Karen Cannard, RCDP AISEP

Would you believe me if I said that inspiration for careers can be found everywhere? Yes, even in this dusty looking photo.

Wherever you are right now, take a look around you – at the clothes you’re wearing, the objects around you, how you travel, the food you eat and the water you drink. Who designed and manufactured the device that you are using to read this? Who built this website and designed the logo? Also don’t forget the people who help you or those being helped by others. Everything is connected to someone’s job or career. Look at the buildings that surround you or the countryside nearby. Everything around us is either designed and built, managed and protected or observed and analysed by an expert with skills and specialist knowledge. Even the rubbish that we recycle is packed with lots of related jobs. You wouldn’t believe how many careers you can find in your bin.

You might think that searching for ideas about your future job might begin with looking at a few websites or reading a book – and yes, you are right. That’s why this site also includes some really useful links and books to inspire you.

However, it really begins with your curiosity, especially about the things and people around you, your curiosity to explore new opportunities and your curiosity about the jobs of other people you meet. Pick a random object and ask yourself who could have made it? Where was it made? What is made of? How did it get to you? Or think of a building that you pass every day and ask yourself who built it? Who might have designed it? Where did the materials come from? Who even allowed it to be built there and gave permission for the road outside? If a business is based there, what do they do and what types of careers exist there? Look up their website to find out more.

When you arrive at school or college, how much do you know about the work of the headteacher and the staff who work there? It may be your place of education, but it is also a workplace with professional staff responsible for the curriculum, behaviour, health & safety, school transport, site management, maintenance & cleaning, sustainability, catering, office management, finance, administration, IT support, communications, safeguarding & wellbeing, exams, library management & careers guidance, as well as teachers of course, SEND specialists and the learning support staff who help in the classroom and support other activities too. Talking of the classroom, what careers link to the subjects that you’re learning? Ask your teachers or careers adviser before you forget.

Back to that photo… have a look again. Now what do you see? Enlarge it for a closer look. Is it still just a dusty old path surrounded by wasteland? Or is it part of a new building site? There are clues in the background, where new houses are being built, which would have involved town planners, architects, surveyors, engineers, archaeologists, heavy plant drivers, builders, scaffolders, roofers, insulation experts, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, plasterers, decorators, landscape architects, water engineers, broadband engineers and site managers, plus many more linked careers. For example, think about the sales office and the show houses, carefully designed by interior designers, branding specialists and marketing professionals. Think about the sales agents who use their sales skills to sell the houses and seal the deal, which then adds solicitors, mortgage providers, credit searches, land registry and insurers into the mix… oh, yes and the furniture removal companies.

Phew! I think that’s probably enough for now. After all, we don’t want to get carried away with small details like “Well, what about who cuts the sales agents’ hair?” or “Where are the jobs where you can design the furniture?” or even “Who works out how much a house will cost?“… or do we?

Once you open your curiosity to the careers that exist all around you, you’ll never look at your world the same way again. You will be armed with the inspiration to find out more information about whatever interests you, seek guidance on whether it really is for you and, if so, follow advice about your skills, the qualifications and opportunities to get you there.

“We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

Walt Disney