5 lies you’ve probably been told by your careers advisor

Once, a careers advisor told me that I should probably become a careers advisor, and then nearly threw me out of her office when I said that this wasn’t my optimum career plan.*

Since this incident I haven’t had a whole lot of faith in them. So, here are some things that they might have led you to believe, which aren’t necessarily true.

(Disclaimer — we’re sure they say lots of good stuff too. Just not any of this.)

1. You need to decide what you want to do with your life RIGHT NOW.

At the beginning of the third term of my second year of university, my collected literature blatherers sat in a seminar room whilst a careers advisor terrified the bejesus out of us with the words: “If you don’t know what career you want yet, don’t worry — you’ve still got about six weeks to decide.”

She meant well, obviously. What she meant was, “If you don’t know what career you want yet, don’t worry — but start thinking about what job you might like to tide you over after you leave our cosy uni bubble, whilst you decide what your actual life’s work is going to be.”

But this is not what she said. And what an absolutely exceptional way to terrify a bunch of 20 year old English Literature students who haven’t got a clue what’s going on at the best of times.

2. “It’s the job you’re going to be doing for the next 40 years.”

Listen to me, careers advisor: owing to the fact that it’s not 1950 and that lots of jobs overlap quite significantly, I don’t actually have to stay in the same company, role or even sector a day longer than I absolutely have to. Are you seriously suggesting that if I so wish I can’t move from online journalism to PR to marketing, back to subediting? Because if you are, you’re wrong.

Telling students that the choices they make now are going to be irreversible is a hindrance, not a help.

3. “You should apply for grad schemes.”

Yeah… you should. If you want. Or, you should go travelling without a plan or take a risk on your own niggling business idea or work in a bar, if you want.

It’s worth noting that universities are judged on how many graduates they have entry level jobs or in further study six months after cap n’ gowns day, and they want this number to be as high as possible for league table purposes. But this route might not be the right thing for you, no matter how pushed into it you feel. In fact, if you’ve got a dream that’s going to take years of effort to achieve, or if you’re harbouring a serious case of wanderlust, taking this particular piece of advice on board could be crushing.

4. “Here’s a form — you should fill it in so you have all your skills listed ready for application forms.”

Good in theory — but this supposedly time-saving exercise makes it very easy to fall into the trap of copy and pasting generic statements come graduation time, especially if you’re applying for a few jobs every day to keep the momentum (and numbers) up. And we all know that not tailoring your applications to the job in question is a fast way to get them thrown in the reject bin.

5. “Creative writing students bring colour to life — that might be a good thing to put on your CV.”

For the love of god, do not write this ANYWHERE.

*I’m fully aware of the irony in this, due to the fact that I am actually now writing career advice. If this has been helpful to you, maybe that crazy lady was in fact correct.

Originally published at https://www.thenationalstudent.com.