1. Get ahead
Understanding yourself is the first step in developing your career journey and your career plan.
The good news about developing your career journey is that there are no right or wrong answers, as it’s all about you and what you would like to achieve, no matter what your goals are or where you’d like to be. Understanding yourself is a very important and exciting first step in your journey.
To understand yourself you need to be able to reflect on your experiences and challenge yourself. This may not be easy but will help you on your career journey. Being able to reflect is an important part of learning and it is a useful skill when you start your university career when you are expected to become an independent learner. To practise reflection to support your career planning, start with thinking what you have learned from various life, work and study experiences, consider how you felt about them and how they affected your behaviour, then use what you learned to challenge your own and other people’s perspectives.
"Career planning is important to both experienced and new starters in the workplace. Determining your short and long-term goals and efficiently targeting your efforts all help you to improve the happiness of your life." - Chinese employer
Use the activities below to help you get ahead:
Understanding more about myself has really helped me to work out why I have a natural preference for creative thinking and social situations. I can now use this knowledge to help me find a job role in a creative industry. I might even start my own business now!
What type of a person are you?
Everyone has their own unique qualities and characteristics and this activity will help you to identify what your unique attributes are:
My career plan
Here is the first step to get you started with your career plan - download the template and take some time to go through the questions which will guide you through creating the start of your own career plan.
Section 1 of the Career Plan is all about you: what kind of person are you, what motivates you and what is important to you in your future career?