How can no-experience graduates discover their career path?

Fresh college graduates rejoice over their degree alright, but get tense if they are asked about their career plan. The anxiety that the question generates is akin to the unease visible on their faces just before an examination or when the results are due for announcement.

Career planning is something that all fresh graduates have to deal with; some of you may even have to struggle with it. The job scene today is rather volatile and this creates puzzlement more than ever before. But you can always rebound back because of immense opportunities available in certain areas.

The most important thing about career planning is adjustment. There are many people who plan their careers with a fixation that changes being witnessed in the areas of technology, political governance and even economy will have no impact on their careers. Changes that take place worldwide will alter job imperatives. Therefore, fresh graduates need to concentrate on one single issue at a given time and direct their efforts to acquire various transferable skills. This may be seemingly counter-instinctive and hence if they do not look too deep into their future. It is advisable to make optimum use of the prevalent conditions and plan for their future extending into the near future only. In case if a long-term planning is resorted to, there can be no guarantee for the career graph consistently going up. There will be changes and alterations in the job market and hence any efforts with the intention of attaining any long-term objective can prove to be counter-productive.

Rather than getting into a job that calls for one or two skills, fresh graduates should seek an employment that offers maximum learning experiences. Since the methodology of work can change, if fresh graduates get to possess a number of transferable skills, they will be better geared to adjust to such changes. Armed with a degree, fresh college graduates need to consider what they want to do further in their life. Here are some tips that can facilitate formulation of a plan to advance further:  

· Seek to know more about yourself: Knowing yourself and what impels you needs no emphasis. You should recollect your favourite subjects at college, teachers that you liked and various pleasurable activities that you indulged in. Concurrently, you should start considering different contours in your jobs and college activities to discern your key interest areas and the direction that you should be setting your compass on. In other words, you ought to know the place you are headed to. Self-assessment is the maiden move to make a blueprint of your career success.  

· Seek to know your principles & standards at work: You should also endeavour to know what matters most to you in your career and the order of their precedence. In most jobs, such discernments tend to become arrangement servers. Every individual is unique by his or her own standards and has particular requirements that have to be met. The situation may possibly call for using your ingenuity or rendering assistance to others or a need to get recognition for good work done. If such needs go unmet, every single day you will suffer from Monday morning blues. If your principles and standards are met at work, your outlook will become more positive and you will derive greater contentment. Therefore, to start with, you could decide on and catalogue five different things that in your view are your top job prerequisites.

· Seek to take stock of other experiences gained: You can get to identify your inborn flairs and skills by your participation in the activities of different societies and associations. Your leisure pursuits can also throw light on them. The experiences that you gained can go a long way in helping you find out your skills and expertise. 

· Seek to visualise your future: Mulling over possible forms or silhouettes of your future serves to enthuse you towards identifying your ideal job and the path that you ought to take. Both of them are key determinants at the current juncture because sans any direction, you are likely to be afflicted by uncertainty, indeterminacy and tension. Therefore, getting into a dynamic mode at the earliest is necessary to overcome all of them.

As a fresh graduate, you should principally concentrate on the present and your immediate objectives. If you delve too much into your future, you may find yourself to be at a loss. Make the best use of today so that you build yourself to clutch opportunities that will come up tomorrow.