CHOOSING THE RIGHT COURSE TO SUIT YOUR ASPIRATIONS

÷ DRAW FROM YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

“Be self-aware,” said Joan O’Reilly, career guidance counsellor with Springboard HEA. “Know your style of work and how you have worked in the past. For example, do you like working on your own — or do you like working with people?

Are you a procrastinator who prefers to work in a more structured way with deadlines to meet? Or do you work better in a supervisory capacity? Write down every skill that you have. Think about everything you’ve done in your past roles.”

Once you have identified your skills, examine how they can be transferred to different roles — and decide how to address any skill gaps.

“For example, you may have worked in retail or a bar or restaurant and have good customer-facing skills,” said O’Reilly. “If these jobs are no longer available, you could work in online customer-care roles where you’re customer-facing on the telephone rather than face-to-face. You may identify a gap in your IT skills when applying for such roles — and decide to do a computer course or something else to address that gap. When you go to apply for jobs, you may see where your skills gaps are — you can fill those gaps through education, experience and so on.”

÷ DO YOUR RESEARCH

“Find out about the field you’re interested in by talking to someone working in that area,” said O’Reilly. “Ask the person about the good — and not so good — things about the job. Find out what skills are most necessary for the job.”

For those considering an apprenticeship, look at the range of apprenticeships available and consider what industry you would like to work in, advised Solas. ÷ BE BRAVE

“It is possible to make a jump into a completely different line of work,” said O’Reilly. “We’ve had examples of people who’ve worked in engineering and who have transferred project management, health and safety, process management or IT skills they used in their engineering job to go into the pharmaceutical industry.” Be realistic though. “Look at where you are at the moment and find out what you need to do to get to where you want to be — whether that’s a further education course, a Springboard+ course, an apprenticeship and so on.” ÷ PLACEMENTS WORK

Choose a course with a work placement as it’s often easier to secure work afterwards.

÷ DO WHAT YOU LIKE

“It’s important to like what you do,” said O’Reilly. “Have an aptitude and interest for the area you’re considering going into. Ask yourself if you’re committed to investing the time and work required to get to that career path.”

÷ GET ADVICE

For those interested in Springboard+ courses, there will be a free helpline open in June where you can get guidance on various courses.