Dear Joanna,
I have graduated from Grade 11, and am starting my final year of high school soon. I have no idea what I want to do for work when I grow up. How do I find the right career path while I am in school so I can start focusing my education and experiences to achieve a good career fit?
Signed: No Clue What To Do (NCWTD)
When job seekers prepare to face employers in a final interview, the question always comes up about what they can say that would make the most impactful impression on the employer – what can they share that would make them stand out from others. By the time candidates reach the last stage of the job search process, they often have been screened for their hard skills and experience – employers usually don’t invite you to a final interview unless you have been pre-screened for those basic requirements that were listed in the original job posting. So what are employers hoping to learn about you in that final interview?
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Each year, JVS Toronto provides 20 students the opportunity to launch their own business. Through a partnership with Summer Company, Toronto-area high school and post-secondary students get up to $3,000 of provincial funding to develop their own business through workshops and one-on-one mentoring from experienced entrepreneurs.
We’ve featured posts about Summer Company’s entrepreneurship event at Staples and interviewed participants. Meet the rest of our Summer Company 2016 cohort and previous participants to find out what they learned about starting their own business.
Dear Joanna,
I worked as a marketing assistant for about a year and have evidence that I exceeded my targets each month. Suddenly, out of the blue, I was fired by my supervisor without any explanation or feedback. My termination paper stated that I had “poor performance”.
I’m shocked, upset and worried about what to say about this at the job interview, especially when I will be asked “what happened at my last job?”.
Signed: Fired and Fearful
Dear FF,
I am so sorry to hear this. For what it’s worth, almost everyone I know (including myself) have been fired, without any clue why until much after the fact. You’re in good company — including Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. [Read more…]
Dear Joanna,
Nothing is working with my job search. I’m not getting any interviews, my networking doesn’t lead to any jobs and needless to say, I’m stuck and feel like giving up. I’m doing everything in my powers to look for work including meeting the employment support staff, participating in the workshops and attending job fairs.
What is wrong with me?
Signed: Stuck in the Search (SS)
Dear SS,
One of the most painful experiences of being a job developer/job coach is working with job seekers who are seriously engaged in their job search but for whom none of the available employment support services seem to work. Consider reflecting on the excellent insights offered by blogger Louise Fletcher, where she presents advice on how most people “get the job search process all wrong” and make mistakes. You can explore her solutions on this site as well.
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JVS Toronto is accredited under Imagine Canada’s national Standards Program dedicated to operational excellence.