All posts by ces

Journal: Pride Story

Pride Story:

Select an experience from your past that gave you a feeling of pride. Describe that experience in as much detail as possible. Starting at the beginning, tell your story in such a way that a total stranger would understand everything that happened. Be descriptive – use as much detail as you can recall to explain, step-by-step, exactly what you did and how you felt at each step. If you ran into barriers, describe how you got around them. It will probably take you one to two pages to describe your experience in enough detail. Your goal is to relate, from start to finish, exactly what you did, how you felt, and what the result was. When you have finished your story and checked it for accuracy and clarity, add a final section that starts “I am proud of this experience because …”

Journal: Dream Job Cover Letter

Cover Letter for a Dream Job:

Write a cover letter as if you are applying for your dream job. Detail what makes the position attractive to you and why you feel you would make the best candidate for the job. Pretend that you have all of the education and skills that would be required for the position. Remember that your letter should be around 250 words.

If you are unsure what the requirements would be for your dream job, you may need to do some research. Go to the company website for specific information, explore job ads, look for general occupational descriptions on the ALIS website (www.alis.gov.ab.ca) or talk to experts in the field, for example.

Don’t know how to write a cover letter properly? Visit the Counselling and Career Services Centre (AH154) to pick up the “Job Seeker’s Handbook” or check out these resources online.   

 

Journal: Best Possible Self

“Best Possible Self Diary”

“I never know what I think about something until I’ve read what I have written on it.”

  • William Faulkener

 

Sit in a quiet place and take 20-30 minutes to think about what you expect your life to be 5, 10 or 15 years from now. Visualize a future for yourself in which everything has turned out exactly the way you’ve wanted. You have tried your best, worked hard and achieved all of your goals. Now write down what you have imagined.

Create a Personal Mission Statement

Mission Statements

Writing a personal mission statement is the central task of good career development. When done well, a personal mission statement clearly articulates who you are, what you will do and why you will do it. Essentially it defines your career direction and becomes your compass for decision-making.  Heart-felt mission statements also often significantly increase students’ focus, intentionality and motivation.

The best personal mission statements are crafted by students who have spent at least some time considering their strengths, values, pride stories, deep interests, life dreams, sources of energy, personal heroes, as well as beliefs. (There are many journal assignments, assessment tools and other exercises linked here on our blog that can support students interested in this type of introspection.) Often careful reflection on these areas can reveal common threads that can be creatively wound into a powerful statement of purpose and passion.

Personal mission statements are unique. There are no strict rules. However, some students find a formula to be helpful:

The distinctive skills and/ or perspective you want to offer + The people you would like to serve + The expected outcome

Here are some examples:

I will use my passion and expertise in technology to inspire researchers to create drugs to cure rare diseases.

 

I want to use my knowledge to create my own entrepreneurial ideas and support other people’s great ideas to create more good in the world.  

 

I want to use specialized helping skills, to create the space for people to solve their own problems.

 

I want to plan and execute opportunities and experiences for at-risk and vulnerable youth to gain skills and knowledge they can carry throughout their lives.

 

When you are finished drafting your mission statement, read it out loud. Do it. You will know that you have a good statement when reading it puts a smile on your face and you feel a sense of excitement. If you don’t get it right the first time, keep editing until your words resonate. You might find that you need to do more introspection, or even get some help from a career counsellor or trusted friend. If you are going to use this statement to guide your decision making, you want to be sure it’s great!

While your aim should be to capture who you are and what you want now, don’t expect that your mission statement will carry you on into mid-life or even next year. Your mission statement should be fluid. It will change as you explore and learn more about yourself and the work world. Commit to your mission statement now, but know that increased clarity will come with action.

Once you have a personal mission statement, an occupational direction will likely emerge. Keep your career development going by taking some action. Your next step may be to start researching occupations that will allow you to do the kind of work you can feel passionate about. Or it may be time for you to start collecting the experiences you need to refine your mission statement further. Either way, hang your mission statement up in a prominent place. Refer back to it regularly for inspiration, validation and focus.

Contact Us

To talk to someone about the services CES provides, or to book an appointment, please contact us:

Phone: 403.329.2187

Students, Email us at : ces.students@uleth.ca
Graduates, Email us at: ces.graduates@uleth.ca
Employers, Email us at: jobs@uleth.ca

Check out our main page at: www.uleth.ca/ross/ces

 

What’s Your Biggest Regret?

A chalkboard stood in the middle of New York City asking passersby to write down their biggest regrets. As the board filled up, we noticed that all of these responses had one alarming thing in common.

Credits: Video produced by  A Plus
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