Career advice

[Breezey]

Hi guys,

struggling to pick a career at the moment im only 20 and just going from crap job to crap job, theres just so many things out there anyone have any advice on what to do? Ive been told to do something you like doing which i thinks pretty important i dont want to get stuck in something i hate doing. How did you pick your career and do you enjoy it?

 

[gavin89]

Looked at highest paid jobs/most stable/interesting, then picked one that suited me ability, ended up with engineering. Tough degree but rewards are worth it!

 

[Keeno]

I wouldn't worry too much, I'm 22 and just starting to look at a career having bounced around general jobs for a while. TBH I reckon the best way to find out if a career path suits you is to phone round some compnaies in your chosen industry/industries and ask if you can do a couple of days work experience with them and see what you think. Once you've decided which direction you;d like to take find a specialist recruitment agency - they'll help with your CV and give you interview advice for FREE and there's no obligation to stick to one agency or even get a job through an agency at all.

Availablity/economic climate will force your hand to an extent as well. For example, I started out looking for ecological consulting/wilfdlife conservation but the jobs are few and far betweeen, not especially well paid and highly contested, so I'm now looking at Scientific/technical sales...

 

[Geordie Mike]

Porn??? It kinda fits the description...

 

[CMD]

I don't know many people who like there job's now day's. As you are only 20 year's of age you are still without the many tie's most of us have so you still have time to find a good carrer. I work long hour's 13 -14 hour Day's mon to sat in the winter month's my wife also work's 10 -12 hour day's mon -fri . We are both like minded as we only do our job's becouse of the money. In my spare time i push my car detailing business as this is one job i like doing. Myself and S4twiggy have also landed a contract to wash a fleet of truck's (10 in total) every other friday which take's us in to the early hour's of a saturday morning.

My point is just stick with which ever job is paying the most and if an opportuniy pop's up grab it and try to make more money. As i often say to my family when they ask "how's the day job going." I say i f..king hate it but love the money. We have no children so myself and my wife work hard for the good thing's in life.

 

[Breezey]

Cheers for the advice all some of it more usefull than others. Picking an industry is going to be the hard part, got an openday interbview thing tommorow so will see what that brings.

 

[Keeno]

Thanks guys will give that ago its just picking an industry thats the hard part.

Look at the skills you've gained from past employments and match them to industries and possibly jobs within those industries. Eg. customer service skills, interpersonal, communication etc.

On a side note, James Caan's "Get The Job You Really Want" is quite useful in terms of selling yourself to employers.

 

[PH1L]

i just picked what i was interested in since i was young i took things to bits made my own stuff etc engineering made sense, so did an apprentiship in it never looked back since

 

[Sarah's A3]

I had a job for years that I did enjoy but boredom set in, stumbled into what I do now and love it! Just wish I'd done it years ago! Sometimes not planning can result in a good result!

 

[Breezey]

Look at the skills you've gained from past employments and match them to industries and possibly jobs within those industries. Eg. customer service skills, interpersonal, communication etc.

On a side note, James Caan's "Get The Job You Really Want" is quite useful in terms of selling yourself to employers.

I have gained some skills along the way, im a pretty decent welder but without that bit of paper that says i can do it i dont think im gonna have much luck. Im not a book person but i suspect i will have a fair bit of free time soon when this agency work ends so will give it a read.

i just picked what i was interested in since i was young i took things to bits made my own stuff etc engineering made sense, so did an apprentiship in it never looked back since

Tried this a few times but didnt seem to work out to well, IT got very boring it did tell me that i dont want to spend the rest of my days trying to change the world from a desk though, looking at apprenticeships at the moment i think i might still just get away with it being 20.

I had a job for years that I did enjoy but boredom set in, stumbled into what I do now and love it! Just wish I'd done it years ago! Sometimes not planning can result in a good result!

I agree with that not planning before got me into a nice job that i enjoyed but it was only temporary.

 

[eoeumc]

What do you like doing?

Think about that then take a look down the paths of what you have to do to be able to achieve your goal. There is no point in saying that you want to do something and then a couple of years down the line you give up cos you didn't know how many years you had to train for

My eldest is only 15 (well he is on Monday) and he took his options last September. He wanted to work on cars, modifying, designing etc. He was doing engineering for about 6 weeks then stopped that and took up business studies! A slightly different option and now he don't know what to do any more

Don't waste your life doing just anything, if you want something go out there and get it! I didn't


But make sure you look in to it properly

 

[jojo]

Here's my advice to you, stay away from Fastfood related jobs!(unless you like eating like meeeee )

 

[Westy_A3T]

Army

Part of me wishes i signed up when i left my first job.

 

[jcs356]

You're a lucky person if you're doing a job that you truly love and you can make decent money out of it. The vast majority of people are compromising somewhere - either doing what they love but getting a pittance; or doing something they hate to earn a fortune. Worst case is doing a job you hate and getting a pittance.

I'd love to work in a cycle shop - but I know I can't make enough money to fund my lifestyle.

My career has pretty much been a set of fortunate circumstances:

• Did engineering at uni, but hated it. However finished the course off to get my degree, and got a job in IT for a large multinational after writing dozens and dozens of applications.
• Got a phone call after 18 months and was head hunted into a management consultancy.
• Then in 2006 things weren't going well so I left my permanent job and went freelance. Haven't looked back.

 

[tyrrelll]

Try different things! You'll never know what u might enjoy till you give it a go. The last thing anyone wants is to be stuck in a dead-end job they hate.

I tried bricklaying.. Joined the TA.. worked in a phone shop.. worked at barclaycard.. then gave that up to go to Uni and study Digital Film making.. i plan on getting my foot in the door with a wedding video company. Im only 21 so your still young enough to search for something... the worlds your oyster ! aha Good Luck mate

 

[Geordie Mike]

In all seriousness, I knew I wanted to do an engineering degree when I was 15. I did Chem Eng at Uni, and did a year in industry as part of my degree. Since joining industry, I have kinda fallen into the roles I have had (upstream oil & gas well stuff) but I love my job. I love getting to the bottom of a problem, understanding something at a base level - engineering is a good fit for me.

 

[damo.h]

Seconded Look in to HM forces dude a world of opportunity at yr feet... from combat infantry to helicopter pilots and everything in between...

 

[superkarl]

I was in a very very similar position not long ago.
I did college and got a-levels, and decided I wasn't ready for uni so I worked, over 4 years I did 2 jobs, nothing exciting but they allowed me to do what I wanted, travelled abit, bought the s3. But then I got thinking about the long term and there was no way I was staying where I was.
In the end I had a think back to my college days and what I enjoyed, being a bit of a nerd I excelled in geology and geological science, so thought I may aswell play to my strengths and what I enjoyed, and last year at the age of 22 I started a degree in geophysics. So far I feel it's the right choice, and I know in the end I'l end up doing something enjoyable, plus, a major factor in my choice was that this degree is a get out of UK card!
Just think back to school or college and what you think now, with a mature head, you'd do better in.
It's a good starting point anyway.

Oh and if you have the welding skill, surely getting the qualification could be fast. And if you do, I'd advise doing a diving course or rope access, I have a friend who left the fire brigade to do exactly that and now gets employed all over welding under water for dam good money, very worthwhile. That's just a good niche based on what you've told us.

 

[StrmsekS3]

guess i was lucky knew from early on i wanted to travel the world, get paid for it and always wanted to be an engineer so joined merchant navy at 17! now 25 working as a 2nd engineer on ships working in oil and gas industry for money most of my friends only dream about!
Left Turkey yesterday heading for Malta for a few days then Possibly off to India, so far in last year have been all over world including states, northern norway, uk, iceland, turkey, spain, holland, malta and all paid for!.

if not into engineering the deck officer side mite be worth a look?
just an idea but gotta cope with being away from home. still i get 6mnths off per year so wont complain!

cant go wrong with engineering, welding etc plenty work you just need to know where to look, the advice from superkarl is spot on about diving and rope access offshore industry is great for that work!

 

[Breezey]

Thanks very much for the advice guys , unfortunatly ive got asthma so correct me if im wrong that excludes me from pretty much everything like army, navy, police etc?

Oh and if you have the welding skill, surely getting the qualification could be fast. And if you do, I'd advise doing a diving course or rope access, I have a friend who left the fire brigade to do exactly that and now gets employed all over welding under water for dam good money, very worthwhile. That's just a good niche based on what you've told us.

Funny you should mention that i have often thought about doing under water welding , gonna have to look into qualifications so ****** expensive now though.

 

[superkarl]

The diving course my friend took set him back about 6grand or something silly, but once working doing that sort of job, the cost of doing it is nothing. It's a job no one wants or dares to do, nor even think of, therefore lots of work, and very well paid.
I would love to work away like that.

 

[johnnythepie]

Im due to retire next year when im 50, so im nearly over.If i could go back to your age, id certainly do whatever you feel comfortable with, but not in this country.Had the chance to exchange with a guy in the US when i was 22 but didnt take it.Im still kicking myself now.So dont tie yourself to just this country.All the best anyway mate

 

[Breezey]

The diving course my friend took set him back about 6grand or something silly, but once working doing that sort of job, the cost of doing it is nothing. It's a job no one wants or dares to do, nor even think of, therefore lots of work, and very well paid.
I would love to work away like that.

Ouch thaths alot but like you say im sure its more than worth it in the longrun, the thought of doing it doeant bother me at all im suprised they are in such short supply.

Im due to retire next year when im 50, so im nearly over.If i could go back to your age, id certainly do whatever you feel comfortable with, but not in this country.Had the chance to exchange with a guy in the US when i was 22 but didnt take it.Im still kicking myself now.So dont tie yourself to just this country.All the best anyway mate

Thanks, im definatly not going to tie myself here, always wanted to go and work over in the US but i was atalking to someone that did it and they prefer working here , granted they had an unskilled job so i imagine it wouldnt have been easy. Im going to take some serious thought over this thanks everyone for all your advice its been a great help

 

[Lloyd149]

I did a course at college after school to hopefully direct me into joining a public service, mainly the Police. After months of hearing nothing I too started to wonder what I was going to do. I then started to think of apprenticeships, knowing I wouldn't like a office job and sooner be out and about in different places each week. So now i'm a qualified electrician and it suits me down to the ground. Now i'm looking at courses to maybe become a electrical engineer.

So in short maybe it's worth while to start off with a trade and earn some cash on way to fund the car and lifestyle and still progress once qualified if you want to. Money is pretty poor starting off but pay rises are usually frequent and you'll eventually be on good money.

 

[Geordie Mike]

They are in short supply 'cos it's risky, relative to other oil & gas stuff. The North Sea will be a boom area for people decommissioning all that stuff, though they will try to do as much of it with robots as possible.

 

[Geordie Mike]

That and the living conditions, I would guess. 21 days in saturation conditions, living in a small metal cylinder, would do my nut.

 

[tku]

Dude. You've just depressed me out.

 

[j033y]

Jobs suck. it's so hard trying to find a career you love. I have only a couple of friends who really love their jobs and it winds me up, i am so jealous, not of their chosen careers, but the fact they genuinley love going to work.

One works on the WRC cars for M Sport (Ford WRC)
The other works for Cummins engines designing new engines.

Me, well I am a part qualified accountant. I don't enjoy sitting in an office staring at a screen. But just as I am going to pack it up, a good day comes along.

The pay is fairly poor, but when i get qualified then it will be good money, and I hope to be able to go more into higher management. The qualification will hopefully unlock more doors in the long run!

I am only 27, and have often thought about joining the police, but with them not recruiting around me it's a bit too hard. plus it would be a pay cut, and the big thing that puts me off is my height, i'm only 5 foot 5!

One day I hope to be in a job I love, but i doubt it. It's so hard to find a career you'll love.

Very jealous of all you lot loving your work!

 

[Welly]

All jobs become repetitive eventually. I always loved computers and cars as a kid (yes I did have friends as well... lol). However mechanics, unless you make it onto a rally team doesn't pay.

Went with computers instead.

Like my job, but there are aspects of any job that are samey.

Stick with what you know would be my advice.

 

[finesse]

Persistence, find what you can enjoy for the next 45 years