Opportuninities Activities (docx 58KB)
This module is about understanding the concept of a career in today's world, learning about the current world of work, and exploring the range of jobs people are doing in your industry of interest.
A typical career path in the past involved obtaining a job for life. This used to mean job security whereby the organisation would look after you and you could expect steady progression up an organisation promotion structure within the company.
Recently, factors such as technological growth and consumer demand have changed the world of work, resulting in a shift away from a job for life. Career development has now become a lifelong process, rather than a lifelong job. It is a combination of life experience, learning, and work experience (paid & unpaid) throughout your life cycle. Career development involves moving sideways or upwards within an organisation or between organisations, and it is more of a self-driven process.
Change is everywhere. The world of work is constantly changing and we must rely on ourselves much more for stability and direction. In order to do this we need to be aware of the changes that are occurring in the current world of work.
Have I got the right information?
It’s important to make sure that your career decisions are informed (as much as possible) by a realistic assessment of the information available rather than relying on assumptions that you or others may have.
Some of these assumptions may have gained credibility over time, especially if they have been reinforced by the media and people whose opinion you value.
The earlier a person selects a steady career, the better.
The idea of a steady career for life has changed as each person is likely to have several careers in a lifetime. The key is to learn how to change, to master career transition skills, and to maximise the learning you gain from all of your life experiences.
There are many ways of finding out if a person might enjoy working in a particular occupation besides taking a job in that field.
Job shadowing, research, reading, volunteer work and interviewing those in the field are some other ways. These methods will save you time and money and enable you to make changes to your career direction before you are committed to a job.
Somewhere there is a test that can tell me what to do for the rest of my career.
There is no magic about finding the "right" tests, inventories and career assessment instruments to tell you what would be the perfect career for you. These assessment tools help you assemble your motivations, interests, skills and values as they are at the point in your life when you complete them. YOU then take these "jigsaw pieces" and do some exploration to match with career alternatives. Career assessment is something that is useful to do in an informal and ongoing way throughout your career, as your internal and external influences change.
During his/her lifetime, a person is likely to work in several different occupations.
It is now estimated that most adults will work in five to seven occupations during their lifetime. Often people will work in a combination of more than one occupation at any one time. This combination could include a part time job with regular hours, part time self-employment where hours and income may fluctuate, and part time creative practice/voluntary/hobby work. For most people there is no "one job or career for life" anymore.
The current job market determines what career a person should choose.
Individual interests, preferred skills and values determine the occupations in which you are most likely to be successful and find personally satisfying, plus a passion for what you have chosen.
The majority of job seekers find jobs through word of mouth.
It is estimated that 80% of those currently employed found out about their jobs throughout networking, including information interviewing and maintaining mentoring relationships. Employment advertisements in newspapers are only one small component of available opportunities at any given time.
Changing careers indicates there is something "wrong" about a person.
There are many reasons that career change makes sense: desired new learning and personal growth; monetary; labour market demand; reassessment of "who I am and want to be". In a rapidly changing world, career and occupation change is common and does not indicate that there is something "wrong" with a person.
There is no job security any more.
There is no longer an expectation that employers or organisations will take responsibility for an individual.
Change is everywhere. No longer are there short periods of change followed by long periods of stability. We have to learn to live and prosper in a world of constantly changing demands and possibilities.
All this change and possibility happen in an environment where the past does not necessarily prepare us for the future. Some of these changes include technological change, globally competitive markets, new patterns of work and higher educational requirements. Whatever the reasons there has been a series of unmistakable trends, particularly in the world of work you are already in or about to enter.
The following is a list of current work trends
Here are some examples of the changes you can expect in the current world of work:
Why consider my options?
The world of work is constantly changing and it can be challenging to access up-to-date information about specific occupations that you are interested in, and about careers in general.
The internet can be a useful source of career information, and the website used in the following activities is a good place to start.
When we think about career development, we need to consider our lifelong career interests. The following activities assist you to explore the opportunities that may be of interest throughout your career. In order to maximise your graduate job prospects, it is important to have a range of career options available to you.
To enable you to keep up-to-date with your employment opportunities, visit the 'My Guide' section of the MyFuture website. The My Guide section will allow you to investigate and explore your career interests, which may provide you with an opportunity to ready yourself for future employment challenges; preparing you for the changing world of work and employment. The My Guide section of My Future will ask you to create a login username. This login username can stay active forever, so you really can explore and store your career journey!
Building Your Future is adapted from the Career Development Program of the Queensland University of Technology. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Australia License.