Due to the impact of new technology and increasing global competition, jobs and careers are changing more rapidly than ever before. As products and processes change, so do the organisations and jobs that make up the modern world of work.

Think about it...A changing world

Some sectors of employment may shrink and even disappear. At the same time, new and previously unforeseen opportunities are springing to life.

Very few school-leavers and university graduates can expect to follow a predictable career path over their working lives. Most of you will change jobs several times and work in a number of different occupational areas. Modern careers often include periods of self-employment, contract work, and consultancy - with the need for further training and acquiring new skills along the way.

It will not be unusual for you to have as many as ten jobs in a normal working career of 35 to 40 years. It is increasingly the case that, at the end of your career, you will not be doing work that is directly related to the qualification you studied for.

The fast pace of change means that the career-related decisions that you make now may not determine where you find yourself in years to come.

Some people react to the climate of uncertainty in the working world by seeking to train in a highly specialised field, hoping that this will provide a "guaranteed future". However, because of the rapid rate of change, there are no real guarantees.

It does make good sense to research job trends and skills that are in high demand. But also remember that you need to take a long-term perspective, and that a university education is about much more than simply the work you go on to do immediately after you graduate.

If you have a clear vocational goal or a genuine passion for a particular field of study, it is still important to find out as much as you can about your chosen profession and to do some reality testing: research job vacancies, typical salaries, and typical working hours and conditions. Contact professional organisations and bodies that specialise in your area of interest. Consider volunteering in your chosen field to test whether you really have the commitment to do that particular kind of work.

However, if your interests and enthusiasms do NOT point to a particular vocational area at this stage, it is a good idea not to limit your future options by specialising too narrowly at university. Rather, consider keeping your options open by doing a more general qualification.

Career development opportunities take many different forms. University can help you to develop skills and gain experience that will help prepare you for the world of work.

In addition to the academic skills that you will develop in the course of your studies, student life offers many opportunities for developing the kind of "transferable skills" that employers are increasingly expecting from graduates.

Employers need graduates who can demonstrate communication skills, team work, project management, problem solving, taking the initiative, and the ability to process information, as well as self-management and organisational skills. These skills are also sometimes termed "soft skills" or "applied skills", although increasingly employers are coming to consider them to be core skills. Another competence that many employers expect graduates to have is a driver's licence.

According to HESA CEO, Prof. Duma Malaza, employers seek graduates "who are capable of seamlessly entering the workplace".

Volunteering; joining groups, clubs and societies; participating in extra-mural activities and community projects; and taking on a manageable amount of part-time work - these are all good ways to make friends and be socially useful, at the same time as you open up opportunities for developing a wider range of skills. These will stand you in good stead for the world of work.

Examples

• You are doing a music degree at university but you want to broaden your skills base. You volunteer to learn to do the bookkeeping for the Music Society, in the process gaining valuable bookkeeping and money management experience, as well as demonstrating the ability to take on responsibilities.
• You live in a commune with eight other students. You take on a leadership role and devise systems to improve the running of the household. Such experience in testing out different systems and managing teams could teach you a range of valuable lessons, including problem solving and team work.
• You are very shy and identify that one of your gaps is confidence in public speaking and communication. You identify "safe" opportunities to practise speaking up and delivering your point of view in public, e.g. in seminars, in meetings and when socialising in larger groups.

Graduates of all programmes and subjects have become increasingly mobile - moving across and between a range of different jobs in the course of their working lives.

The challenge is not so much to predict your future career path; it is more about actively managing each step of the way. University is an exciting step on a lifelong journey. You should be more than a passenger; you should put yourself in your own driving seat.

Choosing university study is an important step in your career development journey, which can lead to a number of different future destinations.

Make the most of the choices and chances available to you now by exploring the full range of options and finding out what's required of students at this level of study. That way, you will be less likely to find yourself stuck "in the wrong place" due to having made uniformed or inappropriate choices.

Think about it...Making the most of university life

The more genuine interest, understanding and enthusiasm you bring to your study choices at university, the more likely you are to succeed. And the more you make of what university life has to offer outside of the classroom, the more opportunities you will have to have fun - while at the same time gaining the additional skills and experience that employers are looking for.

Always remember that your choice of subject or study programme at university is not a "life sentence". Equally, your university qualification by itself will not guarantee your future employment.