Career and Employment Service – choosing a career

Using your degree - options with your subject

Life after Massey

You will have many options in your life after Massey. Here we offer you some starting points if you don't yet know what you want to do, and information to get you where you want to be if you've got definite ideas. Note that job search is a dynamic process and that you are likely to move between its stages a number of times in your working life. Career success can mean finding a job that’s a good fit for you and for this reason the emphasis here is on Self Assessment.

Self assessment

Self-assessment forms the foundation for successful career planning and job search. Why? Well quite simply, because you’ll need to know yourself to know with any clarity what you want. However, although it is an essential step it is one that many people find the most difficult. It will require you to develop your knowledge of:

Your skills and attributes – for example teamwork; communication and problem solving
Your interests – for example business; the environment; agriculture; the media or sport
Your values - for example seeking to help others; concern for the environment or a need for job security

In doing so, you’ll explore your range of skills and interests to see which are the more important – often by review your life experiences to determine your particular interests and strengths. Follow the links below to access computer assisted guidance systems and paper-based questionnaires that will help you with this:

Skills checklist

Career interests profile

Values questionnaire

Personality types

The paper based resources above have been developed by the Careers and Employability Centre at the University of Sussex and are offered with thanks to them.

Using your degree – options with your subject

You may choose to start your career planning by exploring options for which the subject(s) you’ve studied are useful or vital. This can be a good place to begin, as you’ll have been building a portfolio of skills and knowledge throughout your time at Massey. Bear in mind though, that employers will look at wider life skills, too. Use the link below to explore some career areas to think about, based on your subject, remembering that these are simply starting points for generating ideas:

Career options with your subject

Why is self-assessment important?

What job can I do is often a hard question to answer, not least because it is impossible to know about all jobs and what they involve. It’s also hard to predict changes in the job market and the skills and qualifications that will be sought in the future.

Instead, it can be better to ask yourself what are the things that make me happy? Then you can move towards these. These 'happiness factors' change and contain opposites and seeming contradictions. However, take time to consider things you’ve found fulfilling and the connections between them.

This is likely to highlight your skills and attributes, things that you may well have taken for granted. These are things that you do well and you’ll use (and develop) them in everything that you do – your studies; your work and your hobbies and interests.

What would you say that your skills were?
Which of these do you like to use?
Where are you most using each of them at the moment?
What additional skills might you like to develop?

Consider your interests too. Being interested in the work that you do is key to your motivation for it; your success in it; your happiness with it and to developing the skills needed for it. What would you say your interests were? These could include the subjects you’ve been studying but think more broadly too. Consider the whole experience of being a student and what it takes together with your work experience and your extra-curricular activities. Then, ask yourself what you want from a career and from an employer?

Your values have a part to play too and by this we mean your core beliefs and ideals. They centre on what is important to you and how you feel about things. Work that is compatible with your values is much more likely to be work that you do well in and feel comfortable with.

Finally, note your personality. There are six personality types significant to six different occupational environments. It is very possible that you will naturally be drawn to one or two of these types:

Practical

Investigative/Technical

Artistic

Social

Enterprising

Administrative

Bringing this all together

Note that you are not comparing yourself with others. Instead you are looking at the range in each of the factors above to determine which are the most important to you at this stage in your life. Exploring your interests and values may lead you to certain roles; sectors and organisations. Researching these against your knowledge of your skills will help you to consider whether or not you could do these jobs well; address any skills ‘gaps’ that you have and actually enjoy the work.

Action planning

By developing a career action plan you can work towards managing your transition from education to work. Your action plan(s) offer a mechanism by which you can map out the steps you need to take to reach your career goals.

Your action plans can be revisited and changed as your career goals change throughout your career. At this stage though, they may address such factors as:

Exploring career options with your degree?
Researching what recruiters look for in job applicants?
Determining recruitment processes and closing dates in career areas that interest you
Things that you could do to ensure you have the skills and experience needed for the career you’re keen to pursue
Ensuring that you can market yourself effectively throughout the application process.

Use the link below to access an Action Plan template and two sample Action Plans:

Action Plan Template