STEP 1: Find out about yourself

Many factors affect your career choices, including the people in your life and your circumstances. However, the best way to start thinking about your career is to narrow down the focus to you – your interests and experiences.

Think about your interests

You’ll need to think about more than just the subjects or activities that interest you. You should think about what you like doing, and what you are good at, what you hope for in the future as well as your work style and lifestyle needs. The things you can take into account as you explore your career include:

Interests. What activities are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What would you like to spend more time doing? What do you plan to do in the future?
Work conditions. What are your preferred work conditions (indoors or outdoors)? How would you like to work (standing or sitting)? Where and when would you like to work (during the day, weekends, on call)?
Location. Where would you like to work and study?
Knowledge. What would you like to learn about? What knowledge do you enjoy using?
Life balance. How do you spend your time? How satisfied are you with your use of time? What changes could you make if needed?
Work Values. what is important to you? What is the reason you work? What motivates you to study and work? What do you want work to provide you with?
Aspirations. What are your hopes and visions for your future? What do they tell you about your career direction and work roles that might suit you?
Skills. What skills do you enjoy using and what skills would you like to develop?
Education. What qualifications do you have? What do you plan to study in the future?

Consider your learning experiences

We learn in a variety of formal settings, such as at school or TAFE. We also learn in less formal ways through our involvement in the community or through volunteer work. The following table will help you think about all your learning experiences and what you have learnt abour your strengths and preferences through each of them. This is also a good opportunity to reflect on the skills you can report on when putting your resumé together.

Experience	Description	What did you learn about you?
Work experience/ Structured Workplace Learning	Arrangements between you and an employer where you carry out tasks in the workplace to gain experience in an area of interest.
Community involvement	School committees, sporting associations, youth organisations and other community groups.
Life roles	Including being a family member, learner, worker, friend and citizen.
Training	Learning how to do new things, upgrading your skills and knowledge.
Education	Part of lifelong learning. Formal education includes school, Vocational Education and Training (including TAFE) and higher education. Informal education includes workshops, seminars, leisure courses, on-the-job training and workplace mentoring.
Volunteer work	Performing a task or supplying goods or services to a not-for-profit organisation or project without receiving payment, but gaining skills.
Employment	Working for a public or private organisation and getting paid. This includes full-time, part-time, permanent, casual, temporary, on call, flexible working hours, shift work, job sharing and contract work.

Click here for a printer-friendly PDF of the Your Experiences chart.

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Write down your experiences in each of the above areas when you’re thinking about career choices. Refer to them when you talk to employers about how you’ve got skills you can transfer from one job to another.

Remember that many of these interests and lifestyle considerations will change as your life circumstances change. Some people make radical changes in direction in their working lives.

Megan

Having put the hard work into her studies, Megan has begun to excel in her chosen career of health. She has dreamt of becoming a nurse and now knows it will become a reality. Megan completed her Certificate III in Aged Care when she was in Year 10 and went on to study for a Diploma of Enrolled Nursing. When she graduates from Year 12 she also expects to have the qualifications to be employed as an enrolled nurse. To qualify as a registered nurse or midwife, Megan intends to go on to university and is delighted to be able to reduce her degree by one year through her VET in Schools studies. ‘For me vocational education has just been the greatest. I have benefited beyond my wildest dreams,’ she says.

Bindie

Bindie, 22, is clear about one thing: the value of volunteering. Volunteering provides opportunities as both a door-opener and a source of personal growth through community engagement. He was once close to dropping out of school but some teachers and his mother led him into volunteer work with at-risk young people in an inner-city area. A Group Training Organisation saw what he was doing and took him on as an Aboriginal Liaison Officer, bringing young Indigenous people into apprenticeships and other training. Bindie’s youth work took him to Tokyo in 2006, as one of 12 delegates chosen by the Australian Government. His task was to present to the Japanese Government on the benefits and mechanics of volunteering, an underdeveloped sector in that country. At just 19 he joined the public service. His longer-term goal is to complete a degree in economics so he can help Indigenous Australians achieve sustainable employment and economic development outcomes.

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