Research Research Research

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs - ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” - Howard Thurman

You may have seen this quote before; I came across it last week in a presentation I found at work.  It spoke to me.  If you have written a list of all the things you ever wanted to do, you will need to make it come alive.  You need to find out what you can do make each of those things happen.  I started with the Internet and talking to people.  Do not fail to be amazed by just mentioning what you are doing to others – they will have their own stories or know of someone who has.  

There are a lot of websites that provide an excellent starting point, these are just a few:

1. Careershifters.org ? - need I say more?  I stumbled across this site when looking for advice on moving career.  And then look what happened…

2. careersadvice.direct.gov.uk – outline information of every job and career you can think of with advice about qualifications and routes into each field.

3. prospects.ac.uk – do not be put off by thinking that this site just caters for graduates.  Prospects is aimed at young people but it provides information on starting out in different careers which is invaluable to anyone wanting to change tack.  There is also some very useful CV and cover letter advice.

4. Newspaper websites – most of the broadsheets have articles going back at least 5 years which a simple search can bring up in moments.

5. University websites – the majority of universities have accessible careers websites.  Not only that but you can browse online prospectuses for information about a wide variety of courses.  

6. Institutes and Associations – every sector has its own organisation which provides news, personal development information and advice to those wishing to start out in that sector.  In the majority of cases, simply searching for a particular career will bring up associations or institutes for the related field.

Keeping a folder for the information you find helps to organise it and means that you will have one place to find all you research.