Changing your plans

Sometimes things change and you may find that you need to adapt your career plans. While this can sometimes feel like upheaval or even a step backwards at the time, it is important to remember that change and adaptation are key parts of career management. Developing these key skills will help your career longer term.  

Here we offer some initial steps you can take to rethink your career plan and find the right way forward for you.  

It can be useful to start with what you want, has this changed or are the things you value the same? Take some time to revisit and articulate your own skills and qualities. What experiences have you had since graduating? Has this informed your values? What are your aspirations and hopes for your career, the types of activities you’ll be involved in, and who you’ll interact with on a day-to-day basis, for example?  

You may find it useful to speak to a Careers Consultant about this, don’t forget you can continue to use this service for two years after your graduate.  

It can also be useful to think about some of the practical elements of career planning, such as:  

• Location: Have you returned home and are now looking for opportunities in this area? Do you have a different town, city, country in mind?  

• Salary: Do you need to meet certain salary thresholds for your visa? Or to make rent payments? 

• Sector: How is the sector you want to go into performing just now, is it booming with lots of jobs being created, or not? This can really impact your options. 

Think about the options and opportunities available to you and start to identify which companies and sectors offer them.  

Discover what's out there 

Try some of our skills assessments to work out what your strengths are and what is important to you.    

Skills assessments (University of Edinburgh login required - If you are experiencing difficulty with logging in please contact careers@ed.ac.uk)