sam brown careers centre career planning for masters students in renewable energy systems technology
TRANSCRIPT
Sam Brown
Careers Centre
Career Planning for Masters students in Renewable Energy
Systems Technology
– Objectives
– Career Planning• Options• Career fitness!• Processes• Handouts/Resources• Exercises
Content
– to review career options– to identify key competencies, values and
interests– to create an effective career-management
strategy– to identify sources of further information
Objectives
Requirements for Career Planning
– self knowledge– awareness of opportunities– a structured action plan
Good career planning leads to successful career management
Career Options
– How will you move forwards after your MSc?• develop existing expertise
• new direction
Developing Existing Expertise
Apply for a industry research in this area
Start your own business
Register for a PhD in this area
Apply for a job in a similar area
A new direction
Gain voluntaryexperience ofnew direction
Apply for newtype of work
Develop outsideinterests with a view to changing direction
Apply for full-timetraining for a different occupation
Identifying key competencies, values and interests
– your skills
– your personality and interests
– personal values
– individual constraints
• Handouts
Skills inherent in your masters course
– Problem solving skills– Technological skills– Numeracy– Project-management skills:
• leadership/teamwork• goal setting• time-management• motivation
– Communication skills:• academic writing • presenting• influencing & persuading
– Research skills:• information retrieval• analytical ability• networking/contacts
Skills inherent in your masters course
– Look at the list of 21 skills– Identify your 6 best skills– Rank them from 1 for the strongest to 6 for
the weakest
Skills reflection exercise
Values
– What is important to you?:• autonomy• altruism• security• leadership• variety
• salary• advancement• intellectual
challenge• collaboration
Influences on career planning
– life stages
– life events
– family
– peers
– social norms
– labour market
Getting the right balance
An exercise to help you look at:
- aspects of your career thinking
- how satisfied you are with it
- what you can do to change it
Walls & Windmills – Dr Hawkins 1999
Taking control Things within my control
Personal barriers Things stopping me but still within my control
Supporting opportunities People – resources – opportunities – stepping- stones
External forces Things outside my control
The self-audit
– Thinking - Where am I now?Check your career fitness exercise
– Thinking - How do I get to where I want to be?Check-list exercise
– Action - Getting there
– Review and improvement
How do I get where I want to be?
Key actions• T1 - Focus on skills• T2 - Finding your ideal job• T3 - Finding hidden jobs• T4 - Selling yourself• T5 - Action thinking• T6 - Boosting your career• T7 - Measuring your career
performance
Awareness of opportunity
– careers centre
– academic departments
– personnel department
– your contacts
– networking
– work experience - of any kind
– professional associations and publications
Careers Centre Resourceswww.careers.lboro.ac.uk
– one-to-one discussions
– Prospects Planner
– Employment sector booklets
– employer files, directories
– list of relevant websites
Successful Career Planning
S elf K n ow led g eC om p eten c ies /S k illsP erson a lity/In te res tsV a lu es /C on s tra in ts
K n ow led g e o f O p p ortu n it iesL ab ou r M arke t In fo rm ation
C on tac tsE ffec tive N etw ork in g
P os it ive M arke tin gS tru c tu red career d eve lop m en t s tra teg y
E xce llen t C VW ell-d eve lop ed in te rview in g tech n iq u es
S u ccess fu l C areer M an ag em en tfo r life
d ep en d s u p on
Next sessions