Breadcrumbs
- Home
- Research staff
- Research staff blog
- On the value of careers advice
On the value of careers advice
14 June 2010
By Elizabeth Dodson
So continuing the thread from my last blog, I have now had two meetings with the university careers advisor. It is a very strange scenario, in that last time I sought careers advice, I was an undergrad desperately seeking a job or PhD opportunity. Now, I’m entrenched in a research career and looking for ways to progress, although not necessarily to move.
I had always associated careers advisors with those early days when you might have no idea what you want to do with your life. They can give a bit of realistic guidance on what your options might be, where and with whom, and what you need to do to make yourself an attractive candidate (e.g. advice on CVs, work experience and interview techniques). One enduring memory of careers advice that I have, is completing one of those select-a-job computer programmes, to be told my preferred career option was chiropody. Feet…? No thank you.
When I was asked at my first careers session to complete another of these programmes, I was a little sceptical, but the results that came back could not have been more appropriate (if a little spooky). Having given no details of my academic background or current role, the answers nevertheless accurately reflected a combination of the work I do now (or have done in the past), non-academic jobs rooted in my specific discipline, and careers that I genuinely aspire to. Not a chiropodist’s post in sight. These programmes have obviously moved on in the last decade.
I was also asked to complete a Myers-Briggs assessment. Again, I’ve never been a fan of tests that place people in little boxes, but the results were genuinely insightful and have got me thinking about what aspects of my career are important to me.
Flexibility and academic challenge are both aspects of my job that I love. However, it is easy to feel a disturbing lack of control within an academic research career. Posts can be very short-term, with no guarantee of what and where the next job will be. This can be exciting and every change brings new (and often valuable) experiences. But there is the downside of likely periods without work, which may then pressure you into taking non-ideal posts.
One of the first things to come out of my careers sessions is a need for greater security and I guess one of the things I’m searching for at the moment is options… When funding is insecure, I automatically look for similar academic research posts but maybe I should be casting my net further afield. So I’m taking a two-pronged approach. How can I better secure my current position/progress in academia, and what else can I do that would provide similar flexibility and challenge, be equally interesting, but not feel quite so close to teetering on a contractual cliff edge!? I’m hoping that for the moment I can focus on ways to develop my career where I am, but exploring the options has so far been a very positive experience. If nothing else, it is giving me back a greater sense of control over what happens next…
Tennie Videler17 June 2010 at 09:20 AM
permalinkreport this comment
I remember filling in reams of questionnaires at secondary school and the careers advisors coming up with a really wide variety of possible careers. Of course, the one that has stuck in my mind is the least practical or relevant one: eurythmic dancing..... Towards the end of my PhD the careers advisors were only really experienced with undergraduates but they still helped me explore some options even if I went on to postdoc. My best experiences came during my last postdoc. I think good careers advisors equip you to explore the choices yourself but get you to question your assumptions and recognise what your most important values. They also tend to help you realise the vast amount of skills and experience you have but take for granted yourself. (To those who supported me: Thanks guys, you know who you are...)
Sarah Davies17 June 2010 at 12:38 PM
permalinkreport this comment
Good to hear that you're having some positive experiences, Liz. My most lasting - because least useful - memory of careers advice was my high school's infatuation with some early (mid-90s) careers software. You answered a load of questions, some whirring ensued, and it gave you a list of options. I had 'colour technician for a hair stylist' at the top of my list - which was kind of gutting as I wanted to study biochemistry...
John Igoe17 June 2010 at 05:28 PM
permalinkreport this comment
I couldn't agree more! Secondary school careers advice is so very often a case of fitting skills/interests around a job when it should ideally be fitting a job around your skills/interests. The emphasis should clearly been placed on what you have the determination and interest in doing! I will always remember the first time I completed the questionnaire and after spending much time and effort trying to produce an accurate and useful result, the output displayed was, 'no jobs found'. I have to admit that the light at the end of the academic tunnel appeared increasingly dim! I certainly had no intentions of spending my adulthood in the care of the state. There is so much emphasis on 'picking' a job so that an individuals academic achievement meets an employers expectations. Many people find their decisions change during the course of their studies and the careers advice that they relied upon so heavily is rendered less important. Careers advice, I agree Tennie, is all about exploration. I think that's probably why they have rebranded it as 'career guidance' in the sense that there is more understanding that personal exploration and self realisation is key to finding a career that suits. My quest to become the first astronaut on the surface of the sun continues...
Elizabeth Dodson18 June 2010 at 03:47 PM
permalinkreport this comment
It's great fun reading the memorable job advice received by others, but it also raises the issue of whether this does put a lot of people off seeking formal careers guidance further down the line. Having been skeptical of the value myself, I am so far impressed by the difference I've experienced having recently sought careers support as a post-doc. I agree Tennie that it can be really valuable to stand back and look at the wide range of skills you have gained. If nothing else, it can make the prospect of jobhunting feel a little more positive and a little less overwhelming.
Hannah Dee20 June 2010 at 10:14 AM
permalinkreport this comment
My experience hasn't been as good as yours, Elizabeth. I expect my school careers experience involved the same computer program as Tennie's... but I had no "excellent" or "good" matches of career, and the only things it suggested were Veterinarian or Astronaut. (No, seriously...). Undeterred I went to see a careers advisor in my final year of undergraduate study, having been rejected from PGCE courses on the grounds of not having enough school experience or national curriculum subjects. The advisor said I should consider Camp America as a means of getting extra experience of working with kids, so I did, and ended up spending the next 10 weeks working as a receptionist in a hotel which had got itself reclassified as a summer camp in order to take advantage of the cheap european labour. No kids in sight. My last visit was a few months ago, trying to work out other options available to me given that lectureships in my field are somewhat thin on the ground. I had a nice chat, but the suggestions were things I'd either already considered or were somewhat implausible (go into FE? surely their financial situation is even worse than that of HE?).
Matthew Salois21 June 2010 at 04:58 PM
permalinkreport this comment
I agree with you, John, that the focus of career advice should be about exploration. Nothing can be more damaging to a young secondary education student than to be told their dream career is not a match but this other "lame" career would be a great fit. People should pursue or explore whatever occupation they want without the advice of which careers "match" them.
Andy Humphrey23 June 2010 at 01:31 PM
permalinkreport this comment
True, but effective careers guidance needs to have a ring of realism about it. The last thing I wanted to hear when I met the Royal Society of Chemistry careers advisor was that 90% of wannabe academics are going to have to give up on the idea at some point... What she was very good at doing was talking around the skills I've developed as a researcher and a union rep, and how these meant there was actually a wide range of options available, not just one narrow path. So do I have a Plan B now? Well, possibly... but I think that's the subject for another blog post sometime...