The reality of realising that you hate your intended career idea...

By Ann Duff, Careers Manager

Your initial response might be to panic, but you shouldn't. This is fixable.?

Every year, during careers coaching, there is a predictable pinch point that comes around November(ish). It’s when the teaching students go out on their first placement.

They soon turn up to careers coaching appointments having realised that teaching is not for them. I have heard many reasons ranging from ‘It’s not what I thought it would be’ to ‘I liked the job, but I hated the environment’ to (my personal favourite) ‘What was I thinking—I don’t even like children!’

Sometimes, you can be focussed on a career idea; it’s all you've ever considered and how you define yourself. All through school, it’s been the answer you’ve given when asked what you intend to do when you leave, and you’ve been quite happy with this decision. You may have even researched it and talked to people about it, so it’s a big shock when you go out to a placement, internship or other work experience and realise that you actually kind of hate it.

Students have described it to me like a vacuum—a black hole opening up at their feet and they have no idea what to do next.

If this happens to you, then stop, take a minute and don’t make any rash decisions. The three?steps below should help you reorientate yourself and figure out the best way forward.

Think about pros and cons

If you are doing a vocational course in this area like teaching, medicine or civil engineering, reflect on whether you want to continue. What are the pros and cons? These will be different for each individual but might look like:

• Pro: Your degree?will still be highly valuable in other job areas, and it?will have given you useful transferable skills to help you pivot to one.
• Con: You might feel you would be better spending your time doing something related to a new career idea.

If you do decide to withdraw, always talk to your Adviser of Studies first to make sure you get as much from the situation as possible. Sometimes, there are also funding implications to consider, so talk to your funding provider to find out if there is any impact to you and your funding arrangements.

Explore related career paths

What drew you to this career idea in the first place? Look at adjacent roles in the same job family.

Often, students are drawn to paths that seem more familiar to them, such as teaching and medicine. But there are tons of roles you might not be aware of or have considered.

If?a role you wanted to pursue turns out to be the wrong fit, there may be?something else in that job family that is a good match. Look at Prospects’ webpage on job sectors to investigate what roles are?adjacent to the thing you’ve realised you hate. You may find that you simply hate a specific role but still love the sector.

Explore roles that use similar skills, strengths and qualities

Look at job roles, outside of the sector, that are utilising similar skills, strengths and qualities. Use Prospects’ Career Planner for?help surfacing your skills, strengths and values. It also matches you to job roles. This is a useful exercise to?reset your thinking away from what you don’t know and to?new ideas.

So, don't panic. There is a way forward.

Embrace the concept that ‘not all who wander are lost’. It’s good that you've realised that you don’t like this career idea while you still have time to make a change and before getting trapped in a career that’s not for you.

You got this!

Other resources

Getting Started Masterclass: Join this online session to get guidance on self-reflection and career ideas

Prospects’ webpage on job sectors: Explore career options that are related to your intended career idea and/or degree

Prospects’ Career Planner: Use this tool to help surface your skills, strengths and values