10 Tips for Making Career and Course Choices
1. Be clear about your likes, dislikes, strengths and weaknesses. You can`t choose a course or job if you don`t understand yourself.
2. What is important to you in doing a course? Make a list of factors e.g travel arrangements, money, near home or away, hours, how a course is assessed. Use these factors to help you consider your choice.
3. Do your research. Write down the main choices and then for each, find out as much as possible. To find out about jobs go to www.nextstep.direct.gov.uk
4. Talk to people already doing some of these courses or jobs. Find out why they chose their job/course, what it involves and what they like and dislike about it.
5. Remember your career ideas change as you get older and so do your interests and abilities so you should try to keep your options open and not choose all similar subjects.
6. You may think that one particular subject or combination of subjects would be of more value to your future career idea but remember that you will be studying them for more time during the week.
7. For your options, write down the advantages and disadvantages of each and then show them to someone else to get their opinion.
8. Try putting your main options in rank order from least to most attractive/suitable
9. Test out your ideas when you talk to your form tutor our school careers advisor or your teachers.
10. Always have a back-up option in case your first choice doesn`t work out and remember it is important to make the right choice first time as teaching groups become so large that no additions can be made.