Career planning
Planning your career is something you can start no matter where you are in your programme of study. To make this ongoing process more manageable, this section will introduce you to a range of tools and practical support, no matter if you’re considering further study or moving into industry.
Learn about the right way to research different opportunities and the mapping tool called Plan:Me in the short video opposite. You can also explore the career journey planners to get inspiration and ideas of what you could be doing in your year of study.
Getting started with career planning
There is no one right way to choose your career and when you’re busy at university, you find career planning is something you can’t do continuously.
Some people have ideas on what they want to do, while others don't. Below are some ideas to get you started if your don't know where to begin.
- Explore what other students who have done your degree go on to do with a LinkedIn alumni search, the data on What do Imperial graduates do? or the more general information on Prospects' What can I do with my degree? webpage.
- Is there any industry you've heard of or are interested in? Use websites like Prospects and our What can I do with my degree? webpage to help you better understand the industry and see what sort of job roles are within it.
- Is there a company or organisation you've heard of that sounds interesting? Look them up on LinkedIn, click on the 'People' tab and explore what sort of job titles people working for them have. You could add your degree into the search bar to narrow down what people with your degree subject do within their company.
- Try using job matching tools for inspiration like Prospects Planner or The Bright Network Career Path. While there is not a lot of research behind these tools, sometimes they can produce a job role you've not considered that could be interesting.
- Consider what you want in a role or what skills you want to use. Use the Self-reflection webpages to get you started with skills audits and values worksheets to work through.
We know it can be quite overwhelming and difficult to begin this process so don't forget you can always book an appointment to talk with one of our careers consultants.
Career planning
- Make a place to keep everything
- How will you know what you want?
- What are your current ideas?
- Researching ideas
- Map it out
- Keep up the momentum
Create a place to store your career related information. It can be a physical paper notebook, a word document or an online tool such as OneNote or Padlet. Writing things down makes your plan real and it allows you to keep track of your progress.
Understanding what you enjoy and what you are good at is a key element to career planning. In our self-reflection section we’ve created some practical ways to help you begin this process.
Think about what jobs/roles/study options you are considering. Write these down. It’s okay to have a question mark in this list if you’re not sure.
See What can I do with my degree and What do Imperial students do for some useful starting points.
Consider what you could do to learn more about these options. What do you need to know to help you make a decision about each one? The Exploring options webpage has starting points that can help you with this.
Think about resources you may already have (networks, academics, the Careers Service) and those that you learn more about easily (using online research or the rest of this planning your career section). Again note these down, making them as specific as possible.
Start to form a timeline. This will be different depending on what level of study you are in and when you want/need to start to make your career decisions. The career journey planners maybe useful here.
Add regular meetings with yourself into your diary to stay on track. It can be a simple 15mins every month to revisit your Plan:Me and review what you’ve done, what you’re going to do and when will be best to do it.