Career Uncertainty? It’s Not Just You
Everyone has an idea of what they want to do after university, right? Wrong! Sometimes it feels like everyone around you has a plan, a destination, but if you’re like me, you probably don’t. As a second year, it feels like I’m at a point between ‘you still have time to figure it out’ and ‘you should know by now’.
I know many people who haven’t quite decided what they want to do yet or have changed their plan a million times. Think about any post-university adults you may know, and I’m almost certain you will know a few who have switched jobs multiple times.
For me, this is uncharted territory. Since I was old enough to know what a job is, I’ve known what I want mine to be. Author, physiotherapist, optician, speech therapist, and, most recently, a primary school teacher, to name a few. I always felt lucky in that way; I had a plan and knew what I wanted to do, no matter how often I changed it. Whenever an adult or a teacher would ask me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I always had an answer.
So, this season of uncertainty finds me feeling extremely strange and slightly disconcerted. I’m now approaching the end of my second year (time flies much quicker than I thought it would), and I’m halfway through my degree. I’m halfway there, but my dilemma is where?
What am I doing with myself despite not knowing my end goal, I hear you ask! Well, instead of burying my head in the sand and pushing these things to the bottom of my priority list, I’m taking advantage of this time to broaden my experience and knowledge.
Experience is Key
Firstly, I’m making sure to gain as much experience as possible in the fields I’m interested in. There are a few areas I’m interested in just now: working with kids, perhaps a business or marketing route, and theology. For each of these areas, I’m trying to gain respective experience through various paths, such as volunteering with Girlguiding Scotland. I recommend using the university’s Careers Centre to find voluntary work, which offers many opportunities for internships and work in the local area. Voluntary work is great for gaining experience, especially in niche areas where it’s hard to find paid work. Each experience you gain will give you transferable skills, some of which may be very useful for your future dream job.
Networking as Your Career Catapult
Another productive use of my time recently has involved networking and most situations we find ourselves in can be an excellent opportunity to make contacts… “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, at least sometimes. There are so many highly qualified candidates out there that it can be hard to stand out, so knowing someone who can put in a good word for you is never a bad thing. One of the most common ways to do this is to use LinkedIn, where you can connect with your fellow university students and stay in touch with past colleagues. If you can master how to use it to its full capacity, it might be the catapult you need to kickstart your career.
Take the First Step…
I may not know right now what my dream career is, but if you were a fly on the wall watching as I expand my experience, you wouldn’t know either. Just because I don’t know my goal doesn’t mean I can’t start taking steps toward it, and the same is true for everyone. It’s like Martin Luther King Jr said: “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step!”