7 Are there any limits?
For everyone, there is a range of personal factors that may affect career choice. These could include:
- needing to earn a certain amount of money
- your health
- your age
- being the main carer for other family members
- the need to live in a particular area
- wanting to gain a qualification quickly or needing to acquire a qualification that is professionally recognised in a field of work, e.g. nursing, plumbing or accountancy.
Take a few moments to look at Angela’s example below.
What are my needs, responsibilities and constraints? | What are the implications and what can I do about them? | |
---|---|---|
What are my needs? | Financial independence Opportunities to be creative Working to live | Will be limited by what work is available locally that I have the skills for Could do extra training through work or adult education courses |
What are my responsibilities? | Looking after parents Paying off mortgage | Want to find best way to manage my finances Speak to an independent financial adviser about my options |
What constraints are there? | Want to remain in local area To earn enough to cover debts |
Angela has used the implications column to focus on actions she can take. This is important, otherwise it is easy to feel hemmed in and frustrated. Bear this in mind in the next activity as you write your own needs, responsibilities and constraints table.
Activity 8 My needs, responsibilities and constraints
This activity will help you to evaluate what you need, what you have to do and what you cannot easily do in your life at the moment. It will encourage you to think about the implications of this and to see ways forward.
Now complete your own table of needs, responsibilities and constraints. You can complete a blank copy of Table 5 in your Resource pack [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .
Comment
It may not feel as energising to consider potential obstacles as it did to get excited by your interests, but you need a balanced assessment of your situation. By focusing on the implications of your needs, responsibilities and constraints, and deciding what action you could take, you may have been able to spot opportunities that were less visible to you before.