How confident do you feel? Build your future with career confidence
These pages highlight some key resources and practical activities to help grow your confidence in your career or personal development. From having the confidence to plan for your future, to recognising and presenting the unique skills you have to offer and feeling confident in the workplace.
How you see yourself can influence how you see your future. Increasing your confidence will help you in both setting goals and moving towards them - whether that’s developing or changing your job, further study or trying voluntary activities.
In our short webinar How to grow your confidence Neill Boddington, in his time as OU Mental Health Advisor, gives practical advice and actions to help you improve your levels of confidence related to job searching, interviews and career planning.
Confidence is a journey we are all on and it can vary at different times and across different areas in your life. Read the following descriptions and rate yourself according to how you feel about them, where 5 is confident and 1 is less confident. This will help you navigate the information relevant to you in where you would like to improve your confidence.
| Points to consider | How you feel about this (1-5) |
|---|---|
| Setting aside time to think about your future | |
| Listening to your own voice - what matters to you | |
| Finding and making the most of support | |
| Recognising your skills and qualities | |
| Presenting your skills to people you don't know | |
| Developing professional or other contacts who can help | |
| Putting yourself forward for new opportunities | |
| Finding solutions to challenges in your plans | |
| Confidence in your role at work, new course or voluntary role |
You’ve already taken an enormous step by studying with the Open University. Think about what this has meant for you personally. Below are some thoughts from OU students we’ve spoken to about what OU study means for them. Do you recognise any of these?
- “Surprised – didn’t know I could do this”
- “Juggling OU study and other responsibilities / challenges in life has been demanding”
- “Study has made me think about where I am in life”
- “Study feels like a stepping-stone to moving on in some way”
- “A degree may not be for me, but starting this has made me think about moving on from where I am in other ways”
- “Study makes me prioritise making time for something that’s important to me”
- “It’s investing in me”
Review your levels of confidence by working through the Career Planning Guide's Activity 1.5: How confident do you seem to others (PDF 28KB) and watch Animation: 8 tips to build your confidence to learn more about the positive effects that confidence has for your career (see Signing into Careers and Employability Services tools if you’ve haven’t used them before).
OU study has changed me and how I perceive myself. I have learnt that good things take time. I have become resilient, perseverant, and more confident. I have begun to see how capable I actually am and I’ve learnt to deal with challenges. I am a better version of myself now than I was at the start of my studies.
Susanna, OU graduate
