Welcome to the fourth blog in the partnership between Not Going to Uni and Diosa Coaching. Today i am going to focus on partners, teachers, career advisers and guardians – anyone who is in a position where you have influence over young people’s decision making!
It’s a tough role to be in – you have unlimited opportunities for advice and guidance and with so many options and variables to consider it can feel overwhelming.
So here are my 5 top tips on how to help the young people in your life make decisions about getting the job of their dreams!
Tip one: Don’t let your preconceptions about the job market have an effect on their decision making
When you give advice, it tends to be based on your own experiences, or what you understand of a situation. However, in this case, it is essential that you to do your research. It isn’t enough to say – ‘that job is boring’, ‘that won’t suit you’, ‘that’s not for you’, ‘you have to go to university to succeed’. These are very outdated assumptions of an incredibly exciting and rich job market right now.
If a student comes to you for advice – listen to what they are saying or asking of you, do your research or seek your own advice so that you can be best informed.
Tip two: Do your research
There are countless places that you can do research if a student comes to you for advice or help. Companies like Not Going to Uni can help you with this search – search for ‘Graduate/School career advice’ and a whole heap of websites will be at your finger tips to browse through.
Think about the following
Whether it’s something they are fanatic about or they have a particular interest in – all of these things can be searched for and found on career websites.
Tip three: What are THEY interested in?
It is so easy to put your own preconceptions and interests into the minds of young people. However, it’s important to remember that each student will have their own unique sets of skills, values and beliefs about themselves and what they want to do in their life. So keep the focus always on them.
The recruitment market is constantly changing and evolving. Opportunities that you may not have had will suddenly be available, job opportunities that may seem outdated (such as apprenticeships) as the new latest thing for companies and they want your student to succeed! Keep your mind open, do your research and find out what THEY want from their life and job hunt.
Tip four: Go back to basics
It is perfectly normal for students to have absolutely no idea what they want to do with their lives! I don’t know about you but it’s taken me the best part of 31 years to connect the dots and find what i really want to do – so don’t expect your students to have it all figured out.
In my latest blogs – finding yourself and your dream job and actions speak louder than words you can find exercises that you could do with your students to help them work out what their vision is for their life.
Start there – work out what their skills, values and beliefs are, do a 5/10 year plan on where they see themselves and break down those visions into short, actionable plans.
For example
Tip five: Be patient
It is challenging when you have people in your life/school/university who aren’t 100% sure on what to do, especially when you can recognise the importance of success.
But be patient – go back to basics as i said above and help them to understand themselves better and go from there.
Remember that the industry has changed and also that young people’s impression of work has changed in the last few years. Gone are the days when young people get into a job and stay there for years on end. Talk to students about their first job – think less about one job, for the rest of existence until you retire. Help them to see that the first step isn’t the last and to keep their minds open!
If you would like any further advice, or to talk to me in more details about this – please do get in touch.
Jenni is a life and career coach with Diosa Coaching. She has over 10 years of experience working in careers and recruitment.
