| Choosing / changing your career. |
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▪ Choosing the right career can be difficult, but with a little hard work and some planning you can set yourself on a path towards a fulfilling career. The following steps may lead you ahead. You firstly have to consider the following:
▪ Your dream career.
▪ Your hobbies.
▪ Your favorite academic subject in school
▪ What skills you excel in.
▪ Your interpersonal skills.
▪ Your current financial state
▪ Your Education level
▪ Your future financial security
▪ Your future job stability
▪ Here we provide you with the Top 10 Tips to Find Your Career Path
• See your career as a set of stepping stones, not a linear path
• Know your options and learn about each one
• Search for what excites and energizes you, but also keep in mind what you're good at
• Know your personality type
• Try an Internship or a voluntary work
• Explore Unconventional Careers
• Take a mentor
• Make a Career Plan
▪ Here are strategies that you will find helpful:
1. Take tests or inventories that measure your abilities, interests, values, and personality. Write out your reactions to the results. The Learn about your personality and introversion and extroversion, following our tips for success.
2. Examine how you use your leisure time -- your hobbies, community projects, activities with social, political, or religious organizations. For each one, write down three headings: Abilities, Interests, and Values. And, under each heading write down your thoughts.
3. Talk with a friend or family member who is a good listener.
4. Talk with a professional counselor; learn about career counseling.
5. Write an autobiography and identify the themes that represent who you are.
6. Write a personal mission statement. In it write: what you want to be, what you want to accomplish in life, and what values or principles you want to guide you.
7. Take on a part-time or temporary job in your area of interest
8. Explore the Internet. To get started, go to job vacancies websites. Exploring the life, work and learning options available to you
9. Compare your options, narrowing down your choices and thinking about what suits you best at this point in time
10. ensuring that your work fits with your personal circumstances;
11. Continuously fine-tuning your work and learning plans to help you manage the changes in your life and the world of work.
Keep in mind
Career planning is an ongoing process so always ask yourself the following questions:
1. Where am I at now?
2. Where do I want to be?
3. What do I want out of a job or career?
4. What do I like to do?
5. What are my strengths?
6. What is important to me?
7. What options do I have to gain these skills or qualify for these occupations?
8. What skills do I need?
9. Where is the work?
10. What are my best work/training options?
11. How do they match with my skills, interests and values?
12. How do they fit with the current labour market?
13. How do they fit with my current situation and responsibilities?
14. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?
15. What will help and what will hinder me?
16. What can I do about it?
17. What actions/steps will help me achieve my work, training and career goals?
18. Where can I get help?
19. Who will support me?
a. At the end of this step you will have:
20. a plan to help you explore your options further (e.g. work experience, work shadowing or more research); or
21. a plan which sets out the steps to help you achieve your next learning or work
Mistakes to avoid when selecting a career:
➢ Listening to people who tell you that you should, or should not, do something: Many people think they should have a say in what career you choose—your parents, your friends, your significant other. They don't. In most cases your decision will have little impact on the other people in your life. You, however, will have to deal with your choice for years to come. Make sure the career you choose is something you want to spend your day doing.
➢ Following in someone else's footsteps: You may be haunted by your parents' expectations to go into the same occupation they are in. You may know it as the one that helped put food in your mouth, kept a roof over your head and even paid your way through school. As hard is it is to do, ignore the pressure you may feel to please your mum and dad. Remember, and if necessary, remind your parents, that they made their own choices and now it's your turn. What was right for them may not be for you. In the long run, there's a good chance they'd rather see you happy in a career of your own choosing than unhappy in one you picked to please them.
➢ Not Doing Your Homework: Don't choose a career without taking the time to learn about it. In addition to a job description, you should make sure to gather information about typical job duties, educational requirements, earnings andjob outlook.
➢ Not Talking to Those in the Know: Your homework isn't complete if you skip talking to someone who currently works in the career field you are considering. Those who are engaged in an occupation can provide you with a truthful account of what it's really like to work in it. If possible talk to a few people to avoid individual biases.
➢ Going for the Money: Bringing home a paycheck is important, but the size of it isn't actually a great predictor of job satisfaction. In other words, you can make six figures, but if you hate what you're doing, you'll find it hard to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Look for a balance between making enough money to support yourself and work that fulfills you.
➢ Ignoring Who You Are: Your personality type, interests, values and aptitude make you better suited for some occupations than others. These traits are intrinsic, which means you can't change them. If you don't take them into account when selecting a career, there is an excellent chance you will wind up in an occupation that is unsuitable for you.
➢ Not Considering Location: Jobs in certain occupations are concentrated in specific cities—Dublin or London for example—or in certain types of locations—such as cities versus rural areas. If you live somewhere that doesn't offer many opportunities in your field and you aren't willing to relocate, you will have trouble getting a job.
➢ Not Looking Beyond a "Best Careers" List: Lists that tell you what careers have the best opportunities of the year, decade or whatever, can be a helpful guide when it comes to selecting a career. However, making a decision based solely on one of those lists is a terrible idea. Even an occupation with a great outlook can be a bad fit, so you have to scratch below the surface to find out whether you and a career are a good match.
➢ Ignoring the Future: While you shouldn't make your choice solely on an occupation's appearance on a "best careers list," to ignore employment outlook is careless. There's a good chance you don't have a crystal ball that can tell you with certainty whether an occupation will grow, or at least be stable, during the course of your career. However, you can do more than hope for the best. You should consider whether a career has a promising future before you begin to prepare for it. You can at least eliminate something if its future looks bleak.
➢ People rarely know right away what career they should be in and it takes most people several years to settle into the path they will follow. Don’t feel like you’re behind!
➢ If you don’t like your career, change it! Sometimes it takes more work, especially if you’re older, but it’s possible for anyone.
➢ It’s not the end of the world if you choose a career that isn’t something you dreamed of doing ever since you were little. If you have a job that doesn’t make you miserable but which securely provides for your and your family’s future, you will be surprised how happy you feel about your life and career.
➢ Listen to your heart.
➢ You never know what you are good at! Just spend more time with yourself and get to know about yourself.
➢ The better you know yourself, the better the choice.
Changing a career
Receiving a job offer can be exciting and it is natural to accept straight away. However, it pays to think things through first. Here are some tips on what to do when someone offers you a job.
➢ Don't be afraid of asking as many questions as you need to make a good decision. Important things to cover off are:
1. Is the organisation one you want to work for?
• Do the organizations’ goals and beliefs match yours?
• Is the organization small, medium or large? Maybe you prefer a larger company with international locations so there is potential to move around?
• Is it a new or established company?
• Is there a supportive work team?
2. Is the job itself a good fit for you?
• Does the job match your interests?
• Does it make good use of your skills?
• How important is the job within the company? Is this important to you?
• What about the hours – are they flexible, regular or is it shift work?
• How long do people tend to stay in this job? (A high turnover of staff may indicate that staff are not happy there.)
• Is travel, parking or public transport a consideration?
• Does the location suit you?
3. What opportunities will this job give you?
• Is there a chance to learn new skills?
• Are there any training programs in place?
• What opportunities are there for promotion?
4. Are the benefits and pay right for you?
If you have done your research, you should have an idea already of what is a fair pay rate for the job. In most cases, you can find out a pay range from the employer before you even attend the interview.
Then consider:
• Is the salary offer fair?
• What is the cost of living?
• How often is the salary reviewed?
• Is a commission offered? Are there bonuses?
• What are the holiday and leave provisions like?
• Are there any benefits and discounts? For example, gym, share offers, buying privileges, superannuation employer contributions, or childcare?
• Do you get supplied with technology?
- If you're still not sure, you can do some further research about current pay rates for similar jobs.
- Be careful about accepting offers if you are uncertain about the jobYou may want to accept a job offer because you think you can back out of it later - say if a better job comes along. But many employers consider it unethical (and inconvenient), so your reputation in the industry could be at stake.Always get a written offer or sign a contract before you resign from your current job. If something goes wrong and your new employer withdraws the job, you could end up out of work.
Resignation letters
A thoughtful resignation letter can help you maintain a positive relationship with your old employer - which is useful as you never know when you'll need their help in the future. Find out what you should cover in your letter, and use our letter templates and examples.
Tips for writing your resignation letter
If you know you're leaving a job, the first thing you should do is talk to your manager so that they're not caught by surprise. Once you've done that, you're ready to follow up with a formal resignation letter.
Your letter should be brief and to the point – you don't need to include a lengthy explanation of why you’re resigning. If you have a good relationship with your employer, show your goodwill by talking about how your time at the company has benefited you.
If you're resigning because the job hasn’t been a good fit, there's no point in being negative. You’re leaving the job, and you want to leave on good terms. Also, you never know when other employers might want to check on your employment history – so it’s best to leave with a clean slate.
A basic resignation letter should give the facts first, such as:
• your role in the organisation
• that you’re resigning from this role
• the last day you will work.
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