How good was the careers advice you received when leaving school/college?

Rozzi Rainbow

Hi everyone

I saw a couple of interesting articles linked to on the AAT Facebook page recently - the first (I think it may have been this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24015879) mentions how a worringly high number of schools/college are failing to give sufficient careers advice to student. This rang true with me, as I was really disappointed with the 'advice' I received - I think I get more annoyed by it as time goes on! So I wondered if any of you wanted to share your stories? How good was the advice you received? Was AAT even mentioned to you?

I knew quite early on that I didn't want to go to uni at 18, and from that point my careers 'advice' consisted of teachers trying to change my mind! I wasn't told about any other options and was basically left to find my own way in the world. (I remember a 'what's next' sort of day where they had many sessions on life at uni and only one session on finding a job!). No-one told me about the AAT - it was my mum's idea for me to go to my local Connexions office where they told me about it. Looking back now, I'm really pleased I was so insistent about not going to uni because I can imagine I would have been encouraged to apply for the 'best' degrees at the 'best' uni's rather than the course that would give me the most ACCA/ACA exemptions. And unless I was lucky enough to get a graduate position, I can't see how having an accountancy (or they would probably have made me study maths!) degree with no experience would have got me any further than I did with AAT.

The second article I saw (it might have been this one, or something very similar: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jane-scott-paul/parental-preconceptions-hamper-apprenticeship-aspirations_b_3717934.html) is by our very own CEO Jane Scott Paul, and I thought it was excellent and nodded along as I read it! She talks about how more people are becoming aware of apprenticeships, but they're trying to change the view that they're only for 'less able' students. So hopefully more schools/colleges will start telling their students about the AAT and other options.

Ok rant over now! I would be interested to hear if other people have had similar or better experiences, from however long ago (my story is from 2004).