Students who don’t know what they want to do are OK!

Some students are focussed on one particular career path from the word go – but many more make it right through to finals without having any clear idea of what they want to do. Sometimes part of the problem is that they do know what they want to do, but fear that it’s unrealistic and have no idea how to get there. A lack of confidence doesn’t help – if you don’t have a clear sense of what you have to offer, it can be difficult to imagine yourself being at home in any workplace, especially when headlines abound about how impossible it is to crack the graduate jobs market at present.

Fear of the future can be paralysing, and if all you see when you look ahead is a big black hole labelled ‘career’ you’re bound to want to put your head in the sand. Student life is so busy and demanding that you’ve got plenty of other things to worry about; you may already be juggling a part-time job with your academic commitments and if you’re also trying to fit in extracurricular activities and a social life, it may seem that career planning is something you just can’t fit in right now – especially if you’re feeling defeated before you even start.

Take control of your life after graduation

You can’t change the jobs market, but you can change how you feel about it and how you respond to the challenges. There are plenty of people whose careers have taken twists and turns, and whose first role after graduation was only indirectly related to what they ended up doing later on. The world of work is dynamic and the nature of the opportunities on offer changes over time, and so do your own expectations and attitudes. But all careers have to start somewhere – and you’ve got to be in it to win it.

First of all, put the negative headlines out of your mind; there are still opportunities out there. The worst threat of all to your future career is not the economic climate: it’s the danger of inaction on your part. So if you don’t know what you want to do, now’s the time to start finding out. Do some research; visit your careers service, talk to other people about their jobs, line up some work experience. Don’t think only in terms of ‘graduate jobs’. Your first job may not be ‘the one’, but it may be a step closer to where you want to go. Your future career isn’t a black hole: it’s a journey, and it’s time to set off.

• More advice for the career clueless
• Vacancy news: survey finds half of employers still have graduate jobs to fill
• Explore different jobs by qualification needed
• Tips on taking a gap year
• Work experience and internships advice
   

Posted by Alison_TARGETjobs on 6 July 2010

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