David's Story: Down but Looking
Up
One week later, after David had attended a workshop for downsized employees
that introduced some of the concepts of the changing labour market...
David: In some ways I should have seen it coming - the signs were
around me. I just didn't want to pay attention. I guess I've been thinking
very traditionally - never considered "non-standard" work.
I never even heard the term.
What I think I need to know is how to manoeuver me and my skills
into an area that's growing, not downsizing across the board - and yet
that's the only area I know. I hear there are so many jobs for people
in the computer industry and wonder whether I should try and train in
that. Will the jobs still be there when I am finished training and looking
for work? I may need to learn some new skills - and I could do that,
if I can figure out what skills I need, or even what industry I want
to work in.
David was at a loss as to where to begin. During the ensuing discussion
with Charlotte it became clear that, like many, David had stumbled into
his previous work, not really chosen it. He didn't know how to focus
on what kinds of work would suit his unique attributes and preferred
work environment. He needed to expand his options without becoming overwhelmed
by too many irrelevant choices.
David took the opportunity with Charlotte to really look at, for the
first time, his interests and natural strengths. Together they identified
a strong motivation in his life. He had a major concern with safety:
in the work environment, at home, and in the little league baseball
and tykes hockey that he coached.
Now David needed to learn how to research and find occupations that
supported his interest and his natural ability to elicit co-operation
from those he dealt with and plan and physically implement his safety
ideas. He needed to understand a little bit about forecasting and how
to look for industries that were growing. Charlotte suggested he go
to the HRDC labour market Web site http://www.labourmarketinformation.ca/
standard.asp?pcode=lmiv_main&lcode=e and choose labour market information and then megasites to get to his
provincial LMI site for information on industries. Then go to the Strategis
Web site http://strategis.ic.gc.ca
for a more global view under business information by sector. A really
critical strategy that would help him develop a career picture rather
than a one-time job would be learning to identify occupational paths
or matrices - in other words, mobility in the field he chose to pursue.
Chapter 3 speaks to the LMI component of the challenge that David (and
others) face in trying to sort through the thousands of occupations
and industries out there by explaining the classification systems that
have been developed. This chapter also speaks to David's need to understand
forecasting - will there be job openings - and it presents information
and strategies for moving from one occupation to another and from one
industry to another. David's research would be manageable because it
would be restricted to only those options that match his identified
interests and strengths.
|
