Identifying Challenges | College of Arts

Identifying Challenges

cban-job challenge

Sense-Making - What is interesting and meaningful to you? 

This section offers you a framework to discover your interests in the external world. The world is in a constant state of change - there are problems to solve and opportunities to create. Start by naming possibilities.

What Do You Want to Learn?

We invest in our interests because they allow us to experience joy, optimism, and hope.  Hope is what gives us purpose, meaning and sparks motivation. So be curious; what lights you up?

Consider the following questions:

  • What could you talk about all day long?

  • How do you want to serve others in your community?

  • What bothers you that you would love to fix?

  • If money were not a factor, what opportunity would you create?

  • What would you like to contribute? How would you like to contribute?

What do I care about? How would you like to contribute to the world? 

Once you have a list of possibilities, research and learn more about the challenges that interest you, explore why they are meaningful to you and how you would like to help. Then ask yourself the following:

  • Who are the organizations and employers working on this?

  • How are they working on this?

  • Who are the interesting people working on this?

    • This is where job titles are identified. Once you understand what you want to work on, you can start to explore the roles that do the work.

How to find challenges to work on?

Reflection activities can help you explore what is meaningful to you. Here are some resources to get you started:

Learn about challenges employers work on:

  • Challenge Card Activity - this is a card sorting activity that stimulates conversation about meaningful challenges that may pique your interest. Check out this webinar for more information.

    • Want to complete the Challenge Card Activity? Sign-in to ExperienceGuelph.ca -> Career -> Resources.  Compete the activity and print your PDF report.  Book a meeting with a Career Advisor to debrief on what is meaningful to you about your challenge card results, how you want to contribute to this challenge, and what more you want to learn about it.

  • Possible Selves Activity - visualize your possible future selves.

Learn about global challenges:

Explore challenges through people's stories:

  • RoadTrip Nation - a space to explore what careers look like with 1000+ informational interviews.

  • College of Arts of Alumni - browse profiles of College of Arts alumni to see what they're doing now. 

What is your Arts program exposing you to? 

  • The classroom - What courses, discussions, projects, topics, or ideas have sparked your curiosity? These are clues to follow. Your interests are the breadcrumbs to understanding what you want to more learn about. 

  • Experiential learning - You are building knowledge, skills, and attitudes throughout your university career and through experiential learning. Experiential learning can take many forms and usually falls into two categories:

    1. Curricular - Experiential learning that is for credit and happens in the classroom or is part of your degree. For example: 

      • Experiential Learning Guide for Art, Performance, and Humanities

      • Applied Research Project or Paper where students conduct research that impacts a community

      • Community-Engaged Learning Project where students work with an organization in the community as part of the course requirements

      • Course-Integrated Experiential Learning Project where students participate in a simulated workplace environment

      • Field Courses

      • Professional Practice

      • Co-op Work Terms

    2. Co-Curricular - Experiential Learning that is not-for-credit that sometimes happens outside the classroom. For example:  

      • Community Engagement Opportunities

      • Conferences and Competitions

      • Inter-University Athletics

      • Off- or On-Campus Employment

      • Student Clubs or Organizations

      • Volunteer Experiences

      • Professional Development

      • Certificates, Micro-Credentials, and Badges

The best experiential learning opportunities allow you to reflect on your hands-on learning. They help you to discover how you want to contribute to the world around you. They are the building blocks of your story and an important element of your job application.

experiential learning college of arts