Knowing yourself

How you make decisions

You make many decisions each day. Some are small, like what to eat, and others are more significant, such as what qualification to apply for. While others may offer advice, the final decision is yours. Learning to distinguish between facts and opinions is an important part of good decision-making.

There is no single “right” way to decide. Some people gather a lot of information and carefully weigh pros and cons. Others prefer to talk things through or follow their instincts.

Making decisions during times of uncertainty

Uncertainty can be caused by sudden events like a pandemic or a natural disaster. During these times, it’s important to remain self-aware regarding your interests, skills, abilities and values. Focus on aspects you can control, such as developing your skills and choosing experiences that align with your future goals.

Activity: How I make decisions

Think about a recent important decision you made. 

• How did you approach it?
• What could you have done differently?
• Consider past decisions made during uncertain times and how you coped. How has a sudden event shaped your career decisions? What opportunities arose from this uncertainty?

Your skills

Skills are the abilities you've developed through experiences, such as work, volunteering and personal responsibilities. 

Essential skills in a fast-changing world include:

• Communication (reading, writing, creating online content, visual communication, evaluating information)
• Social intelligence (meaningful connections, making a difference)
• Teamwork (negotiation, motivation, engaging with diverse groups)
• Problem-solving and creative thinking (finding new ways to approach challenges)
• Information management (filtering and making sense of large amounts of data)

As a Unisa student, you will continue to build these skills through each module of your qualification. These can help you be employable and improve your contribution to your community. You need to connect what you learn at university with what you can contribute to the workplace and your community. As you study and develop your skills, your frame of reference will expand, and you will become aware of more opportunities.

Activity: My skills

Think about your life experiences (work, volunteering, school, studies and personal) and then answer the following questions:

• What skills do I have?
• What skills do I need to develop related to the kind of opportunities I am hoping for?
• How will I develop these skills?

Further exploration: Use the O*Net website (http://www.onetonline.org/find/descriptor/browse/Skills/) to identify job titles related to the skills you have identified.

Your values

Your values are what matters most to you in life and work. Values strongly influence your career decisions. Your values are shaped by family, community, work environment and life experiences.

Examples of how values can influence career decisions

• Matome wants more challenges than his administrative job offers and considers a sales representative position involving travel. He must weigh the importance of family time against the excitement of travel.
• Shamila enjoys organising events and considers turning her hobby into a business, weighing the risk of leaving her secure job.

Activity: My values

Below are some common values (you can add your own if you prefer). Read through the list and take note of the five that are most important to you:

How will your values influence your studies?

Can you link your values to specific occupations? How will your values be supported by the career choice you are making? How will your career choice support your values? To what extent do your values overlap with the values of your profession? The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, for example, expects chartered accountants to comply with principles such as integrity, objectivity and professional behaviour. If you want to qualify as a chartered accountant, how are you starting to "live" these values in your day-to-day life?

Complete the following sentences to understand how your values influence your studies:

• My life is meaningful when…
• I feel valued when...
• My career is meaningful when…
• My study time at Unisa is meaningful when…
  

Further exploration: Use the O*Net website (http://www.onetonline.org/find/descriptor/browse/Work_Values/) to identify job titles related to specific values you have identified as very important.

Your career influences

Career decisions are rarely made in isolation. Many factors such as people, events, culture, and environment play a role in shaping your career thinkimg. Who and what influences your career decisions? Where do your career influences come from?

Activity: My career influences

Think about how other people, events and things have influenced you.

• Social influences (eg parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, cultural values and the media)
• Environmental influences (eg where you live, where you work, employment market and socio-economic status)
• Time (how your past, present and future thinking about your career influences your career decisions)

Now think about the choice you are making now (what to study) and make some notes about the following:

• To what extent are you able to choose your qualification? Who else was involved in this process? Your family? Community needs? Other?

Also, consider that chance events have a huge influence on careers. Think about the times when something happened that you did not plan for and could not control, but that impacted your career direction, such as how you heard about Unisa or got your first job. Think about and make notes about a chance event that influenced your career decision.