By Erin McLaren, Outreach & Promotions Coordinator, Employment Services
When asking what kind of work they are looking for, I often hear from job seekers that they are “open to anything”. While it is understandable that a sense of urgency when job searching may lead to hope for any job opportunity at all, it is important to have a clear job goal.
Especially when speaking with professional contacts or employers, there are clearer and stronger ways to frame your job search goals! Let’s talk about how.
Sector, Industry, Occupation
When classifying your job search, think about the Sector, Industry, or Occupation that interests you or that you have experience in. A Sector describes a set of businesses/organizations that make up a certain part of the economy. An industry is a smaller subset of businesses/organizations in a sector that do similar work. For example, within the Food Services Sector you can find many Industries from Fine Dining to Fast Food.
You can read more about these terms here: Industry vs. Sector (With Differences and Definitions) | Indeed.com Canada
Identifying 2-3 starting places will help guide your job search and make it easier to communicate your goal. Say you are a nurse who has worked in long-term care before. You could start from that occupation and explore different industries besides long-term care within the healthcare sector, like family medicine or hospitals. Or perhaps you want to stay in long-term care but explore different occupations than nursing.
Remember, don’t get too narrow too fast! We want to stay open to new possibilities.
Job Qualities
Another way to describe the work you’re looking for is by sharing the qualities of work that suit you. Your brainstorming can start from qualities you dislike, as previous experiences may also lead to preferences or boundaries on what work we will accept (ex. “I won’t work outside all day”), but try and land on qualities you would prefer instead (ex. “I would prefer working entirely or mostly indoors.”)
Reflect on some of the options below and add more specifics if you need.
- Hours: Full-time, Part-time, Casual
- Duration: Seasonal, Contract, or Permanent
- Indoors vs Outdoors, or a combination
- More or less Customer Service
I hope these tips can help you move beyond the dreaded “I’m open to anything” and towards confidently presenting your job search goals. If you want help honing in on your job goal, our Employment Services team is here to support you.
Contact us today!