Career ideas - Bilingual English and Polish

ChilliBob

Hey everyone, 

I'm trying, along with my wife, to help her 15 year old nephew think what he might like to do as a career, to help him decide on further education etc.

His grades for GCSEs I suspect, based on mocks, will be a collection of 4-6s, hopefully mostly 6s but we shall see.

A fairly unique quality is that he's bilingual as a result of being born and educated in England since birth but being spoken to, mostly, in Polish by his Mum and my wife. 

This feels like a gift he must be able to harness somehow, but I'm not sure how, just being an English person myself. 

His interests lean much more towards practical sfuff, mechanics, building, electronics, etc than pure academia etc. 

A bit rambling and vague but any ideas much appreciated. Trying to give some motivation to get good GCSE grades and think about a future above minimum wage etc. 

Cheers  

Savvy_Sue

If his interests lean towards practical stuff, it may be harder to see where the Polish would help, unless he lives (or finds work in) an area where it's commonly spoken. 

But wherever he ends up working, it's worth making it known that he speaks Polish, you never know when it might come in useful (even my OT Hebrew once for me!) 

ChilliBob

Yeah, I know what you mean. Part of me thought there was lots of Polish workers, with bad/almost non existent English, (but great work!) and perhaps English people wanting to hire them and there being some kind of gap there.

However, I suspect that wouldn't be a 'job' as such, more of an informal 'erm what does Boss man want me to do'.. Or why does Worker xyz say he can't come in today etc!

Now in a more corporate world, such as software development, and outsourcing to Eastern Europe etc, yes, you can certainly see how it could be a bigger asset perhaps. 

gwynlas

If he is more practical than academic he should probably aim for a trade apptrenticeship many polish tradies appear to be bilingual  so he might find a decent contractor who will nurture him

Cloth_of_Gold

I was also thinking about an apprenticeship. If he is a practical type then he could try something in the construction industry (builder/plumber/electrician etc. or maybe something such as project management) as he is pretty much guaranteed work and it is pretty well paid. If he has the interest and is entrepreneurial he could even set up in business himself in due course. I really believe that if you're not academic, taking an apprenticeship is a much better path than taking a non-academic degree and ending up with a lot of student debt but probably in a low-paid and uninteresting job.

Maybe he could contact one or two firms that take on apprentices and ask if he could speak to someone about it and have a look at what they offer before he makes up his mind.

Emmia

ChilliBob said:

Yeah, I know what you mean. Part of me thought there was lots of Polish workers, with bad/almost non existent English, (but great work!) and perhaps English people wanting to hire them and there being some kind of gap there.

However, I suspect that wouldn't be a 'job' as such, more of an informal 'erm what does Boss man want me to do'.. Or why does Worker xyz say he can't come in today etc!

Now in a more corporate world, such as software development, and outsourcing to Eastern Europe etc, yes, you can certainly see how it could be a bigger asset perhaps. 

In my experience Polish people also tend to speak reasonable English, so I'm not sure there is really a position for a "go between" as it were. He might have more joy training for doing formal technical interpretation.

Plus Brexit has reduced the number of Polish citizens (and others) coming to the UK to work.

ChilliBob

Cloth_of_Gold said:

I was also thinking about an apprenticeship. If he is a practical type then he could try something in the construction industry (builder/plumber/electrician etc. or maybe something such as project management) as he is pretty much guaranteed work and it is pretty well paid. If he has the interest and is entrepreneurial he could even set up in business himself in due course. I really believe that if you're not academic, taking an apprenticeship is a much better path than taking a non-academic degree and ending up with a lot of student debt but probably in a low-paid and uninteresting job.

Maybe he could contact one or two firms that take on apprentices and ask if he could speak to someone about it and have a look at what they offer before he makes up his mind.

Yeah, 100% a conventional degree with all the debt, for a something that isn't really truly academic would be a bad choice I feel.

My wife found degree apprenticeship courses though which look good - essentially you have a job and do part time study - so, employment with wages, and a degree with no debt!

I sense competition for such places will be pretty high though

ChilliBob

Emmia said:

ChilliBob said:

Yeah, I know what you mean. Part of me thought there was lots of Polish workers, with bad/almost non existent English, (but great work!) and perhaps English people wanting to hire them and there being some kind of gap there.

However, I suspect that wouldn't be a 'job' as such, more of an informal 'erm what does Boss man want me to do'.. Or why does Worker xyz say he can't come in today etc!

Now in a more corporate world, such as software development, and outsourcing to Eastern Europe etc, yes, you can certainly see how it could be a bigger asset perhaps. 

In my experience Polish people also tend to speak reasonable English, so I'm not sure there is really a position for a "go between" as it were. He might have more joy training for doing formal technical interpretation.

Plus Brexit has reduced the number of Polish citizens (and others) coming to the UK to work.

Yeah, I know what you mean. My wife actually uslly did some interpreting on a sort of contract basis when she was younger.

It seems along with the more practical hands on nature he has his best subject is maths. 

Thanks guys  

thara1996

Try a STEM college. 

EnPointe

ChilliBob said:

Hey everyone, 

I'm trying, along with my wife, to help her 15 year old nephew think what he might like to do as a career, to help him decide on further education etc.

His grades for GCSEs I suspect, based on mocks, will be a collection of 4-6s, hopefully mostly 6s but we shall see.

A fairly unique quality is that he's bilingual as a result of being born and educated in England since birth but being spoken to, mostly, in Polish by his Mum and my wife. 

This feels like a gift he must be able to harness somehow, but I'm not sure how, just being an English person myself. 

His interests lean much more towards practical sfuff, mechanics, building, electronics, etc than pure academia etc. 

A bit rambling and vague but any ideas much appreciated. Trying to give some motivation to get good GCSE grades and think about a future above minimum wage etc. 

Cheers  

It's hardly "unique" (and wasn't  even before the EU's eastwards expansion)  there are an ever growing number of people in the UK,  often now dual nationals, who are functionally fluent in 2 or more languages (and the code switching  is complete, they speak English like a local of where they were brought up , but  speak  their family's  language fluently  and with  the relevant local accent to where their family have come from)

fluency in 2 languages is always a nice to have, and in certain parts of the country, it will place someone in a good position to progress rapidly  from minimum wage roles in a business  into  training and/or supervisory roles.

There's always the possibility of going into working in shipping / frieght forwarding  where  this kind of fluency is a definite plus point  to the right  employer.

ChilliBob

Yeah, I get your point. I suppose I'm just trying to think of what may set him apart/above some other people going for the same roles etc. 

Shipping/freight isn't something I had even considered, will mention this to him too. Thanks.

Aside from the language side of things, it'd be interesting to know, to all reading this, if you were 15 now and about to go down a more trade/practical focused route where would you go?

What sort of trades are crying out for people, look likely to take off more, what sort of ones look like they might die a death due to either technology progress, lack of demand etc. 

Tall, strong, 15, seems to like cars, and is decent at maths!!.. Bit random! I suppose mechanic therefore seems obvious perhaps. But not sure how well that pays compared to say plumber, spark, plasterer etc!