Introduction
Skills
Reflection
Information
Job sites
Work experience
Planning
Techniques
Matching

In three years, you can travel light years

Skills: importance of
Not everyone wants to do what they’re good at. Young tennis players burn out, budding violin prodigies join punk bands and, not without a little regret, excellent maths pupils become lecturers in International Relations. This section is not going to say ‘you’re good at mental arithmetic — become an accountant’. If you want a challenge you might try something which doesn’t come naturally or do something ‘character building’ while you’re young enough. It is not easy knowing what to pick; hard choices have to be made Jean-Luc!

This said, there are skills which you are going to need for almost any career. And even for those where they may not be essential (a tennis player for instance — like Bjorn Borg!) they will make life a whole lot easier. So, we are talking about communication, presentation, listening, time-keeping, organisation and so on. The first thing you will learn in this section is the importance of not only practical and intellectual but also personal skills.

But of course, as the old saying goes, we can’t all be good at everything, so as an important first stage it is important to identify what you are good at. It may be sensible to develop these further and to aim for a career which requires such skills. On the other hand, having identified what you can do it may be as well to look into developing those skills you don’t have. The brilliant essay is ruined if handed in scrawled. The great ideas are lost in an oral presentation where all thought has been given to content rather than delivery. In my experience, even those people who are supremely confident still have things to learn — usually about how to deal with those who are not!

Finally, I want to suggest that how you record your skills is extremely important. If you do this, when the interviewer says ‘So can you give me an example of your ability to work in and lead groups?’ an answer will come readily to mind. Much better for your marvellous portrayal of Yasser Arafat heading the Palestinian delegation in the Foreign Policy simulation to come springing to your mind than the recent impressive win by the Sunday football team you captain, in which you score 7 of 9.

For further suggestions on how to identify and develop skills and to identify and plug gaps in them, try the following links:

Student Support Services
Libraries and Learning Resources
IT Qualifications (ECDL & ICDL at NTU)
Study skills for Arts and Humanities students

Reflection: Values, Personality and Life Choices
Why did Bruce Robinson dump his 100K City job to work for peanuts? Well because — though it may not seem like it struggling through a degree — money may provide comfort but will not, necessarily guarantee happiness. Whilst graduates will tend to compare the status of their job in terms of the starting salary, it is only one possible way of measuring career success. This section is not going to tell you what to think — money may be your prime motivator — but it merely suggests a few things you might want to think about.

Your values and your personality may, in the first instance, proscribe or suggest certain careers as much as the possession of certain skills would. A very skillful footballer may not make a footballer if they have no competitiveness about them. Not sure why I keep using sporting analogies — insidious Americanisation I guess! Anyhoo...even if you have decided that you are a ruthless competitive go-getter it is still worth considering alternative conceptions of defining career success. Some careers will be better in terms of life choices you will make; certain careers may have implications depending on your sex, sexuality, gender, religion or ethnicity. Beyond this, some people may want a job where they are valued by colleagues, or the top of a hierarchy or where they can balance work and home etc. It is all these kinds of questions which we are asking you to think about. If they can make the 100+K a year man dump his job, they are probably worth thinking about...

Information
Your specialist skills have been identified as plate spinning and public speaking. You would like a job which involves travel and public adulation. You join a human circus and live happily ever after. Oh if only ‘t’were that simple...alas most of us will end up in another type of circus; the circus of life with many ‘balls to be juggled’ and ‘lions’ to be tamed.

What was this bit about again? Oh yes, once you know what you can do, what you’re going to try to develop and how this fits into your whole spiritual/value ‘what’s it all about’ groove thang, then you’ll want information on different sorts of jobs; different sorts of courses, work-experience options...That’s right isn’t it? Well here ‘tis my lovelies! I mean who’d have thought there was a job where you could get away with writing this drivel?

Seriously, click on 'Information' in the left hand side bar at the top of this page to take you to a magical wonderworld of opportunity, riches and power beyond your wildest dreams...(I’m off again).

Planning
Maybe the above steps don’t seem that simple to you. Getting skills, values and opportunity to match up is surely not that easy? Well you’re right, and this section is here to get you thinking about the kind of things you can do to help you make the right choices. Stuff like action-planning, brainstorming, decision-making and various practical issues.

It’s a tough universe out there full of people motivated by honour, greed (profit), speed and so on on. Isn’t it logical to be prepared? Don’t cloak yourself — explore!

Outline
Skills
Reflection
Information
Planning