Making career choices

It's never too early to start thinking about your career choices.  The choices you make, even before starting University, all have a part to play in your future, so spending some time thinking these through is a good idea.

The influences on your career choices so far (such as how you came to be studying at the University of Aberdeen) and in the future are many and varied and are often attributed to fate.  But, actually, you made the choice to take the opportunities which have arisen for you along the course of your life.  So a good way to approach making career choices is to decide to discover and be open to the many opportunities which surround you.  There are many tools to help you to discover these opportunities.

Career choice tools

There isn't a one size fits all solution, as people like to approach decisions such as these in different ways.  Here are some of the types of career choice tool for you to choose from. 

Tools for generating career ideas

Here are some links to different sets of websites which can help you to generate career ideas as a starting point. 

Search the Virtual Library by your degree subject to find ideas about the jobs types particularly suited to the skills and experience you will gain from your degree subject.  You can get some ideas by looking at information about the destinations of previous graduates from your degree subject.

If you prefer, there are a growing number of career-related Video clip websites which aim to introduce you to different areas of work through short video clips. 

Some tools collect information from you (about things like your motivations, interests and levels of various skills) and use this information to generate a list of job ideas for you to consider.  With these tools, it's important to remember that the quality of ideas you get relies on the quality of information you input into the system.  Link here to a range of tools for you to consider using.

Career matching tools

These tools will take you through a series of questions, card sorts and/or tests to build up a profile about aspects such as your motivation, your skills and your qualifications.  Based on this profile, these tools will provide you with a list of job types which match to some degree.  These tools can be a good starting point, but you need to be quite self-aware in the first place to be able to build up an accurate profile. If you need help with this first, see the exploring your options section.

Link here to the full range of career matching tools.

Career strategy

Once you've got some career ideas, the next step is to think about how to make sense of them and how to transform your ideas through to some kind of plan of action!  Here are some tools and resources to help you progress with your ideas.

Researching your ideas is important to deepen your understanding and to help you to make decisions about the suitability of each of your ideas.  Links here include those to get an insight into what different career options involve and also information about levels of opportunities using information about the labour market.

Career decision making tools

How the Careers Service can help

Not everyone wants to base their career decisions on the results of a computer programme!  There are so many factors and influences on career decisions that there comes a time when a computer reaches its limitations - this is the time to speak with a Careers Adviser!

Speak to a Careers Adviser in person

If you'd like to talk through your career options and choices in person, then this is best done in a full-length appointment with the Careers Adviser for your degree subject.  You can make an appointment by telephoning our office on 01224 273601 or by calling in to our office on the 2nd floor of the Hub.

Can't come to the office?

IF you'd like to get in touch with a Careers Adviser but are unable to come to the office, we can communicate with you in the following ways as follows:-

• Online - submit your query via our Virtual Adviser Service for a response within 3 working days.
• Telephone - contact our office to schedule a telephone appointment with the Careers Adviser for your subject.