Wrapping up our comprehensive career counselling series with local Kelowna relevance to help you thrive here! We have laid the groundwork with self-assessment in Part 1 and delved into research and exploration in Part 2.
Now, in this final part, we are all about execution converting knowledge and options into real world progress toward your ideal role, capitalising on our areas employment gains of over 3,400 jobs in early 2025. Action is the bridge between dreams and reality; overthinking can stall momentum, so let us equip you with a robust strategy to move forward confidently in Kelowna’s competitive yet opportunity rich market.
Actionable Steps
Craft a Standout Resume, LinkedIn Profile, and Personal Brand: Customise your resume to include keywords from target job descriptions, emphasising quantifiable achievements (e.g., Led a team project that increased efficiency by 25 percent in a tourism setting). If its relevant to you, update your LinkedIn profile as well, and/ or create a portfolio that organizes significant achievements of yours that are relevant to the job you are pursuing.
For local Kleowna help with this, there are numerous free options in Kelowna:
https://central-okanagan.pathwaysbc.ca/programs/987
- WorkBC Centers Kelowna. They can help with resume writing and many other career related aspects from job boards to applying for skills grants and many others. https://www.workbc.ca/workbc-centres/workbc-centre-kelowna
The Job Search and Application Process: Aim to apply to 5 to 10 tailored roles each week through sites like Indeed, company career pages, or specialised boards like WorkBC Kelowna.
https://www.workbc.ca/search-and-prepare-job/find-jobs#/job-search;city=Kelowna;
Prepare for interviews using the STAR method (Situation, describing the scenario; Task, explaining the goal; Action, detailing your steps; and Result, outlining the positive outcome) to structure responses with specific examples, and practise via mock sessions with friends or family, your career counsellor, or prepare for future interviews by going to real ones!
Sometimes the best teacher is the real thing, sure you might not do as well as you’d hope the first couple of one’s, but mock interviews without any skin in the game will only teach you so much about how you handle off the cuff questions, stress, the logistics of getting to a place on time.
Dress the part: you don’t have to spend a lot to show you mean business, but wearing clean clothes suitable to the role you are pursuing can help make an even better first impression and show outwardly that you are serious.
Seek out mentors: career counsellors can help you manage emotions that are bound to come up along the way to finding a position you desire such as fear, anger, and sadness to name a few.
Career counsellors also can help tune your resume and practice interviewing skills with you, and help you identify your interests, values, and skills. Don’t be afraid to ask friends or family to help with the process or to leverage their connections to seek out opinions and guidance from others.
Cultivate Resilience and Ongoing Momentum: Expect rejections as part of the process they are not personal! Maintain a progress journal to log applications, feedback, and wins. Celebrate milestones, and consider enlisting a mentor, career counsellor, or accountability partner to provide support and accelerate your journey.
A common theme that you may be able to distill from this mini series as we wrap up is that there are numerous, high quality, and free resources here in Kelowna and the broader Okanagan that can help you at any stage of your career journey, whther you are just starting out, or looking to transition to an adjacent or entirely new field of work.
All you have to do is ask for help. Sometimes that can be the hardest part, whether its overcoming anxiety to put yourself out into the world, or stuck in regret that you “should have made a decision sooner, because im so much farther behinf now than I could’ve been”. There are bound to be negative emotions that come up along the whole process and at different stages and intesnties for different people.
That is where my self as a career counsellor can help you address some of these emotional concerns, as well as helping hone skills for interviews, motivation to keep going out there despite 50 or 100 resumes turned down or with no word from.
And look, not too many people want to work jobs they find boring, tedious, or that don’t recognise their skillset and what they bring to the table. But if you set your sights high and construct a 6 month, year 2,3,4,5 year plan(s) or any combination thereof, sure you might findyourself at a job you don’t love for a period of time, but if your gaining experience and leanrings and growing into your field, there is nothing wrong about working somewhere for 6 months to a year to bolster your resume, taking a few skills upgrades a long the way, seeking supports, and in time you will get there.
The biggest obstacle will yourself, you will get what you settle for, so don’t settle for something and sign up for 30-40 years of lackluster work when you may only have to be there as a stepping stone to bigger and brighter things.
Written by Tim Lamont C.C.C
