Mature Student

The Career Centre

If you are over 23 years of age on completing your full-time education then you are termed a mature student (whether you feel it or not)! It is more than likely that you already have a range of skills that are considered essential requirements by most employers. These skills may have been developed as a result of a period of employment, or managing a home, or bringing up a family, or a combination of all three. You will also have proved to the world that you have the intelligence and personal tenacity to meet the demanding academic standards required at Ryerson University.

The reason for including a section from the Career Centre for the mature students website, is that despite your obvious strengths, you may face a different set of constraints which sometimes complicate the job search and make finding employment more of a challenge (compared with students who come straight from school):

• There is sometimes a mismatch between career aspirations and readily available job opportunities, hence you may have to spend a little more time before finding what you are looking for.
• Many mature graduates need to find employment locally and this may mean being a little more flexible when considering the options.

So, what can you do if you are a mature student, to build on your existing strengths?

• Conduct some self assessment to determine what are your needs wants and desires for the new or upcoming career - the Career Centre can help!

We offer:

• Career Assessments (to help identify your interests, personality, strengths and transferable skills).
• Career Planning and Exploration of Career Options (assistance with research of occupational profiles that relate to Ryerson programs).

It is important to start your job search and planning as early as day one on campus (even though you probably have far greater demands on your time than many younger students), and not just at time of graduation.

The Career Centre provides a wide range of services and advice, all of which are suitable for mature students - however some sessions, including self-marketing, networking and the CareerScope Speaker Series which aid creative job hunting, may resonate more with mature students - visit the Career Centre website for the most up to date listing of dates, times and locations.

• If you are seeking work, take a look at our website under events - here you will find listings of events, information sessions and career fairs offered throughout the year (be sure to check back regularly for updates!)
• Also don?t forget to sign up for workopoliscampus.com?..our online job searching site that allows you to look for available positions related to all Ryerson University programs -- to access exclusive job postings for Ryerson students, create a personal user name and use the following access code when prompted (Access code: RUstudent)

Contact Information:

The Career Centre is located inPOD-60 in Podium Building.
Phone: 416 979-5177
Email: career@ryerson.ca
Website: www.ryerson.ca/career