National Training Agency Career Planning

A Guide to Planning Your Career
Industry Training

Step 1

Know yourself

How well do you know yourself?
Before you can decide on a career, you need to know your likes and dislikes, your values, your strengths and weaknesses, your special interests and talent,

Ask yourself

What am I really like?

What am I good at?

What do I want to do with my life?

Then do the following self-inventory:

List courses in school you enjoy or are good at

List the jobs you do at home or in your leisure time that you find enjoyable

Name your talents, hobbies and values

List your strengths and weaknesses

Now that you know more about yourself, you need to research careers that match your interests, abilities and values.

Step 2

Explore career clusters that relate to your interests and abilities

Jobs are usually grouped by the interests, abilities and personal qualities of people who pursue them. These jobs are called clusters.
Here are some commonly used occupational clusters:

Legislators, senior officials and managers

Professionals

Technicians and associate professionals

Clerks

Service workers and shop and market sales

Skilled agricultural and fishery workers

Craft and related trades workers

Plant and machine operators and assemblers

Find out more about these clusters:

Talk to your guidance counsellors, parents and workers in the different clusters

Visit workplaces and talk to employees

Visit your library and do research on different jobs.

Step 3

Decision-making

You may have problems deciding which cluster you like best. Here is a simple plan to help you:

Identify all the factors you like in each cluster

Choose the three (3) clusters that interest you most

Examine the jobs in these three (3) clusters

Decide which job(s) you would like to do

Evaluate your decision. Do this by matching the information about yourself with the factors you now know about the three clusters

Remember that at this stage your decision is crucial but not necessarily permanent. A large part of your life, about 45 years, will be spent working. You may want to change careers as you grow older.

Step 4

Planning

Now that you know the career clusters that you like, it is time to plan. The first thing to do is to set yourself goals
Ask yourself

Where would I like to be in five years?

How do I get there?

The answers to these questions should help you to make your plan.

Discuss your goals and aspirations with your counsellor or parents. Then make a flexible plan to accommodate the changes as you grow.