Developing a Career Path

Which way to go?

Coming into first year you might have a lot of ideas about what you THINK you'll do when you graduate. As you move from one year to the next you might find that your vision of future career may shift a little. In my case my career path shifted A LOT and by the time I reached my final year I was in a completely different place than when I started.


People always say that university is the best time of your life, that this is the time that you learn about yourself and who you are, and when you develop into the person you'll be for the rest of your life.Coming out of high school you might be wondering... "How do I turn my interests into a job?" Today I'm going to talk a little bit about how you can use your time at university to help you develop a career path for yourself.

1. Get Involved

Develop your Career
Path!

 --It can be easy for students to fall into the commuter trap, that is only attending classes and then going straight home. Falling into this trap can make it difficult for you to find out where your interests lie and connecting with your fellow students. Join a club, student organization or college council can be a great way to connect with the York community and learn about where your strengths and interests lie. Being a part of clubs helped me to learn that I am really passionate about education, and health promotion.
This has translated into me learning that I want a career that allows me to help others and be an advocate for equal access to education and health services.

2. Use the Services

They're FREE
so USE THEM!

--Developing a Career Path can be daunting even for the most self confident among us. That's why I can't recommend the Career Centre strongly enough! For me personally I think they're one of the best
most under used service on campus!  The Career Centre can help you career counseling, resume building, interview skills and so much more...all FOR FREE!! I don't know about you but if something is free I'm that much more interested in using it, and when it's a service that helps me get ready for the 'real world'  I'm even more interested in using it. I'm not going to lie to you, it can be difficult trying to figure out what you want to do with your life, but you're not alone there are people that are here to help you!



3. Put yourself out there!

Go out on a limb and
see what happens!

-- This might be the most important tip I have to give you!! It's easy to keep to yourself, it's easy to stick to a routine you're comfortable with and it is easy to never challenge yourself, but if you want to get the most you possibly can out of your life then you have to put yourself out there and try new things. I'm not saying that you have go sky diving or run with the bulls, what I'm saying is be willing to try things that you have never done before. Try going to Frosh week, try joining a club, try taking up a new sport,
try something that pushes you outside of your comfort zone. You might find that you learn about about yourself, develop some new skills and make some amazing friends and life long memories! Who knows you might do something that leds you to a job, or a new path for your life!

Figuring out what you want to do with your life is not an easy decision, it requires a lot of thought, soul searching and in some cases a little help from your friends. I hope that this will inspire you to try a lot of different things during your time here at York so you can begin to figure out what you want to do with your life after university!

Good Luck and as always, remember to take it one day at a time and catch me in the Zone!

Nicole

Wanna get ACTIVE this New Year? I've got the scoop!!

This month an on going theme for my blog is self-improvement! So far I've talked about setting realistic goals and some free workshops you can use to improve yourself as a student.

Now that I've discussed how to get your mind in shape, I'm going to talk a little about how to get your body in shape in the new year!

Every New Year people seem to become really conscious about their health. Everyone seems to RUN out and buy a gym membership, use it for a few weeks but by the time March rolls around the gym trips have ended and all of a sudden health isn't on your mind.

I'm here to tell you that you CAN stick to your health goals without having to buy expensive gym memberships, and without losing motivation a few weeks later. A lot of times people lose momentum with their health related goals because they are trying to achieve these goals alone. When you have no one to be accountable to it is very easy to give up on goals.

How can we avoid this?? Well I would recommend getting involved with health related clubs and programs on campus. They provide you with a safe place to get active and community of people to keep you motivated and on track (pun TOTALLY intended!) with your goals.

So, WHAT can you do on-campus to get active?!?

1. Check out Tait McKensize Gym.
--I know what I just said about getting gym memberships, BUTTT in this case the Tait McKensize gym  is only $15 for a full calendar year! That's a GREAT deal for students!! Also at the gym you have access to all the field houses, the courts and pool. Plus there are tons of classes you can take (for an extra fee) if you have a particular interest. Check out their website for more info here.

2. Running Relief - Toronto Track and Field Centre
--I've talked about Running Relief in past blog posts like this one . So feel free to read that post for more information. The reason I bring it up here is that, this program provides runners with a community, a group of people that will support them as they attempt to achieve their health goals. Best part of this program?? IT'S COMPLETELY FREE!!! So you really have NOTHING to lose and EVERYTHING to gain!!

3. Intramurals
--A lot of times people forget that playing games can be a form of exercise, in some ways games are the best form of exercise because you don't even realize that you're working out! Each college runs intramurals for their students, check out some basic info about Intramurals here. Wanna get involved? Contact the athletics rep on your college council to sign up. They are a GREAT way to meet new people, make friends and get active!

4. The Active Living Challenge
--This is a great opportunity to get started with your health goals and stay motivated. Check out the latest episode of RED Zone TV to find out more about the Active Living Challenge.

I don't know about you but I LOVE prizes and so sticking to my health goals and getting rewarded for it seems like a win-win to me!

Hopefully you'll find a way to get active in this New Year. I wish you all the very best with your goals whatever they may be. Let me know if you decide to try anything I mentioned here, by commenting in the comments section below!

Until next time, remember, take it one day at a time and catch me in the Zone!

Nicole

Change is hard BUT FREE workshops help!!

This month an on going theme for my blog is self-improvement! Last week I talked about setting realistic goals, this week I'm going to talk about a few tools that you can use to improve yourself as a student.

I know that change can be hard, you might think that you've come too far as a student and it'll be too difficult to learn new ways to study...but I'm here to tell you that as students we can never learn enough about how to be a good student!

You're NOT an old dog...you CAN learn new tricks and York is here to help with TONS of workshops designed to help you become a better student! Best part...they're all FREE!!

The Basics:

-There are 3 places on campus that students can go to year round to get help...and you've probably seen me mention them before on this blog!
1. Counselling and Disability Services
2. The Writing Centre
3. The Career Centre



What you need to know:

CDS: Offers 8 yes count 'em 8 FREE workshops that you can attend coving topics like:
--Academic Anxiety, Academic Writing, Critical Thinking, Exam Prep for University Tests and Exams and Reading and Note-taking at University. Check out these and other workshops here.

The Writing Centre: Offers a number of group style workshops that you can attend that cover topics such as:
-- How to read academic writing, How to develop a thesis statement, and Effective editing. In total The Writing Centre offers 9 different workshops to help you feel more comfortable and confident with writing for university. See what The Writing Centre offers here.

The Career Centre: While the CC doesn't offer workshops specifically designed to help with writing they do offer a numer of workshops that can help you with your future planning, whether that be your future career plans, further study or just finding your next summer job. Check out their workshops on topics like:
-- Cover Letter and Resume Writing, Interview skills workshop, Selecting a graduate degree and How to find a summer job. The Career Centre has an online calendar with the full list of all their workshops that you can check out here.

As a proud York Veteran I'm happy to say that I've attended several of the workshops that I listed here, and honestly I've found them to be very helpful and would recommend them to you all. If you have a chance to check out any of the workshops, let me know how you found them in the comments section below!

As always... remember to take it one day at a time and catch me in the Zone!

Nicole