Career advice for potential third-level students
Choosing a career is a challenging and complex process. You will need to clarify your thinking about what you want and then generate a range of options for career directions that will really work for you.
Follow the six steps carefully and you will be well on your way to making an informed choice. In each step, there are activities for you to complete. Record your answers and thoughts in your careers research notebook.
Step One: Skills, Interests, Values, Personality
This first step involves gathering information about yourself in order to move closer to making an informed career decision.
Skills
Skills are the activities you are good at and what you enjoy doing, such as writing, computer programming, teaching.
Reflect on the experiences you have enjoyed in work, education and interests and what people say you are good at.
Remember to include any voluntary work you have done and informal work such as helping out with the family business or assisting a neighbour or friends.
Think about the new skills you may need to acquire. Consider the time you are willing to spend on acquiring more advanced or new skills. If a career really appeals to you but it takes four or five years to prepare for it, would you be willing to make this time commitment?
Interests
Have a think about your interests. What do you enjoy doing? What do you dislike doing?
What activities are of interest to you irrespective of your skill levels?
Values
Values are the things that are important to you, like achievement, independence, interacting with people.
Think about the values you hold. What is important to you? Good money, job security, career development, status, working independently or in teams, making a contribution to society? Make a list!
What sort of lifestyle do you want?
Do you know how important work is to your life?
Do you know what you want to get out of work? What is the most/least important?
Personality
Contemplate your individual personality traits. What motivates you? What is your coping style? How do you approach work? What type of attitude do you possess towards work, problems, conflict, stress?
Do you enjoy a challenge and like to take responsibility or would you prefer something a little less stressful?
Useful resources to assist you in your first step:
Investigate the possibility of completing an occupational interest questionnaire which also includes items about your preferred thinking, coping and interpersonal styles.
Step Two: Preferred work environment
Find out more about the nature, working conditions and future prospects of the jobs that interest you.
Do you prefer practical or intellectual tasks? Can you provide evidence of this to your employer?
What kind of workplace would you like to work in?
Talk to people who know you about the jobs they do and find out what they like and dislike about their work environment.
Useful websites to assist you in your second step
www.careerdirections.ie
Step Three: Education and Training Requirements
When you have compiled a list of careers which interest you the most, find out what kind of education and training you'll need to work in those career areas. At this stage, you will need to begin narrowing your focus.
Use the internet, read the papers, ask about work experience and talk to relatives, friends, your guidance counsellor and teachers. Make sure that the people you speak with are well-informed. Choose your career advisers wisely!
With regard to education and training, you will need to find out:
General skills needed
Specific skills needed for the job
Training or education required for this kind of work
Different methods to get into to this job
Opportunities to develop your career in this job
Useful websites to assist you in your third step:
www.nui.ie
www.hetac.ie
www.fetac.ie
www.esri.ie
Step Four: Investigate courses thoroughly
Familiarise yourself with the different types of courses in a given category. Compare and contrast these courses. Decide on the type of course which suits you best. Even courses with the same name can differ in terms of content. That's why it is important to check out exactly how and what you will be studying as part of your course.
Many courses on offer are 'modular'. This means they are made up of different subject blocks which deal with particular areas of interest. These modules may be delivered using a range of lectures, seminars and/or workshops. Check out if you have some say over some or all of the modules you study. You may not have the choice on some of the courses. Either way it's important to work out which modules will make up your course and which ones are relevant to your future goals.
Some courses include placement years or study semesters abroad. Are these of interest to you personally or future employers? If so, seek out courses that offer these opportunities.
Make sure you have the subjects required for entry to the course that you are interested in. Have you checked how many points were required for entry to the course in the previous academic year?
Useful websites and resources to assist you in your fourth step:
www.cao.ie
www.qualifax.ie
www.daycourses.com
College websites and prospectuses are a good place to find out more.
Step Five: Check out the colleges which offer your preferred courses
Write down the college characteristics that are important to you, for example, location, class size, facilities, learning environment, student life. Make a short list of the colleges that possess the characteristics you desire and that best meet your goals and requirements.
Gather as much information as possible about each college. Talk to people who are currently studying there. Talk to staff members - Open Day events are an ideal opportunity to gather vital information. If that is not possible, contact the college directly. It may be possible to request an individual tour.
If the college prospectus does not contain sufficient information, request additional information from the colleges on your list. Universities and colleges must have written programme specifications for each course/programme offered. These specifications should give more detailed information about the content, teaching and learning methods used, assessment and support available to students for each course. Contact the relevant academic department in each college for this information.
Useful websites to assist you in your fifth step:
www.education.ie
Step Six: Start narrowing down your lists of possibilities
Having identified lots of possibilities, you now need to narrow them down.
Go through your list of preferred courses, rating them in order from your most to least preferred. Write down your reasons for each rating and be prepared to review this list on a number of occasions so that you are sure of your choices.
The steps outlined above represent a starting point for your career investigation. Check in with Tipperary Institute again for more updates on this page.
