DEVELOPING YOUR CAREER IDEAS
• Profiles from recent graduates. • Information about their graduate programmes. • Tips and practice materials for the recruitment • •
processes. Professional bodies’ websites. Free resources at the Careers Service: Podcasts of relevant panel discussions. ‘Our Resources’ sections of our online guidance outlining books and periodicals in the Careers Service Resource Centre. Search for GoinGlobal (country guides) and practise psychometric tests on our website. Join relevant LinkedIn groups to keep up to date with current topics in the sector. Use your Single Sign-On and Bodleian Library membership for free subscriptions to The Financial Times, The Economist and plenty of leading newspapers and industry journals.
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Research: talk to people To go beyond the information on an organisation’s website, talk to people – lots of people – about what they do, what they like and don’t like, and ask for their advice. Read the guidance on how to find and network with people who are able to share their experiences and offer relevant advice and insights into the roles that interest you most. During term time, particularly in Michaelmas term, take advantage of the many chances to meet and talk with company representatives – check the Careers Service Events Calendar on CareerConnect. Attend the careers fairs and our industry panel events to hear from and meet recent graduates and recruiters.
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senior managers, alumni and recruiters. Talk informally with family, alumni, and others to understand their careers and what their organisations are really like: Talk to friends and finalists returning from internships or work placements. Use LinkedIn to find alumni you might approach directly. Join relevant societies to find like-minded students and more events – many with employers. Speak to a careers adviser who has a particular interest in that sector.
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• Attend company presentations and events to meet
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Narrowing down your options
For many people, career planning is an ongoing process, revisited and revised as they gain experience, learn and grow. The choices you make now are just the first steps; changing career direction in the years after graduation is quite common. However, it is important to engage. Make a decision rather than ‘drift’ into a career or further study simply because it seems within reach. To weigh up the ‘pros and cons’ of different choices, analyse your options and listen to your intuitions, with the aim of identifying which roles best match up with your key criteria. One option is to build a ‘decision-making grid’, where you weight the relative importance of your key criteria and score each career option independently. In the worked example (below), it seems that option Y is least attractive – and could be discarded – but it might be worth pursuing both options X and Z as attractive choices. To distinguish between options X and Z more fully, it may be necessary to do further research or add
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