What’s the right career for me?
Derek had been working in administration for an insurance company for several years. He was responsible for dealing with claims, but, although fairly happy in his work, he felt he had more potential. He just wasn’t sure what direction he should go in and in what career.

After evaluation of his background and discussion around his attitudes towards work and the rewards it brings, Derek was able to identify a pathway to follow which allowed him to utilise his organisational skills and choose a role dependant on ‘task and finish’ activities – a method of working he enjoyed and felt he could exceed in.

Is full-time university the only option to gain a degree?
Mary was interested in Accounting but understood some of the top firms could be extremely competitive to get into. Her parents decided to seek support with her choice of career to make sure they, and Mary, understood precisely what was going to be required. But Mary’s main concern was going to university for three years and building up a considerable amount of debt.

As part of the guidance process, I evaluated Mary’s predicted grades for her A Levels and tested her attitude towards university and other options. The result was Mary decided to apply for a Degree Apprenticeship as this gave her a full degree qualification in Accountancy but allowed her to earn while she learnt therefore not accruing any debt during her studies.

Are A Levels the only route to university?
Milly enjoyed school, but she felt overwhelmed by the numerous options available to her after Year 11. Most of her friends were planning on staying on in the 6th form to study A Levels and then go onto university. But Milly wasn’t sure if this was the right option for her as although she wanted to go to university, she wanted to study something more hands on and less academic.

Together we first looked at an area of work she might be interested in. Not necessarily a specific job role, but instead investigated a ‘job family’ (a range of occupations within a specified grouping) that met her criteria.

Milly felt working with people in an environment that could change from one day to the next, and that might involve some travel at some stage would suit her better than an office-based role. We looked at Travel and Tourism as an option and then looked at the different ways Milly could enter this area including apprenticeships, studying a vocational course, e.g. a BTEC at college or even T Levels.

Milly eventually opted for a BTEC qualification which met her vocational requirements but also meant she could apply to university and gain a degree in her chosen field.

Am I too old to change my career?
Joe, now 40 years old, originally started in admin in local government but felt disillusioned with all the office politics and the constant threat of redundancy. He felt there was something else out there for him. Joe still needed to work and earn an income but also wanted a career that allowed him to develop and progress. One concern he had was he was too old to change career at 40years of age.

Together we did some preliminary investigations based on our initial discussions and discussed his likes and dislikes and attitudes towards various aspects of a potential career role. I also tackled his concern about his age by turning it into a positive. The coaching process was structured to help Joe determine himself the type of future he felt would be appropriate for him, which in this case turned out to be developing a career supporting and working with the elderly by starting up his own business.

Want to develop your career?
Billy was happy in his teaching career. But he was ambitious and wanted to develop it further. He wanted to join the Senior Management Team and eventually be a Head Teacher.

We looked at strategies on how he could achieve this including additional responsibilities he could take on at his existing school, for example being a careers lead, networking with others and taking advantage of the training that was available within his school’s academy trust. With my help, he put together a plan of action that will help him achieve his goals.