Careers

When organisations write their strategic plans, they will include a mission statement or similar, and then outline goals and strategies to provide a framework to manage tasks or projects to achieve their goals.

This process can equally be applied to help young people make plans for post school study and work. Having a ‘mission statement’ is a good idea – a ‘big picture’ vision is a good place to start. Asking questions like “What do I want my work life to look like?” might be difficult to quantify, or formally record, but having a dream about the future is valuable because from there you can step back and work out what can be done to achieve the dream.

One of the things we can do to help our boys with this process is to encourage a flexible approach to goal setting – sometimes things beyond our control will impact their ability to meet the expectations they set for themselves. At any point, their ‘vision’ statement can shift as they learn more about themselves, and are impacted by the world around them. Holding rigidly to a plan that might not be achievable will not be helpful.

Many of the careers conversations that take place are about the way boys will approach their goals, building a range of options for them. The image of open doors along a hallway is what we try to create, empowering them to make decisions as they go, and not feel committed to any one pathway until they are equipped to make that commitment.

Courses and contacts

Please refer to Courses & Contacts for details of courses and contacts that may be of interest to you and your sons.

Susan Draysey | Careers and Student Pathways Advisor