Create a Career Notebook: Overview
A notebook can help you develop your thinking, record your ideas and keep track of your progress. This section includes downloadable forms designed to create such a notebook. The forms will first guide your career choice and can later be used in your job search. And all along, the notebook provides a therapeutic opportunity for self-discovery and personal expression.
What is your favorite method for organizing and expressing your ideas? Take your pick: Your notebook could start as a scrapbook, a photo album, a 3-ring binder, a Day Timer, a journal, or a website. You could buy one of the above or create a book of your own. (Handmade Books by Kathy Blake, Creating Handmade Books by Alisa Golden, or Cover to Cover by Shereen LaPlantz will get you started.)
Assemble your materials: pens, colored pencils, highlighters, scissors, stapler, glue sticks, sticky notes, watercolor paper, 3-hole punch, memory stick—whatever you want to use to customize your notebook. It could include your own writing and drawings, lists, poems, clippings, photocopies, photographs, envelopes, pockets, CD’s. (Follow this link to a full list of suggested methods and materials.)
It will be easiest for you to work on your notebook if you have all the materials you need kept together in one place. So, for example, you might empty a drawer at home and fill it with your notebook and materials. Or you might buy a zippered pouch and stock it with pencils, glue sticks, iPod, etc., and keep that pouch with your notebook. Or skip the book format and organize your ideas in a box, an accordion folder, or a personal data assistant.
Set up both public and private parts to your notebook, if you like. The private part is for your use only, to dream, brainstorm, collect your thoughts, keep a record of your career ideas as they develop, and note your progress over time. The public part can be shared with others later, when and if you ask for help with your job search.
Once you’ve got the notebook and materials ready, start on the content. The content is organized in Past, Present, and Future sections. Choose your own order. You do not have to begin with or even do the Past. However, I recommend that you complete the Present section before moving into the Future. Open and print pdf pages from this section of my website.
Have fun! If you are a neatnik, that’s great. If you’re messy, that’s great too. Be messy. Write on top of other writing or whatever pleases you. This is your time to think: “Who am I? What do I want to do?” Put yourself first for the short time you work on your notebook. You might even make a weekly date with yourself: set it up in advance, like you would a date with a friend, if that would make it more likely for you to follow through.