Knowing Yourself
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find your life’s mission |
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There are many ways of getting career advice – from tutors, friends, career advisers, employers and employees, as well as fairs, websites, books and guides.
Jobs are part of a market with demand and supply, buyers and sellers. Firstly you need to know what you’re like and what you want. Then you need to know what potential employers are like and what they want. Only then can you spot the right career path to make the match.
- Know your own qualities, skills and values for an environmental career
- Know what you want from being an environmental professional
- Know what the different jobs and employers of environmental professionals are like
- Know what these employers want, need and can offer to you
- Only then can you know what you need to get the right environmental job for you.
Prospects is the UK's official graduate and student career website. Prospects website has a Careers Centre - Advice for graduates for free personalised advice services for EEA nationals who've graduated from University within the last 5 years and are seeking advice on work and study in the UK. Graduate information includes careers advice, jobs and volunteering, further study and career planning. See Physical Resources in the section on Explore types of jobs.
Morrisby produces psychometric assessments for career and education advice. Morrisby website has a test taker's guide, CV and interview guide, and tests for deciding what career you want.
Unilever produces brands for nutrition, hygiene and personal care. Unilever website has an excellent Personal Evaluation Toolkit including my goals, my strategies, using SWOT analysis, and my competencies. It also has some web pages on its commitment to sustainability, environment and society.
Key Skills at UCL presents Key Skills in a grid under the headings of academic skills, self-management skills, communication skills and interpersonal skills with advice and links into resources to improve your skills.
Peter Honey Learning provides Learning styles questionnaires which are a way of evaluating your approach to learning and suggesting ways in which to develop more effectively.
Belbin Team Roles categorises the way we behave, contribute and inter-relate when working in any team. They are used to assess your preferred behaviour when working with others.
Shell Big Trip includes a personal profile that asks you to rate your key personal values along with your transferable skills and personal strengths.
Life Work Transitions has American style exercises on defining core competencies, your passions, preferences and purpose, and goal setting.
The Higher Education Academy works with the UK higher education community to enhance the student experience, aiming to become the first choice of the sector for knowledge, practice and policy related to the student experience in higher education. HEA has developed Thematic work on employability. It promotes Personal Development Planning. By 2005/6 all students in higher education will have access to a Progress File that consists of two parts. 1) It will provide each student with a transcript, described as a record of their learning and achievement, and 2) it will offer a means by which an individual can “monitor, build and reflect upon their personal development”, referred to as Personal Development Planning (PDP).
The Council for Industry and Higher Education supported a project to develop student employability profiles in plain language for Subject Centres to use with their academic communities and students. CIHE website lists 12 of the 24 Subject Centres participated in the work to create Student Employability Profiles in plain language. The Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences Subject Centre is preparing its own material. The Built Environment Subject Centre shows some of the employability skills that graduates from built environment courses may have and need.
You can confirm and learn how to describe your own competencies in your CV, application forms and answer questions in job interviews using this glossary or competencies and associated questions.
