Work environments

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Do you have a sense of the type of organisation you would like to work in?

•    Private company – small / local / family business
•    National company (branches throughout country)
•    International company (offices in different countries)
•    Global company (world-wide organisation)
•    Public service (Fire, Police, Health, Forces)
•    Government (e.g., Civil Service, Local Council)
•    Not for profit organisation (charities, associations)
•    Research & Development 
•    Manufacturing
•    Financial
•    Entrepreneurial – small “start-up”, young developing
•    Creative e.g. advertising

Office based "out and about"

Office based means you need to be happy to work from one location most of the time and to get on with the same people who you will see and sit next to most days.

Field based work e.g. being “on the road” in sales, or working outside on site (e.g., civil engineering) is about spending time out of the office and often involves travelling.

What is your Personal Preference? What would suit you best?

•  To work in one location?
•  To have a routine and the same people around me every day?
•  To be in different places every day
•  To be on your own and free to decide where to go and who to see/visit/work with each day?

Remember that you may have to do roles early in your career that you are not that enthusiastic about, but which give you important experience for later on in life.

Customer facing roles

In most organisations you will meet both internal and external customers. 

Whilst it is usually fairly obvious who the external customers are, it is not always as clear who the internal customers are. 

Most internal departments in organisations actually “serve” each other:

For example, the finance department serves the needs of departments across the organisation with financial data – just as those very same departments need to provide finance with up to date information – so both need to serve each other's needs and are therefore each other's internal “customers”.

Some people love dealing with other people and others prefer to deal with “things” – figures, objects, ideas. What do you prefer? 

Hopefully by now you are beginning to draw conclusions about the type of work you might enjoy.