I’m trying to decide between ideas
To help you to do this, think about the last big decision you made; it could have been which course to study, planning a big trip or making a significant purchase like a phone or laptop. How did you go about this?
- You prefer to find out as much information as you can before you make a decision. You will make sure you’ve researched, written lists of pros and cons and spoken to as many people as possible.
- You’re more inclined to make an emotional or gut instinct decision and see where the wind takes you.
- You might be somewhere in the middle of these two extremes!
Option 1: Research
If you are happier to research and bring together as much information and intelligence as you can about a particular career path before taking that first step towards it, then:
- Revisit the ideas and resources in the I'm ready to explore my ideas further section
- Speak to a careers consultant if you’re still feeling unsure, for help with decision making strategies. It’s also worth considering the ideas under the ‘instinctive’ approach too, because the more agile you can be, the more opportunities can potentially come your way.
Your pitfall could be focussing on the competition too much! Try not to do this, instead think about what you can offer.
Top Tip: Make sure you have a Plan B in place that you are happy with too
Option 2: Instinctive
It’s fine to apply this instinctive decision making approach to your career if that’s what works for you! However, you need to be open to opportunities as they arise and for this reason it pays to be prepared. Though this method is more serendipitous you do still need to seek out opportunities and encounters.
- Do you have a CV that you can adapt at a moment’s notice?
- Are you putting yourself in the path of chance encounters by networking and attending events Ensuring you are in the right place at the right time?
- Can you positively express your skills and accomplishments, if the opportunity arises to impress somebody influential?
- Are you keeping your eyes wide open for opportunities?
- Are you putting yourself forward for short term experiences that could help you meet the right people?
- Do you have a really clear sense of yourself, including strengths, weaknesses and values? If not, go back and work through some of the activities, otherwise that gut instinct might be off target.
Your pitfall could be your perception vs reality. Even if you’re not keen on carrying out extensive research, you need to ensure that you qualify what you think a role entails. Why not use the resources outlined in I'm ready to explore my ideas further
Top Tip: Focus on possibilities rather than barriers, and be sure to follow up on any chance encounters. There is a difference between being opportunistic and letting opportunities fall into your lap (the latter is very rare indeed!)
Option 3: The blended approach
If your decision making is somewhere in the middle of these two (which is most of us!) then it makes sense to adopt a mixture of these strategies – do enough research so that you are comfortable with how much you know but make sure you’re poised to act if opportunities come your way.
Further resources
There are numerous decision making tools and strategies out there that can help you when making a career decision. These include using a
- Career Goal Checklist Recommended activities for understanding yourself, your skills and values and how to make decisions between different career ideas.(Download)
- How to make tough career decisions (article)
- SWOT Analysis To identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of a particular role or industry.
If you feel that you want to develop your decision making skills further, think about taking part in activities where you can practice decision making whilst at university.
