myCareerCompanion has helped Antje, a soon-to-be graduate, to find out what she truly wants

This year, Antje will be graduating as an Advanced Master Multilingual Business Communication at the University of Ghent. She got to know myCareerCompanion through a webinar and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome of the tool. The key takeaways of the myCareerCompass were a great base to build her CV on.

 

• How did you come in contact with the myCareerCompanion tool?

I got to know myCareerCompanion through a workshop in the first semester of this academic year. Our study program organized weekly guest lectures and myCareerCompanion was one of those.

• Let’s go back to the creation of your myCareerCompass. How did you experience the 5 questionnaires?

I liked the questionnaires. However for me personally, some of them were a little bit more relevant than others. The questions where I had to pick which statement fits my professional personality the best – for example, “Would you rather work in a laboratory or help people in poverty?” – were not the easiest ones to answer, because I never pictured myself or never would picture myself in other fields than the ones I’m studying for. Overall, I enjoyed the questionnaires because they made me reflect on what I truly want in a job. Especially because working life is not so far away for me anymore.

• Did you learn any new things about yourself while filling out the questionnaires?

Yes, I think that it’s a combination of the tool and the internship that I’m doing right now, that made me realize what I do and don’t want in a job. Questions like: “Do you enjoy a bit more guidance or do you like to work autonomously?” and questions that asked about which company culture would be the best fit for me, made me realize even more that I do enjoy working in teams and that I prefer to be at ease at work, over a competitive work environment. MyCareerCompass mainly confirmed what I am experiencing now in my internship.

• How will myCareerCompass help you in your search for a job?

I think that the platform is a great help for preparing a CV. I have made many versions of my CV throughout the years and I’ve always struggled with finding the right words to describe my skills and strengths. After filling out myCareerCompass, I received a useful file with keywords that actually describe my work-related character and I think that has helped me a lot.

The tool really gives more insight into what would be a good work field and company culture. I do believe that you learn best by doing, so the experience that I’ve built up through my internship in combination with filling out myCareerCompanion is a great mix.

• Next to myCareerCompass, the platform also has a myCourses part. What do you think about the courses that are currently available?

We were lucky and we got two courses for free thanks to our study program, but honestly, it has been a busy Master’s year so I haven’t really got the time yet to explore them to the maximum. I probably will do that in the future as a lot of course titles sound really promising.

• How would you describe myCareerCompanion to other people?

myCareerCompanion actually reminded me of the SIMON-tests that you can take when you’re in highschool in order to find out where your interests lie and what field of study might suit you. I think that myCareerCompanion forms a great bridge between student life and the labor market.

• How would you use the tool in the future? Are you planning on revisiting the platform when you feel like you need a career change?

I would use myCareerCompass again in the future! The questionnaires don’t take up a lot of time, so I think it’s definitely worth doing them again after a certain amount of time. It’s always interesting to learn more about yourself and see how things have changed after a first working experience.

 

Also want to create a myCareerCompanion account? Click here.