Career Crossroads - Navigating your future journey one step at a time

The Career Crossroads - where you’ve been, where you are, and where will you go?

We all know that sixth form and college is an intense time of academic focus, exciting possibilities and the consideration of our future careers and goals. Choosing university before even completing your A-levels can feel overwhelming and a career path can feel very much like a #FutureMeProblem. It is however so important to think about your future goals and where you may see yourself, whether it be next month, in one year or in 10 years time.

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Some of us may have our career plan all mapped out, ready to go and have already planned our work experience, job prospects, up to our future retirement. Others may have absolutely no idea what they want to do with their weekend let alone their career, both of these options are perfectly normal!

Although this is not an #AllAboutMe conversation, I for one had no real plan at the time, I loved my A Levels, especially in Psychology and Philosophy & Ethics so I always knew one of those would lead toward my career path. After visiting a number of University Open Days and courses, I decided I wanted to take a year out and go to university after making informed choices and a few pennies in my pocket.

Each person may deal with the choices for their career slightly differently, with psychological principles of either the top down or bottom up approach helping to explain how one may come to their career choice and decision for higher education and work experience. Below we will discuss both of these ideas and how they may benefit you with your career plans and goals.

The Top Down Triumph
The top down approach, also known at conceptual processing refers to how our existing knowledge expectations and beliefs may influence how we perceive and consolidate information. It’s a fundamental cognitive process we see in decision making, influencing how we take in, perceive and interpret information. We take in data based on raw stimuli, and make sense of it based on existing knowledge, thoughts, expectations, and beliefs. People focusing on careers with the top down approach may start with a grand plan, a vision of where they see themselves in five or 10 years time and focus on A-levels and university choices due to this. Using top down as a career approach helps you focus on the A-levels and university degree you may need to reach the career goal you have set, potentially from a young age. This can be seen with students who make follow a dream career from a young age, or following in the footsteps of their parents business or career path.
This top down method helps you to keep your focus and clarity about long-term goals, focusing on the destination, and the roads it will take to get there to guide your future decisions, work experience and career prospects. By using the top down approach allows you to guide thoughts in a systematic way, planning for your educational and career pathways to gain the relevant experience needed to reach that ultimate goal.

The Bottom Up Brilliance
The bottom up approach starts with your own level of self discovery. By exploring what you enjoy, your interests and values - be it in your education or free time - helps to find your passion toward a career that aligns with these qualities, uncovering potential pathways you may not have initially considered. The bottom of approach champions the idea of exploration and personal growth as a way to strengthen your career, fostering flexibility and adapting to your maturing and evolving areas of interests. This approach aligns with the saying of “enjoy what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life”. Yes we know that is not exactly accurate as we still have days in education and work that may challenge us, but by doing a job you enjoy - you’ll wake up each plan ready to achieve in something that interests you, beyond the financial incentive of work.
The bottom up method helps you too focus on your own strengths, skills and passions to open doors that may highlight new career paths and opportunities not yet considered. By using the bottom up approach it allows you to evolve and create a path unique to your strengths and passions.

Whichever direction you wish to go within your career crossroads, below are a number of top tips can help narrow down the choices to consider:

Mindmap your Mission:
Think about the career you find interesting and ask yourself;

• Why do I find it interesting, what is it about that career? If it is because your parents do it, is that the path you wish to go down? If it’s because the financial gain, is there anything else that keeps you there bar the monthly cheque? What parts of that job / career will you enjoy in that roles’ everyday. Remember, we only see and hear the exciting parts of people’s jobs; for example Police do a lot more than a high speed car chase, Pilots do a lot more than take off and landing a plane.
• Research the career, the job role and the education you need to get there; how will you keep yourself motivated through the endless nights of exam revision and the forever feeling voluntary work experience. What parts of the job truly ignite your passion to keeping going through the challenges?
• What stamp are you going to make? What could you be remembered for in your career role, what impact do you want to make in the world, do you want to be CEO of an international company or of your own small local business. Not every job will have stereotypical groundbreaking impacts but every career has that moment. Your teachers feel that impact as you open your results letter and see the relief in your face, I feel that impact when I work with clients and create a successful behaviour change and habit formation. Making a difference to one or all can be enough, what will be your impact?

Explore your Endeavour
Now you’ve thought about what you want to do, and how will you go about doing it? Take time to research;

• How do people get in to the roles you’re looking for, do they start as an apprentice and work up, do they head straight off for a degree and on to postgraduate higher education training and internships?
• Research different industries and occupations that highlight your skills and passions. Don’t just think about the obvious but explore the unusual. Psychologists don’t all own a chaise langue and talk through peoples problems, some of work in schools, businesses, write books and publish work, find ourselves on TV or presenting to a crowd of hundreds of people. From the obvious to the obscure, delve into the possibilities.
• Talk to the people in those positions; it never hurts to contact someone in that profession to ask them such questions, it may be they had the exact same queries and questions coming in to their career and would have wished to have that opportunity. Ask the questions, seek advice, and connect with those either in training or out the other side. This can be achieved by attending career fairs, job shadowing, even contacting people (politely and professionally) on sites such as LinkedIn.

Be Roadmap Responsive
As your plans and career develop, evolve and change, so inevitably will the world around you;

• Focus on the skills you already have and how these can link to future-proofing your career. With the upcoming generation being technology focused, you can use these skills to adapt to changing software, programmes and media outlets. By focus on the transferrable skills you have and how they can support you, your skill set, eagerness to evolve and adaptability will always be in demand.
• Setting small goals along your roadmap, and options if they do not go to plan. Not every path is straight forward, we all have twists, turns and bumps in the road. By planning for any setbacks and pre-empting the bends in the road will help to build resilience in your career journey. Getting to the finish line may be the goal, but the journey is what makes it unique.

Your career may seem a million miles away, but it’s important to start considering your plans, whether it be the hobbies you enjoy, the passions you have, or the subjects that fascinate you the most. By focusing on your plans and goals can support you with achievable steps to create a successful future plan. Remember, that your career is not all about the destination but the journey, it may be a path you have chosen, or one guided for you. Nonetheless your career path is waiting to be paved, so step forward with eagerness and exploration, investigate your interests and follow the trail of your future career yet to be discovered.

Good luck!