Creating a Me Map

Sometimes careers are seen as an extension of the subjects you like at school. There’s nothing wrong with this approach but it doesn’t work for everyone. What if you don’t have a favourite subject? Or don’t enjoy your studies?

In reality, careers are shaped by a range of factors including ability, skills and personality. Subject knowledge, for example, may come second to softer skills, such as problem solving or team work. Many jobs have no clear link to school subjects at all.

With this in mind, it makes sense to look for career inspiration across all parts of life. Try this task to start thinking about careers in a much wider way.

You may want to divide the page into columns, create a spider diagram, draw pictures or make a collage – just choose a format that suits.

You could even create a board on Pinterest or make a digital scrapbook.

Include anything that you like or that interests you, such as:

• hobbies, interests and how you like to spend time outside of school
• issues or campaigns
• TV shows, films and books
• companies, organisations, brands and products
• people you admire
• school subjects

Also think about what you’re like. Perhaps include your character traits – what are your top three qualities? How might other people describe you? And don’t forget your soft skills – are you good at organising, talking to people, or anything else?

What connections are there between the items on your map?  Does anything spark ideas?  And can you find any links with possible job areas?

Consider sharing your map with someone else – they might be able to spot links that you can’t see.

Is there a particular job type you can research? Try:

• exploring icould career videos by job type or school subject 
• browsing websites of trade or professional associations and employers
• looking at job adverts
• doing a general internet search
• finding recent news stories about a job type or following an area of work in the media – what issues is it facing?
• talking to someone who may know more – try asking friends, family and teachers if they can help
• looking at job data, such as salary details and skills requirements. You can see this below each icould video

What would need to happen to take you from where you are now, to doing one of these jobs? What different possibilities could your next step open up?

You can continue to add to your Me Map over time or create a new one.

Repeat the steps above and see where your ideas lead…

See our Get started section.