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KCL | Career

All The BackUp Careers I Have Planned For MySelf If I Can’t Find One!

Ruby Hurley Student Contributor, King's College London
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at KCL chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

As I come into my second term of my final year of uni, the topic of what to do afterwards is the pressing issue on everyone’s mind. The most common question you tend to get asked now at this stage is “what are your plans for after uni?” As someone who struggles with change, and tends to worry about the future a lot, it can be difficult to adjust to the fact that everyone will be going on their different paths and everyone will have different answers to this question. I feel, especially on my course, digital media, the opportunities can be so vast, but for someone like me who’s very indecisive, sometimes this can feel like more of a challenge. That’s why I’ve decided to go straight into my masters, pretty much so I don’t have to face the challenge of finding a job yet, and I can delay the world of adulting for another year. While I’ve now given myself a whole extra year, what I am going to do for a career is still a pressing anxiety on my mind, especially as everyone else is talking about it. As a girl who worries a lot, I like to have a plan, which is why recently I seem to find myself taking to a lot of careers I could have as a “backup”. If I don’t end up in my desired area of marketing, then I have a lot more plans to roll through. From teaching to nail artistry, I thought I’d share some of my backup careers here, so maybe you can add them to your backup list too! 

  1. Nail Artist

I only started getting my nails done for the first time in the summer, with an at-home nail tech, and I absolutely love the process. It’s definitely one of those things that you end up getting addicted to, and want to have cute nails on all the time! This has led to many a pinterest and insta scroll for inspiration, and eventually led to me ending up in the TikTok rabbit hole of nail artists. I now love watching day-to-day life videos of nail techs, as they are able to work on so many clients (like @nailsbyaran) or becoming invested in drama when clients refuse to pay! Drama aside, a lot of these nail techs, including my own, make the industry look so fun, and I also think it’s a great line of work that helps with people’s self-care and can make them feel better about themselves. The level of artistry can be totally insane and it would be so cool to be able to achieve that! (Also, I did do A-level art, so I feel like the career could be actually plausible haha). 

  1. Tattoo artist 

Now this one I do think is a little out there, but I do have my reasons. The other day I was scrolling through insta, when I saw an advert for a BA Body Art degree, and I just thought that sounded so cool. The advert also featured a picture of a My Melody tattoo, so of course that attracted me to it, and I did lowkey start to wish that I could do this degree. And when I mentioned this to my friends, they did actually say they could see me as a tattoo artist, so maybe this idea isn’t too out there. If all else fails, maybe I will end up going back to uni for a body art degree.

  1. Cafe owner/barista 

I’ve been working as a barista in a local bakery/cafe for quite a few months now, and I have to say I do love making coffees, it can almost be like a therapeutic activity. Now that I actually have the skill of how to make coffees, I can definitely envision myself as a cosy cafe owner, making sweet treats, and decorating a cute cafe. Although, I do view this as one of my more ambitious back-up career ideas, because coffee shops can be stressful! If I could just have a small-scale coffee shop, with a few nice customers, nice location and somehow make money, then that would be the (unrealistic) dream!

  1. Teacher

This was actually always my dream career when I was kid, but then I changed my mind when I went to secondary school and learnt that teenagers can be quite mean (sorry)! And you might be wondering, why not just work in primary school education, but the truth is I don’t really like small children either haha, and I definitely couldn’t envision myself working with them all day, everyday! Now I’ve matured a bit, and am no longer in the secondary school environment, I could see myself becoming a teacher again (as a last-resort back-up). 

So that was all the back-up careers I have planned for myself at the moment, and I’m sure this will probably change again, and I’ll probably get even more random ideas off of social media. But I’m wishing everyone the best for anyone else who’s in the third and final year anxieties!

Ruby is a content writer for Her Campus at the King's College London (KCL) chapter. She focuses on creating content for the career section. Ruby is from London, and wanting to stay in London for her undergrad studies, she is now in the final year of her BA Digital Media and Culture degree at KCL. Ruby has also worked as a social media content creator for the Wholesome society in the past year, a line of work she hopes to pursue after graduating. In her free time, Ruby loves to read, doom scroll on TikTok and binge-watch whatever TV show is her current hyper-fixation. Ruby is also a big fan of Disney movies, Sanrio and general cute things, and you will often find her in stores around London looking for cute trinkets!