Q: Not sure if it’s the right career for you?
A: Get out there and FIND OUT
By Keshav Bhatt
Keshav is the founder of the brilliant Revolution Hive, inspiring and supporting young people to be the best they can be http://revolutionhive.com/ Keep an eye out for his video blogs!
I graduated in July 2011 from Reading University with a BA in English Literature. Like most graduates entering the ‘real world’ of employment, I had completed 3 years of academic study and was entering a phase of uncertainty and curiosity.
Having worked really hard in my final year, after graduating, (quite literally – immediately after my ceremony!) I hopped on a plane to Australia to visit family for the summer. However, I’ve always been the type of person who hates not having something to do, or some purpose to fulfil and I decided to transform my supposed ‘holiday’ into an opportunity to get some work experience abroad. I had so many questions about my future that I knew I needed to answer, and to do this pretty soon so I set upon searching for those answers. I still got to enjoy myself and have a great time with my family, but I also got to start preparing for the life I would be going back to.
Like many other English graduates, teaching seemed like an obvious fit for me as a career. I had volunteered throughout university life as a teaching assistant, a student mentor, and as an ambassador of the university for AimHigher. As a result, I wanted to step up a little, and really experience it for myself. I wanted to know every detail of what I was entering: how much lesson planning is it? What are the worst days like? What are the best days like? What are the things I need to know from the people who know it?
So what happened? I had a great time working in a local school for a few weeks and got some experience in teaching in the classroom at as many different age levels as possible – from nursery, all the way up to secondary. I spent my lunch breaks asking as many questions to as many different teachers, all with vast amounts of knowledge and experience to find out if this was really the right option for me.
I came back with
- a) experience of teaching abroad
- b) a really clear idea of what to expect if I chose teaching.
If you’re not sure what to do, or if it’s the right career for you, get yourself out there and start asking the people who have done it questions. Those teachers were like potential future Keshav Bhatt’s. And even though I didn’t choose teaching as a career, I still have the experience of working in another country to add to my CV and the skills I gained from doing it too.
Go for it! You have nothing to lose!!
Do you have a post graduation experience you would like to share online get in touch @YEUK2012 or email admin@youthemployment.org.uk
