Students encouraged to plan post-graduation life through career counselling

November was recognized as global “career month,” with schools holding events to highlight the initiative.

At Algonquin College, Counselling Services helped students choose small, doable steps that will add up to a significant impact on putting them on the correct career path in the future.

Counselling Services encourages students to participate in their top career priority activity.

“What we hope to do is to raise awareness about steps that people can take to move towards their career, so to get people ideas and suggestions and then they can choose from a menu of options and then walk away with a plan,” said David Glickman, a career and academic counsellor.

According to statistics by the careers exploration website AllAboutCareers.com, 44 per cent of undergrads are unable to identify the industry they would like to work in after graduating.

“We want students to walk away with some ideas and action steps that they can take, because a lot of students wait until graduation to come up with a plan and so there’s a lot of things that you can do well before you graduate. But we understand the focus on studies and prioritizing finding a job or taking steps while in school but there’s a lot of steps that people can do,” said Glickman.

Peace Lyunade, a volunteer who was helping during a career month event, said students often don’t plan beyond their academic careers.

“It’s career month, and most students don’t really have an idea about what their going to do after graduation and most of the time everyone assumes they know what their going to do, but the thing is, you have to plan ahead and so this initiative is to just let them know where they are at right now and what steps to take and to speak to a career counsellor, it’s just to help know what they are going to do before graduating,” said Lyunade, a computer programming student.

One of Melissa Spears’ specialties is career counseling. Spears said career decision-making and planning are specific to each person. It’s not a one size that fits all.

“November is globally career month and so we are having lots of different activities celebrating just the importance of career development and finding purposeful and meaningful work in the future and so one of our events today is just identifying some quick career priorities some things students and others can do that can help with moving towards their future career,” said Spears, who is a counsellor.