Activity 3: A Job Search Database
One of the reasons many students pursue higher education is to prepare themselves for a career or a change in careers. Finding a job with the "right" company, in the location you want involves a lot of preparation, searching, and learning how to interview. Creating a database of companies or organizations that interest you would be a useful project to begin now and continue to develop as you further your studies. This database, along with your continual reflection on your interests, abilities, experiences, and values will help you as you work toward your career goals and decide on your major, part-time or summer work, and elective courses.
Build yourself a job search database. Think about what kind of records you want to construct in order to build and maintain a database of job possibilities. What fields should be included in those records? Depending on how experienced you are with computers and software, you could build your database using database software (like Microsoft Access) or a spreadsheet.
If you aren't comfortable with computers, or you don't have access to a database program, build your database on index cards. Then compare your database with a classmate's or friend's.
- Are they similar?
- What kinds of records have you chosen? What kinds of fields have you chosen?
- What have other students chosen?
- Make revisions to your database. It will be useful to you, especially when you are working with career services personnel on your campus.
