Identifying Your Career Motivations

Recognising Your Skills and Areas for Development

It’s easy to overlook the skills you’ve already gained through study, part-time work, or life experience. Taking time to reflect on these can help you understand your strengths and identify areas you'd like to develop further. Consider starting a RED Award if you would like to learn how to use the experience you have gained for your future career.

Here are a few starting points:

• Reflect on your university experience: Skills like time management, teamwork, budgeting, problem-solving, and communication are often developed through group work, managing deadlines, or involvement in societies.
• Consider your work or volunteering experience: Whether short- or long-term, these roles may have helped you develop customer service skills, adaptability, resilience, or leadership qualities.

This reflection can also help highlight any skill gaps – areas you may want to build on to prepare for specific roles or industries. It's completely normal not to have everything figured out, and exploring this is part of the development process.

What Skills Do You Enjoy Using?

It’s not just about what you’re good at – it’s also important to consider what you enjoy.

For example, you might be excellent at group work, but prefer working independently. Or you might find public speaking energising, while others avoid it.

Understanding which skills you like using can help you pinpoint what motivates you, and guide you toward roles that feel more rewarding.

This is a great area to reflect on independently or discuss with a mentor, careers consultant, or peer.

Exploring Your Career Motivations

To guide your thinking, ask yourself:

• What kind of work gives me a sense of purpose or satisfaction?
• What values are important to me in a role or organisation?
• Do I prefer variety and flexibility, or structure and routine?
• Is helping others, solving problems, or leading projects important to me?

You might also think about your non-negotiables – for example:

• "I want to work in a role that supports sustainability."
• "I need opportunities to be creative."
• "I value job security and steady progression."

Career Anchors – A Tool to Explore Your Drivers

Career theorist Edgar Schein developed the idea of career anchors – core values or drivers that guide people toward certain roles or paths. He identified eight different anchors, including things like:

• Autonomy and independence
• Service and dedication to a cause
• Pure challenge
• Security and stability

You can take a short quiz to explore which anchors resonate with you. The results can help clarify your motivations and open up discussions about career direction.

Keep Exploring: Build Your Self-Awareness

Our Knowing Yourself page has more tools and resources to support your self-reflection. Whether you're just beginning to explore career options or refining your goals, building self-awareness is a powerful first step.

If you're part of a mentoring scheme, consider using these tools and questions to guide your next conversation. If not, use them as prompts in your own personal career thinking.