Futures Day

On Friday 7th June 2024, our Associate Director, Fiona Wright, attended Futures Day at Elizabeth College in Guernsey. Invited by Vidya Amey, Head of Futures, Fiona advised a group of school-leavers not wishing to attend University, who were unsure about what job and career opportunities were available to them on-island.

We caught up with Fiona to ask her what advice she had passed onto to the students:

“School-leavers who don’t know what to do next, feel pressure to find a ‘career’ as that is the word they hear most often. They can feel ‘left behind’ if they are surrounded by those going off to University and those who seem to have a clear cut career path ahead of them. 

We need to take away the word ‘ career’. Sometimes people just have jobs they like, they earn money to do all the things they want to do. Sometimes people have jobs that turn into career paths. Sometimes people start out on their chosen career path and realise it is not for them. If you choose a career path, it could turn into 3 or 4 different career paths in your lifetime – gone are the days where you went into a career and stayed there.

When I was doing A-Levels, my careers advice was ‘what university are you going to?’. I did not have a clue what I wanted to do. I did not see the point in going to University to do a subject I had no real passion/interest for because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I felt like I just had ‘to pick’. Instead, I took ‘a job’ (just a job) and it turned into a 15-year career which I absolutely loved – all by accident!  My 2nd ‘career’ also came about ‘by accident.

My advice is to stop panicking. Don’t feel like you have to ‘choose’ a career path right now. ‘A job’ can give you confidence, skills, experience, connections and time... Time to see if there is an area/sector you enjoy and if not, time to see what else there could be for you. Don’t feel you have to choose a career path right now.  Find ‘a job’ and see where it leads!”