Work and career: how to find opportunities, then be prepared for and make the most of them

In this module, we’re going to go over work and career, including how to find opportunities, how to be prepared for them and how to make the most of them when they arise.

It’s never too early to explore the different education and career options available. Whether you already have some thoughts about what you may want to do next, or you haven’t considered it at all yet, it’s helpful to find out about all the choices available.

Looking at specific career paths can identify what skills or qualifications you will need, what the day-to-day tasks are and what the job progression possibilities might be.

Key questions

1. Do you understand career possibilities in a global economy?
2. Do you know how to identify and evidence your strengths and skills?
3. Do you know how to identify and maximise employment opportunities?

Within this module, we’re going to cover;

• Knowing yourself and what’s important to you:
  • How to identify and evidence strengths and skillsDetermining your values and your ‘why’
  • Choosing a job and potential career path
• Finding opportunities and taking them:
  • Finding opportunitiesHow to prepare a concise and compelling C.V.
  • Preparing for interviews
• Wider employment considerations:
  • Misconceptions about employment
  • Networking

Lets get into it!

Knowing yourself and what’s important to you

How to identify and evidence strengths and skills

Task one

Take 10 minutes to write 5 things which YOU are skilled at.
Tip; This can be a hard exercise for people, either to be self-aware enough to be aware of these skills, or to have the confidence to acknowledge they are skills! This can be a question we extend to loved ones and those who know us well; “When have you seen me at my best?”. Then, consider what skillset you were using in that situation.
Examples; Communication, leadership, positivity, teamwork, flexibility, critical thinking, problem solving, time management, creativity.

The strengths you bring to the workplace are an advantage for both you and your employer. By understanding your strengths, you can focus on areas where you can excel, and seek out opportunities to leverage them to achieve success.

After identifying your skills, it’s important to evidence those, across your CV, job applications and within the workplace. You can scatter key phrases and terms throughout your CV or cover letters to demonstrate your strengths to potential employers. For example, if you’re a good communicator, you might mention that you use your communication skills to work well in team environments and customer-facing roles.

If you’re being interviewed for a position at a company, showcasing your workplace strengths can accentuate what you can bring to a company. When talking about how your strengths can help you in your job, reinforce this with good posture, body language and eye contact throughout the interview. These are the kinds of communication skills that show confidence and that you are easy to work with.

Finally, the best platform to show off your workplace strengths is while you are working. This is a real-world example of how you add value to a company through your own employee strengths. This could take shape in a number of ways, from leading a team meeting, that shows strong collaboration skills, to taking the initiative on a project, which demonstrates your own motivation. Get creative with it and lean into what you do well at work to show your superiors your strengths.

If you are struggling for confidence or identifying key skills, remember there is also much you can bring to a workplace, regardless of what skills you possess.

Determining your values and your ‘why’

Your values are the beliefs and principles that you believe are important in the way that you live and work. How your values align with your job can impact your motivation, performance and conduct. Understanding these can help you to identify a career or role that meets your needs and catalyses your development.

Your role-based values help you to define your ideal working environment. They are the factors that are most important in fostering job satisfaction, career progression and your perception of career success.

Role-based values can be split into three broad categories:

• Intrinsic: Factors of your role that provide personal meaning and value in their own right. An example could be your enjoyment of your research topic or knowing the impact your work has on the world.
• Extrinsic: The external rewards you receive for doing your job, such as your salary or the recognition you receive for being an expert in your subject.
• Lifestyle: Factors that influence the quality of your life outside of work. Things like flexible working hours to support your work-life balance or the location of your workplace.

An example from Thomas

Thomas works part time with the elderly and vulnerable to maintain their lifestyle. His role is not as well paid as he would like, but he enjoys the flexibility of the reduced hours, and finds the work to be very rewarding.

An example from Malavika

Malavika finds being an academic rewarding. It allows her to be creative, and is comfortable working predominately on her own.

Reflecting on your experiences, think about occasions when you’ve felt particularly fulfilled by your positions or activities, such as member of a team, being a prefect, part of a club etc. What helped to create those feelings? Similarly, think about occasions when you’ve felt frustrated or unhappy – what factors created those feelings and what was lacking?

Choosing a job and potential career path

After considering your strengths, skills and values, it’s worth considering your motivations for working. Perhaps you want a career that will pay a higher entry-level salary than comparable occupations, or one that promises more flexibility so you can work from anywhere. Most careers won’t feature everything you’d like, so it’s important to understand your priorities.

Then, it’s worth also considering your interests and what you enjoy. What subjects have you enjoyed studying, and why? Is it linked to the subject itself, or perhaps the person teaching you? If you had to pick a one of numbers, words, pictures or physical activities, which would it be? Could you see yourself in a job where your top choice formed a big part of what you do every day?

Additionally, you should consider which sector might be most appropriate for you;

• Private: You’ll be employed through a privately owned company or corporation, which typically aims to increase growth and revenue. This can provide a greater potential for growth.
• Public: You’ll be employed through organisations owned and operated by the Government. This can provide greater stability.
• Non-profit: You’ll be employed through an organization not associated with private or public sectors, which is dedicated to addressing or fulfilling a public need. While it does not aim to make revenue the way private businesses do, it must earn enough to achieve its mission and cover overhead. This can provide greater meaning.

An example for a wedding planner:

A relevant skill will be ‘attention to detail’, or ‘organisation’, as your clients will expect you to be across every detail in relation to their special day, and it must go to plan (as least to the extent that it’s in your control!). In terms of interests, you would need to be interested in people and working with people, as you will be working closely with your clients and many vendors being they key point of contact. That passion would allow you to do a great job. Previous experience would likely include a customer service experience or events management. 

Once you start to have a concept of what your top career choices might be, a good next step is to think about some achievable goals. To make your top career choice a reality, what are you going to work towards in the next few months? And in the next few years?

Is there a grade you want to get on a school project or exam? A course you’d like to research? An hour you’d like to spend finding online interviews with people doing your dream job? Your goals can be small or large. They can be achieved this evening or next year – but they must be achievable.

Create your list of achievable goals, add do-by dates, and you’ve taken a big step to not only choosing a career but setting your dream in motion.

Never forget – if you’ve got the interest, you can build the skills and qualifications.

Finding opportunities and taking them

Finding opportunities

How can we go about finding job opportunities? There are a number of routes we can take.

Recruitment agencies; these agencies assist businesses to find the right people to fill job vacancies. They can help you to get full time, part time or temporary work.

Agencies can be helpful in that they can specialise in specific industries, like finance, or healthcare. Additionally, they can be a source for roles which may not be advertised openly. Their websites can be a good place to start, and if the roles they have are interesting to you, they often have a ‘job alert’ system, where you can put in the parameters which suit your needs, and receive emails when those sorts of jobs come up.

Recruitment agencies are a good bridge between those who are job seeking and employers, because they know what employers are looking for. You can register with more than one agency at a time tp increases your chances of finding a job.

Networking sites; You can search for advertised job vacancies on networking sites like LinkedIn. You can apply through your LinkedIn profile or upload your CV. If you are not set up on LinkedIn – now is a good time to do so! It is never to early to get a page set up and connect with your network.

Those who work in recruitment often use LinkedIn or other networking sites to find suitable people. Keep your profile updated and make it as appealing as possible to recruiters.

Employer’s website; Some individuals have certain employers in mind when they start their career. Perhaps aligned to your interests, or it can be those which share similar values to their own, or those at the forefront of their field. In this case, jobs could be located directly from the employer’s website. If you have always wanted to work for the Football Association for example, or Dogs Trust, the NHS, Coca-Cola – it is worth being registered on their website directly. Again, for many you can set up job alerts.

Job fairs; These events are where recruiters come to meet potential employees, and often take place at schools, colleges, universities, careers services, and charities.

Job boards; Job boards are websites that list job vacancies. Similar to recruitment agencies, it could be quite a wide range of jobs, or only those in a specific industry. Most of these websites allow you to apply online with a copy of your CV and cover letter – which can be helpful if you are firing off a few applications! Popular job boards include: CV Library, Indeed, Reed, Monster.

How to prepare a concise and compelling C.V.

A CV is your first chance to promote yourself, and if its well written, it is likely to get you a job interview. Its usually required to apply for a job, and its worth updating this every 3 months whilst the information is fresh. Employers get lots of CVs to look at, so its important that yours is upto date, and easy to digest.

When you write your CV, remember to:

• Use a consistent same style throughout
• Use headings and bullet points to make it easier to read
• Use a clear font like Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri in size 11 or bigger
• Be succinct
• Get someone else to read it to double check your spelling and grammar
• Be clear in labelling your experience and education in reverse chronological order, ie/ most recent first

Your CV should also include a section for your contact details, an introduction, your education history, your work history and contact details. You should include your name, phone number, email address and a link to your work network profile, if you have one, such as LinkedIn.

Introduction; This is a short paragraph that sums up who you are and what you hope to achieve, right under your name and contact details. Make your introduction sound like you’re the right person for the job – most of your C.V. will be fixed, but this section you can tweak towards specific jobs to increase your chances.

Education history; You can add this after the introduction if you’re early in your career or do not have much work experience. If you do have work experience, this should come first, and education afterward. Whatever order you choose, you’ll need to include:

• Qualifications
• Name of the school, college or university where you studied
• Dates you attended

Work history; You should include details of any work placements, volunteering and paid jobs you’ve had. List the most recent experience first.

You should include:

• The employer name
• The job title
• The dates you worked there
• What you did, usually 2 to 3 lines using the STAR method (covered later).

If you’re applying for your first job, you can focus on skills you’ve learned through projects, work experience or volunteering.

You can also include your interests and hobbies that show some of the skills you have. For example, if you’re a captain of a sports team, this demonstrates leadership and organisation skills. If you volunteer, this shows your passions and work ethic.

Gaps; It’s normal to have some gaps between jobs and work experience when life events happen. You may not have been able to work due to personal circumstances, or because you chose not to work for a while.

Having a gap in your CV doesn’t have to be a problem when you’re looking for work. The important thing is that you’re ready to explain what you were doing during any gaps. Be open and honest. Concentrate on the skills you gained, and what you have learned from the experience.

Think about how you’ll talk about the way you spent your time, and any transferable skills you’ve gained. For example, you may have done some short or online courses. Even if you do not think it’s relevant to the job, it shows you’re willing to learn.

Preparing for interviews

A potential employer may not be expecting you to have done the job before, but they’ll be looking for relevant experience or strengths. They’ll be looking at your education, experience and interests. 

If you have invited to an interview, make sure the date works for you – it’s important you have enough time to prepare. To prepare for an interview, it’s important to:

• read the job description carefully and understand what skills and experience the employer is looking for
• do some research on the company’s website and whats in the news about that company
• look over your CV or application form and think about what the interviewer might ask you
• prepare some examples from your past experience to refer to in the interview

You’ll usually have some time towards the end of the interview to ask some of your own questions. These might be about the role or company. You could think of some questions when researching the company. It’s vital to ask at least 2-3 questions when you have the opportunity, as it demonstrates your interest for the role and company.

Some interviews involve an assessment centre, or a presentation. An assessment centre usually involves completing tasks and taking part in activities. Remember the employer is looking to see how you work with other people, deal with problems and communicate and contribute. You need to strike a balance between actively participating, and not dominating the conversation. This is hard! But those who operate in those extremes will not be employed.

It’s normal to be a nervous for an interview. There are things we can do to partially mitigate that. This includes;

• arriving in plenty of time
• turn off your phone so you’re not distracted
• check your computer and internet connection is working if your interview is online. Ensure you can use teams, google meet or whatever the format is – it might be worth logging into the meeting 5 minutes early, so if it doesn’t work you can reach out to the interviewer.
• know how to contact the interviewer in case you’re running late or having technical issues

Remember to answer questions using the STAR method;

• situation – the situation you had to deal with
• task – the task you were given to do
• action – the action you took
• result – what happened as a result of your action and what you learned from the experience

Example; Tell me about a time when you have shown leadership skills.

• Situation – in my previous digital marketing job, the company wanted to get more people to sign up to a newsletter which was not receiving a lot of attention.
• Task – my job was to find a way of getting more people to sign up.
• Action – I organised a meeting with other important members of the marketing team to come up with creative ideas, and I led the social media campaign to generate interest in the revamped newsletter.
• Result – over a period of 3 months, there was an 25% increase in sign-ups to the newsletter and the approach I took was used by the management team in other departments.

If you do not get the role after an interview, it’s normal to feel disappointed. Remember that it’s common to attend a few interviews before being offered a role.

It might be useful to reflect on some of the harder questions you were asked. This can help you improve for next time. You can also ask the interviewer for feedback on how it went and where you could have done better.

You might find it useful to speak to a careers adviser about how to improve in interviews and secure a role.

Wider employment considerations

Networking

You have more people in your network than you might realise. It can be informal and include people you know outside of work. People in your network that can help you progress your career include:

• your friends and family
• people you know from work, volunteering or school
• recruiters and employers
• members of clubs or teams you’re in

The people in your network can help you:

• find out about jobs
• learn about a career, sector or company
• find work experience
• get support or advice

Networking can be intimidating to start with, but it pays dividends in the short and long term. Always follow up networking with an action. Whether its someone to contact, sending an email or making a call – do it. Following up shows people that you’re motivated and keen. When leveraging your network, be clear about what you want and start by asking for something small, like advice. Finally, networking works both ways. If you see someone asking for advice, offer to help them if you can.

Wrap up

This course has equipped you with knowledge around;

• getting to know yourself, including your strengths, your ‘why’ and potential career paths,
• finding opportunities and taking them, including C.V. preparation and prepping for interviews,
• wider considerations around employment, including misconceptions and the importance of networking

Taking ownership of your career is more important than anytime in history – & no one else will do it for you. A career, or several careers – lasts a lifetime. Having investing this time in preparation, you’ll be well placed for a wonderful start.

Want to learn more?

Check out these links to learn more:

• Explore guidance from the government
• Some insight into different careers from the BBC
• Learn about a range of skills for your career development
• Get further guidance on crafting your CV
• Be prepared for interviewing
• Discover your why
• Speak to a careers advisor