Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

Year 12

I kicked off the Year 12 Guest Speaker program last week, looking at a snapshot of where the current Year 12 group is up to. I presented the results of a survey I took last term to show them where their interests seem to lie and also what type of careers they are considering and what types of ATARs they are hoping to achieve.

I asked the question: “Which statement do you feel currently describes where you are at with careers and life after school?”.

It is interesting that over half the group felt pretty scared by this process. But interestingly a quarter felt that they knew  exactly where they wanted their career to go. These numbers tend to change throughout the year and I reassure them, will change often over the next decade too.

Students were asked what their ATAR goal was for the year. This is simply to gauge some idea about where they are trying to get to, and in turn this can feed into what courses they are looking at.

Below we can see the spread of interest across faculty groups with a high majority in Arts and Social Sciences, Business, Education/Social work right down to Dentistry (a first for me at Emanuel).

The career preferences for Year 12 students this year are varied, interesting and diverse. Below is a snapshot. What I love about these charts is their ever-changing nature. By the end of the year, we can easily take about 10 off this list and probably add another 10 new ones. The would-be Psychologist may move to try Criminology. The Engineer may have a change of heart and decide she wants to study Mathematics. The Physiotherapist realises that it is really Nutrition they are interested in. This is something that I love about careers but also something that creates anxiety for students.

Over the next 3 terms I will be seeing Year 12 students each week to help increase their awareness of university/tertiary options. I will encourage them to do their own research so they can feel empowered, to be part of and take control of this process, relay any fears and anxiety that they may have and most of all, leave them with solid options for when they leave school.

Over the next few weeks I am visiting both The UNSW and University of Sydney to find out about their new courses. I will outline their new initiatives over the next 2 weeks. Make sure to read my articles in the coming weeks to find out about the exciting initiatives that they are offering for 2019.