I’m a Registered Career Development Professional (RCDP) with over 18 years' experience supporting clients to fulfil their career dreams through guidance, coaching and CV writing.
Each month, I’ll be bringing you a series of articles with ‘top tips’ for supporting young people to thrive in their careers. This can feel like a daunting task, but the key is to focus on career management skills, which will help people of any age navigate the twists and turns of their career. There are tried and tested ways to do that, which we’ll explore.
Preparing for the world of work
Supporting students to get into and thrive in the workplace sounds simple enough. But considering that many of our students will do jobs that don’t yet exist, in a workplace that is changing more rapidly than ever before, how do we prepare them?
Interests
Whether ultimately a student chooses a job that already exists or not, a great starting point to plan future career and study options is to focus on interests. Predictions are that future retirement ages are increasing at an alarming rate, so it is more important than ever to do interesting and meaningful work.
For this, students need to have a level of self-awareness and if not, help to get there. Coaching questions, psychometric profiling which can readily be found for free online, or one of the many career coaching cards on the market could all help. Some of these activities will support a student in seeing the ‘problem’ from another viewpoint, helping them to realise or open-up and be honest about their interests and passions. Often through these conversations, students may suddenly announce they spend their free time playing rugby, volunteering, gaming or attending drama classes. And as careers professionals, we can then tap into these interests a little further.
Being flexible
When a student’s future career plans are uncertain, it is often beneficial for them to keep their options open. That might include ensuring a range of academic subject choices and encouraging a flexible mindset on what their next steps might be. This could include a traditional university route, an apprenticeship or a plethora of other choices; it can be overwhelming.
Ensuring the student knows all the options and isn’t too blinkered in their view of next steps will be crucial. This flexibility is a key skill they will need as they move into a workplace where they are increasingly likely to move job or even change career, multiple times. The environment they go into will also likely look different, from flexible working hours and locations to portfolio careers, so getting comfortable with ambiguity and flexibility is essential.
Focus on skills
Whilst we may not know the job titles of the future, we do know the skills required. Employers demand skills that will never go out of fashion including leadership, critical thinking, people management, and emotional intelligence (known as EI or EQ). The future looks set to also include skills like machine learning, data analysis, generative AI, and cybersecurity. Traditionally, many of these do not appear in the school environment, so supporting students to understand the need and develop their skills in these areas will become even more critical, as will skills around flexibility and adaptability in a complex work environment.
Another vital skill is that of understanding the working environment. I regularly hear in my interactions with employers, particularly managers, that they are struggling to cope with the demands of a younger workforce. This workforce wants to move up, whether they are ready or not. They’re a values-led generation who are prepared to stand up for what they believe in. This is amazing but needs to be balanced with skills of good communication, relationship management, and understanding their own development needs. Being proactive in organising self-development activities is also becoming increasingly important with a hybrid workforce, where you can’t just lean over the shoulder of the person sitting next to you to learn.
Research skills
One skill integral to your students’ planning and management of their future careers is research. We know that the future of work will look different, with more flexibility around jobs and even whole career movement. What a ‘career’ looks like is even different, from portfolio careers to side hustles. To thrive in this environment, and to find out about future jobs, whether they currently exist or not, knowing when, where, and how to research them, will be critical to this process.
Personal brand
Whatever the career journey, to succeed in a competitive job market with jobs that don’t yet exist, students will need to take all they have learnt about their interests and skills, and to develop this into their personal brand. This is all about who they are, what they stand for and how they become liked, known, and trusted, by future employers. Again, supporting students with their self-awareness, identifying what really matters to them and the many wonderful skills they have, will help them to develop their own brand. Whilst the future may be unknown, there is plenty we can do to help students to thrive in the workplace. They can do this by tapping into their interests, understanding their skills, and knowing how to sell that to future employers.
Free resources to support you
The UCAS Hub puts the power of choice in the hands of your students. As well as bringing together a huge breadth of options on one screen, it allows them to carefully explore and compare different paths without feeling overwhelmed. Along their journey they can save favourites for a truly personalised journey.
Tools to use with your students include:
- Careers Quiz – find careers that match their personality, interests and skills.
- Subject tasters – hear from real lecturers covering topics they could study. Students even get a certificate at the end.
- Virtual work experience – get work experience with top employers like Amazon, Airbus and the Met Office. Perfect for CVs, applications and personal statements.