Planning your future career Calum Leckie Careers Adviser Careers Group, University of London

Some Facts About the UK Job Market Increasing number of students with post graduate qualifications 60% of all graduate jobs are open to any degree discipline Employers seeking mix of educational & work experience 67% of graduates move employer at least once within their first 4 years of work Move towards employees managing their own career 93% UK companies are SMEs

Career management cycle Self- exploration Option generation Research Taking decisions Implementatio n Transition management SO R TI T

Self-knowledge - VIPS What are your… Values? Interests? Priorities? Skills?

Generating ideas Purpose – what do you want to contribute to? – Who is already achieving it? Passion – what inspires you? – Who shares your passion? Prowess – what are you good at? – Who produces what you could produce? People – who do you want to serve? – Who interacts with the people you want to serve?

Generating Ideas Career Destinations of Previous Graduates Computer aided guidance eg. Prospects planner on Look at job adverts in relevant employment areas -Do you have the skills / experience required? Talk to people in employment about their jobs (networking) Occupational directories (prospects, careers library) -

Skills Sought by Employers (% finding short supply of each skill, source AGR) 8 Computer Literacy (6%) 7Numeracy (19%) 6Knowledge & competence in discipline (19%) 5Problem Solving (32%) 4Teamworking Skills (33%) 3Leadership (33%) 2Communication Skills (64%) 1Business Awareness (67%)

Effective Research: Knowing what you want WHY are you doing it? Purpose, rewards, outcomes, satisfaction, meaning, worth, value WHAT are you doing? Topics, activities, skills WHO are you doing it with/for? Colleagues, clients, managers, background, intelligence, outlook, variety, frequency, intensity HOW are you doing it? Approach, personality, being yourself, congruence WHERE are you doing it? Working environment, geography, travel, relocation WHEN are you doing it? Work–life balance, career progression and development

Where to Research Use for profiles of 100s of grad jobswww.prospects.ac.uk Browse careers library for books and take away material on Careers areas (some specific to research staff) – job & person profiles Come to careers presentations, courses & fairs – listed at Read industry press Talk to people doing the job - NETWORKING Do short work experience or work shadowing Use specialist recruitment agencies to get temp work

How do people get jobs? Office of National Statistics

Networking Contacts can tell you about: – nature of occupations – current developments – industry scandal – skills needed – ways into an organisation – impending vacancies – the selection procedure

Ways of generating contacts Ex-colleagues, friends, family Industry professional bodies Authors of trade journals Vacancy pages Careers directories e.g. prospects.ac.uk Newspaper articles Employer websites Networking events & activities Online Networking sites:

Career management cycle Self- exploration Option generation Research Taking decisions Implementatio n Transition management SO R TI T

Set Goals Break down the path to the career of your choice into a series of achievable stages When will you know when you have reached each stage? What information do you need? Set realistic time scales Remember SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Resourced, Timed It may be useful to produce an action plan

DONT PANIC!!! Because: This is a decision about your next step, not the rest of your life Most people change jobs in the course of their working life From a wrong choice, youll learn a lot about yourself and what you do want But: Do start thinking about careers now Dont just grab at jobs without considering what you want and researching

Careers services – further info. – 4 th Floor, ULU Building, Malet Street – – Tel: , – Monday to Thursday 09: :00 Friday 11: :00 Wednesday 17: :00 (Information Resources only)