Employment is no longer a given - something that you achieve once and then forget about. Instead you'll need to consciously manage your career and continue to build your skills throughout your working life in order to remain employable.
This means staying in touch with changes in your workplace and work sector; identifying what you need to learn to keep your skills in demand; taking responsibility for your own personal and career development; and taking whatever action is needed. In this way, you'll successfully manage the relationship between work and learning throughout your working life.
Skills for lifelong career management
- Self awareness
Knowledge of your strengths, skills, values and interests. - Self promotion
Being able to target identified needs in the workplace and match your own knowledge, strengths and skills to them. - Exploring and creating opportunities
Being able to identify, create, investigate and seize opportunities. - Action planning
Being able to plan and implement a course of action. - Networking
Being able to develop and effectively make use of a network of contacts. - Matching and decision making
Identifying or 'matching' together the factors that affect decisions, so that you can make informed decisions. - Negotiation
Using discussion, compromise and agreement to make decisions and solve problems. - Political awareness
Understanding the way organisations function, and how people and power structures within organisations operate. - Coping with uncertainty
Being able to work effectively in changing circumstances. - Development focus
Being committed to lifelong learning and focused on your own personal and professional development. - Transfer skills
Being able to apply existing skills to new circumstances. - Self confidence
Being self-reliant and certain of your own abilities.
