Deciding on a career path is a big decision to make. You’ll probably be spending a substantial part of your life at work. Doing your research now can help to make sure you find a career that’s right for you. There are so many options out there when it comes to careers it can be hard to know what to choose. The key is to have plenty of knowledge of what’s out there and what you need to do to get there, combined with a healthy understanding and awareness of who you are and what you want out of your career.
Understanding your values and what you won't compromise on could determine what you choose to do; making the wrong choice could leave you unhappy. There might be specific skills needed for a job; you might need to have work experience on your CV that demonstrates you have these skill sets. There might also be entry requirements such as qualifications or employment experience. Factoring in other aspects of the job is also important as they’ll have an impact on your lifestyle. Think about, what kind of working hours are involved? What’s the pay like? What progression routes are there? Where are the jobs based and do you want to live there?
So there’s a three part process: - Understanding yourself
- Finding out what’s out there
- Working out how they fit together
A great way to get started is to use Profiling for Success, which you can find out more about on the Contemplating Careers blog here. You can use the Careers Service resources Exploring Careers to explore different Careers.
Gaining some hands-on work experience will really open your eyes to a career, as will speaking to employers at networking events. Speak to the Student Jobshop about finding work experience;check out the What’s On diary for employer events.
The Transitions team are holding talks in week 9 on “Exploring your career ideas”, Tuesday 28th April 4:00pm - 5:00pm and Thursday 30th April 1:00pm - 2:00pm.
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