{"id":6,"date":"2011-03-16T20:08:17","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T20:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/"},"modified":"2011-06-08T15:30:55","modified_gmt":"2011-06-08T15:30:55","slug":"course-intro","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/course-intro\/","title":{"rendered":"Chaos &amp; Careers"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Welcome to the Chaos!<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>OK that&#8217;s a little extreme.\u00a0 But if you&#8217;re in the midst of a job search, or even just thinking about finding a job, I suspect you&#8217;re already somewhat overwhelmed.<\/p>\n<p><em>How do you know what you want to do?\u00a0 How do you get started? <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Which websites are the best for career information? <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Can you really find a job online? <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And what&#8217;s all the buzz about social media and LinkedIn?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Relax.\u00a0 That&#8217;s the point of this class. In the next 8 lessons, you will walk through the process of getting ready for the job search, from deciding on some possible careers to consider through writing a targeted resume and cover letter to networking via social media.\u00a0 Step-by-step you will proceed through the chaos and end up&#8230;. well,\u00a0 I don&#8217;t know exactly where you will end up, because that&#8217;s up to you.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Lesson 1: Careers and Chaos Theory<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>By the end of this lesson, you will:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Understand the value of chaos theory as it applies to      the job search<\/li>\n<li>Realize the importance of the butterfly effect<\/li>\n<li>Be open to new (and unexpected) opportunities<\/li>\n<li>Complete a Wandering Map and identified the key themes      or threads in your life so far<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This lesson provides you with an overall approach to the job search process based on chaos theory, rather than traditional linear theory.<\/p>\n<p>It starts by analyzing <span style=\"color: #800000;\">\u201c<strong>THE QUESTION<\/strong>\u201d<\/span>\u2014the never-ending question most students get if they have selected a major that doesn\u2019t have a direct career path: \u201cWhat are you going to do with that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As you will learn, the problem is that<strong> <span style=\"color: #800000;\">THE QUESTION<\/span><\/strong> is all wrong: it\u2019s not \u201cwhat are you going to do with that major\u201d, but rather, \u201cWhat would you like to do\u2014and how can you show through your major and other experiences that you can do it?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even if you are enrolled in a pre-professional major (such as accounting, advertising, etc.) it\u2019s always a good idea to consider other careers you might like to pursue, or what you could do if you can\u2019t practice your chosen field due to the economy or your geographic location. It\u2019s not unusual to find that the career field you\u2019ve prepared to work in has too many candidates for too few entry-level jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve learned this new way of thinking about your career path, you will have an opportunity to make sense of the chaos of your experiences in life so far by creating a Wandering Map. Based on the concept of mind-mapping, your Wandering Map is a quick way to discover what has been important to you throughout your life and what themes or threads you might bring to whatever career you pursue.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s easy to get overwhelmed when you think about all the things you&#8217;ve done in your life&#8211; and where you might want to go in the future. There are so many choices and probably so many things that you would enjoy. You&#8217;re just not sure how to make sense of it all. That&#8217;s why in this lesson you will create a Wandering Map&#8211; a visual map that will help you identify where your life has been and what strengths and gifts you have already developed.<\/p>\n<p>So approach the task with an open mind, and be prepared to have a little fun. It&#8217;s not meant to be work&#8211; although the outcome will be very useful in the future. Your textbook provides examples of basic Wandering Maps as well as full instructions for completing one. In addition, some real Wandering Maps completed by college students are provided in pdf&#8217;s attached to this lesson. Don&#8217;t be intimidated or concerned that your map looks different. Each map is special to the person who creates it.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to remember that the Wandering Map is just a discovery tool. It is not intended to tell you what to do, what career to pursue, or what path to take. It is a form of self-discovery that often results in the discovery of hidden talents and interests\u2014or confirms what you already know about yourself. Many students find this exercise a little overwhelming or confusing at first, but ultimately very valuable. It&#8217;s not unusual for students to report that it was the best part of the class.<\/p>\n<p><strong>EXTRAS FOR THIS UNIT:\u00a0 Need to learn how to embed videos&#8230;<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Want to see how job hunting used to work? Here&#8217;s a sample video which might go into this unit:<\/p>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"480\" height=\"390\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/nyDjXLLGxVk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"480\" height=\"390\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/nyDjXLLGxVk?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nyDjXLLGxVk\">The Home Economics Story<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Well, that didn&#8217;t work&#8230;.trying again&#8230;.not sure how to embed this so it&#8217;s not just a link.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">I am also trying to attach a pdf here and having no success.. Clearly, I need to learn more.<\/span> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Want to go to law school?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nMvARy0lBLE\" target=\"_blank\">So You Want to Go To Law School?<\/a> (funny as this is, there is some truth here&#8230;)<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Humanities PhD\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=obTNwPJvOI8&amp;feature=related\" target=\"_blank\">So You Want to Get a PhD in the Humanities? <\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Links for this page (maybe put into a sidebar?:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Career Blogs Worth Following:<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Personal Branding Blog\" href=\"http:\/\/www.personalbrandingblog.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Personal Branding Blog<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Anything by Dan Schawbel is worth checking out. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Keppie Careers\" href=\"http:\/\/www.keppiecareers.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Keppie Careers<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Good posts for recent grads<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"100+ Blogs\" href=\"http:\/\/www.careerrocketeer.com\/2009\/07\/100-career-blogs-all-professionals-must.html\" target=\"_blank\">100+ Career Blogs<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">You decide which ones you like best. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><em> <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the Chaos! OK that&#8217;s a little extreme.\u00a0 But if you&#8217;re in the midst of a job search, or even just thinking about finding a job, I suspect you&#8217;re already somewhat overwhelmed. How do you know what you want to do?\u00a0 How do you get started? Which websites are the best for career information? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":289,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/289"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":314,"href":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions\/314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.la.utexas.edu\/fromcollegetocareer-01\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}