“Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” — Chris Grosser
Starting our careers isn’t always easy. And it starts so early in life, during our school years as a matter of fact. As a Career Coach at Mastering It, I get to hear many stories of many different people’s career journeys and I can conclude that there is definitely no right or wrong way of doing it. Our careers are life-long projects. That we don’t endeavor alone. We partner with mentors, friends and family or we reach out to professional services to invest in our careers.
Perhaps you have just completed school, and your career, which has actually already started, is a whole new world that you now need to get to know. By this time you would’ve already had to make some big decisions that determine your career path – choosing your subjects in Grade 9, choosing a direction for after school (further studies, work or perhaps a gap year) and the part-time jobs that you did during your school career.
Or perhaps you are already in a career but are at a point where you want to change career paths or are wondering, “What is next?”. In today’s society this is not an uncommon place to find yourself at. Entering into a new career path is not the worst thing that you could choose to do. It may even be the best thing you ever choose to do. But do it with wisdom and guidance from people that know you and can help you make an informed decision that is in your best interests.
The main thing we need to realise is that everything about you – whether you studied in a certain field before, stayed at a hostel during university or started working part-time early in life, all of these factors add to who you are and affect your career. You learn skills, personality traits form and you build a network of people who can bring new opportunities.
So then, when looking at your career, there are some important starting points that you should consider:
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Know yourself
If someone were to ask you now, what are your skills, values, personality traits or strengths, would you be able to answer them?
A simple exercise would be to take some time and reflect on this.
How have people described you in the past? What are some skills you have needed to use in the past for different things? What gets you excited and what you are passionate about?
You don’t always need to have big things to identify here – the litte, things we often dismiss or think are unimportant, are actually the things worth mentioning.
Try an online personality test, for free, and get to know yourself a bit better – https://www.123test.com/career-test/
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Know your options
There are so many different job opportunities out there, often in industries we are quite unaware of.
It is hugely important to get to know the type of industries out there a bit better – why not have a look here: https://joboutlook.gov.au/Industry. Thereafter, take a few moments and write down what industries interest you and the different jobs in that field that you can potentially see yourself in. Consider what you know about yourself and evaluate what you will enjoy about the different jobs and what you will not. Knowing what you wouldn’t want to do and what you wouldn’t enjoy in a job is also a step in the right direction.
Other ways of grasping opportunities are chatting with mentors, volunteering somewhere to get exposure in a certain field or do a few weeks of job shadowing to explore different fields. This will help you to get a better idea of what a certain job is all about as well as what opportunities are out there.
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Keep on upskilling yourself
This is an important principle – practicing lifelong learning. This doesn’t come naturally for all of us. Online platforms are an invaluable resource in this regard. They make it so much easier for you to enroll in a course and then complete it at your own pace, within your own schedule. Have a check-in on the hobbies that you are interested in, or do a course on a skill you want to improve on. There is such a variety out there! We find a lot of great courses on https://www.udemy.com/.
Should you be needing any additional help or guidance with your career, contact us at Mastering It:
Location: George, Garden Route
Website: www.masteringit.co.za (Online services available)
Contact details: Maryke Jooste – maryke@masteringit.co.za
We are passionate about careers and helping people to reach their full potential!