We make decisions every day. When you make decisions, what do you do?

  • Use Your Intuition – Use your intuition and decide what feels right at the time.
  • Consult People – Chat with other people to help you make your decisions.
  • Go Through A Process* – Work through a process of gathering information and analysing it.

Would you come up with some alternative options to choose from? Then would you weigh up the pros and cons of each alternative and then decide? Or, do you use all three styles to making decisions, depending on the situation? For example:

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Decision: Buying your first car
Type: Process
Why: Because it’s an important decision

Decision: Whether to do your English or Maths homework first after school
Type: Intuition
Why: Because it depends on what feels right at the time

Decision: Deciding on your Year 12 subjects
Type: Consult
Why: Because you want to talk to a Career Advisor to see if there are prerequisites for a course you want to do after Year 12. Or maybe you have other strategies that you use to make decisions?

Why the Process Decision Style will set you up for life

The Process style is good to use for decisions that have important consequences such as:

• What subjects to study at school or college

• What type of education or training to do after Year 12

• What course to study after Year 12

• What to do in a gap year

• What occupation to aim for

• What course or job offer to choose. You may start to worry because you don’t know what subjects to choose for next year.


During the Process Decision Style you can still ask other people to help you. And you can still use your intuition to make a choice that feels right to you.

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Key takeaway

Anytime you face a career decision in life, you can use the Process Decision Style.

*Harren, V. A. (1979). A model of career decision making for college students. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 14, 119-113

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