What are your options?

Knowing about the different career options available to you as a graduate is essential if you are to ensure that you have not missed an alternative that might suit you. It is sometimes helpful to start with your degree subject, particularly if you are studying a more vocational degree such as Engineering or Law, since there may be options that link closely to this.

Remember, however, that many careers for graduates (at least 40%) are open to people regardless of degree discipline, so merely thinking about options that link with your degree subject may only reveal part of the picture. This is especially true if you have studied a less vocational subject, such as English or History, where the directly related career options are comparatively fewer.

Most of us have some career ideas. This is another good place to start - investigate those ideas but try to identify what it is that attracts you. Sometimes our enthusiasm is based on an image that the career conveys (think of the media or government) or a particular aspect that we find attractive (the opportunity to travel, for example, or to help people). Try to get beyond that superficial reason and investigate other aspects of the career. Think about the typical job tasks, skills required, typical work environment, what motivates people within the career, qualifications and training necessary and the financial and other rewards.

Analysing your ideas in this way should help you to be clearer about how they match with any other factors that you think are important. You should also be prepared to go off at a tangent and investigate other ideas that you encounter along the way - sometimes the best suggestions and ideas occur seemingly by chance. Don't rule out the role of luck in this process!

Some careers may attract you but involve getting more experience first. A short period of relevant work experience might be valuable to help you do this. Alternatively, further study - either a short skills-based course or a longer postgraduate course - could be the best next step.

Use this section to:

• Make career choices with respect to your strengths and skills
• Make careers choices based on realistic options
• Consider an academic career and how to get started
• Consider other career options, either relating directly to your subject or otherwise
• Generate more career ideas using Prospects Planner
• Plan your career using specific career plan for your year group
• View the Career Timeline interactive resource and get started with your career plans
• Use other career planning resources