Decision Making Styles

What's Yours Called?

• Pros and Cons
• Intuitive
• The Talking Cure
• Keep it to yourself
• Planned Procrastination
• Hypothesis Testing

An important thing to consider is how you have made important decisions in your life so far. If you have successfully made important decisions in the past, the method you used then may apply to your career decision-making also. If your past decision making process was not successful, however, you may want to seek out an alternative approach. Some examples:

Pros and Cons

Some use a systematic approach such as weighing pros and cons, carefully noting these down in two parallel columns. You can lay out two occupational descriptions from Prospects Planner side by side and compare them in this way, too. This doesn't always resolve the difficulty at once, but can help you become clearer what the top priorities really are. There are several other systematic decision making tools available on the Web.

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Intuitive

Some use a more "spontaneous" approach by choosing whatever feels intuitively right. Do you find your "instincts" have generally been reliable in the past? You can also be intuitively wrong. How crucial is it to get it right first time?

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Talk it through

Some are external decision-makers - they talk through their decision making with other people in order to make the decision. Talking it over with a Careers Adviser or getting feedback from those who know you well, can be very helpful in clarifying the issues. You might also want to talk to others who've made the decision already. But in the end, you're the one who has to actually decide - don't allow others to make it for you.

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Keep it to yourself

Others may think things through by themselves without talking to anyone else prior to making a decision. If you do that, make sure you have some way of testing the validity of your assumptions and conclusions, before you finally commit yourself.

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Planned procrastination

Some can live longer than others with not having made a final decision, mulling over the shortlist of alternatives for weeks or months till they have accumulated enough evidence and can see their way clear ahead. It is often helpful not to make decisions quickly that can be delayed: you may change, so may the circumstances. But this approach must not be confused with simple procrastination: make a pact with yourself to revisit the issues from time to time, to see what has changed - and keep your agreement.

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Hypothesis testing

Others need to make a decision of some kind, now, a tentative hypothesis they can then seek the evidence to prove or disprove - perhaps by getting some relevant work experience or seeking out feedback from others who already do the job. If you are not afraid of changing your mind, this can be a good way to proceed - the hypothesis may be wrong, but at least you have eliminated some options and sharpened the focus of your choice. You've also remained active and alert and ready to learn.

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Use whatever method works best for you. You may be able to combine more than one of the above. Or contact the Career Development Centre for help.

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