Knowing yourself

We need to understand ourselves, how we make decisions, and our skills, values and career influences. This self-knowledge helps us make effective career decisions. Sometimes, we might know things about ourselves, but are unsure how they relate to our career goals.

The following activities will help you identify what you know and don’t know about yourself, and why this is important for your career development.

How you make decisions

You make hundreds, if not thousands, of decisions daily. Some are minor, like choosing breakfast, while others require more thought, such as selecting a qualification. Remember, while others may provide information, the final decision is yours. Distinguishing between facts and opinions is crucial.

There is no right or wrong way to decide and each one of us makes decisions differently. Some prefer to gather a lot of information and then weigh all the options in terms of positives and negatives. Others solve problems by eliciting others' opinions.

Making decisions during times of uncertainty

Uncertainty can be caused by sudden events like a pandemic or a natural disaster. During such times, it’s important to remain self-aware regarding your interests, skills, abilities and values. Focus on aspects you can control, such as developing your skills and choosing experiences that align with your future goals.

Activity: How I make decisions

Reflect on a recent important decision you made. 

• How did you approach it?
• What could you have done differently?
• Consider past decisions made during uncertain times and how you coped. How has a sudden event, like the Covid-19 pandemic, shaped your career decisions? What opportunities arose from this uncertainty?

Your skills

Skills are abilities you've developed through experiences, such as work, volunteering and personal responsibilities. 

Essential skills in a fast-changing society include

• communication (reading, writing, creating online content, visual communication, evaluating information)
• social intelligence (meaningful connections, making a difference)
• teamwork (negotiation, motivation, engaging with diverse groups)
• problem-solving and novel thinking (creative solutions, new ways of thinking)
• information management (filtering and making sense of information)

You will learn new skills in each module of your qualification. These can help you be employable and improve your contribution to your community. You need to connect what you learn at university with what you can contribute to the workplace and your community. As you study and develop your skills, your frame of reference will expand and you will become aware of more opportunities.

Activity: My skills

Think about your life experiences (work, volunteering, school, studies and personal) and then answer the following questions:

• What skills do I have?
• What skills do I need to develop related to the kind of opportunities I am hoping for?
• How will I develop these skills?

Further exploration: Use the O*Net website (http://www.onetonline.org/find/descriptor/browse/Skills/) to identify job titles related to the skills you have identified.

Your values

Values significantly influence career choices. They are shaped by family, community, work environment and life experiences.

Examples of how values can influence career decisions

• Matome wants more challenges than his administrative job offers and considers a sales representative position involving travel. He must weigh the importance of family time against the excitement of travel.
• Shamila enjoys organising events and considers turning her hobby into a business, weighing the risk of leaving her secure job.

Activity: My values

Below are some common values (you can add your own if you prefer). Read through the list and take note of the five that are most important to you:

How will your values influence your studies?

Can you link your values to specific occupations? How will your values be supported by the career choice you are making? How will your career choice support your values? To what extent do your values overlap with the values of your profession? The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, for example, expects chartered accountants to comply with principles such as integrity, objectivity and professional behaviour. If you want to qualify as a chartered accountant, how are you starting to "live" these values in your day-to-day life?

Complete the following sentences to understand how your values influence your studies:

• My life is meaningful when…
• I feel valued when...
• My career is meaningful when…
• My study time at Unisa is meaningful when…
  

Further exploration: Use the O*Net website (http://www.onetonline.org/find/descriptor/browse/Work_Values/) to identify job titles related to specific values you have identified as very important.

Your career influences

Who and what influences your career decisions?

Where do your career influences come from?

Activity: My career influences

Think about how other people, events and things have influenced you.

• Social influences (eg parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, cultural values and the media)
• Environmental influences (eg where you live, where you work, employment market and socio-economic status)
• Time (how your past, present and future thinking about your career influences your career decisions)

Now think about the choice you are making now (what to study) and make some notes about the following:

• To what extent are you able to choose your qualification? Who else was involved in this process? Your family? Community needs? Other?

Also, consider that chance events have a huge influence on careers. Think about the times when something happened that you did not plan for and could not control, but that impacted your career direction, such as how you heard about Unisa or got your first job. Think about and make notes about a chance event that influenced your career decision.