In this module, we’re going to go over work and career, including how to find opportunities, how to be prepared for them and how to make the most of them when they arise.
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
Confucious
“Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it.
Katherine Whitehorn
It’s never too early to explore the different education and career options available. Whether you already have some thoughts about what you may want to do next, or you haven’t considered it at all yet, it’s helpful to find out about all the choices available.
Looking at specific career paths can identify what skills or qualifications you will need, what the day-to-day tasks are and what the job progression possibilities might be.
“Work to become, not to acquire.”
Elbert Hubbard
“Decision making is easy when your values are clear”
Roy Disney
Key questions
- Do you understand career possibilities in a global economy?
- Do you know how to identify and evidence your strengths and skills?
- Do you know how to identify and maximise employment opportunities?
Within this module, we’re going to cover;
- Knowing yourself and what’s important to you:
- How to identify and evidence strengths and skillsDetermining your values and your ‘why’
- Choosing a job and potential career path
- Finding opportunities and taking them:
- Finding opportunitiesHow to prepare a concise and compelling C.V.
- Preparing for interviews
- Wider employment considerations:
- Misconceptions about employment
- Networking
Lets get into it!
Knowing yourself and what’s important to you
How to identify and evidence strengths and skills
Every single person has a unique set of skills and strengths which they are innately talented at or have honed over time. Knowing and understanding these skills is crucial for personal development and career advancement. Sometimes, it can include things which come naturally to us, and we therefore assume it’s easy, but it’s important to remember that it’s easy to YOU specifically.
Take some time to reflect on your experiences, achievements, and areas of expertise. It can be helpful to consider;
- What tasks do I enjoy doing?
- What comes naturally to me?
- What skills have I developed over time?
- What are my proudest accomplishments?
With that in mind, consider the following task;
“Hide not your talents, they were made for use. What’s a sundial in the shade?”
Benjamin Franklin
Task One
Take 10 minutes to write 5 things which YOU are skilled at.
Tip; This can be a hard exercise for people, either to be self-aware enough to be aware of these skills, or to have the confidence to acknowledge they are skills! This can be a question we extend to loved ones and those who know us well; “When have you seen me at my best?”. Then, consider what skillset you were using in that situation.
Examples; Communication, leadership, positivity, teamwork, flexibility, critical thinking, problem solving, time management, creativity.
The strengths you bring to the workplace are an advantage for both you and your employer. By understanding your strengths, you can focus on areas where you can excel, and seek out opportunities to leverage them to achieve success.
After identifying your skills, it’s important to evidence those, across your CV, job applications and within the workplace. You can scatter key phrases and terms throughout your CV or cover letters to demonstrate your strengths to potential employers. For example, if you’re a good communicator, you might mention that you use your communication skills to work well in team environments and customer-facing roles.
If you’re being interviewed for a position at a company, showcasing your workplace strengths can accentuate what you can bring to a company. When talking about how your strengths can help you in your job, reinforce this with good posture, body language and eye contact throughout the interview. These are the kinds of communication skills that show confidence and that you are easy to work with.
Finally, the best platform to show off your workplace strengths is while you are working. This is a real-world example of how you add value to a company through your own employee strengths. This could take shape in a number of ways, from leading a team meeting, that shows strong collaboration skills, to taking the initiative on a project, which demonstrates your own motivation. Get creative with it and lean into what you do well at work to show your superiors your strengths.
If you are struggling for confidence or identifying key skills, remember there is also much you can bring to a workplace, regardless of what skills you possess.
Determining your values and your ‘why’
Your values are the beliefs and principles that you believe are important in the way that you live and work. How your values align with your job can impact your motivation, performance and conduct. Understanding these can help you to identify a career or role that meets your needs and catalyses your development.
Your role-based values help you to define your ideal working environment. They are the factors that are most important in fostering job satisfaction, career progression and your perception of career success.
Role-based values can be split into three broad categories:
- Intrinsic: Factors of your role that provide personal meaning and value in their own right. An example could be your enjoyment of your research topic or knowing the impact your work has on the world.
- Extrinsic: The external rewards you receive for doing your job, such as your salary or the recognition you receive for being an expert in your subject.
- Lifestyle: Factors that influence the quality of your life outside of work. Things like flexible working hours to support your work-life balance or the location of your workplace.
An example from Thomas
Thomas works part time with the elderly and vulnerable to maintain their lifestyle. His role is not as well paid as he would like, but he enjoys the flexibility of the reduced hours, and finds the work to be very rewarding.
An example from Malavika
Malavika finds being an academic rewarding. It allows her to be creative, and is comfortable working predominately on her own.
Reflecting on your experiences, think about occasions when you’ve felt particularly fulfilled by your positions or activities, such as member of a team, being a prefect, part of a club etc. What helped to create those feelings? Similarly, think about occasions when you’ve felt frustrated or unhappy – what factors created those feelings and what was lacking?
Task Two
Take 10 minutes to identify approximately 3 key words from the diagram which have the most meaning to YOU.
Why do you think this is the case?
Choosing a job and potential career path
After considering your strengths, skills and values, it’s worth considering your motivations for working. Perhaps you want a career that will pay a higher entry-level salary than comparable occupations, or one that promises more flexibility so you can work from anywhere. Most careers won’t feature everything you’d like, so it’s important to understand your priorities.
Then, it’s worth also considering your interests and what you enjoy. What subjects have you enjoyed studying, and why? Is it linked to the subject itself, or perhaps the person teaching you? If you had to pick a one of numbers, words, pictures or physical activities, which would it be? Could you see yourself in a job where your top choice formed a big part of what you do every day?
Additionally, you should consider which sector might be most appropriate for you;
- Private: You’ll be employed through a privately owned company or corporation, which typically aims to increase growth and revenue. This can provide a greater potential for growth.
- Public: You’ll be employed through organisations owned and operated by the Government. This can provide greater stability.
- Non-profit: You’ll be employed through an organization not associated with private or public sectors, which is dedicated to addressing or fulfilling a public need. While it does not aim to make revenue the way private businesses do, it must earn enough to achieve its mission and cover overhead. This can provide greater meaning.
Task Three
Choose 3 of the following careers, and write down for each of those three, one skill, one interest and one relevant previous experience to work in that area;
Chef, website designer, farmer, air traffic controller, vet, teacher, hairdresser, wedding planner, sportsperson, mechanic, architect, pilot.
An example for a wedding planner:
A relevant skill will be ‘attention to detail’, or ‘organisation’, as your clients will expect you to be across every detail in relation to their special day, and it must go to plan (as least to the extent that it’s in your control!). In terms of interests, you would need to be interested in people and working with people, as you will be working closely with your clients and many vendors being they key point of contact. That passion would allow you to do a great job. Previous experience would likely include a customer service experience or events management.
Once you start to have a concept of what your top career choices might be, a good next step is to think about some achievable goals. To make your top career choice a reality, what are you going to work towards in the next few months? And in the next few years?
Is there a grade you want to get on a school project or exam? A course you’d like to research? An hour you’d like to spend finding online interviews with people doing your dream job? Your goals can be small or large. They can be achieved this evening or next year – but they must be achievable.
Create your list of achievable goals, add do-by dates, and you’ve taken a big step to not only choosing a career but setting your dream in motion.
Never forget – if you’ve got the interest, you can build the skills and qualifications.
Learn more about how to make and take opportunities in the next part of the lesson.