What did you tell the careers' advisor you wanted to be?

[Carouselfish]

Just having amusing conversation with yesterday and thought it'd be a good one for chat!
Me - a romance novelist or private investigator...(as I am very noticeable at 6ft and have major trouble with facial recognition, the latter was clearly not for me...)
My mum - an astronaut or spy (this being a person who if you try to communicate something subtly to her, says 'why are you kicking me under the table?!' in a loud voice.)

Air Stewardess - back when they were super glam and looked immaculate. Had a problem with hips at 17 and never got there, ended up a legal secretary instead .... yawn!

Oh I remember the computerised quiz. I said I didn't mind danger so it recommended I join the army! I thought this rather an odd choice as I hated PE and had a medical condition that meant I was ineligible anyway.
I know it swung on that question because we were allowed to repeat it. Can't remember what it suggested when I redid it but was slightly more sensible.

I kind of wanted to be an RAF pilot out of badness (I have terrible eyesight, hate heights and maintain a profound disrespect for authority), but the careers presented to me at my west of Scotland state school in the late 1990s were shit.

I was bright, so my options were lawyer, teacher or business management of some kind (chuck in a language for added points).

I ended up studying sociolinguistics (I just liked the combination of language, history, politics, economics and statistics) with no firm direction and then wafted about for five years or so.

I'm now 43 and work at director level in tech-based management consultancy - a career I didn't even know existed when I was 16.

I now do a lot of outreach / mentorship work to bring girls and young women from 'non-traditional' backgrounds into STEM work and one of the big parts of this is introducing them to career paths they're not familiar with.

My school careers advisor who was also the school principal. He only had 2 options. Nursing for the girls, Engineering for the boys if we asked about anything else all we got was steered towards these options.

I horrified one of my primary school teachers with my career aspirations age 9. My mum was called into the school for a chat about it and to see what I was allowed to watch on tv. Wanting to be a prostitute or heroin addict was very frowned on especially in rural Ireland in 1985.

I became an ward clerk in a busy hospital and then later on a mental health support worker.

I would've liked to be a seamstress as I'm excellent at sewing, my dream job would've been sewing the sequins on for Chanel But this got shat on from a great height and I was pushed into Chemistry. A subject for which I have no talent and which I left at degree because it was f-ing dangerous in the labs if you were unsure what you were doing. I am now building myself a sewing business.

A nurse. And I am!

An artificer in the Navy.
Women weren't allowed to do that then ☹️
Became an electrical engineer before diversifying.

Be an actress, tv, film or theatre director. Or stage manager.

Sadly not anything as glamorous but did sell theatre programmes for a short while!

Deep sea diver. But I'm not a very good swimmer..

James bond, mi5.

At the time I didn't understand the world of international espionage, and in may ways I still don't understand.

well if this thread shows anything it is the truism that girls and women are taught that their dreams and ambitions are beyond them and people do not like us being above ourselves.

More power to everyone that wanted to dream big and dream hard.

Plus- to everyone that wanted to act- I have recently joined an extras company that look out for models and actors and - well extras. Nothing has come my way yet- but maybe it will. :)

That I wanted to work in television production.

I went to a grammar school, mu peers all ended up doctors, solicitors, scientists, surgeons. I was just seen by everyone as the thick one (I had a hard childhood, no support and found life difficult).

Anyway, she laughed at me. Got my tutor in, told him and he laughed at me too. Told me I should just look for a job in a shop.

I just ended up getting married early, being a SAHM and doing horrible care work when things were tight.

A fighter pilot or Air Traffic controller in the RAF or an interpreter.

Computer programme we had suggested I should be a prison governor.

My actual job....teaching EFL at an overseas University.

I said I wanted to be either a human rights lawyer or a translator for the UN. They suggested I become a parole officer.

I wanted to become an undertaker. Ended up doing medicine instead. I'd still like to be an undertaker but I don't have the time now.

A journalist.

Just that I didn't want to do something boring. So she made me take a careers test. My results - gamekeeper, train driver or hypnotist

A rock guitarist.
I'm an accountant 😂

Vet or 'marketing'.

I'm now a lawyer.

A jockey. I'm 6ft tall.

I told careers advisor I wanted to be a doctor… was told “lower my sights”

I am now a doctor… met careers advisor at hospital when I had just qualified… he actually laughed at me!

My ideals were
Navy officer (in those days land based, I wanted to go to sea, wrong sex)
Police officer ( too short)
Actress
Journalist

What they suggested:
Undertaker
Working in a bank

I work in retail ..

Ooh ..had forgotten that, I did think the same for a while and did ask about travel agent..I thought you went to the places to be able to advise customers..how did you know what was there otherwise 🤷‍♀️ this was long before Internet.

An advertising copywriter. And my school careers officer sorted out a work experience placement in an ad agency for me. I mean, I hated it (loved the work but hated the environment and it didn't occur to me it might be different elsewhere) but just as a shout-out to non-shit careers advisers!