't wait to figure out what to do with your life so that you can move on and get out of school.

But, fear not, the future arrives so much quicker than you expect and, in the blink of an eye, you'll be working in a chosen career and looking backwards wondering why you didn't "do more" while you were in school and "having fun".

So, dear Students, listen to your wisdom-aged parents and those well-meaning elderly folks, take your schooling seriously and make the most of it. What does that that mean? Well, it means studying hard so that you stay caught up in class and rock the exams, but it also means enjoying the experiences that post-secondary life offers you. Go ahead and join some clubs, talk to people on campus and make new friends, volunteer and learn new things, and take advantage of your student discounts! (You will sorely miss those student discounts later...) If your school has a co-op program, take it. Co-op offers you a chance to try out real careers so that you can see if it's the right (or wrong) one for you. It also gives you a chance to work for companies that might otherwise be difficult to get in to, and you'll have the opportunity to meet people inside those companies that could help you land your career job after graduation. A lot of students bemoan the time that they'll waste by taking co-op, but the valuable experiences and opportunities you gain from co-op are well-worth the time.

I hope that the resources I have listed on Mytutorlist.com will be valuable to you. If there are any resources that you would like to see listed that are not currently available, please let us know.

Cheers,
Marie