Prospects.ac.uk is one of the best websites to offer advise, placement and graudtae schemes opportunities for students. Although universities often advertise that they are ready to help current and recently graduate students in the same way, they rarely do.
Advice that is usually the most needed, is the one of choosing a career path that’s right for you. It is worth sharing summarised tips provided by prospects.ac.uk, as they were crucial for me when I was struggling to understand which career path is right for me!
So, accordimg to prospects.ac.uk:
‘A career plan is a strategy you’ll continuously develop to manage your learning and progression throughout your working life. Consisting of four stages, its purpose is to help you visualise the actions you need to take to achieve your career goals, and how to put these actions into practice.’
Career planning is important for a number of reasons - having a career development plan in place reduces the risk of you making impulsive decisions, and it helps you to recognise when you’re ready to look for new career opportunities and develop new skills.’
This model can be used by anyone - from school leavers to students, graduates and career changers.
- Identify your skills and interests
Choosing a career is a big deal. You’ll spend a significant amount of your life at work and so in order to pick the right one, you first need to know yourself. This means taking stock of your skills and assessing your interests and values.
It’s important to understand your range of skills and knowledge, so you can see if they’re a good fit for the job you’d like to do.
Make a list of all your transferable and specialist skills, with examples of when you’ve demonstrated each. An honest assessment of your skills, values and interests will be useful when narrowing down your options:
• What am I good at?
• What are my interests, motivations and values?
• What did I most enjoy at university?
• What kind of lifestyle do I want?
• What do I want from my career?
• What is important to me?
This will help you to identify the sort of jobs that will suit you, but won’t yet have enough information to make a decision on which to pursue.
- Explore career ideas
Consider what your ideal job sector would be, and discover its key trends by researching the local, national and global jobs market. This will help you to discover more potential career paths, and understand which roles are expanding or declining.
There are three overarching job sectors. These are:
• Private - sole traders, partnerships and limited companies
• Public - local and national governments, plus their agencies and chartered bodies
• Not-for-profit - often referred to as the third sector, or the charity and voluntary work sector.
Compile a shortlist of around five to ten jobs, before considering the advantages and disadvantages of each in terms of:
• Career development;
• Employment outlook;
• Entry requirements;
• Job description;
• Related jobs;
• Salary and conditions;
• Training.
This is the perfect time to consider work experience and internships, work shadowing and volunteering opportunities. They’ll help you to gain an insight into the areas you’re interested in before committing yourself to a certain career path.
- Make a decision
Now you’re ready to start making decisions. Combine what you’ve learned about yourself with what you’ve discovered about your options and the graduate jobs market.
From your job ideas list, decide which role interests you the most. To help make a decision, ask yourself the following questions:
• Will I enjoy doing the job every day?
• Does it meet most of my preferences?
• Do I have the right skills?
• Does the company fit with my values?
• Are there any location/financial/skills limitations I need to take into account?
• Is the job realistic in terms of salary?
Listing the pros and cons of a particular job or career is often useful, as is completing a personal SWOT analysis:
• Strengths - What skills, traits, certifications and connections would you bring to the role that nobody else could? What makes you unique?
• Weaknesses - What areas could you improve on? Do you lack any skills holding you back from excelling in the role you’d like to pursue?
• Opportunities - Is your industry growing? Could you take advantage of your competitors’ mistakes or gaps in the market?
• Threats - Could your weaknesses slow your progression at work? Is there anything else that may stand in the way of your development, such as changes in technology?
- Set achievable goals and be ready to change the plans if needed.
Your career plan should outline how you’ll get to where you want to be in life. It would definitely help you to feel more confident in your situation right after graduating. Also, never set a goal to become a CEO straight after a graduation, take smaller steps and allow yourself time to ease into the adulthood.
Finally, don’t forget that career planning is a continuous process. Revisit and review your aims and objectives throughout your career, and don’t feel constrained by the goals you’ve set - the structure of a career plan should help you clearly map out the route to trying something new.
Find out more careers tips or search for opportunities at prospects.ac.uk!
