Graduate Prospects - February 6, 2008 - (Page 2)

2 PROSPECTS GRADUATE Issue 60 · 6 February 2008 · Fortnightly www.prospects.ac.uk BLOGGERS AT WORK ‘I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high’ KIRSTIE’S INTERVIEW RESULT ‘It’s slightly worrying not knowing what I really want to do’ MATT IN TWO MINDS and luckily it was the job I got. It is such an exciting city to work in and there is always so much going on. I definitely consider that I have one of the best jobs within my profession.’ Evidently some people’s path to fulfilment is smooth while others must make great and perhaps unsuccessful efforts to find it. Paul Redmond, head of Careers & Employability at the University of Liverpool, points out that all sorts of influences can play a part in career choices, not always helpfully. ‘Careers services in recent years have seen an increase in the numbers of students asking about careers as forensic psychologists, crime scene investigators and secret agents. Whether anyone would have heard about these jobs let alone aspired to them without them being the basis for popular TV programmes is questionable.’ HAPPY TYPES But despite some students’ possibly unrealistic choices, Paul sees the idea of the dream job as fundamental to career decisions. He also thinks it is important to look at what lies behind these aspirations. THE POWER OF DREAMS Increasingly, a ‘dream job’ is what we all want. Nothing less seems fair reward for the costly years at university. The popular belief is that there is a role somewhere uniquely suited to each one of us. And each employer expects us to convince them that their vacancy is our dream. But discovering an ambition and then achieving it are big challenges. In the last year of her degree Carol Bunting realised ‘like a light bulb going on’ that she should be a newspaper reporter. ‘So many people told me it was too competitive - that it would be impossible to find a job, that I would be wasting my time. But that just made me even more determined,’ she recalls. AIMING HIGH CAN LEAD TO FRUSTRATION, DEAD ENDS AND, WITH LUCK, SUCCESS job. I have to go out to so many tragedies, such as fatal fires and car crashes, cover murders and horrific crime and put up with the majority of people thinking I am “scum” because they all assume you are like the paparazzi.’ Carol is about to quit and look for another dream, this time considering the negatives as well as the positives. Unlike Carol, town planner Emily Greaves is happy in her career choice which evolved in a very different way, starting during A-levels. According to one theory, people split into eight basic types for achieving fulfilment at work. So, some people’s paramount need is ‘My dream was to attend the University of security while others above all must have a Manchester and I wasn't particularly challenge. Other core types are managers, concerned which course I took. Planning just technical or functional experts, creative seemed interesting and the grade requirements entrepreneurs, people dedicated to service, were achievable,’ she explains. those who value independence and the ones As well as doing a Masters in journalism, who prioritise lifestyle. People of each type Carol devoted her free time to getting NICE PLANNING At university, Emily experience. Her first success was a job in a continued in the same direction. ‘I only really can have more than one satisfying career, so it is worth exploring several options. small weekly paper. Then ‘after two years, I looked at careers related to planning such as finally got the “dream job”. I couldn’t believe urban design. I was advised that jobs in Having examined the alternatives, though, you it. I was given a job on a massive, regional planning were very easy to come by and they could still find yourself pitted against newspaper, with the most amazing news patch were.’ hundreds of other hopefuls, whether to become and freedom to work on anything I wanted.’ Now established in planning, Emily says: ‘I'm an investment banker or primary school IT’S MURDER But Carol now says: ‘If I had still not sure I would call it my dream job, but teacher. The power of dreams alone will not known then, what I do now, there is no way I working at Manchester City Council was be enough to get you to the goal, but soughtwould have said news reporting was my dream definitely the job I wanted when I graduated after jobs cannot be achieved without it. INFORMATION AND ADVICE www.prospects.ac.uk/links/pplanner ALL ABOUT APPLICATIONS www.prospects.ac.uk/links/appsinterviews GRADUATE EMPLOYERS www.prospects.ac.uk/links/coprofiles QUESTIONS ANSWERED www.prospects.ac.uk/links/careerfaqs WHAT JOB SUITS YOU SEND YOUR VIEWS, SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS editorial@prospects.ac.uk http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Graduate_jobs/p!edcaefX http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Feature_Articles/Feature_articles_2008/Matt_s_job_log__3/p!eacLbdb http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Feature_Articles/Feature_articles_2008/Kirstie_s_job_log__16/p!edLcamp http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/pplanner http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/appsinterviews http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/coprofiles http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/careerfaqs

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Editorial: The Power of Dreams Jaguar Land Rover Editorial: Return to the UK KPMG B&W Group Ltd Royal Mail Makro RWS Translations Ltd Two Rivers Housing Black & Decker South Lanarkshire Council Entrypark Graduate Prospects Eng Design Ltd Environment Agency NTC Economics Ltd Editorial: Extra School Work Training and Development Agency Liverpool Hope University University of Manchester University of Southampton

Graduate Prospects - February 6, 2008

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