Exploring your Options
Career Planning
When making decisions about your career and the kind of work that will be rewarding and satisfying for you, it is important to take the time to reflect on your skills alongside your personality, values, motivations and goals.
Being aware of these will help you better identify what criteria a future career path needs to fulfil.
Take a look at this four step guide to developing a career plan (Prospects) to get started.
- 16 Personalities – a personality test which matches you with one of 16 different personality types
- Career Planner – an interactive tool which matches your skills, motivations and desires to possible careers (Prospects)
- Job Match – answer questions about what you find interesting, rewarding and purposeful and you’ll be matched with different job profiles (Prospects)
- Guidance on Career and Personal Development Planning (Palgrave Study Skills)
- Use Labour Market Information (LMI) to research your future career using the current job market.
What can I do with my degree?
What can I do with my degree? from Prospects can help you to explore job options related to your degree, typical employers, and suggestions of skills which have been developed as part of your degree.
The resource also covers job options where your degree would be useful, as a result of the skills you will have developed. For many graduates, the skills developed and experience gained during their time at university can (and has!) opened doors to jobs and careers that they might not have previously considered.
- Your Foundation Degree…what next? (TARGETjobs) provides advice on the options open to you after a foundation degree
- I have a degree, now what? (TARGETjobs) provides advice on considering your options on completion of a full honours degree
How to research job sectors and occupations
Researching different sectors and job roles can you help you explore the options that are available to you, and what steps you might need to take to get there. The resources below provide detailed information on a wide range of job sectors and job profiles:
- Job sectors (Prospects)
- Job profiles (Prospects)
Entrepreneurship and Self-employment
Your studies may be a great foundation from which to work for yourself! Whether it is starting your own business or working for yourself, there are plenty of reasons to go self-employed.
- Check the Government guidance about working for yourself.
- Simply Business have great guides on how to become self-employed and a 9-step guide to starting your own business.
- The Ultimate Accountancy Glossary by Contractor Umbrella is also a really useful guide to all those jargon terms!
Information, advice, and guidance
There are many places you can get information, advice, and guidance about potential career paths. At University Centre South Devon, two important points of contact are:
- Your personal tutor, who will have contacts in the industry.
- The Careers and Employability Centre (South Devon College): [email protected]