Imagining Career – A Career Development Exercise

Career development is continuous throughout our lives; whether you are a young adult just starting your working life or whether you have some career experience and are now contemplating a career transition.

Creativity and imagination are as much a part of career development during our lifetimes as specific strategies.

Try this exercise. What does your creativity reveal?

Part A

Imagining a work role

Let your creativity and your imagination take flight as you design a work role (it does not have to exist currently).

As you begin to design this role, think about:

your life and work experiences,

your interests,

what you value, and

what is currently going on in the world, or in your community.

What could this role combine?

How would you name this role?

Part B

A detailed description of the role

Here are a few sample questions to get you started:

What are you doing day to day?

What responsibilities do you have?

Is the role related to a personal interest, does it meet a current need or fill a missing service in the world, or perhaps a combination of all of these?

What does your work environment look and feel like?

Where is your job geographically located?

How do you work – in person, remotely, or a hybrid?

Are you working for someone or are you working for yourself?

Is your work flexible, fast-paced, or structured with specific tasks to be completed each day?

Are you working on a team, are you working independently, or a combination of the two?

What skills do you currently have to do this role? Are there further skills or knowledge you will need to develop for this role?

Part C

Review

What themes emerged from this imagined role?

What information does your imagined role reveal about your interests? About what attracts your attention in the world or in your community?

What does it reveal about your expectations of work or how you imagine working?

What information does it reveal about your motivation at this stage in your life? What does it reveal about how you want to contribute?

Is there something tangible from this imagined role you might like to pursue or gain experience in right now? Training, certification, a course of study, direct work experience?

Is there a specific area, or topic, you would like to research further?

Are there people in these areas you might want to speak to or have an informational meeting with?

Is there something from this imagined role that might help you set a small goal and take one small step forward? What would that be?

What further questions did you come up with?

Keep an eye on the world. Keep your eye on the ever-changing job market. Movement and change create gaps and holes to be filled. There is always room for creativity and imagination.