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

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