Career advice with Julia Yates

by Julia Yates

I always thought I knew what I wanted to do when I graduated, but now my course is coming to an end I’ve decided that I really don’t know what I want to do.

Do you have any ideas to get me started?

Choosing a direction to go in is a big deal.

It’s no bad thing to take your time to make your decision, as you are more likely to get it right first time, but having said that, few people stay in one job for the duration of their working life, so remember that making the wrong choice is not the end o the world.

There are a hundred different ways to decide on a career path.

I’ve put a few ideas below, but if none of these work for you, it might be a good idea to book in with a Career Coach.

1. Identify what you do know about your future ideal role: what sort of field is it in, what skills would you use, what kinds of people would you like to work with?

2. Work out what you DON’T want to do and try and reverse it.

3. Scan job ads in the paper and have a look and see which appeal to you and which don’t and try to analyse what kinds of jobs you are drawn to.

4. Try the graduate computer matching programme at www.prospects.ac.uk. It will generate some job ideas based on the things that you say you enjoy and are good at.

5. What role would you choose if you could have any job in the world?

Even if this is totally unrealistic, you could try to work out what attracts you to it and see if there are any more practical jobs along the same lines that might attract you.

Julia is the UAL careers adviser, Each week she will be answering your questions, for an appointment with a Career Coach at High Holborn, see the website for details.