Career Planning

the-mango

What is this thread about? Are you asking advice or just starting a discussion / advertising or just wanting to tell your life story?

tuphr

In my experience, educated or not, experienced or not, everyone's answer to Career Planning is "just get a job". So, it would be great to hear from someone who has actually planned and carried out their plans successfully.

Equally, any contribution about how a career has gone good and/or bad would be great.

This thread is about Career Planning. No Advertising please.

tuphr

saintjammyswine wrote: »

Anyone see a pattern here? Guessing the name of the company they are working for is called C a t c h 2 2.

Oh and by the way, courses at College are not likely to cause debts in all situations, best to speak to the college to find out about funding opportunities.

Nuh-uh! - Catch 22 is not a company. It's a phrase you use when referring to a 'vicious cycle', a looping series of events that seems inescapable. For those who want to know more on the definition read this wikipedia page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic)

Annisele

I've been given plenty of excellent careers advice, but none of it has been from actual careers advisers - it's all been from people already doing the stuff I want to do.

Next somebody tells you "I never went to University and look where I am today", maybe you could ask them exactly how they did get where they are?

tuphr

Annisele wrote: »

I've been given plenty of excellent careers advice, but none of it has been from actual careers advisers - it's all been from people already doing the stuff I want to do.

Next somebody tells you "I never went to University and look where I am today", maybe you could ask them exactly how they did get where they are?

thanks - that's a very good point. People who are doing what you want to do are in the best position to guide any career plans! :T

And as far as the quote goes, the explanation that the business owner/employer gave was that it had all been based on his 'hard work' ethic, which inevitably suggested that I was somehow privileged, or had been handed the degree on a silver platter! :eek: How frustrating?

GothicStirling

Have you asked your advisor about talking to a Careers Advisor from The National Careers Service? They hold a surgery in my JC every Wednesday, but you need to book in advance.

saintjammyswine

tuphr wrote: »

Nuh-uh! - Catch 22 is not a company. It's a phrase you use when referring to a 'vicious cycle', a looping series of events that seems inescapable. For those who want to know more on the definition read this wikipedia page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic)

Yeah, thanks for that, I am well aware of both the origins of the phrase and the organisation.

I was referring to the tone of the thread which kept mentioning Catch 22 in inverted commas out of context and seemed to be setting up some advertising. It happens when two new posters agree with each other so readily. A lot.

If that is not the case, I am still to be convinced, then I apologise.

I have to be honest though, 5 GCSEs, an A Level and an Arts Degree is not special. It is to be applauded and is far more qualifications than many who need a job/career but not special.

Career planning is not your answer, simple.

Get any job, including Telesales (my first permanet job). Work through, get experience, increase your skill set and CV content. Stop being arrogant about what your perceived special qualifications should get you and stop worrying about careers planning. Outside of professions (Law, Medicine, Architecture and even Pilots) there are very few people who actually have planned to be where they are.

I know I used the phrase 'get a job' however the context of this is that you denegrate telesales when it can provide opportunities to move onwards/upwards/sideways, it is not the be all but it is a job after all.

InsideInsurance

tuphr wrote: »

In my experience, educated or not, experienced or not, everyone's answer to Career Planning is "just get a job". So, it would be great to hear from someone who has actually planned and carried out their plans successfully.

Equally, any contribution about how a career has gone good and/or bad would be great.

I just did my own planning after being stuck in call centre roles for ~7 years. Initial plan was to get into a new call centre but a technical basis (eg banking, insurance etc) so started in Motor Claims

Didn't exactly go to plan as I'd intended to continue going up the Claims route and hope to get my ILEX etc and look at a legal career but somewhere along the lines got pulled into strategy and project work.

Decided to work my socks off to establish a reputation and seniority with a rubbish salary knowing that I could then switch companies and more or less instantly resolve the salary issue.

14 years on from that initial plan and things have gone reasonable well. Happy right now in a cash rich but little prospects place for a few more years and then will take paycut and go back to climbing the ladder.

Kynthia

I left uni not really knowing what yo do as I couldn't see myself going into the roles that were obvious with my degree. I temped at first and did some call centres before getting a local low paid admin job. After 18 months I got a much better paid admin in London, using my experience and volunteering activities to show I had the skills. I stayed there a while, learning skills, taking a typing course and thinking about where I wanted my career to go. I thought about my qualifications, what I'm good at and what tasks at work I enjoyed. I'm good at maths and science and I noticed I was good at and enjoyed the basic finance tasks I was doing. I volunteered to take all of these on and processed all of the invoices, expenses, foreign currency transfers and cash collections/counts. I then researched at discovered the AAT which my local college was offering evening classes for. I paid to begin the 3 year course and started looking for an entry level finance role. I started in an account payable dept in Central London. Finished the AAT, applied for promotions, began my accountancy qualification, and applied for more promotions. Now I'm a fully qualified accountant working as a Business Accountant in a large public sector organisation on a good salary with a large team to manage. It's very hard work but I'm challenged, feel proud of my achievements and earn enough to enjoy life.

It's very difficult to plan your career when you don't know what you want yo do. So I think getting different jobs, hobbies, volunteering, etc all help you to find out what you're good at and what interests you, and with thought can help you start in a direction of travel.

newbie_bonnie_blue

I don't think career planning is necessarily the answer.

Pinpoint where you'd like to be, see what the requirements are for that kind of job/position, and starting now, work towards it. If you have no idea what you like to do then you need to get a bit of experience in different fields to see what you enjoy and are good at. Volunteering is useful, as are internships, and work experience and hobbies.

I work with children (traditionally a very low paid career), I found the best paying jobs in my field (often not widely advertised or known about), worked out the courses and experience I needed to get there, spoke to my peers, and currently earn an impressive salary for my age with amazing benefits.

I did other jobs (retail management and office management) before this, which despite paying the bills, weren't at the salary level I wanted. I have very good GCSE and A Level results, but no degree. I have a good attitude, work hard, and am very presentable. However I have often been told that the most impressive quality at interview that I possess is my enthusiasm and passion for what I do.

It sometimes takes a bit of soul searching, but you know yourself better than a stranger.