Using Your Puzzle
So now that you have your Passion Puzzle™ complete here are a few ways you can put the puzzle to use.
Using your Puzzle to gain more clarity on what career is best for you:
- Analyze your puzzle and come up with career titles and career descriptions that could be a good fit for you. Click here for a list of popular job titles. Be sure to write these in your Career Discovery List.
- Ask other people—friends and family—to take a look at your puzzle and come up with some ideas. Other people will see you things you won't, and they will likely come up with ideas that escaped you.
- Ask an expert. Take your puzzle to a career counsellor or career practitioner and get their insights about what career may be a good match for you. It is their job to piece together values, interests, skill and ambitions of other people into career ideas and they are excellent at it.
After you have a few career ideas in your Career Discovery List, the next step is to test the waters. The following are three things you can do to really determine if a career is truly the perfect fit.
1. Informational Interviews
This is the process of setting up an interview with someone in the industry to ask them specific questions related to their career. This can be an exceptional way to learn more about a given career and build contacts in the industry. If this sounds like something you would be interested then download the free report on How to use Informational Interviews to Land your Dream Job (PDF - 112 KB).
2. Job Shadowing
Job shadowing is a great way to get a hands on feel for the atmosphere of a specific job. Half a day shadowing and learning from someone in a career you are interested in will tell you whether or not you would have passion for that work. Do you know someone at a company that has your dream job? Get in touch and see if you can set up a job shadowing.
3. Internships and Co-op Placements
There is no better way to get a taste of a career than by working in that career. Internships and co-op placements are low risk practice runs for a career you are interested in. Lasting at most a few months, an internship or co-op is a great way to learn tons about a career and meet numerous people in the industry. Every student should do at least two internships or co-ops to gain experience and clarity on what career is best for them.
One more thing you can do with your puzzle…
Keep a printed version in a handy location. When you're job hunting, compare the job descriptions to your Passion Puzzle™ as a way of determining whether the job will be a good fit for you and give you passion. If it's not, then save your time and effort and don't bother applying. This is a great way to ensure you do not end up in just any job.