Lack of adequate career advice causes inequality

[rubyredknowsitall]

Listening to a YouTube / podcast last night by Gary's economics, and he states how in the second year of his Maths and Economics degree he found out too late that he should have been applying for internships etc, and that once he realised it was all too late for him to catch up with young adults who'd been primed for applying to these internships for years, and even if he got a 1st in his degree it was fairly worthless without the job at the end!

I'm in my late 30's now, but I went to one of the worst state schools in the country (it's since been closed) and over the years I've been exposed to so many other peoples careers that I really do feel would have been a great match for me.

I did a degree in Science at UoB and it's been a complete waste as it was a bad match for me, while I've since learnt you can do degrees in:

HR
Events Management
Marketing
Occupational Therapy

And it's going to sound completely stupid, but I didn't know about these careers until I was in my 20's. I knew of 'teacher', 'doctor', but not of 'actuary'

Since finishing my degree I worked in just above minimum wage customer service jobs (think 15k) before giving up and leaving the country. I wonder how different my life would have panned out if I'd recieved some career advice at.... well any point in my whole life, and surely I'm not alone in this?

You’re definitely not. I started a thread in higher education about some of my difficulties.

I didn’t have any careers advice at school as I left school early due to health problems and then fell through the net. I was estranged from my family and didn’t know where to turn as a young adult so just had to get on with it in shitty jobs. I started work when I was 16.

I went to university for the first time in my late 20s but didn’t really know what I was doing, just picked a science course because it’s a subject I was interested in. I had some careers advice from my university in the penultimate year but I realised everything I wanted to do required further training, most likely in the form of a PhD.

If I’d done my undergrad when I left school I think I’d have taken it in my stride and gone on to do masters and a PhD in succession. I had a lot more energy and optimism then. But now I’m older with responsibilities and I have to keep my age and the need to start paying into a pension in mind. Can I really afford to spend the next 5+ years in education? Probably not.

It’s something I’m having difficulty accepting. I feel sad that my life could have been different if only I’d had some advice and guidance as a teen instead of having to think about working to support myself, meanwhile my peers went off to university relatively carefree.

I’m not sure if you’re aware, but if you’re interested in OT you can do a two year masters in this. Quite a few of my friends went on to do OT or physio masters after graduating.

Sorry, just remembered you said you left the country so the 2 year masters probably isn’t any use to you!

I agree. My daughter went to a top performing state school and her maths/physics teachers suggested a career in engineering to her, which she'd never thought of and which she's now doing and thriving in. We wouldn't have thought to suggest this. I did do some research re the best place to do engineering at uni and she got into this uni, despite thinking she wasn't good about and got a first! So parental encouragement helped too.
My Mum had mental health issues when I was doing gcses and A levels and I had zero support. I wanted to study Law but a teacher at school said this was too ambitious. Looking
back, I absolutely was clever enough to study Law.

@nordicfleece

Holy jeeze I was estranged too! I stayed in a YMCA and people's floors while I completed my A-levels, then got myself to uni with student loans.

I did consider the 2 year OT course (I've got a second degree with the OU) but they changed from grants to hefty loans and not enough money at that time, so I gave up.

It’s something I’m having difficulty accepting. I feel sad that my life could have been different if only I’d had some advice and guidance as a teen

This completely resonates with me

@yellomar What a horrid and counterproductive teacher!

@yellomar I wanted to study Law but a teacher at school said this was too ambitious.

That’s awful. I’m glad your daughter was able to get the advice and support she needed.

@rubyredknowsitall oh wow! It was so tough, wasn’t it, having to worry about supporting yourself and where you’re living at that age. What an amazing accomplishment though, to still get yourself into university. I didn’t have any GCSEs and didn’t know how to get them so just sort of gave up, but I’m so glad I found my way to university in the end even if I didn’t necessarily choose wisely.

I think there’s a £5k grant now for the OT masters, although still not feasible for a lot of people.

Placemarking as I totally agree.

@rubyredknowsitall

I couldn't agree more.

Careers advice was either non existent or useless in my day (early 90s).
I remember going to the careers advice service next door to the local college because I had no idea what I wanted to "do".
Their response was "well we can't tell you what college course to choose if you don't know".
What I needed was for someone to actually talk to me - ask me what my interests were, what I enjoyed doing, what I enjoyed doing as a child. This could have maybe led to a job or career linked with that. But I didn't know much about that as a teen.
Pretty much all the interests I have now as an almost 50 year old are the same (or similar) to what I enjoyed at age 10 - but no one ever said those interests could lead to a job - as I (like the OP) didn't know those jobs existed or if I did - how someone would even get on that path.
One thing I liked was books, comics and magazines and was interested in publishing. I asked how you could get into that. I was just told "go to university". I asked "but to do what?" as in my mind university was where you went to learn to be a specific thing (doctor, lawyer, teacher etc).

@nordicfleece

Yeah thanks. Once you've left the country, for 3 years after returning you're treated as an international student, not a British Citizen. So not only can I not get loans or grants, but I'd have to pay international tuition fees rates too.

I've fallen completely off the work radar now anyway

@rubyredknowsitall I didn’t know that. That’s really shite.