Careers Evening, but is a Career for Life?

It is careers evening next week at our local Academy and my company has been invited to go along and meet the pupils and talk to them about careers in IT. I took part in this event last year, the businesses attending set up a table and those that are interested come along and talk to you. It's a bit like an exhibition but aimed at Year 10 and 11 pupils to help give them an idea of what they want to do next after school finishes.

From what I recall it was quite an interesting evening, some of the young people knew exactly who they wanted to talk to, whereas others just went and talked to everyone as they were keeping their options open. 

This got me thinking, I remember when I was that age exactly what I wanted to be, a travel agent. I started my career in this industry training through the old YTS scheme. That lasted for about 4 years when I wanted a change and I ended up working in a factory office. Since then I have done other work including working in a pre-school and in my current job as the director of an IT company.

If someone had told me when I was 15 or 16 that I would end up a Director of my own business I would have been totally shocked and said 'No way! I'll still be working in the travel industry.', yet here I am. This indicates to me that at that age for many of us we don't know what our career path will be, it may not be as we we initially envisaged, but there are others that will pursue a career that will take them through the rest of their lives.

What was it like for you? Are you still working in the same industry as you did when you left school/college or are you like me and have experienced different industries/jobs?