26 career myths
mythological
busting
In at the deep end
Myths are born
huge number of myths, fibs and half-truths think they do, many of them
sloshing about out there. will change their minds later.
in the minds of
imaginative people,
The facts are twisted, moulded and You can’t really plan a career at all –
mangled. They are repeated endlessly until
because it doesn’t actually exist until
and while some
they become ‘fact’ – or at least, received
you’ve done it. For now, it’s simply the
future. The whole point of the future is that
may count
wisdom. The theme of these myths tends
to be how gruelling life is after graduation.
you don’t know what it’s going to be like
as moral tales,
When you’re swamped by negative
until you get there. Not only will your
nonsense like this, it’s easy to miss the
priorities shift as time goes on, leading you
others serve no good stuff that would actually make your
to make all sorts of decisions you probably
never imagined, but the world will change
other purpose
life easier. The truth is far friendlier than the
myth. Trust me – there is no bad news!
too – and that affects the job market in
than to confuse
ways you can never predict. Do you think
students who graduated in the early 1990s
and conflict the
Myth 1: ‘Most people have their
career planned out by the time they
had any idea how many of them would
truth. Tanya de
graduate – or soon afterwards’
be doing jobs involving something called
the ‘World Wide Web’? Instead of planning
Perhaps you think...
Grunwald sorts
everything and then getting on with
You’re one of a tiny minority of graduates
it, you’re going to have to get used to
the wheat from the
who haven’t yet decided what to do with
feeling your way, making decisions as you
the next 40 years of their working lives.
chaff in some of the
go along. Through trial and error, you’ll
Everyone else has their entire career
discover what’s working for you and what
most harebrained
mapped out ahead of them. All they have
isn’t. Anything can – and will – happen.
to do now is get on with it. You need to do
Only one thing is certain: you’ll have to
graduate
the same – sharpish.
keep changing the plan.
career myths
Reality check:
Myth 2: ‘holiday jobs don’t count as
Every year, a king-sized slice of the student
proper work experience’
body graduate without so much as an
Perhaps you think...
I met hundreds of recent graduates when inkling about what they’re going to do next
Unless you spent your uni holidays
researching for this book. I asked about – and most go on to live happy, successful
doing something seriously impressive,
plans and the reasons for those plans. I lives. Honest. Our experts at The Careers
employers aren’t interested in any
asked about fears and the thinking behind Group can testify that very few 21 year
paid work you’ve done so far. Having
those fears. And the more of you I spoke olds know how they’re going to spend
casual work on your CV makes you look
to, the clearer it became that there are a their entire working lives. And even if some
amateurish and unfocused.
gradjobs.co.uk
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