Discover the challenges you want to take on in your career
What’s in the cards for your career? Narrowing down your career options isn’t always as easy as matching your interests to a career. Don’t worry — the Digital Challenge Cards tool is a career assessment that can help you discover and consider your career options based on what has purpose and meaning for you. All you have to do is think about which challenges you want to explore.
Getting started
- Go to app.mysparkpath.com/
- Click on “Get Started.”
- A sign-up box will appear to create your own account. Sign up as a student.
- When prompted for the code, enter “macssccareers.”
- Create a password with at least eight characters. This will be the password you use to return to the account to review your results or try the sort again.
When sorting your Challenge Cards:
- Consider what might be meaningful for you or what might give you a high level of engagement.
- Go with your first reaction to each card on the first sort.
- When you’re asked to select your top three cards, read more about the challenges in the details.
- Pay attention to your inner dialogue and sort based on what is true for you.
What’s next?
You may be used to thinking about your career in terms of which job title you want to have. However, according to Jules Shroeder, author and founder of Unconventional Life podcast, job titles don’t matter as much anymore. But what does this mean for your career planning processes?
You can use the results from your Digital Challenge Cards to develop a plan for what’s next — one that takes into account the fast-paced, ever-changing nature of work today. This way, you can learn to grow and adapt to new environments and roles that aren’t as clearly defined by focusing on the challenges that interest you most.
Here are some suggested actions you can take to help build your career with purpose.
- Follow the suggested activities in your Challenge Card Profile report.
- Get curious about organizations and people working on the same challenges. Here are some suggested resources to help you do that.
- The Alumni and Partners Advisor Network is a database of McMaster alumni who you can contact to get advice and insight into different career areas.
- Use LinkedIn to learn about people and organizations, and join groups with similar interests.
- Use the Ask a Librarian service to get connected to directories and resources, and develop a list of potential organizations working on the challenges that interest you.
- Explore opportunities to gain more experience and build skills in the areas that have meaning for you. Here are some suggestions on how to do that.
- Career events and fairs: Meet with representatives to connect your challenges to real-world opportunities.
- McMaster Students Union (MSU): Offers many clubs and services that might provide opportunities to start working on your Challenge Card areas.
- MacChangers: Open to undergraduate and graduate students from all programs at McMaster.
- CityLabHamilton: A collaboration between the city of Hamilton and McMaster University.
- Charity Village: Explore volunteer and job postings to learn how you can get involved or work for an organization with purpose.
- United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals: Supplement your Challenge Cards results with these UN goals.
Meet with a career counsellor to learn about your skills and strengths and get support as you navigate your career journey. To book a one-on-one appointment with an SSC career counsellor, go to OSCARplus > Student Success Centre > Appointments > Careers.