When moving forward in your career journey,you should be taking full advantage of the technology available to help you. Apps, books and movies can influence the way you make career decisions, how you manage the stress of a job hunt, and how you learn about a professional environment first hand. Here’s some technology hacks that can set you up on a positive career path.
Apps
(free to download)
Pathsource
- Offers job hunting services and career exploration activities
- Students can expand their knowledge, build resumes or even search for jobs and internships
- Provides small activities and quizzes that determine professional skills
- Hunts down job opportunities for you and sends them your way
MountHired
- MSMU’s job hunting app
- Invites students and alumni to interact and network with employer connections
- Employers post job positions for Mount students and alumni to apply to through the app
Pocket Mentor
- Offers online professional and personal life coaching
- Complete a survey to find a mentor specific to your lifestyle
- Sends a daily actionable piece of advice relating to your schedule
- Gives fast advice on how to be a better leader or how to use your time more efficiently
Happify
- Stress management app
- Offers strategies to help reduce negative emotions and promote mental well-being
- Provides activities to bring down stress levels
- Shares positive and motivating tools and programs to build greater resilience
Books
What Color is Your Parachute?
- Author: Richard Bolles
- Career development and advice book series that helps professionals determine what interests they are passionate about and what individual skills they can bring to the workplace
- Gives students ideas about what kinds of careers they want to explore, how to network with people that have the authority to hire them and what to do to make sure you love your career
- Latest edition explores how to navigate job hunting on the internet
#GIRLBOSS
- Author: Sophia Amoruso
- Provides advice on how to start your own company and be your own boss
- Inspires women to work hard and be successful doing what they love
- Offers tips and tricks for starting a company, how to brand yourself, and how to stay motivated to succeed
- The girlboss.com website provides information on career, money and wellness
Getting from College to Career
- Author: Lindsey Pollak
- Offers tips from the start of your professional journey, all the way up to the final interview
- Helps build self-understanding and self-confidence before applying for jobs
- Gives step-by-step instructions to guide you to your career as a college student
- Latest version shares 90 things you should do before joining the real world
Movies
Pursuit of Happiness
A movie about Chris Gardner, a professional who is struggling to make ends meet in his current job. When tying this movie to career development, notice that Chris becomes interested in the work of a stockbroker. An informational interview is conducted with the intention of learning about how a job is performed in the workplace to gain more knowledge of the career field. By asking the stockbroker about the responsibilities and nature of his work, Chris inadvertently completed an informational interview and began his pursuit to earn a job in this field based on what he learned. You can conduct informational interviews with people in your professional network to learn more about job opportunities and responsibilities within your career industry. Just as Chris pursued a job he was passionate about, you can learn more about jobs in your industry to ensure you are proud of your professional successes.
Friends
A TV show that portrays the lives of six friends living in New York City. Rachel Green, one of the friends, travels to New York to meet up with her lifelong friend Monica Geller in hopes of starting a new life in the city. Throughout the series, viewers can witness Rachel’s job hunt and career growth. In
The One with All the Poker, Rachel gets her friends to help send out resumes to potential job opportunities. Her persistence to find a job can help motivate you to conduct a thorough job search in the future. As seniors, your job hunt should be aggressive. Sending out resumes to jobs you could potentially succeed in is a smart tactic, and like Rachel, you need to remember to stay motivated to find the right job for you. At the end of the episode, Rachel is denied the job position she had been hoping for. But her motivation is not broken, and later in the show, we see Rachel become a very successful young professional. Remember resilience when starting your job hunt – the right job is out there, you just have to apply for it.
The Devil Wears Prada
A dramatic glimpse into the glamorous lives of professionals working for New York Runway magazine. Andy Sachs is a smart girl looking for a job in journalism. When she lands every girl’s “dream job” at New York Runway magazine, her boss requires her to complete extreme tasks. As the movie progresses, Andy learns a valuable career lesson: jobs can appear glamorous from the outside, so when your boss asks you for ridiculous demands, you might think “it’s just this one time.” However, Andy realizes that her job has completely taken over her life. When considering taking drastic career moves, make sure you weigh your options beforehand and trust your gut to do what is right for you. At the end of the movie, Andy resigns from her desirable job at New York Runway and pursues a career in journalism as she intended from the beginning.
Using apps, books and movies to gain a new perspective on beginning your professional development can be very beneficial. If you need further assistance when accomplishing your career goals, stop by the Career Center in McGowan Suite 240, and schedule an appointment with one of our experts. You can also schedule an appointment online or at
career-center@msmary.edu.
