My 17 year-old son came home from school last term with the (presumably AI-generated) results of his careers questionnaire. He’s not really sure what he wants to be when he grows up, maybe designer or diplomat. Though right now it’s all about more immediate university and gap year decisions.
So, what did the careers questionnaire reveal as his top two profile matches?
Circus performer or head of state. Yup. Those two well-known ‘careers’.
Needless to say this has generated considerable family hilarity – both the unlikely juxtaposition of these two ‘careers’ and the bewilderment at what answers he must have given to the AI to generate these matches.
And then, by sheer coincidence, I was tidying up an old filing cabinet and unearthed my own careers questionnaire from my sixth form days back in the 80s (see blog image of me in 1985, complete with Sun-In enhancement!). Oh. My. Word.
Before I share my top careers matches with you, let me confess the answers I gave to some of the questions [#face-palm]! This was priceless entertainment for my teenage children.
(A score of 1 means “like very much”; 5 means “dislike very much”)
First up, it was clear I already preferred physics to other sciences, which is comforting to know, since I went on to study and teach physics! Um, hold that thought. Next comes my reaction to teaching teenagers:
Educating 11-20 years olds was a clear “dislike”! Thankfully, that changed as I grew up since I spent 22 years very happily teaching in secondary schools.
Then we come onto the career choices I’d tentatively put forward on the questionnaire (remember this is the 17 year-old me):
So I was clearly still a bit unsure. I’d taken O level Astronomy the previous summer and loved it, hence ‘Astronomer’. And I’d spent two weeks doing work experience at an engineering firm, though there didn;t seem to be a code for that. I’m fascinated to see that at 17 I was still wondering about music as a career. And so happy that even now, decades later, music is such a big part of my life.
So what did the computer churn out as possible career matches from my responses?
Curious. I just remember thinking “I don’t want to work on an oil rig”! I think the careers teacher at our girls’ grammar was a bit bewildered – her stock recommendations were nursng or teaching for all.
Well, after the entertainment came some reflection. How far has careers education come in 40 years? It’s certainly been through many iterations, from the Careers Service to the privatised Connexions, and is now devolved to schools and colleges with limited funding, accountability (beyond the Gatsby Benchmarks) or training, though now supported by the Careers and Enterprise Company.
With the best will in the world, one over-stretched school careers lead cannot advise on the myriad jobs out there, especially if they are classroom teachers with only a tiny timetable allowance to research the ever-accelerating list of opportunities. On their wishlist (and backed up by research) would be more engagement from employers, providing the workplace and employee interactions that we know help young people make career choices, even if deferred by studying or training first. Plus it’s good for the businesses, helping to close skills gaps.
Such engagement is patchy at the moment. Big corporates have huge education outreach teams. Others will offer schools workshops, talks or work experience but it doesn’t always land successfully. It works well when it is:
- age-appropriate and curriculum-aligned
- cost-neutral (even if ‘free’, the transport and teacher cover can make it unaffordable)
- at the right time of the week / year
- sustained and embedded as part of a strong partnership with schools
- accessible to all (not just those with useful networks to draw on) and promotes diversity and inclusivity.
I’m happy to report that the work experience my son has fixed up so far is helping him hone his career choices – though I don’t think either circus performing or head of state are on the cards!
For more information about our schools outreach consultancy offer, including the next iteration of our Engaging with Schools course, click here.
