Career planning-and-job-seeking-workbook

Career planning and
job seeking workbook

Career planning and
job seeking workbook
Careers and Employability Services
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Acknowledgements and thanks
Thanks to Jennifer Nisbet who wrote the publications, Career and life planning workbook and
Job search guide, on which this workbook is based.
Our thanks go also to Christine Adams, Anna Alston, Mary Guthrie, Anne Milne, Clare Riding,
Ian Tawse and Jo Ward for their additional material and work on the book, and to other colleagues
for comments, editorial suggestions and other production help.
Credits for images
Cover image: Matrix/The Open University. Page 7: Matrix/The Open University.
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Page 26: Peter Dazeley/The Open University; Matrix/The Open University. Kreci/iStockphoto.com.
Page 29: Matrix/The Open University.
Page 39: Richard Learoyd/The Open University. Nyul/iStockphoto.com.
Page 40: Imageshop/Alamy. Page 56: North/The Open University.
Page 66: Stocksy/The Open University. Page 80: North/The Open University.
Page 112: Kelly Cooper/The Open University. Page 134: Kelly Cooper/The Open University.
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Contents
This workbook consists of six sections that take you in a progressive series of
steps through the process of career review and choice, and applying for jobs.
Introduction 6
How to use this workbook 9
01 Knowing yourself 11
1.1 What am I like? 12
1.2 What work would suit me? 17
Information and activities which help you build up
a file of your skills and experience, interests and
achievements, weaknesses and strengths. This will
help you to discover career opportunities that are
likely to match your strengths and circumstances.
02 Exploring possibilities 41
2.1 Planning your strategy 41
2.2 Graduate-level jobs 42
2.3 Creative job search 45
2.4 Finding vacancies 46
2.5 Building a network of contacts 50
This section suggests how and where you might find
information to help in the process.
03 Making decisions and 57
taking action
3.1 Making decisions about your life 57
3.2 Goals, restrictions and resources 58
3.3 Plan of action 62
How to move forward – this section gives you an
opportunity to look at your ‘framework of choice’,
consider the restrictions and resources in your life,
and create a ‘plan of action’ for managing change
and making things happen.
04 Getting the job 67
4.1 What do employers look for
in graduates? 67
4.2 Matching vacancies 69
4.3 Application forms 73
4.4 The curriculum vitae (CV) 76
4.5 The covering letter 94
4.6 The interview 99
4.7 Other selection techniques 106
4.8 What to do if you are not successful 110
This will guide you through some important areas.
It discusses what employers look for and how to
tell exactly what skills vacancy adverts are seeking.
This section also shows you how to produce high-
quality application forms, CVs and covering letters,
and discusses how to perform to the best of your
ability in interviews and other selection procedures.
05 Equality and Diversity Issues 113
5.1 Age 115
5.2 Criminal record 116
5.3 Disability or additional requirements 122
5.4 Gender 127
5.5 Race 129
5.6 Religion or belief 131
5.7 Sexuality and sexual orientation 132
Explores a range of issues related to equality
of opportunity.
06 The next steps 135
6.1 Open University Careers and
Employability Services 135
6.2 Other sources of help 137
Further sources of help – useful organisations,
websites and resources.

6 Career planning and job-seeking workbook
To find out more, visit our website at www.open.ac.uk/careers
Introduction
This workbook consists of six sections that take you in a progressive
series of steps through the process of a personal and career review,
career planning and job seeking.
Our advice if you’re job seeking in
uncertain times
Job seeking at the best of times can be challenging,
but in a time of economic uncertainty it can be that
bit harder. There are things that you can do to help
overcome any difficulties:
1. Stay positive
It can be very difficult to stay positive if you are
getting lots of rejections and/or finding very little for
which you can apply, but you do need to try. The first
thing to remember is not to blame yourself. Assuming
your applications are getting you interviews, and
the interview feedback is positive, then you are
performing well and it is the circumstances that are
against you. There is also an element of luck, and if
you persevere you will be successful. If you are not
getting interviews, or you are concerned about your
interview performance, see the sections on application
forms (Section 4.3), the interview (Section 4.6) and
what to do if you are not successful (Section 4.8).
You need to stay positive for your own mental
wellbeing, and also because it is likely that any
negativity will come through in your application or
at your interview. Even though employers probably
know rationally that any applicant is applying for a
range of jobs, they still like to believe that what they
are offering is special to any applicant, so you need
to be enthusiastic.
Most employers have a very positive attitude to Open
University students and graduates, recognising
the commitment and motivation that independent
study requires, the high standards set by The Open
University, and the time management and deadline
meeting required to achieve your qualification.
2. Network (see also Section 2.5)
This is the time to use any contacts you have. Make
sure family and friends (and families of friends) know
that you are looking for work, and have some idea of
what you want. Stay in touch with any ex-colleagues
who may hear of opportunities arising.
You will find advice on networking on our careers
website at www.open.ac.uk/careers.
Set up a profile on professional networking sites such
as LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com). You may also want
to try other social media websites. See the advice on
‘Job hunting and social media’ on Prospects website
at www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/getting-a-
job/job-hunting-and-social-media. This includes top
tips for using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Don’t forget your fellow students. Some that you may
be in contact with through forums or tutorials may be
able to help.
3. Be open to flexible working
You may not be able to get exactly what you want
immediately, but could you consider starting off part-
time? Maybe you could apply for more than one part-
time role and then hope for more hours? If you want
to work in a particular industry, it may be worth trying
to get in a different, possibly more junior role than the
one you ultimately want. This could help you build up
a network of contacts as well as prove your worth.
4. Do your research
Yes, you need to research careers and jobs,
especially if you are changing direction – but you
also need to investigate the local labour market
where you hope to work. Your local council may have
a business section or a register of developments. As
well as displaying local job adverts a local paper can
have articles about businesses that are expanding
or moving into the area. It helps both to know what
is available and have an idea of what organisations
may be developing.
5. Keep trying
It is all too easy to get disheartened, but you must
keep trying. As an Open University student you
have already proved that you can do this
– there must have been times
when you were tired or over
stretched, but you still
got the work done in
time, so you can do it.
Perseverance
works!

7Introduction
Our advice if you’re changing careers or
are facing redundancy
If your reason for using this workbook is either due
to your intention to change careers or as the result
of redundancy see the additional advice below.
Once you have done some research and explored
the resources in this workbook you may also want to
contact a Careers Adviser.
1. Career change
Many people who study with The Open University
wish to use their qualification as a way of changing
career. This may be because they feel that they have
skills to offer in a different area or their interests have
developed in a new direction.
Some students may be looking for a new challenge
and see OU study as a way of achieving this. In
terms of your career planning it is important that
you choose the right qualifications to give you
the best chance of achieving your goal. You can
research qualifications required for specific careers
via the job profiles on Prospects website at
www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles.
Remember that if you are making a radical career
change, you may have to accept a lower position or
grade at first and then work your way up to where
you want to be. Accepting a part-time position
initially is also a useful strategy as you can gain
confidence in your new work area one step at a time.
2. Redundancy
The prospect of being made redundant can be
terrifying, but there are things you can do to help
prepare yourself to deal with it.
First of all, make sure you know your rights. Check
your contract of employment for any details there.
Are you a member of a trades union? If so, consult
them. You need to know the length of notice that you
are entitled to and – provided you have worked for
the employer for more than two years – what pay you
are entitled to.
Employers should try to find you alternative work
within the organisation, and should consult you
about the redundancy process, which should be
clear, objective and fair. This means that it should be
based on evidence, as opposed to your employer
just deciding who they want to make redundant.
Normally your job must have disappeared for you to
be made redundant.
For more information about your employment rights,
what pay you may be entitled to and sources of
help, visit the Gov.uk website (www.gov.uk/browse/
working) and see the section ‘Redundancies,
dismissals and disciplinaries.’
Once you know your rights, the next step is probably
to give some thought to the future. While redundancy
isn’t usually welcome, it is not necessarily a negative
situation to be in. Many people have used it as an
opportunity to change their lives and careers.
What is important, though, is how you react to the
situation. As an Open University student you may
already be in the process of career change, and
redundancy may be an opportunity to study faster
and achieve your goals more quickly.
If you have received a large lump sum, it may be
wise to get some financial advice about how best to
use it to tide you over until you get a new job.
This may take longer in the current economic climate,
so it’s probably wise to invest in some objective
financial planning. If there is a chance you may want
to start your own business you may need the money
as capital.
Although redundancy often comes as a shock, and
an unwelcome one, try to see it as an opportunity to
review your current position. Think about your skills
and abilities, and about any career goals that have
got lost along the way. This may be the time to revive
those goals.
Anecdotally, many people look back on redundancy
favourably, and as the prompt they needed to change
direction and/or improve their work/life balance.

9How to use this workbook
How to use this workbook
Use this workbook to help you to:
• Take stock
• Review your career and life
• Evaluate your aptitudes, skills, interests,
values and personal needs
• Decide what you want to achieve
• Begin to plan how you might achieve it.
The workbook outlines the practical steps needed
for looking for a job, planning a strategy, completing
application forms, designing a curriculum vitae (CV)
and presenting yourself at interviews.
This is a reference source that can stand on its own,
but it also complements information on our careers
website: www.open.ac.uk/careers
We recommend working through the workbook
sections in order, but you might want to dip into
different areas at different stages of your career
planning and job seeking.
This book focuses on you because although
organisations, agencies, people and materials are
all useful resources, they can’t make things happen
for you.
It is you who will be in the work situation, so the
clearer you are about your own characteristics,
the more precisely you can specify what you want
and communicate it to employers. This book invites
you to recognise your own qualities and abilities,
and to define what you’re really looking for.
Remember, the most important influence on your
career and life planning is you.
Activities
We encourage you to take time over the activities
suggested in this book, so that you can build a
sound foundation for later steps in reviewing your
career. You may find some of them particularly time
consuming, and you might well need to return to
them as your ideas develop.
Working through the activities should be challenging
but rewarding. The more open-minded, positive and
constructive you are, and the more time and effort
you put into them, the more productive they’ll be.
Keep your activities as you work through them.
They’re likely to be helpful when you reach the stage
of completing application forms, putting your CV
together or preparing for an interview.
Ways of working
Give some thought now to how you might work with
these materials before you begin. Working through
the activities at your own pace gives you scope for
quiet reflection, but you could become distracted
by the mechanics of the process. You might find it
useful to link up with another person or a small group.
Working with others can give you ideas, support and
encouragement; they can act as a sounding board
and suggest different ways of looking at things.
You could take a relatively informal approach,
working with a partner or friend, or set up a more
formal relationship, with a careers adviser or perhaps
through your appraiser at work or your line manager.
Whatever approach you decide on, make sure it’s
one you’re comfortable with. You’ll certainly find it
helpful to get comments and opinions from people
who know you well.
Time
It’s difficult to foresee exactly how much time you’ll
need. Career planning has to be a recurring process
– you can’t do it once and for all, then settle back
secure in the knowledge that you won’t have to do it
again. As we make changes and as circumstances
change around us, the basis of our original plans
inevitably shifts. To begin with, you might prefer to
tackle the process in stages, perhaps when you’re
not in the midst of your studies.
Challenges you may be facing
If you recognise concerns of your own – you may
find more than one – in this list, make a note of the
recommended sections:
• I don’t know where to begin.
Look particularly at Section 1.
• Will my age be a problem in changing career?
Look at Sections 2, 4 and 5.
• How should I update my CV?
Look at Section 4.
• I know what I want to do but don’t know how to
achieve it.
Look at Sections 2, 3, 4 and 6.
• How should I use the internet in looking for jobs?
Look at Section 2.
• I need to find a job in a particular
geographical area.
Look at Section 2.

11Knowing yourself
01 Knowing yourself
1.1 What am I like? 12
1.2 What work would suit me? 17
Remember that you may have potential that has yet to be developed. Try to
keep an open mind when considering future possibilities, and reject them
only if, after exploring them, there’s good reason to.
You may find that some seemingly unchangeable things can be changed.
For example, re-evaluating your finances, geographical location or range of
commitments may enable you to free up resources to enable you to learn
new skills or take up more enjoyable, less well-paid work.
This section will help you to develop your self-
awareness, take a clear view of your career and life,
and consider the questions ‘What am I like?’ and
‘What can I do?’ It will help you to review your life and
work experience and the skills and qualities that have
grown out of them. This is the first step in the career-
review process.
The section starts by asking you to look back. Your
past has shaped you through your family background,
your education, training, work and leisure activities.
You’ve gained knowledge and skills from your
experiences, and learnt how you cope with and
respond to, different tasks and challenges. This kind
of self-knowledge is the soundest basis for making
decisions about your future.
The activities in this section ask you to think about
a series of questions as a beginning to your career
review. They offer different ways of considering what
you’re like and what you can do. At intervals you’ll
be asked to ‘pause for thought’ and note down your
responses. The questions are:
• Who am I? What were my early influences
and decisions?
• What are my main achievements?
• What roles do I play in life?
• What have I learnt in my spare time?
• How big a part of my life is work?
• What work experience have I had?
• What different roles do I take on at work?
• What sort of person am I to work with?
• What am I good at, as far as work is concerned?
• What do I really want from work?
• How well does my present (or last) job meet my
wants and needs?
• What kind of work would I like to do?
You may like to try out some of the activities from
this section on paper. You can also access career
planning activities online on our careers website at:
http://www2.open.ac.uk/students/help/career-self-
assessment
Here you will find links to lots of different activities
and resources to assist in career planning and job
seeking. Some of these resources and links are
provided by The Open University and some by
external organisations such as Graduate Prospects:
www.prospects.ac.uk

Activity 1.1
Secondary
school
Moved
house
Father died
Qualified
(production
engineer)
Marriage
Son
Daughter
Bought flat
(improvement
grant)
Bought house –
garden and
mortgage!
Promotion
problems due
to lack of
experience
Became management
trainee (part-time
study, diploma)
Changes in company
policy (new job,
project engineering)
NOW
Hospital
(appendix
removed)
Moved sideways (into
sales and marketing)
Left school
(apprenticeship)
HIGH POINT
LOW POINT
Company
hit hard time
(redundancy)
1.1 What am I like?
1.1.1 Who am I? What were my early influences and decisions?
The two activities in this section will help you to develop an overview of your career so far, and to consider how
your early history contributed to it.
In this activity you’re going
to draw a ‘lifeline’, to help
you reflect on the pattern
of your life. You’ll be asked
to refer back to your lifeline
later on.
This activity can help you to
gather insights that could
influence your future choices,
and to discover aspects
of yourself that you might
want to develop or change.
Note down key events, such
as education, marriage,
children, starting work and
so on. Put them in the form
of a diagram like the one
on the right showing high
and low points at different
times of your life.
The lifeline exercise can
result in a lot of emotions coming to the surface as
you review your experiences. You may find it useful
to talk through any difficult emotions with someone
you trust.
Example
When you’ve drawn a lifeline that records your
experiences, reflect on it as a whole. Think about
the feelings aroused by each experience and
answer these questions, noting any thoughts or
ideas that occur to you:
• What does the lifeline say about you and how
you’ve lived your life?
• Are there recognisable themes that have run
through your life?
• Is the pattern generally up or down? Is it
steady or changeable? What sort of incidents
were associated with the highs and lows?
Are the highs generally associated with your
own choices or actions and the lows with the
unexpected or things outside your control?
Are there some experiences you feel you cope
with easily and others that really throw you?
Would someone who knows you
well have drawn your lifeline
differently? What would that
person have said?
You may find it useful to reflect
on this with a trusted
friend or family member.
Pause for thought
• Are there any lessons to be learnt? For
instance, this activity revealed to one person
that all her high points were associated with
praise from others and her low points with
geographical moves. Another noted that all his
positive job changes followed disappointments
in his private life, and he saw that each
disappointment motivated him towards a
change and offered opportunities. For a third,
it helped them recognise the positive influence
and benefit of someone in their life acting as
a consistent and unobtrusive mentor.

13Knowing yourself
Activity 1.2
This activity brings out some of the early
themes from your lifeline, concentrating on your
childhood and school life. Make notes under
the headings below. The activity may take some
time, and you might want to return to it later to
change or add points. Some of this information
will be useful when you put your CV together or
update your LinkedIn profile (see Section 4).
1 Family influences
If applicable, write down any occupational
influences on you. For instance, was one of
your parents a mechanic or another a teacher?
2 What do you remember about your
early childhood?
For example, the area and house you lived
in, family lifestyle, activities you participated
in, experiences you had, what your parents
expected of you, your role in the family.
3 Schooling
List the schools you went to, with dates, the
subjects you were good at and enjoyed, how
you got on with other children, how your
teachers saw you, how you saw your teachers,
school sports or other activities you took part in.
4 Teenage years
What activities were you good at or did you
enjoy? How did your friends see you?
What were you like as a teenager? What
ambitions did you have (career or otherwise)?
5 Any further education or training
What did you do? How did you choose it?
How did you get on? What prompted you to
begin studying with the OU?
Pause for thought
Now spend some time considering what your
notes say about you – what you’re like, why and
how you arrived at where you are today. You may
see themes appearing, such as strong aspects
of your personality or talents. Maybe you
had various abilities but developed
one rather than another – sporting
ability rather than artistic talent,
perhaps. Looking back, could you
have made different choices?
Make a note of any insights
you’ve gained through
remembering and reflecting.

1.1.2 What are my main achievements?
The activity in this section can help you to recognise skills and qualities that you might not always be
conscious of. It can be a particularly useful approach if you haven’t had much formal experience like
paid work – it’s sometimes easy to assume that skills gained outside work somehow don’t count.
Looking back at your lifeline (Activity 1.1), note the achievements you are most proud of and what they
say about you. Set them out in the table below. They could be work-related or to do with relationships,
things you do in your spare time, recent or a long time ago. For example, passing all your exams first time
may say that you’re an excellent student; passing your driving test on the fifth attempt may say a lot about
your staying power and determination.
My achievements
1
2
3
4
5
What they say about me
1
2
3
4
5
Activity 1.3
Pause for thought
Which of the skills or qualities you’ve listed
could be used in a work situation?
What kind of work? The chances are
that you’ve highlighted ‘transferable
skills’ and qualities that would be
welcome in many kinds of
career role.

15Knowing yourself
1.1.3 What roles do I play in life?
Another way of looking at your skills is to consider the roles you’ve played in your life.
Each role demands different skills. As a student, you need skills of learning, time management,
communication and keeping to schedules. If you enjoy DIY, you’ve developed not only practical skills
but planning and organising skills as well. If you are a parent, you have needed to develop skills of budgeting,
time management, delegating, cooking, and so on. By chairing meetings of a club, you develop skills of
briefing and dealing with people as well as organisational and management skills.
Activity 1.4
Now complete the table below. As a parent you may also be a cook, gardener, household manager.
You may take part in voluntary work (taking on roles such as counsellor, listener or organiser). You may be
an employee (team leader, working group member, project manager). You may find this is a particularly
useful exercise if you have little work experience to draw on, as many skills are learnt outside paid work.
My main roles
1

2

3

4

5

Pause for thought
Looking at all your roles, are you surprised at the
number of things you do and take for
granted every day? Look at the skills
you’ve listed. Circle the ones that
are particular strengths. How do
you feel about them? Which do
you most enjoy using? How could
you use them in work?

Activity 1.5
My main weaknesses
1
2
3
4
5
6
My main activities outside work are (or have been)
1
2
3
4
5
Review
Think about what you’ve done so far in this section. What have you learnt about yourself? Bringing some
of your answers together, what would you now say are your main strengths and weaknesses? They can be
skills, abilities, personal characteristics or interests. Remember that strengths can be built on for the future
and weaknesses can be reduced by your efforts to address these; they need not be barriers to the future.
My main strengths
1
2
3
4
5
6
Pause for thought
What are the possibilities in your interests? Have you
held positions of responsibility in any of them? Can
you see any interests or hobbies that might be
helpful to future work plans? For example, although
you may not have financial responsibilities at work,
you might be treasurer to your local
darts team or do the audit for the
youth club funds.
1.1.4 What have I learnt in my spare time?
What hobbies do you have or have you had in the past? You may not turn your hobby into a career, but your
spare-time activities could help you to demonstrate skills and qualities. lt’s easy to forget that leisure activities
can give us as many skills and abilities as those gained through work.

17Knowing yourself
Activity 1.6
1.2 What work would suit me?
Now that you’ve spent some time considering the skills and qualities you’ve developed
through experience, it’s time to think about work.
1.2.1 How big a part of my life is work?
Before considering what you want to do, you need to be clear about how important work is to you. This is
something that varies from person to person. You might be highly ambitious, even a workaholic, or you might
avoid positions that regularly eat into your leisure time. You may have found yourself in a post that takes over
and leaves little time for family life, and may prefer something that can give you a better balance between work
and home life. The next activity can help you to think about this. If you don’t have much experience of paid
work, think about your approach to other activities or projects you take part in.
Rate each of the following statements
Use this scale – try to avoid choosing
option 3 unless you feel this is the only
appropriate response:
5 Always true
4 Usually true
3 Neither true nor untrue
2 Usually untrue
1 Always untrue
1 I always aim high in my work
2 My ambition isn’t necessarily
to get to the top
3 I set myself difficult goals
to achieve
4 I don’t like to let work disturb
my social life
5 I want to do well at whatever
I’m doing
6 Being a success in life isn’t
too important to me
7 I like being seen as
dedicated to my job
8 I don’t like to aim too high
9 Work always comes before
pleasure
10 People wouldn’t describe me
as very ambitious
Pause for thought
Think about the way you scored
in this activity. How does
this feel? Is it right for you
or would you like to change
this aspect of your life?
Add up your scores
From the odd-numbered questions
From the even-numbered questions
Take the ‘even’ score away
from the ‘odd’ score
(even if it produces a minus score)
What did you score?
If you have a plus (+) score, the higher your
score, the stronger your ambition. If you scored
+20, for example, you would always put work
first and aim high in your achievements.
You might even be seen as a ‘workaholic’!
If you have a minus (–) score, you don’t see
work as the most important aspect of your life.
At the lower end of the scale, for example if
you scored –20, you would put your social life
before work, have little concern about getting on
in your career, and might be seen as ‘laid back’.
If you have a more central score, you keep
a balance between work and leisure. You have
some concern about doing well and making
progress, but you don’t let work rule your life.

Activity 1.7
1.2.2 What work experience have I had?
Most people would agree that work experience is very important when considering future directions, but it’s
easy to take yourself for granted and not recognise the wide range and high level of skills and abilities you
have. Many will be ‘transferable skills’ that you can use in other situations.
You will have learnt a huge amount through work (whether paid or voluntary) by noticing how you feel about
different tasks and respond to work situations, or how well you perform particular activities compared to other
people. You may also have learnt from others, either through formal appraisal or from informal comments and
reactions.
The next activity helps you to explore your experience, and will be useful when preparing for interviews
(see Section 4). The activity may take some time, and you might want to come back to it later.
1 List the jobs you’ve had, with dates.
If you have limited or no experience of
paid employment, make a list of unpaid
or voluntary experience for example,
helping readers at school, delivering ‘Meals
on Wheels’, fundraising for a charity or
involvement in a conservation project.
2 For each job, note how it came about.
Did you apply formally through an advert,
or did you make a speculative approach to
a company? Did you volunteer or were you
encouraged into it? If you had some choice,
what factors seemed important in deciding to
take it up?
3 For each job, note the range of tasks or
activities you had to do.
Having an OU degree was useful for
getting my current post which is based
at home as it demonstrated that I could
work from home successfully.
BSc Hons Environmental Studies graduate
Pause for thought
Look back at what you’ve written.
Do you see any patterns?
Can you see particular strengths
or areas of difficulty? Do you enjoy
some things more than others?
Do others turn to you for help
with particular things?
4 Did you have to deal with any difficulties?
5 Which tasks or activities did you find most
appealing, enjoyable or rewarding, and why?
6 What were your particular achievements?
7 How did you get on with the other people?
8 What was your style of working?
9 Were you known for particular things?
10 What were you most proud of?
11 What were the things you disliked or
found frustrating?

19Knowing yourself
Activity 1.8
1.2.3 What different roles do I take on at work or elsewhere?
This activity should help you to become aware of the skills and experience you’ve developed through the
typical roles you play at work. If work hasn’t been a major part of your life, apply this to whatever activity
has taken up a lot of your time.
Some work roles and areas of competence are listed below. Work through each role in the list. Does it
sound like you? If it comes to you easily, put a tick beside it; if it isn’t a usual role for you, cross it out. If
you’re not sure or if it’s only partly true, leave it blank.
INITIATE SEEK COMMUNICATE
IMPLEMENT ORGANISE HARMONISE
MONITOR SOLVE CHECK
MAINTAIN DECIDE CAMPAIGN
IMPROVE LIAISE PERSUADE
CONTROL COORDINATE MEASURE
ALLOCATE EXPLORE SUPERVISE
SELECT INVESTIGATE CHOOSE
DEVELOP LINK GUIDE
CREATE SELL MAKE
ENHANCE PLAN TRAIN
DELEGATE TEACH EVALUATE
Pause for thought
Look at the roles you’ve ticked. Circle any that
describe you particularly. Can you think of any
specific activities or actions at work or in non-work
activities that show that they describe you?
What evidence can you give to prove them?
How do you feel about them? Which do you most
relish carrying out? You’ll find this list
useful when you come to preparing
a CV, completing an application
form or attending an interview
(which you will cover in more
detail in Section 4). All the words
describe positive qualities.

1.2.4 What sort of person am I to work with?
Your personality affects your style of operating in the workplace and the way you respond to situations.
Again, think more generally about your life if your workplace experiences are limited.
Activity 1.9
Work through the following descriptions, deciding how you compare with other people. Try to use the
full range of ratings from 5 (much more so than most other people) to 1 (much less so than most other
people), circling your position on the scale.
Average
Plan ahead and keep to it (t) 5 4 3 2 1
Stickler for detail or accuracy (t) 5 4 3 2 1
Easy mixer, socially confident (s) 5 4 3 2 1
Pessimistic (f) 5 4 3 2 1
Energetic (f) 5 4 3 2 1
Solitary (s) 5 4 3 2 1
Like lots of change and variety (t) 5 4 3 2 1
Very much affected by events or people (f) 5 4 3 2 1
Go my own way, act independently (s) 5 4 3 2 1
More practical than theoretical (t) 5 4 3 2 1
Determined (f) 5 4 3 2 1
Sympathetic, caring for others (s) 5 4 3 2 1
Always like to win, come in top (f) 5 4 3 2 1
Like persuading, negotiating (s) 5 4 3 2 1
Tend to worry, get anxious (f) 5 4 3 2 1
Like deadlines and timetables (t) 5 4 3 2 1
Usually take a leading role (s) 5 4 3 2 1
Good with complex ideas or data (t) 5 4 3 2 1
Demonstrative, show feelings (f) 5 4 3 2 1
Happy to be in charge of others (s) 5 4 3 2 1
Prefer traditional courses of action (t) 5 4 3 2 1
Equable, not easily upset (f) 5 4 3 2 1
Tend to influence people (s) 5 4 3 2 1
Ambitious to get on at all costs (f) 5 4 3 2 1
LessMore

21Knowing yourself
Activity 1.9 continued
Now look over your ratings. You can group them
into those to do with relating to people and
social situations (s), to do with your approach
to work tasks (t), and to do with your drives and
emotions (f). Where did you score the most
highly? Or did you score evenly across the
three categories?
For instance, some people are at ease giving
a presentation while others find it very nerve-
racking. If you think about your colleagues
you’ll be aware how they differ from each other.
While one is reserved, another is very chatty
and communicative; one is a stickler for detail
while another is not too concerned about fine
accuracy.
There’s no right or wrong personality, but you
do need to take your own traits into account. A
work situation that suits a very sociable person
won’t suit someone who much prefers to work
alone. The better you know yourself, the more
opportunities you create for finding a situation
that will suit you.
What have you learnt about your
typical way of operating?
What kind of work situation
would be likely to suit you?
Pause for thought

1.2.5 What am I good at as far as
work is concerned?
This section should help you to think about your
aptitudes – what you can do and how well you can
do it. Some people have a creative imagination,
others a photographic memory, others are skilful with
statistics. Some people have been taught or have
learnt particular skills for themselves – competence
in a computer language, for example. Others have
specialist knowledge, such as accounting standards
or employment law.
This question is of particular interest to employers.
It’s also important for you to know what you’re good
at, as it affects the work or the parts of a particular
job that you can perform best. There’s generally
some connection between what we can do well
and what we enjoy doing, but it’s not a necessary
connection. You can be good at something without
particularly enjoying it. You should also remember
that you’ll go on developing as you cope with
different demands, as you learn through your own
study, by going on training courses, by trial and error,
by observing others, by reading and so on.
You can learn about your aptitudes from other
people’s comments, through taking psychometric
tests (which are discussed in more detail in Section 4)
or from your own perceptions of how well you cope
with different tasks. The next activities are based on
your own knowledge, but do use any other information
you can get.
Activity 1.10
Look back at your list of achievements and what they say about you. Now list some of your work/
voluntary/domestic achievements, projects you’ve tackled successfully, initiatives you’ve put into practice,
etc. Then think about the knowledge and abilities you needed to apply in order to achieve the result.
Perhaps you had to learn a new technique, or perhaps you used or developed a skill you already had.
What I achieved
1
2
3
4
5
Knowledge/abilities used
1
2
3
4
5
Pause for thought
Examine and reflect on what you’ve put under the
headings. You might discover that your strengths
are grouped in some areas rather
than others. It’s useful to know this,
as it enables you to recognise the
talents you have and also to see
whether there are gaps you want
to work on. It’s also useful as
evidence when you’re
completing a CV or
attending an interview.
Review
As you may be discovering, it’s helpful to reflect on
your past as you approach a decision that will
significantly affect your life. Consider your answers
so far. You may have begun to gain more insights or
realisations about your own nature. Your discoveries
might be to do with your skills and abilities or your
attitudes, ambitions, needs and values. You may have
learnt more about your personality, temperament or
way of dealing with the world. What have you learnt?
It can help, rather than simply thinking through these
questions, to have someone else with whom to talk
through your answers – perhaps a friend, relation or
a careers adviser.

23Knowing yourself
Activity 1.11
The following activity is designed to help you do
a skills audit. You need to think about the skills
you have gained through your working, home
and social life, as well as those you are
developing and enhancing through your Open
University studies. The activity will help you to
assess your skills in more detail. The activity
is grouped into skills which are of particular
importance to employers, often referred to as
‘employability’ or ‘transferable skills’.
If you are unfamiliar with the language used in
recruitment, doing this exercise will help you
to start looking at your skills in the way that
employers expect and to use the language that
you will need to use in job applications.
Many people, especially those who may be
returning to work after a break, feel that they
are lacking in skills or that the skills they have
are rusty. It may be that you have gaps in your
skills and undertaking this exercise will help
you to identify those so that you can think about
how to plug the gap.
For example, think about your Open University
studies. It is likely that you have developed or
enhanced your written communication skills,
so you will have a good level of skill in points
8, 9, 10 and 12. You will certainly have evidence
that you can read efficiently, point 7, and
depending on any tutorial participation, you
may have enhanced your verbal skills.
A way of improving and demonstrating your
skill of dealing with people could involve
tutorials and forums.
You are certainly using the skills of thinking and
analysis, even if it is just points 5, 9 and 10.
In the technical/practical section you will be
using IT software and equipment. In creative/
innovative skills you may be writing with
imagination or creativity, and/or seeing new
possibilities or openings.
Your studies will also give you evidence of skills
in virtually every point made in the administrative/
organisational section. You will need to rate
how well you can do these. So, be as honest
as you can both in admitting lack of skill and
in acknowledging your competence, but don’t
underestimate what you are capable of.
Consider how well you can carry out each one
in comparison with other people. Try to use the
full range of ratings.
Rate each of the following statements
Use this scale – try to avoid choosing 3 if you can:
6 Very high, outstanding performance
5 High level, reliably perform better than average
4 Good level generally able to do it quite well
Don’t devalue yourself. Recognise the
importance of what you’ve done, be it
through your study, be it through your life
experiences, because that’s what
enriches a firm, and that’s why
companies would be interested in
students from the OU.
Head of Recruitment, KPMG Europe
3 Reasonable level, just acceptable skills
2 Very basic level, not usually adequate
1 No significant level of skills

1 Listening, taking in what others say and checking your understanding
of the information
2 Clear verbal expression, ability to convey information without confusion
3 Fluent speech, words flowing easily
4 Drawing people out, to encourage them to speak
5 Commanding an audience, giving a presentation
6 Using the telephone effectively: few misunderstandings
7 Reading efficiently: readily taking in written information
8 Writing effectively, matching style to purpose
9 Structuring reports and other written communications logically
10 Using a wide vocabulary accurately and appropriately
11 Speaking (accent and pronunciation) in a way that’s acceptable in a
wide range of social situations
12 Spelling and grammar
Communication
Total score
Rating
1 Showing sensitivity to the feelings and needs of others;
taking account of this in dealing with them
2 Getting on with a variety of people and building up working relationships
3 Instructing, teaching or coaching others
4 Delegating and managing others
5 Leading a work group, chairing a meeting
6 Encouraging, motivating, getting the best out of others
7 Counselling: helping with personal problems
8 Negotiating: mediating, dealing with conflict
9 Interviewing, assessing or appraising
10 Persuading, encouraging, changing others’ views
11 Consulting and building agreements
12 Acting assertively (not aggressively)
Dealing with people Rating
Total score

25Knowing yourself
1 Understanding book-keeping
2 Preparing a budget
3 Using a spreadsheet
4 Understanding VAT and taxation
5 Producing a cash-flow forecast
6 Producing annual accounts
7 Carrying out a cost–benefit analysis
8 Interpreting management accounts
9 Working knowledge of volume and expenditure-related variances
10 Operating PAYE
11 Understanding types, uses and sources of loan finance
12 Operating costing system
Financial activities Rating
Total score
1 Using project management tools, e.g. critical path analysis
2 Using statistics
3 Logical thinking, working out implications
4 Applying critical ability in recognising potential weakness or problems
5 Making logical use of facts or information
6 Using mental arithmetic, estimating orders or probability
7 Flow-charting
8 Rational decision-making
9 Carrying out analysis and evaluation
10 Researching and gathering information
11 Carrying out mathematical operations
12 Carrying out stock or inventory control
Thinking and analysis Rating
Total score

1 Competence in using tools and technical equipment
2 Understanding data-processing equipment
3 Applying craft or technical ability
4 Aptitude for diagnosing mechanical or electrical faults
5 Constructing or assembling materials or equipment
6 Understanding current technical developments
7 Using laboratory equipment
8 Dealing with tangible, practical problems
9 Using manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination
10 Understanding physical sciences
11 Understanding engineering
12 Maintaining or repairing complex equipment
Technical/practical Rating
Total score

27Knowing yourself
1 Generating alternative solutions to problems
2 Creating original ideas
3 Improvising or adapting for other purposes
4 Designing new things, systems, layouts, events or courses
5 Being insightful, intuitive or imaginative
6 Developing others’ products or ideas
7 Writing with imagination or creativity
8 Seeing new possibilities or openings
9 Appreciating new or unconventional aspects
10 Visualising: imagining how something will look
11 Working creatively with shapes, colours, sounds and patterns
12 Innovating and improving procedures in your own field
Creative/innovative Rating
Total score
1 Managing your time
2 Planning systematically
3 Operating procedures precisely
4 Making things run like clockwork
5 Handling in-trays efficiently
6 Meeting deadlines
7 Producing clear operational structures
8 Developing resources to achieve objectives
9 Organising working time
10 Monitoring procedures and progress
11 Making detailed plans of action
12 Having a well-organised work space, filing system or recording procedures
Administrative/organisational Rating
Total score

Now add up all your total scores. Look at the skills you scored most highly in
and those you most enjoy. Write them in this space:
Communication
Dealing with people
Financial activities
Thinking and analysis
Summary
Technical/practical
Creative/innovative
Administrative/organisational
Total score
Circle the skills that you’d most like to use in the future.
Now look through the original ratings to see whether there are skills you’re not yet very competent in,
but would like to develop. List those here:

Evidence of your skills
Now that you have identified your skill strengths, it
can be helpful to think about what evidence you can
give in support of those skills. On an application
form you are often asked to give an example of a
time when you effectively used a particular skill. In
a CV, if you claim to have a skill you are expected
to give evidence to that effect. Competency-based
questions are regularly used in graduate recruitment
processes. Employers identify the skills and abilities
(competences) that are vital for working in their
organisation and they use these as selection criteria
for choosing new recruits.
To measure your suitability, recruiters will ask questions
where you will need to draw on examples from your life
so far to demonstrate times when you have employed
particular competences. The logic is simple: your
past ability to use a skill is a good indicator of your
potential to be successful in the future.
When thinking about evidence it can help to think of
using a variety of sources, including your studies,
work, voluntary work or life in general.
In order to structure the information you give in
a clear and succinct way, you can use the STAR
method: Situation Task Actions Result.
• Situation - what was the situation and when did it
take place?
• Task - what task was it, and what was the
objective?
• Action - what action did you take to achieve this?
• Results - what happened as a result of your
action?
You may have more than one example to consider;
try to choose the one that
• is relevant and describes the skill being asked for

29Knowing yourself
Pause for thought
What does this activity tell you? Are there any
surprises or does it confirm your expectations?
Either way, you can use the information when
you come to consider alternatives. Remember that
skills can always be developed simply by using
them more, and that the wider the range of skills
you have, the greater the variety of job
options open to you. Recognising the
skills you have to offer is key in being
able to market yourself successfully
to an employer (see also Section 4).
• demonstrates action and is something you actually
did, as opposed to what you learned, or what you
might do in a hypothetical situation
• is personalised by stating what you did, as
opposed to saying what other people did or what
happened
• has a positive outcome
• is appropriate and gives you something you can
talk comfortably about if asked for more detail
• is specific - if the question asks for an example,
then you should only describe one.
Keep your examples specific, recent
and relevant. We want to hear how you
have used skills and behaviours in a
positive way, so that we can see how you
would apply them in the work place.
Co-operative Group
Here are two examples:
Administrative/organisational: Whilst acting as
a marketing manager for my local hockey club, I
organised a successful recruitment drive: printing
flyers, arranging volunteers to distribute these
and putting in place free trial sessions to welcome
potential members. Membership increased by
20 per cent.
Communication: I lead seminars for junior members
of staff in my workplace. It is essential that I listen
carefully to establish their current knowledge and
only intervene when necessary to encourage them
to consider other areas. My performance in the first
seminar led to an increased workload to improve the
next set of seminars.
While competence-based questions focus on what
you can do, strengths-based questions focus on
what you like doing and are also being used now
by graduate employers (there is further exploration
of questions used in applications and interviews in
Section 4).

Rate the values below for importance to you. Try to use the full range of scores.
4 Very important 3 Important 2 Less important 1 Not important
Description Value Rating
Making decisions, independent action AUTONOMY
Change or variety in tasks, people, places VARIETY
Scope to learn, study, think, analyse INTELLECTUAL
Making friendly contacts with others SOCIAL
Large income, expensive possessions ECONOMIC
Expressing ethical code or religious beliefs SPIRITUAL
Using talents, developing skills USING ABILITIES
Being part of an important organisation COMMITMENT
Having lots of stimulus, excitement, thrills EXCITEMENT
Having influence or power over others AUTHORITY
Enjoying or making beautiful designs or things AESTHETIC
Getting promotion, career progression ADVANCEMENT
Helping or caring for others ALTRUISM
Concern for surroundings or location COMFORT
Being original, developing new ideas CREATIVITY
Activity, keeping moving, handling things PHYSICAL
Taking risks; business and trading COMMERCIAL
Does this make clear your reasons for wanting to work? Does it suggest the kind of work you like to do or
the type of organisation you feel most most suited to working for?
Clearly, some kinds of work have more to do with ALTRUISM and others with ECONOMIC or CREATIVE
values. In the same way, a manufacturing company, a charity, a newspaper office, a local authority,
a financial institution and so on will each have a different ‘feel’ as a place to work. Try to think through
which would suit you best.
Activity 1.12
1.2.6 What do I really want from work?
Now that you’ve thought about who and where you are and the skills you have, the next step is to recognise
what you’re satisfied with and what you’re dissatisfied with. This doesn’t mean that you can achieve everything
you wish, as restrictions of one kind or another will limit everyone’s range of choice. It is important though,
not to limit yourself by concentrating so much on restrictions that you achieve less than you might.

31Knowing yourself
1.2.7 How well does my present (or last) job meet my wants and needs?
Activity 1.13
To complete your examination of job satisfaction
or dissatisfaction, consider the following.
Circle the level that applies to your present or
most recent job.
Money Clearly, inadequate income causes
many problems and dissatisfactions.
Too little Adequate Well paid
Opportunity for control Simple, repetitive,
closely controlled work is generally far from
satisfying, but on the other hand having a
high level of responsibility (being a managing
director, for example) can be stressful.
Too little About right Too much
Opportunity to use skills Most of us
enjoy using and developing our skills and
competence. But having very high-level,
complicated demands repeatedly made on
us can be stressful.
Goals People function best when there are
demands to be met, targets to be achieved,
challenges to rise to. We all have our own
preferred level of demand.
Variety Individuals differ in the amount of variety
they prefer, but it’s stimulating to have some
change and variation in the work environment.
Clear boundaries A work situation where
boundaries aren’t clear can cause uncertainty
and conflict. Equally, being in a tightly defined
job can feel restricting.
Social contact Everyone’s need for contact
is different, but most of us get satisfaction from
being with others, chatting over coffee or
working in a team.
Respect Most of us like to be thought well of
and respected by others. For work satisfaction
it’s important to feel that there’s some match
between your contribution and the position
you hold.
Pause for thought
Which of these are the most important to you?
Answering that may clarify sources of satisfaction
and dissatisfaction in your current or most recent
job. It may begin to suggest either the kind of
work you’d like to do or the kind of organisation
you’d like to work for. This can be
helpful in supporting the question
of whether a change of employer/
organisation may be what
you’re looking for, or a change
of job role/new career
direction. Note any ideas
that occur to you.

Review
You’ve now considered the reasons why you work (other than financial necessity) and which things you
most enjoy doing. If your occupation is to ‘feel right’, it’s important that it should be fulfilling, agree with
your beliefs in general and allow you to express your personality. Any significant mismatch is likely to
leave you feeling dissatisfied, stressed or becoming cynical about your job. Take time to reflect on the
results of the activities in this section, perhaps discuss them with a confidant and if necessary modify
them. Note your thoughts here.

Activity 1.14

33Knowing yourself
1.2.8 What kind of work would I like to do?
To help you decide on the kind of work you’d like to do, you also need to consider your interests.
Interests are to do with the things you find most appealing or enjoyable.
Activity 1.15
Look through these kinds of work and consider whether you would like to carry each one out. You may
have had direct experience of some of them. Try to imagine whether you’d like doing the others or not.
It’s not a question of your ability or qualifications, but only of your own preferences. Assume that you
could do the activity if you wanted to.
Tick ‘Yes’, ‘Not sure’ or ‘No’ according to how you feel about each activity.
Yes Not sure No
1 Supervise staff dealing with correspondence
2 Design a staff appraisal scheme
3 Monitor quality control activities
4 Keep up to date with computing developments
5 Put budgeting procedures into practice
6 Develop a marketing plan for a new service
7 Keep abreast of scientific developments
8 Write information booklets
9 Supervise process control staff
10 Organise renewal of insurance cover
11 Plan staff training schemes
12 Forecast drawing office work schedules
13 Find new areas for computer applications
14 Keep abreast of money market changes
15 Negotiate prices with suppliers
16 Plan research and development (R and D)
17 Handle public relations issues (PR)
18 Revise road delivery schedules
19 Plan introduction of new clerical procedures
20 Interview job applicants
21 Organise installation of an internal telephone system

Yes Not sure No
22 Instruct computer users on procedures
23 Coordinate work of audit staff
24 Brief sales staff
25 Design new technical equipment
26 Collect and collate information
27 Supervise warehouse staff
28 Report on legal matters affecting the organisation
29 Set up a staff-grievance procedure
30 Plan equipment-maintenance schedules
31 Review data-processing installations
32 Monitor productivity of operations
33 Analyse effectiveness of advertising
34 Organise scientific research
35 Design publicity leaflets
36 Monitor productivity of operations
37 Implement new administrative procedures
38 Investigate staff turnover problems
39 Monitor laboratory testing services
40 Write computer documentation
41 Brief colleagues on effects of taxation changes
42 Report on sales performance
43 Produce design specifications
44 Manage external relations
45 Supervise a building-maintenance programme
46 Take minutes of meetings
47 Prepare a staff handbook
48 Carry out an energy usage audit
49 Deal with computing problems

35Knowing yourself
Not sure No
50 Prepare financial reports
51 Review a product range and pricing
52 Develop and improve mechanical or electronic equipment
53 Edit a newsletter or magazine
54 Improve plant layout to increase productivity
Scoring
Give 4 points for each ‘Yes’ response
Give 2 points for each ‘Not sure’ response
Give 0 points for each ‘No’ response
Now add up the scores for the groups of questions shown here:
Total
Group A Questions 1, 10, 19, 28, 37, 46
Group B Questions 2, 11, 20, 29, 38, 47
Group C Questions 3, 12, 21, 30, 39, 48
Group D Questions 4, 13, 22, 31, 40, 49
Group E Questions 5, 14, 23, 32, 41, 50
Group F Questions 6, 15, 24, 33, 42, 51
Group G Questions 7, 16, 25, 34, 43, 52
Group H Questions 8, 17, 26, 35, 44, 53
Group I Questions 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54
Yes

What your scores mean
Your scores relate to different kinds of work activity:

A Administrative/legal/secretarial e.g. charity officer, health service manager
B Personnel/training/education e.g. primary teacher, recruitment manager
C Technical support e.g. quality assurance manager, laboratory technician
D Data processing e.g. IT consultant, database administrator
E Accounting/finance e.g. management accountant, tax inspector
F Marketing/sales/purchasing e.g. retail buyer, sales manager
G Scientific/engineering/research and design e.g. electronics engineer, architect
H Information/communication e.g. librarian, interpreter
I Operational/production/distribution e.g. transport planner, production manager
Write in your total score for each group.
The result may be no surprise. It might be that you work or have worked in your highest-scoring area and
enjoyed it. If so, this is a reassuring confirmation and suggests that you should consider continuing in that
or related work, even if in a different kind of organisation. Alternatively, the pattern may suggest a move to
a different area of work.
The list of interests we’ve considered in this activity reflects common graduate and managerial areas of
work. It doesn’t include artistic, creative, craft and natural environment areas, nor those that depend on
performance skills such as acting, dancing, playing a musical instrument. If you have interests outside this
‘managerial scheme’, do take account of them in considering your future. Before carrying on, you might find
it helpful to look again at the section on the roles you play in your life and any possibilities you noted there.
Activity 1.16
You may also find it useful to work through Prospects Career Planner. This is an online career-planning
tool that will help you explore your skills, interests, and motivations. It will then match your profile with an
occupational database to produce a list of job suggestions for you to consider. Prospects Career Planner,
like similar programs, doesn’t tell you what you should do, but it will give you a starting point to explore
areas of work that may interest you.
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/planner
You’ll need to register (free) to access the Career Planner tool.
Score

37Knowing yourself
Review
Read through the results of your work and reflect on
the notes you’ve made. You should by now have a
much clearer picture about:
• Your aptitudes
• Your skills and interests
• Your achievements and experience
• Your values
At this stage you might like to discuss things either
informally with a trusted friend or formally with a
careers adviser.
Now complete the summary chart below.
When you’ve done that, you may want to look at
Section 6 ‘The next steps’, or you might prefer to
move on to the possibilities that this knowledge could
open up for you in Section 2.
Summary chart
What am I good at?
Write down the aptitudes that you’d most like to use in work.

What are my main work values?
Write down the values you’d like to fulfil.

What would I like to do?
Write down the occupations or job areas you’d like to work in.

Summary chart continued
How would I like to work with people?
What kind of environment?
Write down the kind of contact you’d like to have with people (working mainly independently or as part of
a team, having lots of customer contact, helping others in a caring or supporting role), and the kind of
work environment you’d like.

What other aspects are important to me?
Write down any other factors that are important to you, such as location, travel, organisational structure, etc.

What changes would I like to make?
Write down some changes you would like to make to help in your job searching.

39Knowing yourself
You may wish to talk over some of your initial
thoughts with a careers adviser before you go on
to the next section. The content of Section 1 can
provide a really useful starting point to an individual
careers guidance consultation with a careers adviser.
You may find it useful to complete this section before
you book an consultation, which OU students can do
via the careers website.
You may prefer, however, to explore further by
continuing to read the remaining sections in this
book or by looking at information and activities on
the careers website at:
www.open.ac.uk/careers
Whichever route you choose good luck with the
next step!
Further resources
Try using the resources for developing self-
awareness and identifying which career might suit
you on our careers website at www.open.ac.uk/
careers. These include tools to match your skills and
interests to relevant types of job.
You also might like to look at the TargetJobs careers
report at https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-report,
which uses questionnaires to explore your interests,
strengths, personality and abilities.
Be honest with yourself: what relevant
experience do you have? Where are
your gaps? How can you start to bridge
these gaps.
Head of Talent Management, Royal Mail

41Exploring possibilities
02 Exploring possibilities
2.1 Planning your strategy 41
2.2 Graduate-level jobs 42
2.3 Creative job search 45
2.4 Finding vacancies 46
2.5 Building a network of contacts 50
2.1 Planning your strategy
Many job-seekers actually have very little knowledge
of how the job market works and how people are in
fact recruited. What information they do have can
often be based on personal experience or rumour.
As a result, people’s job-seeking methods can be
disorganised and inefficient rather than carefully
organised and systematic. So, a key fact you need
to grasp immediately is that it is vital that you plan
your strategy for job hunting in order to get the job
you want.
Another key fact you need to understand is that
different sectors and employers have their own
traditional methods for recruiting. The local sawmill
is likely to approach the task differently from a
multinational advertising agency. (In fact, the
only thing they might have in common is that they
probably use an interview during the selection
procedure.) Otherwise, the recruitment process
will be quite different. This means that you must
be flexible enough to adapt your approach to the
diversity of methods used by potential employers.
It’s also important that you don’t spend valuable
time applying for jobs where you have little chance
of success, or for jobs that don’t fit your needs or
meet your expectations. By planning your
job-search strategy, you will be able to focus much
more accurately on what you need to do to achieve
your goal.
We are assuming at this stage that you know what
you want to do. If you haven’t yet got a clear picture
of the kind of work or job you want to pursue, work
through Section 1 ‘Knowing yourself’ before going
any further.
2.1.1 A typical strategy
A strategic approach pays dividends, so be
organised and systematic. A typical strategy means
that you will:
• Consider all the opportunities open to you:
public, private and voluntary sectors.
• Look into and follow up all sources of information.
• Build up a file of background information about
companies, jobs and developments in sectors
you’re interested in.
• Get a general view before you start to draw up
a shortlist.
• Do some research: find out how, when, where
and how often vacancies are advertised.
Are graduates usually recruited? Are there formal
channels? What are the essential qualities sought
in candidates? How do you match up? What are
the application deadlines?
• Apply for jobs and attend interviews. Always keep
copies of your applications (including online
applications) and be prepared to ask for feedback
on how you’ve done.
• Don’t forget that you need to review and evaluate
your progress from time to time.

2.1.2 Information
Information is an essential tool in job hunting.
You need to find out as much as you can about the
job(s) and the companies you’re applying to, so that
you can present yourself effectively. The fuller your
awareness of the opportunities open to you, and the
more you know about each possibility, the better the
choices you will be able to make.
• Get to know the main sources of information about
careers and jobs.
• Use local careers libraries, relevant journals,
professional bodies, regional or national
representatives, websites, specialist and general
trade directories.
• Set up a file of job information, sample
advertisements, job descriptions and person
specifications, useful company and sector
contacts, details of salary bands, useful articles,
press releases, etc. You might want to do this
electronically.
• Follow up this information by talking to
professional careers advisers and people in the
job areas that interest you.
• Personal contacts can be invaluable: tutors,
fellow students, alumni, representatives from
professional bodies, and don’t forget to follow up
useful contacts from job advertisements.
• Keep notes of your conversations.
• Acknowledge those who have helped you –
quick telephone calls or thank-you notes may
pay dividends.
2.1.3 Review your progress
Keep records of all contacts and applications you
make. File copies of letters and applications and
record the progress on each one. To review your
progress:
• Consider what appears to work and what doesn’t,
and ask yourself why.
• Constantly reassess your assumptions about
questions such as your mobility and your
job preferences.
• Be realistic about the skills and experience you
have and those you need to acquire.
• Use a range of job-search methods.
• Be prepared to persist.
• Be prepared to change your strategy if necessary.
2.2 Graduate-level jobs
Another important aspect of any job-search strategy
is to consider your options realistically in the context
of the current and future employment market. As you
research the main occupational areas that interest
you, look into trends in the area such as emerging
sectors, new jobs of the future, recession and
Government changes. They’ll all have a bearing
on employment, both on the number of people
employed and on the work that they do. You can do
this by exploring jobs in sectors on the Prospects
website at:
www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/
job-sectors
We welcome career changers who
completed their degree some years
ago and have some work experience.
The Fast Stream welcomes diversity,
as life and work experience will enrich
the Civil Service.
Head of Marketing & Diversity
Civil Service Fast Stream
2.2.1 What is a ‘graduate’ job?
One of the main reasons employers recruit graduates
is that they expect them to be more flexible, more
adaptable to change and capable of learning new
skills. However, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to
define exactly what’s meant by a ‘graduate job’.
The dramatic reductions in graduate recruitment
during the recession of the early 1990s and the
rise in the numbers of people studying for a degree
meant that, for all graduate job-seekers and job-
changers, employment seeking strategies have had
to be flexible and responsive to the employment
market. This is still so, and graduates are now
entering a much wider range of jobs.
As large numbers of graduates enter an increasingly
diverse range of jobs, the graduate labour market
boundaries are blurring. It’s becoming apparent
that it isn’t always the classification of the job
that’s important, but the nature of the graduate’s
experience and aspirations.

Research conducted by Elias and Purcell (Seven
Years On: Graduate Careers in a Changing Labour
Market, www.hecsu.ac.uk/seven_years_on.htm)
grouped graduate jobs into five distinct categories:
1 Traditional graduate occupations – Established
professions for which a degree has historically
been required, for example, solicitors or research
scientists. The graduate has to be an expert in a
very specific area.
2 Modern graduate occupations – Since the
expansion of higher education in the 1960s,
there has been a development of new
professional areas requiring graduate-level
qualifications, for instance, journalism, nursing
or social work. A high level of interactive and
communication skills is usually required for these
areas in addition to having received training in
the specific area.
3 New graduate occupations – These reflect
changes in technology and organisational
structures and priorities. Some are relatively new
occupations whereas the nature of others has
changed so that an increasingly common route
into them is via a graduate level qualification
(for instance, marketing, engineering,
environmental health). The ability to access and
use specialist information is an additional skill
for these areas.
4 Niche graduate occupations – This is an
expanding area. Most jobs in this category don’t
usually ask for a degree but have some areas
that are deemed as ‘specialist’ and increasingly
ask for a degree at entry – for example, retail
management, graphic design.
5 Non-graduate occupations – Increasing
numbers of graduates don’t immediately enter
the ‘graduate labour market’. Many are in
non-graduate jobs but using the skills that they
have developed as a result of their studies.
There are many instances of graduates in these
occupations demonstrating their potential and
developing their initial role to fit their skills.
I don’t think I would have stood a
chance of obtaining this job without a
degree. Many people taken on at the
same time as me (there were 15 positions
in various locations in south-east
England) have a masters degree – I do
not, which shows that the OU must be
thought of quite highly.
Environmental studies graduate
2.2.2 New and expanding opportunities
for graduates
Structured graduate programmes still exist with large
‘blue chip’ companies but competition is fierce and
fewer graduates now enter through these schemes.
According to research by the Institute of Employment
Studies only around 10 per cent of respondents
had a place on a graduate training scheme with a
blue chip employer. In fact, a growing proportion of
graduates find their first jobs in small and medium-
sized enterprises (SMEs) Something to bear in mind
is that SMEs account for 99.9% of all private sector
businesses in the UK.
For more information on SMEs go to:
www.fsb.org.uk/stats
OU students may have significant work experience
from different jobs or may have worked for a number
of years in a particular industry but now be looking
to develop or change their career. They may benefit
from a recruitment scheme known as “Experienced
Hire”. A number of big companies use this because
they recognise that students with significant work
experience may have developed key skills such as
the ability to manage, complete project work and hit
the ground running. Experienced Hire provides a
method for recruiters to hire these individuals rather
than recruiting them through the traditional ‘graduate
scheme’ route.
Experienced Hires usually undertake a similar
recruitment process to that for other graduate
positions. Examples of companies that recruit
for Experienced Hires include, Deloitte, PwC and
Goldman Sachs.
Destinations of Leavers from Higher
Education in the UK (DLHE)
Each year universities in the UK are required to ask
their graduates about what they are doing and how
studying has changed or developed their careers.
This data is published annually and can be seen at
www.hecsu.ac.uk/what_do_graduates_do_archive.htm
and on the Unistats site at http://unistats.direct.gov.uk
Unemployment among all UK graduates responding
to the DLHE survey in 2013/14 was 6.3 per cent
six months after graduation. Although we know
that OU students start from a different point as
many are working while they study, the data shows
the unemployment figure for OU students who
responded to the survey questionnaire in 2013/14
was 3 per cent. (The figure for part time first degree
students across the UK was 4.3%).

What sort of organisation are you suited to?
2.2.3 Internships
As a response to the recession, the UK Government
has been encouraging employers to offer internships
to unemployed graduates. An internship is a time-
limited work experience placement which gives
graduates a chance to enhance their employability
and career prospects. Graduate internships may be
full time or part time and many of them are paid.
You need to consider what type of opportunity might be right for you and think about the pros and
cons of working for an SME, a large company or working in the Third Sector. Here are some of the
differences between them.
SMEs
(Small and medium sized
enterprises)
Large companies
(With over 250 employees)
Third Sector
(Charitable/Not-for-profit)
• Fastest growing sector of
UK economy
• Easily identifiable
opportunities
• Focus on ethical work
• Local • National • Mainly local
• Early responsibility • Small cog in big wheel • No typical working day
• No formal induction • Structured training
programme
• Can be a very small
organisation
• Less red tape and
bureaucracy
• Formal structures embedded • Less bureaucracy
• Lower starting salary • Perks and higher starting
salary
• Typically a lower starting
salary
For more information, and to search for internships
online, go to the Graduate Talent Pool website:
http://graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk.
For further information on employment rights and
pay entitlement for interns, go to:
www.gov.uk/employment-rights-for-interns
2.2.4 Career change
Many people successfully change careers and may
do so more than once in their working life. There are
many reasons for doing so, including the fact that
you are unhappy with the work you are doing, have
always wanted to do something else, or feel that
you need to change your work/life balance and are
tired of bringing work home with you, literally or
figuratively. Others feel that they have never fulfilled
their potential, or regret the decisions they made/had
to make early in their careers.
It may be that you are studying as an Open
University student because you plan to change
career, or perhaps your studies have made you
aware of a wider range of interests than you had
before but without any definite career objectives
just yet. In either case, you will be developing skills
through your studies that will benefit you in your
future career.
It’s also possible that external forces suggest it’s time
for a change as the workplace changes, introducing
new roles and shedding older ones. People who are
made redundant may take this as an opportunity to
take some time out and rethink what they want to
do. Whatever the reason, it’s increasingly unlikely
that many people will stay with their first employer
throughout their working lives.
Approximately one in ten people in the UK have a
current intention to change their career. This suggests
that roughly 2.5 million people might consider
changing their career each year. This is likely to
double over the next 20 years.

So a career change may be your choice or it may be
thrust upon you; either way it’s a time to take stock,
evaluate your skills and abilities, and think about
how you might apply these skills differently. If you
are studying because you have already decided to
change direction, you still need to do some research
so that you are clear about the planned route into this
career, and the demands that it will place upon you.
If you feel that you want a change but are unsure of
what might suit or interest you, it should help to work
through Section 1 if you haven’t already done so.
Becoming self-employed is another way to take
control of your career. Whether through learning a
trade or simply having a great business idea, more
people than ever are becoming self-employed – with
the national statistics showing 4.6 million people
registered as self-employed in 2014.
There may be a career that has always interested
you, or you may have come up with some new ideas
about specific jobs and/or ways to work. Either way,
you need to do the research so that you are clear
about the demands of this new direction. You could
start with the information about different types of
jobs at:
www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles
Once you have an idea of what you would like to do,
it would help to arrange to talk to someone already in
that role. If there is a relevant professional body, you
may be able to go through them, you could approach
people directly or work though an HR department.
As well as the resources mentioned above, there is a
useful section on changing careers on the National
Careers Service website that links to resources to
help you progress:
https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/
planning/Pages/chooseacareer.aspx
So changing careers takes research, planning and,
in some cases, a substantial investment of time.
It will help to have the support from your family and
friends, but it is possible – more and more people do
it every year.
2.3 Creative job search
The career-review process isn’t something you
do once and for all and then never do again.
Most of us need to review our careers now and
again to take account of changes in ourselves and
the opportunities open to us. None of us can
predict what kind of jobs might be available in the
next few years.
Today’s labour market is increasingly diverse.
To succeed, you need to play by a set of new rules.
The best advice is to start as early as possible and
be creative in your job search.
So, how can you do a creative job search? Here are
a few essential steps to get you started:
• You need to ‘market’ yourself. Consider temporary
or part-time work to enhance your marketability,
skill development and knowledge of the industry
or job area, and to foster contacts.
• Think about doing voluntary work. Be clear about
what you’re offering to do, how long for, and what
benefits you hope to gain from the experience.
(See Section 2.5.6 for details.)
• Find out about getting appropriate training or
study with work experience. This may give you an
identifiable edge in the job market.
• Network with and develop contacts with well-
placed, knowledgeable people, including those in
organisations you’ve already worked for (if any).
• Find contacts in the sorts of organisation and
job you’d really like. Consider what you can do
for them.
• Don’t limit your marketing to letters of application.
You may want to ask to meet people, or talk to
them in person. Learn how to use the telephone
effectively – there’s some advice about this in
Section 2.5.2. Try to contact the person who
makes the decisions and might be interested in
your talents.
• Develop an excellent CV and application letter,
and adapt or customise them with a particular
opportunity or employer in mind (see Section 4
‘Getting the job’).
• Use LinkedIn to help you network with other
people in the career that you want to get into.
• Use the contacts you’ve made to get opportunities
to work-shadow or to carry out job study
interviews that will give you useful knowledge.
As the number of graduates has
increased – and competition for the
cream of the crop has grown
accordingly – investing in the traditional
‘milk round’ and a reliance on generic
marketing is no longer enough for
companies to attract the best talent.
Head of Graduate Recruitment, Accenture

• Use employment agencies, but don’t let them use
you. Make sure they keep you in mind for suitable
vacancies, and be sure to get constructive
comments on your applications and overall
approach (you will find out more about recruitment
and executive search agencies in Sections 2.4.9
and 2.4.10).
• Investigate the possibility of employment through
a ‘Knowledge Transfer Partnership’, a partnership
between employers and higher education
institutions – look at:
http://ktp.innovateuk.org
• Don’t forget the increasingly important non-
traditional graduate recruiters (small and medium-
sized enterprises – SMEs, which were discussed
above in Section 2.2.2).
• Use the internet to research companies and job
vacancies.
[Adapted from AGCAS information on
job-seeking strategies.]
It is easy to be overwhelmed by the amount of
research you need to do on possible opportunities.
The whole business of applying for jobs can also
be intimidating, especially if it is a while since you
have done it. There is a particular language that
employers tend to use and the jargon can, at first, be
very strange. Looking at job adverts will give you an
idea of the language used, as will the job profiles on
the Graduate Prospects website at:
Gaining work experience is a great
way to get a foot in the door, but it is
highly competitive and not often
advertised. Join the professional body
for your sector/profession. By attending
networking events or seminars you will
soon start to make valuable contacts
and make yourself more employable
through improved knowledge. Read the
trade or industry press to pick up on
trends, best practice and any changes
which may create opportunities.
Be proactive.
Talent Manager
Heinz
Pause for thought
Ask yourself what you can take
forward from these ideas.
What will your job search
strategy look like? Do you
need to think more creatively
to search for jobs?
2.4 Finding vacancies
When it comes to job vacancies, they are classified
as either ‘open’ or ‘hidden’. In fact, it’s estimated that
seven out of ten jobs are ‘hidden’, in that they are
never even advertised! Often, in times of recession,
this hidden job market increases as some employers
shy away from the administrative burden of dealing
with the overwhelming number of responses their
recruitment advertisements produce. SMEs, in
particular, may not advertise due to the high costs
involved.
2.4.1 Applying for hidden jobs
Hidden jobs are produced:
• by organisational changes that make old jobs
obsolete and create new ones, or redefine
old ones.
• because an organisation doesn’t recruit enough
graduates to warrant much expenditure of effort
or money on advertising.
• because of the volume of unsolicited applications.
• when an organisation doesn’t particularly demand
a degree, but prefers specific skills, qualities
and experience.
• because an organisation may want to hire
internally as it is cheaper and the internal hire is
already familiar with company processes.
Do you know the answers to these questions?
• Can you identify the fastest growing sectors in the
region or nation that you want to work in?
• Can you identify some significant projects that
might provide employment opportunities for you?
• What skills are most in demand in your field?
Do you have them? If not, how can you
acquire them?
• How often do you monitor media sources or social
media to keep yourself in touch with what is going
on in your field?

To find the kind of company that can use your skills
and satisfy your needs:
• Look at the resources suggested in this section.
• Look at company websites and find out more
about them.
• Consult the main directories in your local
reference library.
• Use social media sites, such as LinkedIn to
search for employers.
To get started try:
• General trade directories e.g. Yellow Pages
(www.yellow.com), Thomson Directory
(www.thomsonlocal.com) and KOMPASS
(www.kompass.com).
• Specialist trade directories for different
occupational areas e.g. The Writers’ and Artists’
Year Book (www.writersandartists.co.uk).
To see if there any specialist trade directories for
the profession you’re interested in go to:
Remember, even open jobs are hidden during the
early stages, while decisions are being made about
internal versus external recruitment campaigns,
selection dates, advertising space and so on.
2.4.2 Making speculative approaches
Please note: making speculative approaches to
companies is not permitted in Northern Ireland.
It isn’t enough just to wait for jobs to be advertised
in the media. The effective job-seeker must tap the
hidden market by making speculative approaches
to prospective employers. Turnover, promotion and
retirement continually create new job opportunities.
Economic, technological and organisational change
always affects employment patterns. Marketing
yourself means keeping ahead of the competition.
This approach gives you the initiative. You decide
which organisations, sectors, jobs and areas most
appeal to you. Speculative approaches can even
create new jobs. Convince employers that you have
exactly the skills they need to solve their business
problems. Prove that they need your abilities and
would benefit from your expertise. Demonstrate that
they can’t afford not to employ you.
This approach isn’t comfortable for some people for
example, a very nervous jobhunter, nor appropriate
in some areas of employment, for instance, teaching.
Consider what’s right for you and your ‘target’ area.
• Always follow up - Tell them in your initial contact
that you will follow up, and then make sure you
do so. If you hear nothing within two weeks, follow
up by telephone, perhaps to arrange a meeting
through a secretary. Offer dates and times.
• Take a long-term view - It takes time to build up a
mailing list, and responses may be slow and few.
If you’re going to make speculative approaches,
start planning early in your job search. You need
to be patient and not expect immediate results.
• Persevere - Occasionally persistence will pay off
and, after an initial refusal, you may be offered a
meeting. Make the most of it.
Making speculative contacts can pay off in several
ways. Even if you have no luck with a particular
employer, you may be referred or recommended to
another. Use these meetings to get more information
about the job market. Each employer you see is a
new contact. Each rejection may be one step nearer
to the job you want. Remember every ‘no’ brings you
closer to a ‘yes’!
Before submitting a speculative
application, please do check that the
employer concerned is happy to
receive these. Submitting a CV when
an employer clearly states in all
publicity that you should only apply to
an advertised vacancy shows a lack of
simple research and is not likely to
create a good impression.
UK Graduate Recruitment Manager
Logica

2.4.3 Using your networks
In the 2013/14 Destinations of Leavers from Higher
Education survey, 18 per cent of OU undergraduate
and 15 per cent of postgraduate students reported
that they had got their job as a result of personal
contacts. This represents an increase on previous
years. We will deal with networking in more detail in
Section 2.5 below. For now, just keep in mind that
research into how managers change to jobs with
other organisations has shown that over half get an
introduction through networking. ‘Networking’ is the
systematic use of personal contacts to:
• gather information about an industry or company
• discover hidden jobs, especially in
particular companies
• get an introduction to a key decision-maker in
a company, whom you can convince of your
qualities as a candidate
• develop further contacts to expand your network.
At first, it may seem a little strange to seek out
hidden jobs, or to concentrate on particular
companies just because they appeal to you.
But experience supports the practical wisdom of
doing so.
2.4.4 Applying for advertised jobs
Many jobs are of course advertised and listed below
are some of the places you can look for them.
If you reply to an advertisement, always follow the
instructions given. If it says write, telephone or email
for an application form, there’s no point in sending
a CV. Many employers send very poor information,
or none at all, about the job advertised or the
selection methods they use. Show initiative by
telephoning or emailing if you need to know more.
You may have to do some detective work if the
advertisement doesn’t give a telephone number.
Sources of vacancies
2.4.5 OU Careers and Employability
Services
If you are an OU student or graduate, you can
access vacancies with a wide variety of employers
on our online vacancy service, JobZone, on our
website www.open.ac.uk/careers. You can also see
profiles of OU-friendly employers and sources of
regional and national vacancies.
2.4.6 Newspapers and journals
You will find many job vacancies advertised in
newspapers and specialist or trade journals.
Because advertising in national newspapers is costly,
smaller employers often rely on advertisements in the
local press because it’s less expensive and brings in
a more manageable number of replies.
The best place to consult newspapers and journals
is your local library or online if you have access to
the internet. At the start, you may need to look at
them every day, as recruiters seldom place their
advertisements more than once. Make a note of the
advertising patterns: you will find that most of the
quality daily papers (The Times, The Irish Times,
Independent, Irish Independent, Guardian, Daily
Telegraph, Belfast Telegraph, Financial Times)
advertise certain kinds of work on particular days of
the week.
Local papers sometimes concentrate their job
advertisements on Thursdays, the day on which most
papers are sold. Make a note of advertising patterns
in your local press, and familiarise yourself with the
kinds of advertisement placed in each paper.
The big Sunday papers advertise a variety of jobs,
but their relatively high advertising rates tend to
restrict the salary range to the higher end. During
holiday periods, August to mid-September and
December, advertising is reduced.
You will find links to newspapers in the UK and
Ireland including national and regional papers from
www.thepaperboy.com/uk.
2.4.7 Professional associations
Many professional associations and institutions, for
example, the British Psychological Society have a
regional education or training officer and sometimes
a specialist careers adviser whom you can contact.
Some produce yearbooks and lists of members.
Addresses and other details are in the Directory of
British Associations, which can be found in most
major libraries. In Ireland the Institute of Public
Administration (IPA) publishes an Administration
Yearbook. This annual directory is available in most
public libraries and contains names and contact
details of key personnel in each of the organisations
listed. The ‘profession finder’ on the Total Professions
website www.totalprofessions.com will help you
to search for over 300 professional bodies and
associations in the UK.

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