When you are at college you will probably be asked on many occasions – “what would you like to be when you get older”. This can be a hard question to answer, especially when you have never worked before and do not know what any of the jobs are really going to be like – this is the exact reason many people change careers a few times even when they get to their 30’s as they still don’t know what they want to do. 

In order to try and make this a little easier for you, we want to put a few tips together to help you when considering what your career path is going to be. Below are three of them. 

What are your passions and interests? 

To start with, what do you consider your passion and interests are? Is there something that you really enjoy and fancy getting more into? For example, if you enjoy getting muddy and learning about cars, then a manual drop to do with construction may be of interest. You could go to Uni and learn more about the gas industry and the equipment they use like drager tubes. Alternatively, if you enjoy teaching others, maybe becoming a teacher is something you would be interested in, or coaching something you enjoy like football? Your passion and interests are a great place to start as this will help narrow down options for you – there are many online training courses you could look into if you wanted to get an insight into the training that’s involved. 

Educational requirements 

Some jobs require more in-depth knowledge than others. When looking into future careers, it’s important you do your research on this, to decide if you want to go down that route. Doctors for example require that you have gone to university and potentially have a master’s. Sales jobs or marketing jobs may only require your a-levels, whilst some will let you enter with experience only. If you don’t enjoy studying and being in education, then a career that requires you to study a lot may not be for you. 

Work/life balance 

You may not have thought of it yet, but a work/life balance is extremely important for your future happiness. If you are always working, you may find yourself burning out and not enjoying what you do. Some careers require a lot of flexibility and dedication which can take up a lot of your time which you may not see yourself giving up – this can affect people who want to have families young. 

Choosing your future career path can be a stressful time, but know whatever you do choose, you can always change it. Never feel pressured to just settle as you can always try something new and start a different career at any age in your life. A lot of people retrain whilst a lot of people are happy with the career they choose – everyone is different at the end of the day. 


What tips do you have for students deciding their career path? Are there any tips that you think we should have added? Let us know in the comment box below.