Why get careers advice?

People sometimes wonder what careers advice is and if it would be any use for them. Hopefully the following will help you understand why getting careers advice could help you!

Some Myths

You need to have an idea about what you want to do before seeing a careers adviser. This isn’t accurate! Sometimes I see people who have ideas but just as often people don’t have any. Or they come with some half formed ideas which are ones they want to explore further. All these are fine, as part of the conversation will be about discussing possibilities with a qualified, informed and impartial person.

A careers adviser will tell you what you should do for a career. This isn’t accurate either! A careers adviser may well have some ideas to share with you after some discussion about your situation, your strengths and aptitudes. But these ideas will be for you to think about, which will be built on what you’ve said. The aim will be to enable you to make decisions about YOUR future, not to be told by a stranger how to live your best life!

A teacher/your mum/your best friend will be just as useful to talk to. This can be very true, but not the ‘whole’ picture. It’s right because all these people will have a real interest in your well being and future plans. They know you really well and will know what your strengths and aptitudes are. But they may not be up to date on certain careers or how to get into particular areas.

Talking to a careers adviser has its benefits. They have more experience and knowledge about different careers information and pathways. Knowing how certain issues can be ‘worked around’ will also be useful. For instance applying for a job with a disability or applying to university as an older applicant will help you make a more informed decision, about what’s best for you. Having this impartial discussion can be really helpful for you to decide what to do.

Anyone can be a careers adviser. Again there is some truth in this - I’ve met careers advisers from a wide range of backgrounds, including those with a PhD to those who haven’t got a degree, all of whom have done some careers qualifications. The qualifications by the way are either level 7/postgraduate (i.e. after a degree) or level 6 (last year of a degree). For a list of qualified advisers, who follow a professional code of practise, you can look at the CDI professional register. Being on the register means undertaking a fair amount of CPD each year to keep up to date. Some careers advisers are also members of AGCAS too, which is a professional association for university caeers services.

Careers advisers need to be very good at actively listening to people and using their skills and knowledge to enable others to make progress in their careers planning.

So why get careers advice then?

It will help you clarify and review your current situation. There may be a need for radical change, due to redundancy, health issues, a new relationship amongst other reasons. Or you may be contemplating a more gradual change - e.g. undertaking a part time degree with the Open University or Birkbeck (University of London), with the aim of developing your qualifications, skills and career gradually.

Careers advice will help you decide what you could want to do and just as importantly, what you don’t want to do! ‘I dont want to x because…’ can be a very useful starting point for a careers adviser to hear!

There will often be a range of possible options from the position you are in. Talking them through with an objective and impartial careers adviser will help you make your own choices. Usually those nearest to us do want the best for us, but are not always as well informed or impartial!

Getting a clear idea about your current situation, future plans and directions, you will be in a better position to manage your career, potentially earn more and ensure your mental health is well looked after. Ensuring your career matches your values and apptitudes, and meets your financial needs as best as possible should put you in a better place mentally!

In summary then to ‘why get careers advice’ is that it will help you review the ‘now’ and constructively plan for the future in a Specific, Measureable, Achieveable, Realisitic and Timebound fashion.

If you want to do some careers research now, why not look at our resources page and then get in contact to discuss our services.

What are you waiting for?