Free Career and Job Search Advice

member456 · Newbie Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 4 Career Advice: +0/-0

Hi. So I am 22 and in my last year of undergrad in Canada. I will be finishing with a Bachelors in Commerce, with a concentration in Information Systems.

First of all, I am wondering what kind of jobs I can get. Online searches have often given me no results, or on the off chance I did find information, it was usually a job title that gave no information.

My second issue is that I have absolutely no work experience what so ever. I have not worked in the field at all. I understand that this could easily hinder my chances at getting jobs, but by how much?

I am not originally Canadian and come from a very different culture, so most of the people I meet in classes have had jobs or presently work and it scares the hell out of me. Being in my last year, the best solution would ideally be to look for a job, but my courses are very demanding and I cannot find the time to do so. I have no idea how others do it.

I also have a green card for the States and I'm keeping my options open to look for jobs over there as well.

To summarize
-What kind of jobs will a BCom with IS concentration get me? At what estimate starting salary?
-I have no prior work experience. How much will that hinder my chances, and what can I do about it?

To anyone who replies, I truly do appreciate it. Been reading through some of the other threads and there is a lot of info here. So, I'll keep at it.

member456 · Newbie Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 4 Career Advice: +0/-0

Anyone?

stormbind · Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:43 am Post subject:

Aim for graduate programmes! They are intended for people such as yourself and will connect to challenging careers with companies such as banks, or fast track promotion in organisations such as government.

The actual degree is not very important because recruitment is normally based on tough assessments. You are lucky to be young and qualifying Smile

member456 · Newbie Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 4 Career Advice: +0/-0

Can you clarify what graduate programs are? I appreciate the help. Thank you.

stormbind · Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 5:46 pm Post subject:

Each of the biggest entities will have a dedicated graduate recruitment process, and you can find these on the web. Some will even provide mock exams so you can bring yourself up to speed in advance of the selection procedure.

For example, Google the name of your favourite bank, adding graduate + recruitment to the query. I will be shocked if you do not discover their front door to employment! Smile

Finding them is one thing, being accepted is another matter. Its a good idea to try because those employers know exactly what to expect from a young graduate. For example, they have already designed a programme that will provide the necessary training and support alongside daily work experience.

Pauloz · Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:06 pm Post subject:

member456

Sorry about the delay in reply. Your best shot for work experience in an internship. This is a page we did on internships: http://www.cvtips.com/career/introduction_what_is_an_internship.html

There are more articles coming later on specific internships.

I think you'll find that emphasis on IS very useful in some areas of commerce, particularly banking and markets.

You'll note from the article that one of the major issues is finding the right internship. Make sure you have a meaningful view of where an internship can take you, because although they can jump start your career, they head in specific directions.

member456 · Newbie Joined: 18 Oct 2009 Posts: 4 Career Advice: +0/-0

Appreciate the reply. Thanks for the information. I'll do some more reading into this.

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