Career Exploration and Future Pathways

With school holidays approaching, it is a good time for senior students to turn their attention from their immediate studies to conducting some exploration into careers and future pathways. It can be as simple as watching videos about various professions on www.mybigtomorrow.com.au or signing up to www.myfuture.edu.au to access a rich variety of information on careers, courses, case studies, career insights and more.

How do I find a job with good prospects?

Rapid changes in the world of work and emerging new technologies mean that we need to try and stay ahead of the game by looking for occupations that have better job prospects than others. How do we do this? A myfuture article, ‘The 4 factors affecting job prospects’, suggests that we should be taking the following factors into account when looking for a job with good prospects:

• Number of people – The more people employed in an occupation, the more likely there will be jobs in every location.
• Employment growth – Historical information tells us how many new jobs have been created in an occupation. Projected growth information can indicate how many additional jobs there are likely to be in the future.
• Skills shortages – These indicate good opportunities in an occupation for people with the skills and experience needed. Shortages vary by location and change over time.
• Job turnover – This is the annual percentage of employees who move out of the occupation into other occupations, retirement or unemployment plus employees who change jobs within the same occupation. Turnover creates opportunities in all occupations when employees need to be replaced.

Where can I find this information about the jobs I’m interested in?

• myfuture website – Sign up for free if this is your first time on the website. Go to the Occupations section and search for your job of interest. Click on the Prospects tab.
• Job Outlook provides occupational information including job prospects.
• The Australian Jobs publication provides information about the labour market for industries and occupations as well as states, territories and regions of Australia. It also provides occupational and industry information that will help you understand where the jobs will be in the future.
• The Labour Market Information Portal provides you with up-to-date information about your local labour market. It provides information at the national, state and regional level.

Some cautions:

• Fast growth within an occupation does not guarantee more job opportunities, because the number of people seeking work may outnumber the job openings.
• Even occupations with declining job prospects can offer job opportunities, as people move across jobs.
• It is difficult to accurately predict long-term job prospects. Unexpected events can have an enormous impact on the labour market (e.g. very few people predicted the global financial crisis).

Consequently, when you are making career decisions, job prospects are just one piece of information you need to consider. Other information includes your interests, skills, values, work preferences and education and training requirements.

We wish all of our families a safe and joyous Christmas and I look forward to working closely with you all again in 2017. Happy exploring!

Mrs Natasha Purcell, Careers Counsellor