What career advice were you given as a young person and what do you actually do now?

Well I am still in high school and my mum keeps telling me to get a job and blah blah blah and I know she only wants the best for me but man it is annoying.
But the advice I get given to by teachers,parents and also the careers teacher is to do what you are good at and what I am good at is art so I am going to do TAFE cources while I am still in school and also go to University to get where I want to be and that is to be either an art teacher or an artists. What I advise for you too do is to not presure your daughter into doing something she doesn’t want to do and to ask her where she wants to get to in her life and what is she really pasionate about and work around what she likes to find the job she would like.

Well thank you @megzybrahh123. It’s fine. I am not pressuring her. It just amused me the careers advice she was given. I am glad you have a sense of the direction you want to move in in terms of your career. That’s a big start. I hope one day I will see your artwork somewhere.

I often tell my children to find their passion and follow that in terms of what they will do for work, so you are giving very good advice :)

How did he end up with the jockey?

She didn’t end up as a jockey. It was ridiculous advice. She never had the slightest interest in being a jockey. What were you advised to do as a career @Hibernate? And what did you end up doing?

In my school days nobody gave a crap about career advicing. I ended up doing a lot of things, I cannot say I have a career.

I figured out that she didn’t even gave the though any serious idea but I wanted to know how the hell he said it. I mean he must have a way of thinking these situations, or he randomly spawns jobs then see how they fit the other person?

I have NO idea what the person was thinking. It is a very, very odd suggestion. My daughter doesn’t even ride a horse. She is scared of chickens. She of course was very impressed with the advice NOT!

Ha ha :) In any case how do these people end up with that job? They should study each individual in particular before saying a job is suited for them.

I agree @Hibernate. The conversation with my daughter made me wonder what odd advice other people had been given in terms of career advice or whether the advice they got was really useful and suited them well.

Well at my school the careers teacher interviews each student and asks them what they are passionate about and if they are good at this type of thing, so not all of the careers teachers are, how do I say this? stupid, does not know what they are talking about, chose the wrong career. I do not know what goes through some people’s heads these day but that was the worst advice that I have ever heard.

@megzybrahh123 part of what you say helps but not that much. Even if one interviews the kids separately, then tries to figure out what job suits them, he won’t have much luck because it’s not that easy to figure out a person from just a few minutes of talking. It takes time for one to figure out what makes another tick and what are his qualities. If I ask you what are you good at and you tell me something then comes a variety of advices I could give but not all will suit you.
I don’t know how this career advice really works but that person should stay with the kids all the year and be encouraged to watch them do a lot of stuff even outside school. The more times he spends with them, the best chances to give them a good career advice.
It’s like when you go to a psychiatrist. He needs time to figure you out that’s why you go several times then he gives you advices. [not to mention he takes money for all the sessions]

@Bellatrix One would wonder about these career guidance counselors. That’s very strange.
When I was in school, I think I might’ve been advised to study accountancy or social care. Very similar, eh!
After trying my hat in different areas, I now study English lit.

:-) My dad had to pay for me to take my English Literature and English Language GCE because my teacher refused to allow me to sit them. I have gone on to work as a journo and completed a PhD. I think it is pretty impossible to say what someone’s potential is at 16. Were you even vaguely interested in studying accountancy or social care @stardust?

I always liked “science”’ as a kid. I was good in math.
I ended up as a engineer. No surprise.

I was told to go to college and learn as I had the rest of my life to work. After that the only advice I got was do what ever it is you want to. I make epoxy for a living and THAT was NOT on my list of things I wanted to do for a living!

You would get on with my husband @cruiser. (If I understand what epoxy is… adhesive… resiny thingy stuff?). My husband works with adhesive products in his work. He likes to talk to me about the adhesive properties of…. things. As you can see from my descriptions, I am very up on it all :D I do realise though that the applications are hugely diverse and I think that is the fascination for him.

Funny how we end up where we do isn’t it? Sometimes there seems to be a plan, even if we have no idea where it is sending us.

I actually was not advised by anyone, that wasn’t a thing we had at my school. We did have to take a short computer test that would spit out good jobs for us based on the “personality” we put in, though. That was entertaining. It kept telling me I should be a police officer, which is sort of my equivalent of your daughter’s jockey suggestion. And now I’m a history major, and will (probably, assuming nothing changes) do historic preservation.

I was about nine years old and riding in the back of a YMCA pickup truck with several other YMCA members. All of us had decided that the next police car we observed, would be a target for the following stupid action. Someone on the truck would yell, “what’s a dirty penny made of?”. All of us were to answer, “dirty copper!” Needless to say, I receive the tailend of this joke. I was the only one to stand up and scream, “dirty copper”. The officers pulled the truck over and I was told to stepdown off the truck. This I did. Once I explained what happened, that officer and I had a long talk. The officer did not bless me out, but explained and understood, what had happened to me. This officer made a huge impression on me. His impression was so big, that I decided that day that I wanted to be a police officer, once I became of age.

I was accepted to my local Metro Police Dept, at the age of 20. I worked as a civillian empoyee, until I turned 21, in order to handle a firearm.

This was my occupation for 44 years and I loved every minute of it.

One word: plastics!.

My dad told me to find a nice guy with money and marry him.
I did. 10 years later I was destitute.

“Go play outside!” – my mom

Suggestions I was given: lawyer, therapist, teacher.

What I really wanted to do: fashion design. Which is weird, because I could not care less about fashion these days.

The bulk of my career: secretarial/accounting/office management (and stay-at-home mom.)

Job I have now: managing this awesome website community. Never thought I’d end up here, but I’m awfully glad I did!

My mom worked in education and every day after school, I’d hang around the school she was working at. I was told from age 6 that I should be a teacher, but I wanted to be an artist or writer. The truth: I never, ever, ever wanted to be a teacher because I felt there were too many problems with the educational system (I was only 11 when I declared this). Again and again: “You should be a teacher,” and again and again my response, “NEVER EVER in this $#&%#$* life!”
So I went through some med school, some photography classes, lots of history, language, literature and communication classes, etc etc—got 3 BA’s in art, theater and English literature… then to be able to argue my point that the education system really did suck, I got a 4th BA in Education focusing on language acquisition. It’s really ironic how much I hated the education system, but loved most of my teachers and worshipped school.
I was happily working in the school library in Tucson when the English teacher was fired and escorted out of the classroom. The admin then plopped my ass into that classroom- English and Education BA… I qualified. It was empty of any materials- the fired teacher had chucked everything. I had, literally, only the Internet, a whiteboard and markers. Then I did a great job. It was fulfilling. It was fun. Big Fat Cosmic Headslap.
God really, really has a twisted sense of humor and we’re gonna have a talk when I get upstairs. I still think the system needs an overhaul, but at least I’m doing something more than complaining about it by working from inside the system.
All my career test results: teacher, journalist, advocate, artist, writer—never changed in 30 years. When my seniors are trying to find their path, I give them a list of resources to look at and I tell them to pick and choose because none of the options are guarantees, only suggestions. Some people say, “Do what you love,” but I say, from my experience that sometimes it’s more of, “Do what you feel the strongest about.” Similar message, but not quite the same.
FYI, 4 BA’s is not a testament to how smart I am, but how clueless I am. I still only get BA pay.

@linguaphile What’d the English teacher do to get instantly terminated like that????

@Dutchess_III Totally chucking out school funded curriculum books and materials was one, lying about his qualifications was two, and having a record of questionable sexual history with students was three… then he threatened the admin when they found out. This was in Tucson and he was trying to hide information that occurred in Maine. Tsk, tsk, never underestimate the power of, “It’s a small, small world after all!”

Holy smoke!

@Bellatrix I certainly had no interest in accountancy. Social care? Perhaps. Mind you, this woman knew nothing about me or my interests. As you’ve said, it’s very difficult to make such big decisions at 16. Ludicrous really.