Importance of E x ploring

Career Opportunities

• Name : Arka Dey

• Semester : 1st
• Subject :Life Skills and Personality Development
• Subject Code: SEC101
• Institution name : Institute of Genetic Engineering
• University: MAKAUT
What is career exploration?

Career exploration is what you do after you have a better idea of your personality,
values, skills and interests. It involves purposefully looking through a list of careers that
match you well and performing some research to see exactly what that career path
entails. As you do, you'll see that some careers match your interests more while others
may have a longer career path that'll give you the opportunity to grow your skills and
earn promotions.

The goal of career exploration is to perform your due diligence to learn more about your
options and narrow down your choices to one career path that fits you best. By
continually evaluating where you are in your career, if you’re happy or not and how to
find a more fulfilling career, you are learning more about yourself—as well as new
concepts and skills
1. Identify your skills and
interests
Choosing a career is a big deal. You'll spend a significant amount of your life at work and so in order to enjoy
your job, remain motivated and fulfill your potential, you need to choose wisely.

You first need to know yourself. This means taking stock of your skills and assessing your interests and values.
.
It's important to understand your range of skills and knowledge, so you can see if they're a good fit for the
job you'd like to do. Being aware of the skills you have also helps to highlight any gaps that may need to be
filled to achieve your career goals.

Make a list of all your transferable and specialist skills, with examples of when you've demonstrated each. An
honest assessment of your skills, values and interests will prove useful when narrowing down your options in
the next step. You can also see where you measure up in terms of the skills employers are looking for.

Consider where you are now, where you want to be and how you're going to get there. If choosing a career
has left you feeling lost, start by asking yourself the following questions:
Consider where you are now, where you want
to be and how you're going to get there. If
choosing a career has left you feeling lost,
start by asking yourself the following
questions:

What are my interests, What did I most enjoy

What am I good at? 🤔 at university? 🤔
motivations and values ?🤔
 1 What do I want from my career?

What kind of lifestyle do I want? 2

3 What is important to me?

If you're struggling to identify your strengths, weaknesses and character traits, taking practice psychometric
tests could bring them to light.
By the end of this step, you'll have identified the sort of jobs that will suit you, but won't yet have enough
information to make a decision on which to pursue.
Take a few minutes to answer the Job Match quiz and find out what careers would suit you
2. Explore career ideas
This is all about researching the job market and career pathways that interest you
and narrowing down your options.

Consider what your ideal job sector would be, and discover its key trends by
researching the local, national and global jobs market.

This will help you to discover more potential career paths, and understand which
roles are expanding or declining.

There are three overarching job sectors. These are:

• Private - sole traders, partnerships and limited companies.

• Public - local and national governments, plus their agencies and chartered bodies .
• Not-for-profit - often referred to as the third sector, or the charity and voluntary work sector.
Browsing job profiles may introduce you to
some less obvious career paths where your
skills and qualifications could be useful.

Compile a shortlist of around five to ten jobs, before considering

the advantages and disadvantages of each in terms of:

• career development
• employment outlook
• entry requirements
• job description
• related jobs
• salary and conditions
• training.
3. Make a decision
Now you're ready to start making decisions.
Combine what you've learned about yourself with what you've discovered about your
options and the graduate jobs market.
To help make a decision, ask yourself the following questions:

• Will I enjoy doing the job every day?

• Does it meet most of my preferences?
• Do I have the right skills?
• Does the company fit with my values?
• Are there any location/financial/skills limitations I need to take into account?
• Is the job realistic in terms of salary?
If you're struggling to reach a conclusion, there are a number of exercises you can try to aid the decision-making process.

Listing the pros and cons of a particular job or career is often useful, as is completing a personal SWOT analysis:

1 Strengths
What skills, traits, certifications and
connections would you bring to the role
Weaknesses 2 that nobody else could? What makes
What areas could you improve on? Do you unique?
you lack any skills holding you back from
excelling in the role you'd like to
pursue?.
3 Opportunities
Is your industry growing? Could you
take advantage of your competitors'
Threats 4 mistakes or gaps in the market?

Could your weaknesses slow your

progression at work? Is there anything
else that may stand in the way of your
development, such as changes in
technology?.
There's plenty of support
available to help you decide.
Look to:
• company websites
• family and friends
• newspaper articles
• professional bodies and industry conferences
• tutors
• university careers and employability services.
 4. Set achievable goals

Your career plan should outline how you'll get to where you want to be, what actions are needed and
when, and separated into your short, medium and long-term goals.

Constantly review your progress, especially after each short-term goal is reached. You must also establish
a backup career development plan, in case your situation changes. Map several alternative paths to your
long-term goal, considering how you'll overcome the types of problems you might encounter - such as
training requirements - at each step.

Your first short-term goal may involve improving your CV and cover letter. Other short or medium-term
targets could include undertaking relevant internships, gaining volunteering experience or attending
careers fairs.

Revisit and review your aims and objectives throughout your career, and don't feel constrained by the
goals you've set - the structure of a career plan should help you clearly map out the route to trying
something new.
Cognitive Skills
Cognitive skills are the core skills your brain uses to think, read, learn,
remember, reason, and pay attention. Working together, they take incoming
information and move it into the bank of knowledge you use every day at
school, at work, and in life.

How can cognitive skills be developed in students?

The development of cognitive skills makes students understand

concepts and gives them the ability to think and reason. The
same can be sharpened in young minds, through the means of
conscious practice and training.
Presentation Skills

Presentation skills are the abilities and qualities necessary for creating
and delivering a compelling presentation that effectively
communicates information and ideas. They encompass what you say,
how you structure it, and the materials you include to support what
you say, such as slides, videos, or images.
Social and Cultural Etiquettes

It refers to the various social behaviours that occur between your

family, friends and colleagues or even strangers. Proper social etiquette
requires following certain social norms in order to live and coexist with
others in harmony. It also plays a role in how others perceive and treat
you.

Digital literacy
Digital literacy is an individual's ability to find, evaluate, and
communicate information by utilizing typing or digital media platforms.
It is a combination of both technical and cognitive abilities in using
information and communication technologies to create, evaluate, and
share information.
What is cultural etiquette?

Cultural etiquette, politeness, and good manners are passed down

through societies from generation to generation. Etiquette refers to the
cultural guidelines for what is appropriate or inappropriate and polite
or impolite.
Thank You
A Presentation by
Arka Dey