Now that I’m half way done high school it’s time to start thinking about my future after I leave high school. This can be very tricky for some people (especially me) because they don’t know what kind of job they might be interested in. Also because technology is creating new jobs everyday I could end up in a job that doesn’t exist yet.
Even though I will never know where my career will take me it important to get a broad idea so I can move forwards.
In my planning class our final project was to do a job shadow.
By the end of this project the main goal is to be able to answer: How will my career and education path consider both internal and external factors to plan, evaluate, and adapt to changing opportunities?
This project had 4 steps
- Brainstorm and create a call list
- Create interview questions
- Send a thank you letter
- Make a Learning Portfolio post
Brainstorming and Call List
Fof my brainstorm I decided to create a mind map of jobs I might be interested in. Something that help me figure out what specific jobs I might I fit well with in terms of skills and personality was MyBlueprint.
Next I created a call list for the jobs I was most interested in.
Call list:
Local Publishing and editing Company Greystone Books
Blair’s my moms friend who works for CTV
Vanleena dance academy or Seymour dance academy
I decided to call the publishing company Greystone books and I was able to get an interview with the publisher and owner Rob Sanders on March 30, 2018
Interview Questions
I thought of around 10 questions that I was interested in.
My questions:
1. What does it mean to be successful in this occupation?
2. What travel opportunities have you been given?
3. What kind of quality do you need to have? Personal/acdemic
4. What is the difference of the reality between the expectations of your type of job?
5. How fulfilling do you find your job?
6. How did you decide you wanted to do this?
7. What has been your biggest surprise ?
8. What have you struggled with. How have you overcome ?
9. What is it like to run your own company ?
10. What would have you have liked to know?
the next thing I did was go on the job shadow!
I definetly learned more than I expected on this job shadow. Not only did I learn what it is like to be an editor I also learned about being a publisher, company owner, and journalist.
I wrote down some notes answering the questions I asked during the interview:
Something that I found really interesting is that for this type of job a high level of education isn’t what matters, the passion for literature is what will get you far. There really is no restrictions on how you want to get an education for this type of job. I also learned that it’s very important to work well with people because most of your job is worker and giving feedback to the writer. To be a successful editor, publisher, or company owner you have to have a creative and positive mindset. Having this mindset will make you much more successful. Finally I learned that a job in the publishing industry is what you make of it.
Thank You letter
Lastly I thanked Rob Sanders for me the experience to learn from a publicist and company owner.
To be apart of the publishing industry my career path will consider if I stay passionate about what I’m doing, and if my education has allowed me to develope the right skills. It also will consider where I live, what companies are in my area, and what type of job are they looking for. My education path will consider how confident I am with writing, reading, and editing literature. It will also consider what programs and courses are available to me, and if I am financial stable.
All of this effects how I plan out my future. For example, I will have to plan on living somewhere that is popular with writers so that it will be likely that there are lots of publishing companies around. I will also have to evaluate what is the best option for me in terms of education. Finally I will adapt to changing opportunities by getting experience in editing, journalism, publishing, and any new job that comes my way.