Career advice for 6th year student.

Hello All,

Had a quick search but couldn't find anything recent for advice for my daughter on which career to choose.

She is heading into 6th year at the end of the month and is undecided as to which career path to go down. She has done the usual basic tests with her career guidance teacher in school but like all teenagers feels pulled in a few directions.

A friend has recommended someone that her daughter went to for advice. They did some tests with her and spent over two hours going through her options and suitabilities. This service is not cheap I understand but I have still to phone them to get a definite price.

What do people here feel about these type of services? Are the school ones as comprehensive or is it likely to be money well spent if in the long term she finds her niche in society?

Any particular recommendations also for other companies?

I'm not sure about these companies, but if she's unsure at this stage of her life maybe a general degree would give her more time to discover her interests?

I know BSc. Science degrees offer career paths into everything from Physiotherapy and Medicine to Engineering and Teaching.

Similarly, TSM ( two subject Arts Degrees ) offer the same for perhaps somebody with a more natural affinity for business and/or languages.

I'm very suspect of the value of these kinds of tests. I did similar and it cited me as suitable for a career in social sciences, sociology... something I would not enjoy nor ever would consider doing.

At the end of the day, I think you should advise your daughter to pursue what she is truly passionate about and she'll find her career will fall into place naturally.

It's 20 years since I was met with my school career guidance teacher, my memory of it at the time was that it was a waste of time. However that could be different nowadays

In fairness, it is difficult at 17-18 to dceide what your career is going to be. The important things I would tell her are
-at this age, if she tries something and doesn't like it and finds it is not for here, fine, go do something else. Loads of people have changed college courses after a year or do complete changes in their careers
-don't do something because she simply has the points to do it. I know people who felt they had to do a high point course because they had high points, not because it was what they really wanted to do.

I think your own intuition will put the first shape on things and will get the basics in place. The first to consider is her strengths

I tend to suggest 3 categories that most people roughly fall into

• Language
• Logic
• Arts

I assume that 2 of these categories can be elimated therefore you have a starting point.

My sister went to a career guidance specialist many years ago who confirmed what we really already knew. She would never be a nurse or in a caring profession, was not artistic or musical, languages were not her first love so teaching was out.
However she scored 98% in the logic section, went on to do business and finance, and has worked in the financial services area for many years. She is extremely good at her job.

Your daughter needs to choose the area and subjects that she is good at. List the college courses that include those subjects. Find as much detail about the courses she may be interested in. Go to the college open days
Finally narrow down the list to those closest to your needs

Also don't forget it's a very young age to be making life long decisions so try to think in fairly broad terms. Changes or adjustments can be made further down the line

I would recommend she take a broad type of course with multiple possible careers stemming from it...17/18 is very young to decide your future career. Something like Commerce might suit her, especially with the UCD Horizons programme (where students can take two modules from anywhere within the University as part of their degree).

I'd second Black Sheeps advise and have her break her likes an dislikes into the three categories suggested. This should eliminate at least one almost immediately. Based on the 2 remaining focus on a course geared towards this i.e. if she finds that she is logical and analtically minded but likes and is good at languages she could do engineering/science with a language etc. This would not rule out both of her strenghts.

I hated my career guidance advisor in school as I found he was completely out of touch with reality and wasn't in a poisition to advise. Likewise he was easily swayed.

Lastly don't panic - way to early for life altering decisions just yet. A solid degree will open endless doors to post grad studies and at this stage she will truely understand her likes/dislikes. Lots of people end up making decisions and in poisitions they would never have dreamt of when they heading into 6th year.

I'm nearly 38 and still haven't figured out what I want to be when I grow up. I've had a good life on the way though - that's my niche in society (not economy).

17-18 is too young to tie yourself down to a specified career path unless it's something you feel passionate about. Open her eyes to options and let her develop and discover what she wants to do.

I'm 36 and still studying although doing the same job for 15 yrs ( it has many varying aspects though so doesn't seem the same). I have done numerous courses and am now doing a masters.
I used a book with 3 types of test in it - one was aptitude, one attitude to work and I forget the other but it combines all the answers to give you a good indication what you should do. Bought it in Easons at the time. Might be worth the 10 or 20 euro it costs as a start.
I think it is important to let your daughter know that if she is not set on picking a career now that is fine. She may be better of getting a job or traveling for a yr or 2 before deciding. I know that I wasted 3 yrs between repeating and college.

There's a Careers Directions facility on the Fas Website. I did it myself last year and it was reasonably accurate and provided some options I hadn't previously considered.

It's free so she has nothing to lose by doing this.

Thanks for all the great replies. She will have a read through this thread herself but she already feels that she doesn't want to bother going ahead with the visit to this service.

She has already used the FAS site and found it quite good also.

Thanks again.

Have a look in the papers and see is there any sectors that are offering Jobs. See if your daughter is interested in any of these. At least if she does spend years in college she should have a job out of it.

Get a copy of "what color is your parachute?" and have her do the exercises in it. The aim is to find your own talents and then find suitable career areas. She has the time now during summer break to do this - its fun stuff.
Just because you start in one area doesn't mean you have to stay there - and that's ok.