Factors that Influenced Career Choice - Coursework Example

Interim assessment Contents Contents 2 Factors that influenced career choice 3 Plan of Action 5 Short term goals and objectives 5 Midterm plan 6 Final plan 7 References 8 Factors that influenced career choice The choice of career path is one of the major decisions in life. There are several factors that can influence the choice of a particular career over other. When a person is young he or she has several career choices that are nothing more than fantasies. Often at tender age a person sets a role model.1 Most often than not the role model that a person chooses is a celebrity such as a sports person, a film star etc. Sometimes the role model chosen can be parents. Most of the times the choice of a career path based on role model is just a mere fantasy that disappears as quickly as they are formed.2 However some of these dreams of career path and the chosen role model are not mere fantasies but do have a lasting impression or pay a deciding role. However all the fantasies changes when the person is mature enough and there are many other factors that influence his decision. There have been many factors that have influenced the choice of my career. The three ways which have played a primary role in deciding a career option for me are listed below: Skills and abilities- It was said to us in our course study that although each of us has more than 500 skills with us, but each of us are expert only in certain particular skills.3 It is necessary to identify the particular skills that each of us is expert in. Considering skills and how those skills fit in a particular job environment is a very old process of finding a job. However this criterion is still relied on and used today. This is a form of trait factor theory. A very easy way to do this is to list all the job specific skills that one can have. The next step is to identify those skills amongst the list mentioned that one loves using. Now amongst the skills that one loves using it is important to find the skills in which one is good at. These skills in which one is good as well as adept are the prime skills of an individual and the job search should be based on a match between the prime skills and skills required for the job. Understanding the graduate market- The next important factor that helped me decide my career path was to understand the current graduate market scenario in UK. This study of the graduate market in UK helped to identify the skills that were in hot demand. It also helped me by following trend to identify whether to go for higher studies after completion of my graduation course or to search for and join a job. In the context that I have to join a job what are the companies that I should be looking for. This in particular helped me to answer the following questions in this respect; what are the skills that the particular company looks for? What are extracurricular activities? Previous work experience, grades in graduation that the particular company looks for? As part of the course work we had to do a PESTEL analysis of a chosen company. The PESTEL analysis helped me to understand in more particular about the company. The PESTEL analysis helped me to understand the position of the company in the industry and the prospects of that particular industry. Identifying and knowing the above facts helps in many ways to decide if the particular career option and in particular company is suitable as a career option. It also helps to indentify the skill gaps which can be then worked on to make one job ready. Previous experience- Harpavan khaira one of our seniors at college who is now a graduate recruitment management at RWE power said to us in an interactive session that his part time hob played a major role in him choosing his career option. This is a very important suggestion and interesting viewpoint as long as my case is considered. There is a theory called social cognitive career theory that states that a person is likely to continue with a job if he had a positive experience in doing the job in the past.4 It is very difficult for a person to actually identify the skills in which he is expert at. However a past job experience actually helps an individual to identify the skills that he is expert at. By doing a particular job the person actually knows the he is suitable for the job or not. Plan of Action Once a person or individual has identified a particular job area or career opportunity the next step is to find out the way in which he can get the required or the desired job. The objective and the goal set should be SMART, i.e. specific, measurable, Achievable realistic and time bound. As part of my long term plan to make a career in the law field I intend to follow the following steps. The plan of action can be broken down into short term goals, midterm goals and long term goals. Short term goals and objectives can be stated as follows. Short term goals and objectives The first step would be to build a nice cv. CV is the only document that the employer gets to see at first and creates the first impression of a candidate.5 A professionally written resume which lists all necessary and relevant skills is a first step in getting a good job. In order to write a good resume it is often advisable to seek professional. Writing a CV may either mean writing a fresh Resume or updating an old Resume. The CV would be build by seeking professional help or the resume can be checked once the complete resume has been written. Once the CV writing task is finished next step is to research about the current job market. In fact researching about the job market and writing a resume are the two tasks that can go hand in hand. At time a research about the current job market can precede writing a resume. The research report by High Flier research, with the title graduate market in 2015; states that the graduate vacancies have increased by almost 8% since 2014. Researching on the job market and the skills required gives hint about the skills that are relevant to getting a good job. Hence it helped me to find out the skills that are in hot demand by the employees. After identifying these skills I could work on developing those skills of mine which were in hot demand by the employees. To gain information about the particular skills that a company looks for an interview and one on one discussion session with the alumnus of the college who are placed in various companies were arranged. I would additionally book an entry into an industry panel discussion event to be held at the company to gain knowledge about the company and make some acquaintances if possible. Developing commercial awareness is also an important step as suggested by one of the alumnus namely Antonia Anderson. Developing commercial awareness refers to reading newspapers such as Economist and financial times. Midterm plan As per midterm plan I will like to visit a career fair. However before visiting the career fair I will have to ensure that my CV is up to date and I have if not all at least some information about the companies that I am going to look out for.6 After compilation of my skills and a list of my preferred employer, I will make a hierarchical list of the employers that I will be looking forward to. Since it might not be possible for me to visit the stalls of each and every company, I will look forward to the fact that at least I am able to visit the stalls of my preferred preliminary list. If visiting the career job fair does not land me a job at least it will give me some experience. In fact the main purpose of me visiting the job fair is not to land into a job but to gain information. At the job fair hopefully I will be able to get a more inside information about the company and analyze to the core if the particular company is suitable for me. The particular company can be analyzed on the basis of PESTEL and SWOT analysis to identify the prospects of the company. As per midterm plans I will also try and join a club or try to play some sport that I haven’t played before. This will be done in order to increase the boundary of extracurricular activities in my resume. Final plan As per the final plan I would like to land myself an internship. In the internship I hope to learn some valuable experience and the practical side of the theories learned. According to the alumni Anderson securing a good summer internship is a very valuable step for a law graduate. It not only gives him good experience but many a times the internship can land into a permanent job. References Barbara Newman and Philip Newman, ‘Development through life: a psychosocial approach’, (Cengage Learning 2008). Bryant K. Ford, ‘Social cognitive career theory and racial composition of college campus: predicting graduate school consideration for undergraduate black males’, (University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2003). Dale Hoiberg, ‘Students britannica India: careers’,( Popular Prakashan 2000). Rebecca Corfield, ‘Preparing the perfect cv: how to make a great impression and get the job you want’, (Kogan Page Publishers, 2009). Steven John Rothberg, ‘The last job search guide youll ever need: how to find and get the job or internship of your dreams!’, (CollegeRecruiter.com, 2002). W. weldon Hill and Douglas J. Fiore, ‘Creating Personal Success on the Historically Black College and University Campus’, (Cengage Learning 2011). Read More