Working out what you want to do after university can be daunting. Having no idea about your future is one of the main reasons people come to the Careers and Employability Service. Working towards an answer involves:
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identifying what matters to you
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identifying what you’ve got to offer
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exploring options
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making decisions
Work out what matters to you
What are your interests, skills, talents and work preferences? What gives you a buzz and motivates you? Make a list and talk to friends, family and tutors.
Your strengths and skills
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Use Prospects Planner or TARGETjobs Careers Report - two online programmes to help you generate career ideas based on your skills, interests and motivations
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Use
Profiling for Success - to develop an understanding of your personality to help you identify careers that might suit you. With questionnaires to identify your preferred learning styles, personality traits, career interests and values.
We subscribe to Profiling for Success and so The University of Nottingham students can access FREE of charge.
Using your subject
To what extent do you want to use your subject in your future career? Search for your subject on the Prospects website and find some suggested potential career options and the skills developed through your course - reference these on your CV!
What did other students from your course go onto?
Find out what other students from your course went on to do. Choose your subject from the graduate destinations section of our website or, for more in-depth information, use the Where are they now? programme available in our office
Explore careers
Once you have worked out what matters to you, you will need to find out what the jobs involve to help you make an informed choice.
Read what the jobs involve
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Narrow down your ‘list’ to the most interesting ─ use the information on our Types of jobs pages
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The Job Crowd - read the job reviews from people doing the jobs. Find out what you would do on a day-to-day basis, positives and negatives, hours of work etc
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Talk to professionals in those roles
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Attend employer presentations, fairs and 'Careers in…' workshops. Visit the events page for details of what's on when
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Benefit from being mentored by one of our alumni professionals through the careers mentoring scheme
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Organise work shadowing or work experience
How to decide on the right career
Identifying your decision-making style will aid your focus as will understanding barriers and issues which can interfere with your decision making, such as:
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negative thoughts
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external pressures
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personal circumstances
More help to work out what career will suit you
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Talk to a member of staff to help you explore and generate ideas.
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Sign up and attend our workshop ‘Choosing a career' during the autumn and spring terms
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CareerPlayer - watch an online video about choosing a career - tips and advice that will help you!
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Sign up for the Nottingham Advantage Award and choose the Career Planning Skills module
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We have a copy of After you Graduate: Finding and getting work you will enjoy available for reference only