Step 1 Assess Yourself
Sit down and take time to look at your skills, interests and motivations, what you can do already and the things you enjoy and like.
Your skills
Graduate recruiters assess each candidate for a job according to their key criteria, rarely on what degree they have studied.
Specialist skills are abilities directly related to the job on offer, for example being able to use spreadsheets or designing a new piece of software.
General employability skills are broad skills which are sought by all employers irrespective of their main area of business. These include teamwork, communication, interpersonal skills and can often be transferred from one situation to another. These skills are often developed through work experience or other activities such as volunteering or being a student rep. Every job requires its own set of technical and transferable skills. You can assess your own employability skills by playing the skills card game on the Windmills programme, and reading the Top Ten Transferable Skills and what they mean.
Your interests
Whatever job you choose will have an impact on how happy and fulfilled you are, so it is important to find something that you will enjoy. Before you rush in to a potential job or career look at the major milestones and events in your life and identify those you have enjoyed the most.
Think of your favourite activities and what interests you in your spare time
List all of the things you have really enjoyed in your degree and at work, for example research, writing reports, making presentations, dealing with customers, being responsible when your boss was away, training new members of staff.
Your motivations
Motivations are what drive you in life, what help you achieve your ambitions. For example: Do you want to work for yourself? Do you want to make a lot of money? Do you want to help people? Try to identify your ambitions and think about how they will relate to any careers or jobs you are attracted to.
When you've jotted down all the things you can think of ask people who know you and you trust - friends at University, people you have worked for what they think your key skills are and add these to your list. You may have been given feedback on things you hadn't even thought of. You will need to keep adding to this list and refining it. Jot down examples where you can illustrate these skills. All this will be really helpful when you come to drafting or revising your CV, making an application or going for an interview. You could record this in My PDP.
You can access resources to help you to think about and explore where you are now at: