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Career Planning (Students)

Updated: 3 days ago

A guide on how to plan for your career as a student


Ikigai and Career Planning

Meaning of Ikigai: A reason for being: living with a sense of purpose.

Importance of career planning:

  • work makes up a significant portion of our lives -- an average of 90,000 hours of a person's lifetime is spent at work

  • the work that we do contributes significantly to our sense of self

How to find your Ikigai

Finding your Ikigai means finding the intersection of these following 4 entities:

  1. what you love

  2. what the world needs

  3. what you can be paid for

  4. what you are good at

    - This list is not sequential (you may choose to venture into something you love first, then figure out how you can get paid for it)

    - It is a journey -- you may not be able to find something that fulfils all 4 of the entities now; it takes time and patience to find a fulfilling vocation.


1) What you love

  • do you feel passionate about what you are currently studying and/or the internship(s) you have been on?

  • do you feel an emotional connection to the impact you aim to make in the future?

  • would you continue with your current course of study if financial remuneration was not an issue?


2) What the world needs

  • are you helping to alleviate an issue in society?

  • is there a demand for your skills and knowledge?

  • will your skills and knowledge still be in demand in the future (e.g: 10 years from now)?


3) What you can be paid for

  • will you be paid for what you want to do after graduating?

  • are you comfortable with how much you will potentially be paid for your work?

  • does the industry's job market have a healthy amount of competition?


4) What are you good at

  • how can your work be useful?

  • are you good in your field of study or the work you want to do?

  • given more education and experience, could you be an expert in your field of work?


How To Build Your Resume

  • remain open-minded to learning new skills and knowledge that may be outside your major/course of study

  • make use of free resources provided by your institution (Adobe Photoshop crash courses, MOOC platforms, etc.)

  • where possible, take up volunteering opportunities to explore a particular sector that you may be interested in

  • take up internship opportunities during your semester break

  • build and maintain a good student-professor relationship. Having strong connections with professors can help you to expand your professional network and increase your chances of getting a letter of recommendation from them.

  • participate actively in student-life events to learn soft skills (e.g: how to effectively work in a team, communication and leadership skills, etc.)



Written by: Jasmine Tan | Designed by: Jasmine Tan | Edited by: Jonathan Kuek

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