How to choose a career

Explore how to choose a career with Graduate Talent, we will go through the key stages to decide what career is best for you and how to research different sectors...

Graduating from university is an exciting milestone, but also marks the beginning of a new chapter: choosing a career. With so many options and opportunities, deciding on the ‘right’ path can feel overwhelming. This guide will help you to reflect on your skills and interests, research different sectors, and identify sources of support that can help you to choose a career that will be a good fit.

Reflect on skills and interests

The first step to choosing your career is to understand who you are as a person. Take some time to reflect on your skills, interests and values as this will help inform your decision making when it comes to a career path.

Skills

Think about the skills you have gained through all of your experiences – this could be from your studies, work experiences, volunteering or extracurricular activities. Also take some time to consider which of your skills are your particular strengths – are you an excellent communicator? A creative problem solver? A collaborative team player? Knowing what your skills and strengths are will really help you know what areas you are likely to excel in. Try and keep a note of the skills and strengths you reflect on at this stage as this will help you when it comes to applications and interviews.

Interests

Consider what your interests are – what are you passionate about? Are there particular subjects or activities that excite and engage you? Aligning your career with what you are interested in can lead to greater job satisfaction.

Values

Think about what is important to you – would you like a career where you help others? Or where you champion equality and diversity? Or would you prefer a career that rewards ambition and creativity? Knowing what your values are can also help you to realise what your priorities are when it comes to choosing a career.

There are several online quizzes and tests you can take to help you assess your skills, interests and values:

16 Personalities
VIA Character Strengths Test
National Careers Skills Assessment
Personal Values Quiz

As well as using online resources, you can also ask friends and family for their insights and perspectives on you and your attributes.

Researching different sectors

The next step is to research different sectors and the various careers available within each. Use online resources such as the National Careers Service, which allows you to explore job profiles within a variety of sectors. Start broadly by thinking about the general sectors you are interested in and then you can see from there the careers and jobs related to each field. Carefully look at the job profiles in your sector or sectors of interest, as these will tell you all you need to know about the role, its responsibilities, and the skills and qualifications required. You could also look at online jobs boards to research live vacancies to get even more insight in to the sector and how the job role contributes to the bigger picture.

Another action you could take to help you research sectors is to sign up to receive newsletters from industry bodies, organisations or news sites – a good place to start is to see if there are any organisations that your degree was accredited by. By doing this, you will be able to read more about your sector of interest, and keep up to date with news and emerging trends. You might also find out about any relevant industry events to attend, in order to gain exposure to the sector and increase your professional network.

LinkedIn is also a great resource to help you explore different sectors. It has an ‘alumni’ tool which allows you to search what careers previous graduates from your course (and university) have gone in to. This is great for gaining career inspiration, and to also explore people’s career trajectories i.e. where they started to get to where they are now. You could always try and connect with previous graduates who are working in your field of interest, and ask politely for any insights they can give you on the sector as part of your research.

Once you have researched different sectors hopefully you will have a stronger idea of what kind of field and types of job role that appeal to you.

Seeking resources and support

The next step, once you have reflected on yourself and researched different sectors, is to make sure that you have the necessary resources and support to help you start making some concrete decisions about your next steps.

University careers services will often assist graduates for a number of years after you complete your studies - check with your university for how long you can access their careers support for after you graduate. You can usually get impartial and confidential help from an adviser with a number of careers queries, including discussing your career plans and options, and help with researching different careers.

It could also be a good idea to try and seek out a mentor for further support. A mentor is someone who is already working in your field of interest and can provide invaluable guidance and insights. First of all – check if you or anyone in your personal network know anyone already in your preferred sector who might be happy to act as a mentor to you. If not, you could try other avenues to find a mentor, such as looking on LinkedIn, or using sites such as Graduate Mentor UK.

Other tips and advice

Although it’s important you feel like you choose the ‘right’ career for you, this doesn’t mean that you have to lock in to that career path for life. Keep our top tips in mind:

• Set short and long-term goals – try and think about your goals for the next 1-3 years. Your first job doesn’t have to be perfect but should be an opportunity for you to build new skills and knowledge to help you reach your more long-term goals
• Be flexible and open to change - career paths are rarely linear so be prepared to be flexible as new opportunities arise, or as your interests and skills develop and possibly change over time
• Regularly evaluate – try and check in with yourself regularly, to make sure that you are still progressing with your plans 

Conclusion

Choosing a career doesn’t have to be completely overwhelming – by breaking the process down in to smaller steps, it will hopefully make things more manageable and you will be confident in choosing a career that is fulfilling and feels right for you.

Don’t forget Graduate Talent can also help and support you at the beginning of your career journey! Send your CV to enquiries@graduatetalent.com and our recruitment manager will get in touch with any opportunities that suit you.

This article was written by Amy Evan-Cook