Finding your passion

The first stage is to decide the occupational area that you will enjoy. What type of career will make you happy to go to work on a Monday morning?

To help with this, it's useful to understand what your strengths and skills are. Perhaps you are good with people and enjoy working in a team or working on your own on a specific problem might suit you better. Do you thrive in a competitive environment or does a calmer stable setting allow you to flourish?

You can explore your skills and strengths by using the Skills Inventory facility on your Stay Nimble dashboard (sign up required).

Look back at previous roles that you've done. What elements of the job did you enjoy, and which ones did you do your best to avoid? This doesn't have to be about work roles, sports, hobbies and any voluntary work you may have done will all have elements that motivated you and others that didn’t.

Once you have established a list of your strengths and skills, you can draw up a list of potential careers that call for those skills. For example, if meeting people from lots of different walks of life is something that you enjoy, then jobs that involve working with customers regularly could be a good starting point.

Once you have developed some ideas of careers to investigate further, you can start to research jobs that will suit you the best.

Research is essential because it allows you to make an informed decision.

• Look for a career that matches your skillset and long-term goals.
• Explore the basics around the industry or profession itself. What are the main characteristics of the type of work you want to do?
• Where do you want to work?
• Do you need a flexible arrangement?
• What qualifications or training will you need?

You might decide you’d like to re-skill to meet the requirements. Take a look at our article on Reskilling. Tips and Tools. (sign up required).

How do you find out more?

Try connecting with people who do the job you’re interested in. This could be friends, family, neighbours and those around you, e.g. talking to a teacher at school about teaching or your local doctor’s surgery about becoming a healthcare worker. Do some research beforehand, have some questions prepared for example, what qualifications are needed, how long is the training, etc. Share your plans, and ask for advice on how to enter the field.

You can also research professional bodies, and organisations that promote their industry or profession and look after the well-being of its members. They may also provide online versions of careers choice information pertinent to their occupational sector. For example, the Association of Chartered Accountants provides valuable information about how to get into accounting and the different types of accounting specialities including qualifications and training required.

There are three more resources worth looking into:

National Careers Service (England)

Every career you could think of is covered here including salary, entry requirements, duties required, progression routes and where to get additional sources of information about a particular job or career. The information on each role isn't that detailed, but it's a good start, and you will quickly see whether you want to progress your research or decide this role isn't for you.

Prospects Job Profiles

Prospects job profiles is a free online resource containing information about different jobs and careers. It includes much of the same kind of information as offered by NCS. However, Prospects profiles tend to be more detailed.

Libraries

With the establishment of online resources and information, an excellent underutilised source is a humble library. Most have a Jobs and Careers section where you can find information on specific careers and publications offering support with job search, e.g. CV building and interview techniques. You can read more about how to use your local library as part of your career and job search activities here.

Choosing a new industry to work in can be very exciting, going to work in a job that suits your skills and strengths can be very rewarding.

Good Luck!