This is something that happened to me quite recently. I was sitting in my environmental psychology class and became really interested in learning more about this field. So I decided to Google it and found many websites talking about the potential careers in environmental psychology. And then this one article really caught my attention –a new field called design psychology. After I read about this newly emerging field I thought to myself “This is it. I want to do this as a career.” I started to do more research but since it is still a relatively new field I couldn’t find much information on it. But I did find a number of prominent individuals, who started this field and contacted them via email and received helpful replies from them. I also talked to the career counsellors at Career Services and was introduced to a staff member at Queen’s Plant Services who is involved with the interior design and spatial planning at Queen’s. Meeting with her and having an
information interview was extremely helpful as she was able to tell me more about the different jobs within the field of design and potential contacts.
What I found through this whole experience is that there are so many different careers out there that many of us just don’t know about yet. Even if you know the area you want to get into, ask around and see if you can meet someone for an information interview –don’t underestimate the amount of information and advice you can receive from people who are already in the field. Start by researching the field you are interested in — through the information centre at Career Services or on the internet and contact people who are doing what you love to do. I bet they can tell you about a possible position within that field that you had no idea existed!
Good luck!               ~ Yayoi, Peer Career Educator