Developing your career plans takes time. But wherever you are with your career planning (perhaps you are just getting started or you may already have a clear career direction), whether you’re only in your first year or you’ve already graduated, there will be useful steps you can take to move your career plans forward.
Think about your career goals, consider what you’ve already done in terms of your career planning, and try to identify smaller actions you need to take next to move your career plans forward. You might want to set milestones and put some timescales against these actions.
If you don’t yet have a clear career direction, your actions might include spending some time researching options (e.g. watching careers videos or attending careers talks), doing a ‘self audit’ and trying to get some work shadowing to give you an insight into different roles. If you already know what you want to do, actions might include developing a targeted CV for your chosen sector and trying to obtain relevant work experience.
If you’re not sure what your individual priorities for action should be, you could:
- Try Career KickStart – this interactive quiz will help you assess your ‘career readiness’ and obtain a career action plan in just 3 minutes.
- Book an appointment with a careers consultant - this can help you focus on your priorities and draw up an action plan that meets your needs.