Don’t’ have a clue what to study? Students thinking of applying to college face this dilemma far more often than you would think!

Statistics released by Allaboutcareers.com, a leading career exploration website, reveal that 44% of undergraduates are unable to define the industry that they would like to work in once they graduate. Over 37,000 undergraduates and 1500 school and college students were asked about their career aspirations and 52% of school students agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I have no idea what I want to do with my career”

Here are some simple tricks and tips which you may find helpful as a 6th former trying to discern which path to take. Thinking along these lines will help you to focus. At the very least, I guarantee it will generate some interesting conversations along the way.

Our consultants often find it useful to ask the following question:

‘If your home was on fire, what personal item would you try to save ?’

As you might imagine, the answers to this question vary greatly.  One of our consultants related a response that had stayed with them.

“Josh B. made an appointment to see me and declared he had ‘no idea’ at all what he wanted to do after A Levels.

In fact, he seemed disengaged, answering preliminary questions with a single word. Somewhat baffled by him, I asked him about what item he would save.

‘My computer’ came the answer, surprisingly quickly.

Spotting a window into his thinking, I probed further. It emerged that he valued this computer so much because he had built it himself, sourcing components online and instructions from You Tube.

By now, his whole demeanour had changed, he was clearly enthused and willing to explore course options across the wider IT/computer science landscape. Josh B. is now pursuing a very successful career in cybersecurity.

Some questions to consider

Think:

• What do I value ?
• What do I enjoy doing ?
• Do I understand what are my strengths ?
• Who has influenced me and why ?
• What do I most definitely not want to do ?

It can be productive to talk about these questions with someone who knows you, a parent/friend/sibling/teacher.

Others can often see things in you that you don’t recognise yourself. These can be very useful stepping stones to help you plot the way to the course and career which will enable you to shine.

Remember, our team are here to help.  If you are struggling to articulate your think, contact us to dicuss your thoughts.  If you know what you want to apply for, check out our services to see how we can help.