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graduates

Discover tailored career guidance for graduates, helping you navigate the transition from education to your first professional role.

Bad exam results

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Parents can think that bad examinations results mean the end to good career prospects. This is far from the truth; bad exam results do not mean a lifetime of failure. They may mean an end to a university education, but not everyone thrives working towards a degree in a university environment. Sometimes the perfect career for you is sitting in front of you now, without taking further education.

Failing examinations can be a shock, but it can also be a relief and a fantastic motivator. Many a career path has begun at a low level. Sometimes the alternatives to a university education can offer even greater rewards from career challenges. When some of the career options are removed, it can clarify the mind on what is actually possible for a career path.

Failing exams does not mean the end to the dream of a university education – in some cases it can mean postponing it. Distance learning has now become a part of mainstream education, to the point that the Open University in Milton Keynes educates more university graduates in psychology than any other university in Europe. Brian May, formerly with Queen, was awarded a doctorate in physics in August 2007, thirty-six years after leaving school.

Today, according to Prospects UK, psychology is the third most popular degree choice, though achieving that degree holds many career opportunities and only fifteen percent go on to become chartered psychologists.

Leaving school can also an opportunity to embark on the path to independence and some people want that at an earlier age than others. In the business sector a masters in business administration (MBA) is a highly sought after qualification, employers love it. However, a natural entrepreneurial flair may be more useful to those who wish to embark on a career in their own business. Sir Richard Branson had only three “O” Levels to his name, but at seventeen he had begun a successful student advisory service – and look what he did after that! Bill Gates never graduated, nor did Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

For help in making the right career choices and deciding whether A levels and/or a degree would suit you call us for careers advice on 0800 999 7778.

Exam Results – What are the next steps?

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The arrival of GCSE and A-Level results is a testing time for families. The pressure on your child to do well, and give them the best chance of starting their career positively, can cause major stress for them and you! So what can you do to lighten the load? Here are our top tips:

1) Talk to your teenager

Keep communication open by discussing their future.

Ask them to think about these questions:

  • What career would suit me?
  • What career am I able to do?
  • What do I want to achieve in my career?
  • What are my career goals?
  • What career path should I follow?

Listen to what they say and attempt to offer objective career guidance. This is difficult for parents as naturally your hopes for your child are high. Most teenagers would benefit from speaking to a careers advisor – their neutrality allows the teen to speak freely and so opens up constructive discussions about their career path.

2) Keep Calm

Emotions can run high in teenage years and tempers can flare. Understand that your son or daughter may be apprehensive about their capabilities and worried about what their future career path will hold. Try not to fix on exactly what your child’s career will be, but think about their strengths and weaknesses, and what would be a good fit for their personality and interests. This will help them make a final choice about their career path and further education, if relevant.

3) Get professional careers advice

Getting professional career guidance at this point for your teenager can be very rewarding. Our experienced careers advisors – who are all fully qualified Occupational Psychologists – are trained to help and support, even if your child has little or no idea of what career they would like to do.

We also understand that you may wish to be involved in your teenager’s new career choice too, so we offer Parent and Guardian Extension sessions – https://careeranalysts.co.uk/parents-and-guardians.php In the teenager’s session on their own, they will focus on careers advice and you can use the extension to explore the outcomes of their consultation and talk about their career choice with the career counsellor. We find this is the perfect opportunity to discuss career recommendations in an objective and professional manner and it really does add value to the careers advice programme.

Want to find out more about our careers advice and career guidance for teenagers? Read more here about our programme https://careeranalysts.co.uk/careers-advice-teenagers.php

Parent worried about your child’s exam results?

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The arrival of GCSE and A-Level results is a testing time for families. The pressure on your child to do well, and give them the best chance of starting their career positively, can cause major stress for them and you! So what can you do to lighten the load? Here are our top tips:

1) Talk to your teenager

Keep communication open by discussing their future.

Ask them to think about these questions:

  • What career would suit me?
  • What career am I able to do?
  • What do I want to achieve in my career?
  • What are my career goals?
  • What career path should I follow?

Listen to what they say and attempt to offer objective career guidance. This is difficult for parents as naturally your hopes for your child are high. Most teenagers would benefit from speaking to a careers advisor – their neutrality allows the teen to speak freely and so opens up constructive discussions about their career path.

2) Keep Calm

Emotions can run high in teenage years and tempers can flare. Understand that your son or daughter may be apprehensive about their capabilities and worried about what their future career path will hold. Try not to fix on exactly what your child’s career will be, but think about their strengths and weaknesses, and what would be a good fit for their personality and interests. This will help them make a final choice about their career path and further education, if relevant.

3) Get professional careers advice

Getting professional career guidance at this point for your teenager can be very rewarding. Our experienced careers advisors – who are all fully qualified Occupational Psychologists – are trained to help and support, even if your child has little or no idea of what career they would like to do.

We also understand that you may wish to be involved in your teenager’s new career choice too, so we offer Parent and Guardian Extension sessions – https://careeranalysts.co.uk/parents-and-guardians.php In the teenager’s session on their own, they will focus on careers advice and you can use the extension to explore the outcomes of their consultation and talk about their career choice with the career counsellor. We find this is the perfect opportunity to discuss career recommendations in an objective and professional manner and it really does add value to the careers advice programme.

Want to find out more about our careers advice and career guidance for teenagers? Read more here about our programme https://careeranalysts.co.uk/careers-advice-teenagers.php

 

Disappointed with exam results?

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If or your son or daughter didn’t get the exam results they wanted, don’t panic. Professional career guidance specifically aimed at teenagers can help you and your child can survive the results and still find out what career is right for them – even if it isn’t the ideal career they imagined. It may be that now the education path you had planned is no longer possible, but there are still plenty of education and career opportunities open to them.

Whether it is a rethink of potential career paths, or route to study, our extensively trained and vastly experienced career advisors are here to provide objective and coherent careers advice and career guidance.

We have formulated a suite of career programmes that will help you and your teenager pass through this testing time, especially if they didn’t get the exam results you expected.

Are you experiencing any of these?

Your child doesn’t know what to do for a career:

Teenagers can be non-committal at best, and this time of their lives is filled with hormones and change; this can be unhelpful in getting them to commit to a career path! So instead of being preoccupied with what career they should do, focus on their personality, strengths and weaknesses. What do they like to do? What are they good at? Use this as a guide for study and exploring what career is right for them.

How do they learn?

You may think that your teenager should go to university, but will that really be right for them? What is their learning process? What is the right career path for them? Our career advisors have worked with thousands of teenagers and all of them are different. Our Occupational Psychologists have decades of experience working with teenagers with special needs, such as Dyslexia or Dyspraxia and the careers advice programme takes all circumstances into account. We can help your teenager decide on a suitable and fulfilling career path and show what qualifications they will need to achieve in order to get to their ideal career.

They won’t talk to you!

Teenage years may not ideal in which to help your child in choosing a career! You may be just too close to help them make those objective decisions – you want the best for them in their career, but are you really knowledgeable enough to provide the most realistic careers advice? Talking to a professional careers adviser who is also an Occupational Psychologist will give the most realistic view of what career will make the most of their potential.

Our in-depth psychometric tests https://careeranalysts.co.uk/psychometric-testing.php reveal a true, holistic profile of your teenager, and the consultation with the Occupational Psychologist will help them make concrete decisions about the education and career choices they are faced with, whatever their exam results.

Want to find out more about our careers advice and guidance for teenagers? Read more about our programme https://careeranalysts.co.uk/careers-advice-teenagers.php , including our insightful videos and resources!

Studying for a Degree

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One in five pupils is expected to get grade “A” passes this year. This is 8.4% higher than in 2015. However, students should not give up on their education goals, even if the grades they receive do not live up to expectations.

The government has seized on this statistic, saying that it proved the introduction of tuition fees had not deterred students from applying. The most popular degree is now Law, followed by Design, Psychology and then English. Despite today’s hype, how can students ensure that their degree will result in a firm job offer and an opportunity to develop their career?

A degree in one of these four subjects – law, design, psychology and English – does not necessarily lead to a subsequent career in the core field. Indeed, less than fifteen percent of psychology graduates go on to practise as a psychologist in any capacity. Like Psychology, Law has transferable skills prized in other career paths (e.g. well evidenced research, analytical and problem solving skills, attention to detail, and negotiating and communication skills etc.).

Besides skills, commitment and achievement demonstrated through degree level study, employers look for additional extra-curricular activities and work experience. For example, if you are serious about entering the legal profession today, it is too competitive to expect to get just a good degree and go on to take your bar exams or qualify as a solicitor. Many students will have gained legal work experience, perhaps organised by the student law society.

In addition, informal work experience can often be organised with law centres, citizens’ advice bureaux, in the courts and with legal departments in central/local government, and sometimes with solicitors’ firms. If you intend to work within the legal profession, your future employers will want evidence that you have learned something over and above your curriculum. Volunteer prospects can be researched here according to your skills and local area.

When selecting a course to study, you should consider whether you are better off studying something that you will enjoy or something that will provide better career prospects. When considering this question remember that degree courses are three to five years duration and studying for that length of time is going to be very hard work if you hate your subject!

Also the days of a ‘job for life’ are long gone – for many even a ‘career for life’ is not going to work out! Even if you do remain in the same sector, it is unlikely that you will be able to do so without reinforcing and updating your training. Much must depend on your own interests and ambition, and a vocational degree is not going to make you successful in itself.

Figures regarding graduate unemployment make interesting reading, and while professions fair well, they do not guarantee employment (and Computer Science, which one might have assumed to be a particularly safe bet, fares particularly poorly).

Mature Students start new degrees

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The Ucas website has a section dedicated solely to mature students; specifically those who are over 21 in England (over 20 in Scotland). There are lots of reasons mature students decide to study, but many say their objectives are either to improve their career prospects or because they are deeply interested in the subject.

Higher education institutions including universities want to widen participation and one way of doing that is to encourage more mature students. They are more likely to enjoy their subjects and knuckle down because they are studying by choice rather than because it is expected of them by parents. Some may have had good careers already and so understand the frustrations that can come from dead end jobs as a result of a lack of qualifications.

Ucas offers guidance about choosing the right course and also gives careers advice about how different subjects are regarded in the workplace. The Open University prospectus offers all sorts of advice about their subjects as well as the careers they can lead to. It also covers the entry routes offered to students and a lack of qualifications does not necessarily exclude mature students.

Career Path Help for School Leavers

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This year employees, with the permission of their employers, are being asked to go to secondary schools to talk about their jobs and career history. It’s expected that this will help young people get a real insight into what their careers entail.

This ‘Inspiring the Future’ campaign is designed to address the “skills mismatch” between careers and young people, and inspire students to pursue careers they would otherwise not have thought of. Volunteers around the UK are visiting a local school once a year to spend an hour talking to young people about their career pathways.

In a world of difficult career choices, confusing job titles and career changes, students are increasingly unsure about their career pathway, and knowing what job is right for them.

Nick Chambers, director of the charity behind the campaign, Education and Employers Taskforce, said young people were bombarded with “distorting influences” from the media that to be a success in life you have to be a footballer or a pop star.

“Take a look at what young people aspire to be; its vets, actors and pop stars. A lot of the career paths young people see are the careers they see in popular TV programmes”. There are few role models in other career paths” he said.