A step-by-step guide to making a career decision

People make career decisions in all kinds of ways. Sometimes things happen by chance, or opportunities open up along your way.

But many career decisions come after lots of thought and planning. Here are some suggestions to get you thinking about your career. Give yourself a good block of time to work through the steps – perhaps a few weeks for each.

Step 1: Get to know what you like doing

Deciding on a career is easier if you take some time to get to know yourself. A good starting point is to think about what you are interested in doing.

For example, do you like working with your hands? Are you good with numbers? Or are you creative, preferring drawing or writing?

Other questions to ask yourself are:

• What am I good at?
• What do I like to do in my spare time?
• What have I achieved already?

As you do things throughout your day make a note of when you are most happy and what you are doing at that time. You may even want to draw yourself doing something fun. What is it?

Find out more about yourself

Use the following tools to find out more about your interests, skills and favourite subjects, and how they can point you toward jobs that might suit you.

Subject matcher - Find job ideas that match the subjects you enjoy.

Jobs by interest - Find job ideas that match your interests.

Skill matcher - Find job ideas that match your skills.

Pathfinder - Get career ideas and advice that will help you plan your future.

Other things you can do

• Talk to people you trust, and who know you well. Ask them what they think your strengths and skills are.
• If you have a part-time job, think about asking your employer what parts of the job they think you do well.

You can also download the following resources, print them out, and fill in the parts about yourself:

• Learning and careers plan – fill in the About Me page
• Career Planit – passenger portrait (Years 7 to 9)
• Career Planit – passenger profile (Years 9 to 11)
• Career Planit – star log (Years 11 to 13)

Action - Make a job list

After doing these activities you will probably have a list of at least three to six job ideas, maybe more. Jot these down on a piece of paper.

Step 2: Find out more about the jobs you like

Great, you’ve got some ideas about jobs you might like to do. Now it’s time to find out more about them, particularly the qualification or training you might need. That way you can make an informed choice about the job.

Research questions

Three questions to keep in mind when you are finding out about a job are:

1. How can I get into the job?
2. Do I need to study or train?
3. What are the future opportunities and pay like?
   
   

How to start your research

Find out more about the jobs you're interested in and what training you might need.

• Jobs – search for information about more than 600 jobs
• Use our database to find out more about courses and training providers
• Industries – find out if an industry is growing and if it offers good job opportunities

Though he now wishes he'd paid more attention, Sonny Davis says that when he was at school he never had much time for careers advice. However, there was one thing he did find helpful:

"The things that did really get to me were the seminars, and meeting people who had actually been in the job and hearing them talking about their experiences. That was really good."

Sonny Davis, Hotel Porter

Read more about what Sonny has done to decide on a career

Other things you can do

• Talk to your careers adviser at school about your job ideas.
• Look for information in the careers section of your school or local library.
• Talk to someone who has done the job or course you are thinking of doing. This is valuable for finding out what the job or course is really like.
• Contact employers, industry representatives or professional associations to find out the latest news from the industry. They usually have contact people listed on their website.
• Visit a careers expo or careers evening to get information.
• Contact tertiary education providers for course information or visit their websites. You could even make an appointment to see a course adviser to talk to them about a specific course.
• Attend polytech and university open days.
• Do some work experience in the job you are interested in. You may be able to do this along with your school work, so talk to your careers adviser or Gateway co-ordinator to find out more.

After going out on patrol with the police as part of the Gateway programme, Andrew Purvis has mapped out a plan for his future.

"I’m going to join the Army for a while, then when I get out I’ll try the police force."

Andrew Purvis, Student

Read more about Andrew's Gateway experience

• Read more about how work experience can help you
• Find contact details for industry training organisations

Action - Revise your job list

Revise your job ideas list, keeping the jobs you like best, and taking out jobs you have decided against. You may have discovered new jobs you want to include. You should now have a list of two or three job choices that you really like.

Step 3: Make a choice about which option is best

Now that you have a shortlist of job choices, it’s time to figure out the best option for you, as well as a backup.   

Comparing your choices

Everyone makes choices differently. You could try making a list of the pros and cons to evaluate each option. You could also talk to someone about which option might be best.

Remember, it’s OK to take your time. If you are stuck, remember that your instincts about what feels right are important and may help.

Use these worksheets to help you compare one choice with another:

• Course content comparisons worksheet (PDF - 65KB)
  
• What if I do? What if I don’t? worksheet (PDF - 42KB)
  

Talk about your choices with others

It sometimes helps to talk about your choices with others. They can help you with information you may not have thought about. Some people you could talk to are:

• your family
• friends – about where they are heading and how they made their choices
• a Modern Apprenticeship co-ordinator or industry contact if you are thinking about a trade or job covered by an industry training organisation (ITO)
• your careers adviser at school
• course advisers at universities and polytechs
• Career Services staff.

Action - Decide on a first and second choice

Now that you have compared your job choices, decide which is your first choice, and which is your second.

Step 4: Make a plan to help you reach your goal

Now that you have a firm idea about what you want to do, it’s time to plan how you will get there.  

Action - Write down your goal

Write down your goal. Be specific. Then think about the steps you need to take to achieve your goal. Add a date to your goal as you are more likely to stick to it.   

Learning and careers plan – fill in the My Goals and Reach My Goals pages

An example of goal setting

Goal: To become a horse trainer.

Steps I'll take to achieve this goal:

• I'll do a National Certificate in Equine at the local polytech, which I will apply for in November.
• I'll try to find a part-time job next month as a stablehand so I’m getting experience in the industry.

Applying for courses and training

• Going into tertiary study - Action plan (PDF 79K)
  

Applying for an apprenticeship or industry training