Graduate careers advice

graduate careers advice

The job market is more dynamic than ever, with unanticipated industry disruption from small outsiders (think Uber, AirBnB) and from technology (artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, 3D printing…). I’ve read that 70-80% of jobs that exist today will disappear in the next 20 years, which also means that a lot of new jobs will be created that we can’t even predict right now. So how can graduates possibly prepare for such an uncertain future, and how can we – who supposedly are older and wiser – give them effective careers advice?

Rather than trying to pinpoint the one perfect career and plan their whole future path, these days it’s about being proactive and making smart choices that will equip them with the skills and tools that will allow them to adapt and take advantage of the opportunities that arise.

Here are my 5 tips for how you can give graduates careers advice, without being overly directive and imposing your own judgement.

1. Help them to get clear on their personal definition of ‘success’

We all inherit an expectation of what success should look like from our parents, our teachers, from TV, and from the society that we’ve grown up in. Given the changes that are happening around us, not to mention the fact that we are different individuals to those other people, with different interests and strengths and ambitions, that inherited definition is not necessarily meaningful to us. If they don’t decide on what success means to them, then it will be very easy to be pushed towards living up to someone else’s definition. Encourage them to spend some time now – and check in regularly, at least every year, to see how this changes – to understand what they’re hoping to achieve, and what will make them as individuals happy and fulfilled.

2. Ask them what they enjoy and what they’re good at

What are their favourite school and university subjects? What do they find much easier than others they know? What kind of things do people come to them for advice on? Tell them to go beyond the academics, and look at any clubs and activities after school, and what they do in their spare time. Make sure they really consider what it is about that particular thing that they enjoy. For example, if they really love acting: is it standing on stage in front of people, is it the camaraderie of the cast, or maybe the creative process of getting to know the character and the script? These different aspects will lead to different ideas about what to do next.

3. Encourage them to talk to people (but remind them it’s still their decision)

Networking is as important for young graduates as it is for us in later stages of our careers, both when it comes to finding a job and also finding out more details about different jobs and careers. They already have access to a range of different experiences, so tell them to consider their network – their parents, their friends, their friends’ parents – and ask to talk to people who are in jobs that they’re considering, or who have done the courses they’re looking at. They should be asking the questions that they can’t answer from looking at a job description: what does an average day look like, what kind of people do you work with, and why did you choose this career? They can learn a lot in this way, and get access to a range of different perspectives, but do remind them: it’s their life and ultimately their decision!

4. Advocate that they build their ‘career capital’

In the early stages of a career, it’s important to invest in yourself so that you’re better placed in the future to make the most of the changing job market. That means that the graduate should be developing transferrable skills, building connections (that network again!), establishing competencies and credentials that will be valued by employers, and also creating a savings buffer, which will allow them more flexibility in their choices in the future. It can also include things like building their own business alongside their studies, or maybe writing a book – anything that demonstrates their motivation, develops their skills and contributes to a body of work that they can be proud of.

5. Suggest that they think in terms of projects vs The One Career Path

In stark contrast to our parents and grandparents, graduates today are never going to be following that linear career path, staying in the same career, or even in the same job, for their whole working life. The good news is that this takes the pressure off them deciding on that One Perfect Career. Instead of trying to choose now the one career that is the perfect fit (anyway, it’s impossible to know that without having experienced it!), tell them to think of their next steps as a project that appeals to them right now. Maybe it’s a graduate scheme, or a work experience placement, volunteering abroad, or further study – they’ll get the most out of it if they’re really motivated and excited about it. Make sure that they’re clear on why they’re choosing it, and that it will bring them some of that career capital that we were talking about.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You might also be interested in these articles

“Everything you’ve ever
wanted is one step outside
your comfort zone.”

Book a free consultation

Get on the phone with Anna to discuss your unique goals and situation to determine the best programme for you, so you can start taking action towards creating the business and lifestyle you desire.

Explore a broader definition of success

Download this free assessment to consider what ‘success’ means to you across different areas of your life, evaluate where you are today, and prioritise the right goals to get you to where you want to be.

We will use and protect your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Explore a broader definition of success

Download this free assessment to consider what ‘success’ means to you across different areas of your life, evaluate where you are today, and prioritise the right goals to get you to where you want to be.

We will use and protect your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Outside of the 9 to 5

Anna continues the journey in her new book, where she details what’s needed to sustain your initial escape from the 9 to 5 in a guide to designing and building a profitable business that gives you more freedom, flexibility and fulfilment.

We will use and protect your data in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Privacy Policy

This privacy policy sets out how One Step Outside uses and protects any information that you give One Step Outside when you use this website (https://onestepoutside.com/).

One Step Outside is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement.

One Step Outside may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes.

What information we collect and why

We only ever collect the information that we need in order to serve you.

Generally, this just means collecting your first name and email address that you enter, for example, when you request a resource, register for a webinar, or submit a message via a contact form.

If you are a paying customer, we also collect your billing information including your last name and your postal address.

Comments

When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Contact forms

We use Gravity Forms to allow you to contact us via the website. We will use the information you submit for the sole purpose of that specific form and will explicitly ask you to provide your consent to allow us to do so.

Embedded content from other websites

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Advertising and Analytics

Google

We use Google Analytics to track and optimise performance on this site as well as embedding video content from YouTube, and this means that your web browser automatically sends certain information to Google. This includes the URL of the page that you’re visiting and your IP address. Google may also set cookies on your browser or read cookies that are already there. Apps that use Google advertising services also share information with Google, such as the name of the app and a unique identifier for advertising.

Google uses the information shared by sites and apps to deliver our services, maintain and improve them, develop new services, measure the effectiveness of advertising, protect against fraud and abuse and personalise content and ads that you see on Google and on our partners’ sites and apps. See their Privacy Policy to learn more about how they process data for each of these purposes, and their Advertising page for more about Google ads, how your information is used in the context of advertising and how long Google stores this information.

Facebook

We use the conversion tracking and custom audiences via the Facebook pixel on our website. This allows user behaviour to be tracked after they have been redirected to our website by clicking on a Facebook ad and enables us to measure the effectiveness of our Facebook ads. The data collected in this way is anonymous to us, i.e. we do not see the personal data of individual users. However, this data is stored and processed by Facebook, who may link this information to your Facebook account and also use it for its own promotional purposes, in accordance with Facebook’s Data Usage Policy https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/.

You can allow Facebook and its partners to place ads on and off Facebook. A cookie may also be stored on your computer for these purposes. You can revoke your permission directly on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. For more guidance on opting out you can also consult http://www.aboutads.info/choices.

Who we share your data with

We use a number of third parties to provide us with services which are necessary to run our business or to assist us with running our business and who process your information for us on our behalf. These include a hosting and email provider (Siteground), mailing list provider (GetResponse), and a payment provider (Stripe).

Your information will be shared with these service providers only where necessary to enable us to run our business.

How long we maintain your data

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website, we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

The main reason for collecting this information is to be able to send you resources, updates and, sometimes, information and products and services, as well as for internal record keeping.

The rights you have over your data

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

How we protect your data

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure.

Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password that lets you access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential and we ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Links to other websites

Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Changes to our privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. Initially created on 18th November 2016, it was last updated on 23rd May 2018 to be compliant with GDPR.

Contact information

If you have any questions or concerns related to your privacy, you can get in touch here >>