Careers advice for school leavers

[Carvoir]

I am looking for some careers advice for a school leaver. I am looking for something personal, someone/company who talks to the individual and establishes what careers are suitable for their interests and strengths.

When I was at school (20 years ago) I filled in questionnaires that told me I would be good at a range of jobs from a lollipop lady to a lawyer, neither of which where suitable for me! I missed out on information on the bigger picture, where a certain career could lead etc, so I am looking for this sort of advice for a current school leaver.

Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas where I could get this from and how much it might cost?

[dietstartstmoz]

The careers service you get depends on where you live and if the school have decided to pay for a professional adviser to come into school or if they have just given this role to a teacher. Firstly ask the school what they are doing re:careers advice. There may be a professional service coming in. Ask the school if there is a professional service in your area. If not get onto google and look for what is left in your area after the tories decimated what used to be an entitlement for us. The previous service was called connexions. Some are still called this, some have new names.

[creamteas]

Some schools have access to online programmes that do the same as the questionnaires did although the results are no better

However, in my experience, careers service really only ever tell you how to get into the profession you have chosen, they do not seem to be able to help with any broader questions such as what you should aim for or what else might be possible.....

[MTSgroupie]

MN is free :)

There are IT people here, lawyers, accountants, teachers etc etc. Just ask them.

[goingwildforcrayons]

For 16 year olds the school has responsibility to provide this. However, the quality can vary enormously as dietstartstmoz points out, some schools will have contracted this out to a professional advisor, or may have given it to a teacher (I have to be honest, in my experience, not always the best option).

Even though its designed for 18+, the National Careers Service website has lots of job profiles that are worth a look to get an idea of different roles. nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/Pages/Home.aspx

Some of the job listing sites often have articles on which companies are hiring this year, information on salaries, jobs and skills in high demand etc. Monster is quite good. I once attended an event where the Head of the Careers Service at Liverpool Uni talked - he was excellent. Although its aimed at Graduates, their website has loads of great links and info... www.liv.ac.uk/careers/index.htm

Get the young person to write down their skills, attributes and areas of knowledge and interest. Ask friends and family to write down what they think too.

Do you have friends in different roles who could spend half an hour chatting about their career history and education (or are you on linkedin)? Do you have any friends/family who would be up for work shadowing for a day?

[eatyourveg]

All Y11s at dc's school do a Morrisby test. Its expensive but incredibly thorough

When I was at school we did a paper based thing which told me my ideal career would be running an antiques shop. I did the same test in the 6th form and my ideal career was by then a prisoner governor. I ended up doing something entirely different.

[Xenia]

I'm not sure if it's worth paying for. I did for our oldest at university - she had a day in London with all kinds of psychological tests as she had no idea of careers. She just gave the answers that might exclude careers she didn't want (and ended up choosing that one a year or two later!) and felt she could manipulate the day pretty easily. I did not feel it was worth the money.

More important is to get them work experience. Talk to them about different types of jobs and which are fun which not for that individual and money - some young people have no idea some women earn £1m a year and some £15k and they think if a job provides a free car that is a really realyl good job. One of mine at university thought their friend had a good job as she got free clothes (low paid job on a magazine) and then there are loads of careers children have no idea even exist.

Getting a few weeks in a variety of sensible careers in the holidays or even just one day shadowing someone is probably one of the best ways to go about things but hard to fix.

[LittleFrieda]

My sons did Morrisby at the beginning of the fifth form (I suppose so early so as to choose the correct A levels for their chosen path). It was of value and was broadly correct about their strengths and weaknesses but it was a free offering from their independent school.

[Lilymaid]

DS1 took a Morrisby test. The suggested careers were ones that he had no interest in. His career is in a very different area to that suggested from the test results and he is very happy and successful so far.
He told me that nearly everyone he knew at his school got the same career suggestions ... which was odd since the majority went on to do science/maths/engineering/medicine and the results suggested law and journalism.

[Middlesexmummy]

Hi , I'm a careers adviser. In my area we run a drop in for those not in education and schools have bought a service from us to provide their student s careers guidance . Careers guidance is not about going with the first idea a young person has but more about challenging them to ensure they have made a well informed and realistic decision about their choice of career, also the aim is to look at an individual s strengths and see if they can be transferable to other careers , check with your local authority or school. Good luck!

[hho1807]

We tried the Futurewise interview, it's a bit like Morrisby but on line instead. It gave some great advice to my daughter.

[Mumsy22]

My son will start yr 11 in September, he's already been to college open days and decided what he'd like to do after yr 11, the thing is I don't think the option he's keen on is likely to help him very much when it comes to looking for a job (media & film studies). A year ago he was all for doing A levels, how much do you think I should influence his choice? Should I just leave it to him on the basis hopefully he'll enjoy it and work harder?

[supernova01]

A friend of mine completed an online assessment with a company called Thomas Education this summer. It was an online assessment that takes roughly ten minutes and told their son all about his working strengths, preferred working environment and gave really good careers options. I would recommend looking into it

[oliviaaac]

This website has a fab Career Test for young people: //www.mycareerspringboard.org

This website has loads of information on the full range of post 16 options: //www.allaboutschoolleavers.co.uk