Careers Decision Making Action Planning Careers and Employability
Careers Decision Making & Action Planning Careers and Employability Service www. southampton. ac. uk/careers@southampton. ac. uk Uo. SCareersand. Employability Uo. S_Careers
• To cover today! • Identified which career-influencing factors are important to you • Developed on understanding of career decision making • Decided on your next career planning steps • Located further information to research your ideas 2
• Understanding Yourself and Your Career 3
• Understanding Yourself and Your Career 4
• You are not clones. Where will you thrive? • What’s important to you? • What makes you happy / frustrated? • What are your passions? • What are your strengths and preferences? • What are your values and personal beliefs? • Where could you thrive? 5
Values Exercise Divide the descriptions into three – “Not important”, “Some importance”, “Highly important”. Decide on your top 10 values from the 55 descriptions Write your top 10 “Highly important” on a blank sheet 6
• Now your strengths/preferences • “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. ” (Confucious) • What do you enjoy doing? • What do you excel at? • If the job description plays to your strengths, while challenging you in some areas, that’s potentially a recipe for success 7
How to make a careers decision! 8
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Approaches to career decision making… which one do you prefer (and why? ) Person-environment fit theory: Structural theory: Developmental theory: Happenstance: Having good self-awareness (of the person you are), and may want to become in terms of your skills, motivations, interests and personal attributes, and then identifying occupations which match your individual characteristics and then moving into a suitable occupation. Good career decisions involve thinking about the immediate but also taking a longer term view and considering the wider situation, and being aware that career is a continuous process that required frequent reevaluation and renewal. With this approach you can experiment with different jobs before finding the right ‘fit’ and what might be the right fit may change significantly during your working life. Source: T. Lyden, University of Reading. It is important to be aware of the job market and what is on offer. The individual is not the only person with control over their future career, the economy and employers play a significant part too. Not getting a job can be down to issues with the economy, not just your suitability. Job status can also be seen as important here, but it is important to see nongraduate level routes into graduate level posts and the concept of ‘growing’ jobs so they are more challenging and rewarding over time. It is not always necessary to plan a career in the conventional sense. Instead it is important to prepare for happenstance. Developing skills and attributes that could be useful in all sorts of situations is key. And then it is important to be curious (finding out about things related to work) and always to look on chance events as opportunities that could lead to action – the point is to transform unplanned events into career opportunities.
• The DECIDES model • D – define the problem (what problem are you trying to solve? ) • E – establish a plan of action (how are you going to tackle your dilemma? ) • C – clarify underlying values and interests (what factors underpin your decision? ) • I – identify the key alternatives that you are deciding between (what are your options? ) • D – discover the probable outcome of each alternative (what would be the result of taking each option? ) • E – eliminate alternatives systematically (look at outcome against underlying values and interests, and eliminate) • S – start action (get applying!) 11
• Further decision making tools • Force Field Analysis - those who suspect that they are subject to competing emotional pressures, but have not yet analysed these pressures systematically • Decision-Making Grid - logical approach to making decisions, and will appeal to those who like to analyse factors as objectively as possible • Visualisation - those who like to follow their intuition and feelings about an option 12
What could get in your way? § Balancing career planning with your studies § Lack of motivation? § The application process § Too many choices § Personal learning style
Action Planning 14
Why create an Action Plan? § Focus your ideas § Set goals and timeframes § Monitor your progress § Ensure you achieve your goals § Feel in control!
Some key considerations § What do I want from a career? § What do I value? § Can I pursue the career in my personal circumstances? § Activity: - Top 3 considerations - One key action for each - Are your actions SMART? 16 Image: freedigitalphotos. net
Your Action Plan: Action How will you do it? By when will you have achieved it? 1. 2. 3. Describe what you want to achieve as specifically as you can. Will you need any support? How will you evidence your success?
• Next Steps • Develop a deeper industry insight into your career options • What implications has todays values and career anchor work had on your chosen options • Apply a decision making strategy to narrow down your options • Take action on your action plan! Image courtesy of foto 76 at Frgital. Photos. net
Careers and Employability Service Building 37, Highfield Campus +44 (0)23 8059 3501 careers@southampton. ac. uk www. southampton. ac. uk/careers Uo. SCareersand. Employability Uo. S_Careers
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