Help Me Decide

Choosing the right course is a big decision and it is important to get it right. At IQ Academy we always try to guide our students and hopefully we can help you make the right choice by taking you through some important steps to discovering who you are. Below we explain a short process on how you can go about choosing a career and the process to follow when deciding on a course to help you kick start your chosen career.

Who Am I?

 You will need to first get to know yourself. Why? The elements below represent the ingredients necessary to make a decision about your career. Thinking about and working through these elements will assist you with the decision you are making now, but also for any future decisions.

Present Circumstances

As you are thinking about studying, you have hopes that represent a picture of what you want from life or where you see yourself in the future. Think about your situation at the moment (for example you are a school leaver, unemployed, employed, a graduate or retrenched). Write down where you are at the moment and what you would like to change about your current situation.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Take a realistic look at your strengths and weaknesses. Write down three to five personal strengths and weaknesses. Also list why they are strengths or weaknesses?

Interests

Interests are important in relation to our choices. If you are interested in working with people for example, how would you want to help them? If you are interest in working with money, would you want to manage other people’s money?

What do you like doing? Write down at least three activities that you really enjoy (for example, reading books, gardening and playing soccer). Make some notes on how they relate to your interest in studying.

Go to O*Net online (http://www.onetonline.org) to search for occupations linked to specific interests. Click on “Advanced search” and then select “Interests” from the drop down list. Click on the interest groups you would want to explore to get a list of occupations related to your interests. What are your interests? Write them down.

Values

You values show what is important to you. As such they have a significant effect on your career choices. Examples of values include: adventure, authority, challenge, community, creativity, excellence, helping, independence, integrity, knowledge, money power and security.

Write down your top five values. Can you link your values to specific occupations?

Go to O*Net online (http://www.onetonline.org) to search for occupations linked to specific values. Click on “Advanced search” and then select “Work values” from the drop down list. Click on the value that matches your top values. You will get a list of occupations related to the values important to you. 

How to Choose a Career

Now that you know what your strengths, weaknesses, interests and values are it is time to think about your future.

Possible Careers

Our careers change continuously: this means that we need to be ready to make career decisions all the time. Write down possible careers you would consider.

Research

Research each of the careers on your list. The internet, newspaper, television and people around you are the best sources of information. Search for the following information regarding your selected list of careers:

• Job Titles
• What are the duties of such a position?
• Compare remuneration packages
• List the skills required for each career
• What are the educational requirements?
• What type of experience is required?

With your career selected, the next step is to choose a course. Make some notes or draw a picture about: What are you hoping will be different as a result of your studies? Where will you be in 2019? In 2024? What will you be? Who is with you?

Think about how to make your hopes for the future real. What practical things must you do to realize it? Think about it and make some notes.
 

Choose a Course 

Have you decided what career field you are interested in? Choose a course related to your career field.

IQ Academy follows a distance education mode of delivery which means that that contact time, like that in a face-to-face institution, is very limited, if not impossible. Distance Learning is defined as an educational system in which students are formally enrolled in a college but receive instruction at some remote site. This mode of delivery to students means an opportunity to achieve their educational dreams especially for those who are unable to attend conventional courses due to a variety of reasons including but not limited to work commitment, distance, time, costs and even physical incapacity. Remember distance learning does not mean “alone”; we at IQ Academy are there to support you throughout your journey.

Studying with IQA has several advantages over the attendance of classes at a campus.

Students:

• are able to register at any time of the year,
• are able to learn at home, according to a convenient schedule, without having to incur the cost and inconvenience of travelling to classes at fixed times,
• are able to continue to earn an income whilst studying outside of working hours,
• have access to highly qualified and experienced IQ Academy academic staff who provide quick feedback via detailed comments on assignments and via live tutor sessions, and
• are able to engage with course material that has been split up into manageable units, logically sequenced, integrated into a sound learning process of introduction, reinforcement and review and interspersed with learner-centred exercises.

Take that first step to start improving your life through education! Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with special offers and new courses.