You Will Need Help

You are going to need help.

Whilst it's important that you choose you're own future and you're not swayed by the opinions of your friends, teachers, siblings, cousins, parents or hamsters, you are always going to need advice, especially from those who have made the same decision.

If you're still at school, take the opportunity to use the facilities. Find out who your careers advisor is, where they will be and when. Ask them for help- that's what they're there for! Talk to your teachers...the ones you like. Believe it or not, they want to help you to. Having said that, it's probable that your teachers will tell you to go university, whether you want to or not, but it's always useful to hear their own experiences.

If not, there are always other places to get help, the job centre, the library, the internet, apprenticehips.org.uk, THIS BLOG, and others...
Find out where your nearest "connexions" centre is, they can give you impartial advice on what steps you can take and how you should be planning.

Apprenticeships and Internships and Other Work Experience

Hey Guys!

Summer's on it's way and it's time to plan your next step.

Apprenticeships are very popular with people who chose not to go to university.
They can offer:

•  on the job training
• a basic salary- averages are arounf £160/ week
• an apprentice qualification - Intermediate/Adavanced/Higher
• college or uni-based learning
• expense paid
• experience
• permanent jobs at the end of the course

Internships are similar but are mostly suited to vocational jobs, and you may find you are paid less, or not at all.

If you're thinking that an apprenticeship is the way forward, you need to be prepared to select your preferred field of work and be set on it. The more experience you can get in one area of work, the better your chances of securing a permanent job- Remember, you will have three of four years to get ahead of uni students with regard to work experience so make the most of it, you will need to show you are just as committed as those who have spent £36,000 on a university qualification.

Useful websites include

http://www.notgoingtouni.co.uk/

http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/

and of course

http://uni-notgoing.blogspot.co.uk/

If you find that there are no apprenticeships advertised on these sites which interest you, do it yourself!

Apply to companies you know of and want to work for. 

What I have learnt is that the big companies (often banks and retail establishments) have a ridiculous amount of departments, a lot of which you wouldn't immediately think of.

For example, want a job in marketing? Write to banks, insurance companies, large chains of shops, restaurants etc don't just think of marketing agencies!