Deciding on Options

You should now have completed the first two stages of your career panning process i.e. self exploration and research into options. With the information that you have collected, you can now better determine:

• which occupational field and industry to enter
  

• whether to start a small business
  

• whether to pursue further study, or
  

• other alternatives that you have researched

Although you have gathered much information about yourself and the options available to you, sometimes it is not easy to decide on one and only one choice. It is perfectly fine to have a variety of options. In fact, in the ever changing world, you should always be flexible and keep your options open. Nevertheless, it is important and useful to narrow your alternatives to a few (say 3-5) so that you can plan relevant actions to achieve your goals.

Prioritise your actions by evaluating your options critically:

1. evaluate the pros and cons of each choice (including risks and benefits)

2. project the probable future consequences of these options

3. compare them with your life and career goal

For each of the option that you have chosen, decide what you need to do in order to achieve your goals. Draw up an action plan with time-line, implement your actions, track your progress and evaluate outcome.

• Draw up your own Action Plan

• Suggested Actions for your study