How to Choose a Career After Matric

Quick answer

Choose the next step by comparing two or three options against your subjects, the qualification they require, what the study or training actually involves, and whether you can afford the time and cost. Confirm every requirement on the institution or employer's own page.

The Department of Higher Education and Training's Career Development Services offers free career information and advice. Career Youth Insights can help you organise the research. It is not a substitute for a professional career counsellor.

Start from evidence you already have

A useful starting point is your school record, not a list of popular careers. Write down the subjects you were willing to practise, the marks you can realistically achieve, and the tasks you have already done in projects, sport, family responsibilities or part-time work.

• Subjects you can face again at a higher level, not only subjects you passed once.
• Tasks you finish properly: explaining, calculating, repairing, organising, caring, designing or selling.
• Constraints that are real for your household: fees, transport, where you can live, and when you need an income.
• Results you still have time to improve before the final National Senior Certificate examinations.

Interest matters, but interest without the required subjects is a research problem, not a personality flaw. If a programme needs Mathematics and you take Mathematical Literacy, find out whether another route into that field exists. Do not assume one school's advice applies at every university.

Separate the occupation from the qualification

An occupation is the work. A qualification is one way of preparing for it. Nursing, accounting, electrical work and software development each have more than one training route, and the route changes what you are allowed to do.

What to look up for an occupation

• The daily tasks, not only the job title.
• Whether the work needs a professional registration, a trade test, or a driver's licence.
• The usual entry qualification, and whether employers also ask for experience.
• Where the work is done: clinic, site, office, classroom, workshop or from home.

What to look up for a qualification

• The institution that offers it, and whether it is a public university, a TVET college, a private provider or an employer programme.
• The National Qualifications Framework level, if the provider publishes it. The South African Qualifications Authority registers qualifications.
• Admission requirements for that programme, including subjects and points. These differ by institution.
• Duration, campus, language of tuition, and whether workplace placement is part of the programme.

Do not treat a qualification name as proof that employers hire for it. Read current vacancy adverts for the work you want and note the qualification they actually request. A few adverts are not a labour-market survey, but they stop you guessing.

University, TVET and other routes

Public universities and TVET colleges are different kinds of institutions. A university programme and a TVET programme can both lead to work, and neither is automatically the better choice. The better choice is the one that matches the occupation and that you can enter.

• University study usually leads to a higher education qualification such as a degree or diploma. Admission often uses the National Senior Certificate, subject levels and an institution's own admission point score.
• TVET colleges offer vocational programmes. The college prospectus states which programmes it offers and what the entry requirements are. Do not copy one college's requirements onto another.
• Learnerships combine structured learning with workplace experience and lead to a qualification. Internships are usually workplace exposure, often after or during study. They are not the same thing.
• Apprenticeships are the route used for listed trades and can end in a trade test. Confirm the current artisan route with the training body, not with a social-media advert.
• Some employers train people themselves. Read that employer's careers page. A private college is not a public university merely because it uses the word campus.

If you are comparing costs, include fees, accommodation, transport, registration and the years before you can earn. A shorter programme is not automatically cheaper, and a funded programme is not automatically available to every applicant.

Use the job market without chasing a trend

A career can be popular because people talk about it, because a bursary exists this year, or because one person you know was hired. None of those facts tells you whether you meet the entry requirements or whether you would tolerate the work.

1. Pick the occupation first, then find three current adverts from employers you can identify.
2. Highlight the qualification, subjects and experience they have in common.
3. Ignore requirements that only one advert lists until you have checked more than one employer.
4. Ask what happens if you are not selected. A single programme should not be your only plan.

Scarce-skill lists and bursary adverts change. They are a reason to research a field, not a reason to apply for a qualification you cannot enter or do not want to practise.

Job shadowing, volunteering and guidance

A few hours of real observation tells you more than another evening of searching. Ask a clinic, school, workshop, municipality or business whether you may observe. Put the request in writing, say which days you are free, and do not expect to be paid.

Volunteering and school leadership count when you can describe the task. Serving on a representative council of learners, tutoring, church administration or helping in a family business are evidence of what you do. They are not a career by themselves.

DHET Career Development Services is a national service for career information, advice and counselling, including a helpline, email and the National Career Advice Portal for subject and occupation information. Schools, universities and TVET colleges may also have guidance staff. What they offer differs. Use them to test your research, and still read the admission page of each institution you apply to.

A practical decision framework

Work through the same questions for each option. Stop when an option fails a requirement you cannot meet.

1. Name the option in ordinary language, such as civil engineering technician or public administration.
2. Write the qualification or training route and the institution that offers it.
3. Copy the published subject and admission requirements. Mark any subject you do not have.
4. Note the cost, duration, campus and whether you would need to move.
5. Find at least two real vacancies or professional-registration pages that show what the qualification is used for.
6. List one thing you still need to ask a counsellor, lecturer or employer.
7. Choose the application you will submit, and a second option if the first one rejects you.

The decision you are making is the next application. You can change direction after a year of study, a learnership or work, but changing is easier when you understood the first choice.

Common mistakes

• Choosing a programme because friends chose it, or because the name sounds senior.
• Using one university's admission point score as if every institution calculates points the same way.
• Applying only to programmes that are already full or that your subjects do not allow.
• Ignoring TVET, learnership and artisan routes when they match the work you want.
• Paying a person who promises a space, a bursary or a job. Public career information from DHET's service is free.
• Treating this website, or any article, as a personal counselling session.

Checklist

• Two or three options written down, each with an institution and a qualification.
• Subject requirements copied from the official prospectus or faculty page.
• A funding question checked separately from the admission question.
• One conversation with a career adviser, teacher or person who does the work.
• Application dates read from the institution, not from a forwarded message.
• A second choice that you would still attend.

Information can change

Rules, forms, closing dates and programme requirements change. Treat this guide as a way to prepare and to know what to check. The official page for the institution, employer or funder is the version that applies to your application.

Official sources

• DHET Career Development ServicesFree career information, the career advice helpline and the National Career Advice Portal.
• What Career Development Services isDHET's own description of the national career information and counselling service.
• South African Qualifications AuthorityThe authority that registers qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework.