Work to live or live to work?

Holistic advice from the careers service

An image of a cross-roadsIt’s that time of year, and like other final year undergrads and taught postgrads my thoughts have turned to looking for careers and applying to jobs for after graduation.

My first port of call was the careers and employability service webpages which themselves are an extensive mine of useful information. From here I decided to take the careers award on moodle, which is easy to enrol on and really helps in navigating through the resources. Well defined sections of the module direct you to relevant webpages, and then multiple-choice quizzes and written exercises enable you to really reflect on what sort of careers you are interested in and suited to, through to making applications and tips on performing well at interview.

One section in particular really got me thinking. The predefined image I had of university careers advice was a service simply holding career and interview preparation books, and maybe a database of vacancies. This image could not have been more wrong! Friendly advisors are able to offer help on all things careers related, including CV reviews. There are so many insightful workshops and lectures on a variety of topics including specific careers, perfectly illustrated by #EmpFest17. Anyway, before I got side-tracked I was meaning to explain the ‘lightbulb’ moment I had when I got to the happiness at work section of the careers award. The information was great at helping me to visualise what type of career and working conditions would enable me to make the most of my working life.

Previously I have looked only at careers I thought I should be doing, rather than what would be best for me and my family. The advice on these pages has really given me something to think about, and although it won’t be easy to change my way of thinking, I am very grateful that it has been brought to my attention at this stage, as by more carefully selecting careers and opportunities to apply to I am more likely to be happy and fulfilled in my working life, which in turn can only benefit my employer as I am likely to be more committed and productive in my efforts.

This post is by Claire Dowling