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Career Planning Goals
Career Planning Goals
Career planning reduces impulsive decisions and helps recognise when you're ready for new opportunities. It helps you be better prepared for applying for placements and graduate jobs. It gives you better job satisfaction when your work reflects your interests, skills and values.
It is very rare that you will find a career/job where you love every aspect of it but it is ensuring that you are aware of what you want, what opportunities are available and how to secure and succeed in these.
Career planning takes place over your entire career and these key principles can help you get started.
You will have many work chapters in your life and these key elements can help better prepare you.Each work chapter can and will play a different role and fulfil different needs. For some chapters the needs might be money, where in others it could be having a more work life balance.
Create a Career Development Plan in Four Steps:
Create a Career Development Plan in Four Steps:
1.) Identify Your Skills & Interests
These are an important aspect to seeing if you will enjoy a career/sector when applying for jobs part time or full time, placements or volunteering opportunities. Think about the skills you have gained from study, part time work, volunteering, placements and societies. Think about your experiences and how you have developed transferable skills. Some examples of transferable skills are:
Problem Solving
Written Communication/report writing
Presentation
Team Work
Leadership
Work on your own initiative
2.) Exploring Career Ideas
Where to start?
Start by mind mapping careers and organisations related to your interests.
Talk to others for ideas. Visit the "Working In" section of this site for career ideas and case studies. Research organisations that align with your values and offer placements or work experience.
Connect with alumni on LinkedIn to see where they're working. Stay positive and be flexible in your job search.
Gain work experience and volunteer. Consider E-Mentoring.
Network and attend events.
Have plans A, B, and C for your career.
Start to think about what is personally important to you?
Is working for yourself appealing? Is this something that you can do straight away or something you do later in your career?
What are you prepared to compromise on? Are you willing to be flexible on something to have something else?
Do you have health issues that could affect your career choices? Remember though that employers have to provide reasonable workplace adjustments to meet the needs of disabled persons.
3.) Making a Decision
How do I make a decision if a perfect career doesn't exist? Consider areas where you can compromise now and explore other careers that may suit you.
Be open to chance and intuition. Take short-term opportunities after university to gain experience and explore interests.
Treat every step as part of your career development. If you need time out, consider travel, work experience, voluntary work, teaching English, or personal reasons.
Be prepared to talk about your experiences in a positive and analytical manner when discussing with potential employers. Plan your time out well, secure your finances, have clear goals, and think about what you'll do afterwards.
4.) Set Achievable Goals
Your career plan should outline how you'll get to where you want to be, what actions are needed and when, and separated into your short, medium and long-term goals. Constantly review your progress, especially after each short-term goal is reached.
You must also establish a backup career development plan, in case your situation changes.
Map several alternative paths to your long-term goal, considering how you'll overcome the types of problems you might encounter - such as training requirements - at each step.
Your first short-term goal may involve improving your CV and cover letter. Other short or medium-term targets could include undertaking relevant placements, gaining volunteering experience or attending careers fairs.
Make an appointment with your university's careers service to ask an adviser to check over your career action plan and discuss your career choices and goals for the future, if you feel you need some professional reassurance. Check out the Careers & Employability Services pages.
Finally, don't forget that career planning is a continuous process!
Revisit and review your aims and objectives throughout your career, and don't feel constrained by the goals you've set - the structure of a career plan should help you clearly map out the route to trying something new.
Resources and Articles
Resources and Articles
↑ The Gradconsult Blog - Here is a rough blueprint for students to follow in terms of planning their career at university. It’s important to realise these ideas are flexible and you must add context to your situation to work out what’s best for you. These are simply pointers for you to consider
↑ Careers & Employability Service - As a graduate of the University of Sheffield, you can continue to use many of our services for as long as you need us* including access to online resources, vacancies, events and appointments.
↑ PlanningJobs.com - Your source for the best jobs in Planning across the UK. Scroll down for our latest jobs, or use the search.
↑ StudentLadder.com - There is a host of opportunities on offer including surveying, quantity surveying, project management, engineering, supply chain, procurement, health & safety and planning as well as central functions such as finance, marketing and HR.
↑ StudentLadder.com - Opportunities range from surveying, sales, finance, project management and many others. Firms recruiting are both property development companies, corporates, estate agents or commercial property consultants.
↑ Exploring the CareerEDGE model emphasises essential aspects of employability: career development learning, experience, degree subject knowledge, skills, generic skills, and emotional intelligence.
E-Mentoring!
E-Mentoring!
If you want to find out more about what a particular job involves, day to day, and the best route in, a mentor can be a great sounding board for your ideas, and help you to stand out from the crowd when you do move into the jobs market.
The next eMentoring scheme will run in Spring 2024. Applications will open to students on Monday 5th February and will close on Sunday 25th February. If you are interested in taking part, please register your interest to be one of the first to hear when applications open again.
What is it?
eMentoring is open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students. It's a great way to find out more about the world of work as you are able to network with a professional doing a job that interests you. They can provide practical advice, an insider’s insight, and an opportunity to develop your skills. Two schemes operate per year: October to December and February to April.
"As a 2nd year student I had a million questions about career options, job applications and working in industry. The transition from university to working life is a daunting journey. The eMentoring scheme is the perfect tool to help bridge this gap, expel any fears and build confidence. Through the scheme I was matched with an experienced mentor that eagerly shared her wealth of knowledge with me. Through numerous video calls, she answered my myriad of questions, provided personalised and extensive tips on applications, skills, networking and the industry, including conducting a mock interview! Though I’ve finished the scheme, the support and knowledge I’ve gained from it will definitely remain with me as I embark on the start of my career."
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