Careers
Claire Pech – Careers Advisor
This will be my last Careers article for 2021. After a very eventful 2021, for all our students, I would like to leave some dates and details for the group. Please save these for access to UAC, rounds, and applications.
What I would like to leave the Class of 2021 with is… the (exciting) prospect of them now getting used to managing their own future, plans and career.
Up until now someone else (usually a parent) has been taking the lead in paying for tuition, keeping them engaged in their studies (teachers), providing an environment conducive to study (parents), and potentially having a big influence on study choices. This may be in the form of advising on subject selections, advising on whether to take up or drop extra subjects and units, and even being involved in part-time job applications.
Now autonomy is here, and here to stay. This should be embraced! It can be exciting and daunting. The benefits will be independence, learning from mistakes and realising opinions and research still matter and count.
My other parting thought would be to ‘stay fluid in your thinking’, it generally can take more years to find out:
- what you are good at
- what your real interests are
- what type of work environment you prefer and work best in
- what makes you excited about your chosen job/profession
- what your connection is with salary, and whether that is a big driver for you
- what your value system with work is and
- what types of opportunities you want to take (eg overseas work).
We also have outside influences factors like:
- the job outlook
- the (over or under) availability of other qualified professionals in your field
- salaries
- qualifications
- work conditions
- industry disruptions
- overseas opportunities
- entrepreneurial ventures
- COVID-19 influencers and the future economic outlook
I think taking all of this into account, keeping an open mind, trying lots of different subjects, and courses at university, being open to new work opportunities, start-ups and internships, and meeting a wide variety of new people as you head out into your next opportunity can only help this exciting new phase take off. Best wishes!
Relevant articles, dates and 2ebinars
- UAC key dates
- UAC Fact Sheet – key dates: please note that as ATARs will be out on the 20 January 2022, I will be available for appointments on the day on to chat to students about their preferences. The usual booking process is via my calendly link and it will be ready for bookings on the day. Meetings will be held on Zoom.
- UAC Offers and Preferences – YouTube Video explaining making changes, preferences.
- UAC ATAR Release Webinar – How to accept offers – 6.00 pm on 10 December 2021. It will be well worth attending this.
- The EAS deadline is on the 17 December 2021 – if students have not already submitted their application. All details about EAS can be found here.
University of Sydney – Prospective students
Save the date for Information Day
Students who are considering studying at the University of Sydney in 2022 are invited to their Information Day. There will be an online Info Day event run on Thursday 20 January 2022 from 10.00 am – 3.00 pm, and an in-person event at the Camperdown Campus on Friday 21 January 2022 from 10.00 am – 3.00 pm.
Please visit our University of Sydney Events which will have more details in the near future. I encourage everyone who has applied to Sydney University to take this opportunity to get on campus (at last!) and wander around to see how it all feels.
Hopefully other Universities will be doing similar events and activities so keep your ears and eyes peeled for updates.
For career-changers in the parent community, this is a great article by Bruno Doring about changing careers and a new normal in the workforce post-COVID shake up.