Career Goals and Aspirations Essay

This is a career plan expressing the aspirations for my career upon graduating from university, and how is wish to achieve these aspirations.

Where am I now?

Currently, I am in my second year at the University of Lincoln studying Criminology. During my time at university, I have completed the Lincoln employability award, ‘which provides recognition of the activities you participate in, and supports you to identify the competencies, skills, and attributes employers are looking for (Careers and employability, 2021(a)). This has given me a great chance to develop my employability skills alongside my degree and allowed communication from real corporate employers including feedback, allowing me to create a focus on developing skills. The award allowed me to work on my resilience, having to complete the tasks alongside university work and deadlines; also this has given me the right attitude and initiative to take part in more activities to build my professional profile and CV. This can be reflected by the fact that I am currently undertaking a graduate skills builder, a program that gives students the opportunity to work in multi-disciplinary teams to complete real-world challenges set by businesses in the Lincolnshire area’ (Careers and employability, 2021(b)). For this, I have been working with a team of students alongside the Lincolnshire police focusing on problem-solving policing. This has been a great way for me to develop contacts within the police force, as well as other students with the same area of interest, building these connections at such a vital time in my degree I feel will help me to be able to branch out to other sectors to gain advice, support and even experience. Building upon my teamwork and confidence; throughout these two schemes has allowed me to have more belief in my own ideas, and present my ideas more formally and professionally, while keeping frequent communication with my team and facing any issues barriers head-on. They have also been great incentives to help me to develop my own communication and interpersonal skills in matters outside of university work also. During my time so far at university, I have also joined the cheerleading society to allow time away from my studies as well as to keep active, in addition to this I have joined the history and law societies to expand my knowledge and keep my passion for both these subjects flowing. Throughout my life, I have been a girl guide and a guiding young leader, and within schooling, I volunteered for roles such as a prefect and house captain, I also currently work at a children’s holiday and after-school club. These are all events that have helped me to create a basis for transferable skills which I continue to develop. Leadership has been a skill relevant to all these roles; having to make decisions that will affect and guide others has created a great foundation for leading which I have built upon at university through group projects and will continue to do so. Moreover, I have undertaken work experience with Transport for London, including a day spent with the transport police, allowing me to explore the requirements and responsibilities of a job within the police force, and also gain insight into how different areas of the police operate. These are all attributes that I feel will help me not only when I go on to progress into my PGCE year after University, but also within any career.

Where do I want to be?

Developing into a career that helps others has always attracted me, something which I believe stems from my family’s career choices, meaning there was a key area of interest from an early age towards a career that produces pure challenge. ‘Variety and difficulty become ends in themselves, and if something is easy, it becomes immediately boring’ (Schein, 1990). Upon graduating from the University of Lincoln, within my short-term plan I hope to undertake a post-graduate certificate in primary education at St Mary's University; a career, that along with policing, that creates a pure challenge in everyday work. ‘Teaching give[s] you the chance to use your skills to inspire young people and make sure every pupil gets the same access to quality education. It’s a career that offers varied opportunities, where no day is ever the same (Department of Education, 2020). Undertaking a PGCE with a criminology degree is possible, and I hope to be aided by my experiences. A PGCE would not only open an alternative career path but also allow a sense of producing the anchor of security for my future. This relates to concern for financial security, and also employment security, both I believe are important and a matter which I feel has been ever more amplified by the current coronavirus climate.

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Joining the police force is the aim of my long-term plan. Policing is also a job that leads you into a different environment and situation each day; especially detective work and I feel the unknowing will only increase my enthusiasm within the role. The versatility of policing is something that also attracts me, creating a pure challenge for every day. ‘Policing is also often referred to as a job for life, and the dedication and service to a cause (Schein,1990), which continues to entice and inspire me. The opportunity to pursue work that achieves something of value, such as making the world a better place to live, helping others, and improving people’s safety, is exactly the ethos I want to run my career by; a career as a criminal detective. I hope my development within the police will lead to a job in anti-corruption, with managerial competencies, to reach this I need to recognize that ‘responsibility and accountability [are key] for total results’ (Schein, 1990). However, I would be flexible to try a range of different roles if the opportunities arose. Policing needs to be about teamwork in so many aspects, inside and outside of the community, but in order for teams to work effectively there needs to be leadership and control, to make sure that the process is moving in the right direction.

My interest in anti-corruption stems from the ever-current growing battle between the trusts of policing within the United Kingdom. The role of the police is for protection and security something which at the moment I feel is being compromised, showing, therefore, the importance of the development of the police through new recruits and funding, to allow the creation of community within the country to all feel like they can work alongside the police and not against them. Although this is my ultimate goal, I also do feel that planned happenstance will play a part in the actual development of my short and long-term goals. ‘Planned happenstance theory is a conceptual framework extending career counseling to include the creating and transforming of unplanned events into opportunities for learning (Mitchell, et al, 1999). As I move into the working world I hope my optimism and flexibility will allow me to try new careers if I feel that the role I end up in is not best suited to my career goals or anchors.

How am I going to get there?

To be accepted to do a PGCE at St. Marys University I will need to obtain a 2:2 in my criminology degree, this is definitely attainable, and will allow a goal to keep up my time management and organization skills, I also aim to continue to work on my confidence in order to prepare me for any interviews or examinations. There are four possible routes that I could choose from to reach the position of a criminal investigator within the police force. I would prefer to join a detective program rather than becoming a policing community support officer, but if I do have to enter this role, I know I will be able to hopefully progress through the college of policing, this would also be an option in the long term plan to be able to develop onto the counter-corruption investigation team (College of Policing 2020). Furthermore, the national detective program, accredited by POLICE: NOW offers a graduate scheme for fast-track positions, which would allow me to develop quickly into the role post-graduation. ‘The program has been designed to take ownership of situations within an ever-changing criminal landscape and to allow to be adaptive, eager to find solutions to complex problems, maintain a flexible view as situations change, and be able to show compassion to the communities you will serve’ (Police: NOW 2021). These are all elements that I have addressed throughout my plan. The final two path options are provided by the metropolitan police, geographically these would be the most suitable, but my adaptability means I am open to the idea of moving to where the work is and then once settled finding security within that area. These options include entering either the detective constable scheme or degree holder’s entry program to be able to enter a police force at a level best suited to my final career goal.