Develop

The develop stage is for those who have some ideas about what they might do next and what interests them.

If you’re at this stage, you will be ready to develop your skills and knowledge of career options, or grow your professional network within your area of interest. You will also wish to test out some ideas through career mentoring, shadowing or internships.

Career planning

Creating an action plan involves spelling out the concrete steps you will take to achieve your career aspirations. To help formulate your action plan, reflect on your graduate attributes and think about how to develop your professional skills. You can also consult career timelines for an idea of when you should be doing certain things, highlighting the key dates in your action plan. you can work with a careers adviser to develop your own plan.

Focusing and going deeper

It can be a good idea to focus on specific career sectors, and begin to research them in depth. For an overview of career sectors popular among St Andrews students, explore the Careers Centre’s find a career by sector page and Prospects’ job sectors page, identifying ones which suit your interests. You can then connect with people, especially St Andrews alumni, who are working in the field in which you’re interested.

You can also attend careers events, especially fairs and employer presentations, where you can grow your knowledge of sectors and specific employers within them. Follow the Careers Centre on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) or through the careers blog to keep updated on what events are happening.

Alternatively, if you are interested in further study, consider researching further study options in the UK and around the world. This could include not only the area you would like to study, but the specific type of course, the institution, and any sources of funding.

Trying things out

At this stage, you may want to try out some of the ideas you have identified from your research and talking to others. Internships, work experience, volunteering (including University societies) and insight programmes are great ways to test your ideas and gain experience.

There are also many opportunities to enhance your skills through study, including Laidlaw Scholarships, study abroad and the St Andrews Research Internship Scheme.

Further, entrepreneurial skills are highly valued in both work and self-employment. You can explore your enterprise and entrepreneurship ideas with the University’s Entrepreneurship Centre, or get started by visiting the Careers Centre’s starting a business page.