Step 2 - Pathway to your career
Options for filling your skill and training gaps include TVET, a university degree, university short courses, and start-up support.
opens in a new window
Choosing your career
Making a successful career change can often be a challenging and complex undertaking. It’s a process worth investing time and energy into to ensure you have the information and insight to make the right choices for your future.
When considering a change in your career direction the options may seem endless, but this can be narrowed by considering the intersection between the following key areas:
The world of you
- What is important to me, and what values affect my life?
- Who do I value in my life? How might this tie into my relationship with work or types of work?
- Where do I draw satisfaction from? Undertaking tasks, achieving goals or interactions?
- What are the important factors in my lifestyle that shape how I navigate the many choices to find my fit: friends and family? The physical home space? My personal style?
The world of work
- How can I gain a genuine understanding of what work looks like in different industries and scenarios? What am I working on current knowledge of best types of work align with my preferences?
- What types exist? What type fits me well along with other ideas on other fields?
- How will these types of work compare with different needs, these skill industries offer this, which job role fits best?
Opportunity awareness
- What opportunities are available to assess what opportunities will be mobilized on my current skillset? Through curriculum, experience or connections?
- What ways have time to invest to access opportunities or new skills? Windows time! To achieve things that have more value as opposed to less valuable time or resources
- Which type of training opportunity might be there to pursue these long-term options or establish market-relevant skills?
Credit: Service2campus.com.au
Exploring the above questions can provide insights into what is important to you in a career, what skillsets you bring to the table and the opportunities that are available. It also ensures that your career change choice is informed and aligned with your motivation, values and goals.
This can be a multifaceted process. UNSW offers career coaches who can support and help you navigate this process.
- Preparing for career transitions with confidence.
- Understanding the impact of values, motivations, and interests on career decisions.
- Conducting a skills audit to identify strengths and areas for development.
- Leveraging transferable skills for career transitions.
- Exploration of current labour market considerations.
- Researching industry trends and in-demand skills.
Digital Career Tools
There are some great online tools that can help you narrow down your career path:
Your Career helps you explore your options and gives you ideas to make decisions about your current and future career options. Take a quiz to find study, training or job options that support your career goals, get career ideas, discover learning and training options to gain new skills, upskill or re-skill and learn how to build a great resume.
Study Australia Career Matcher quiz asks you some questions about your personality and work style. Using your answers to match you to careers, the tool then sends you a detailed, personalised report on the industries and careers that might best suit your strengths and traits.
Jobs and Skills Atlas provides a comprehensive overview of labour market data at national, state, and regional levels. Explore a range of key labour market datasets in one simple, user-friendly interface.
