Life After... Social Studies: A Practical Guide to Life After Your Degree

187 Pages·2007·0.82 MB·English

by  Sally Longson

Life After …
Social Studies
Thousands of students graduate from university each year. The
lucky few have the rest of their lives mapped out in perfect detail
– but for most, things are not nearly so simple. Armed with your
hard-earned degree, the possibilities and career paths lying before
you are limitless, and the number of choices you suddenly have to
make can seem bewildering.
Life After … Social Studies has been written specifi cally to help
students currently studying, or who have recently graduated, make
informed choices about their future lives. It will be a source of
invaluable advice and wisdom to graduates (whether you wish to
use your degree directly or not), covering such topics as:
(cid:138) Identifying a career path that interests you
(cid:138) Seeking out an opportunity that matches your skills and
aspirations
(cid:138) Staying motivated and pursuing your goals
(cid:138) Networking and self-promotion
(cid:138) Making the transition from scholar to worker
(cid:138) Putting the skills you have developed at university to good use
in life.
The Life After … series of books are more than simple ‘career
guides’. They are unique in taking a holistic approach to career
advice – recognising the increasing view that, although a successful
working life is vitally important, other factors can be just as essential
to happiness and fulfi lment. They are the indispensible handbooks
for students considering their future direction in life.
Sally Longson is a life coach and well-known writer and media
commentator in the fi eld of careers.
Also available from Sally Longson
Life After … Business and Administrative Studies
978-0-415-37591-7
Life After … Engineering and Built Environment
978-0-415-37592-4
Life After … Language and Literature
978-0-415-37593-1
Life After … Art and Design
978-0-415-37590-0
Life After … Biological Sciences
978-0-415-41249-0
Life After … Social Studies
978-0-415-41247-6
Life After …
Social Studies
A practical guide to life
after your degree
Sally Longson
First published 2007
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2007 Sally Longson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Longson, Sally
Life after – social studies: a practical guide to life after your degree/
Sally Longson. – 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Art – Vocational guidance. 2. College graduates – Vocational
guidance.
I. Title: Practical guide to life after your degree. II. Title
N8350.L66 2006
702.3´73–dc22 2005036629
ISBN 0-203-93998-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0–415–41247–1 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–93998–0 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–41247–6 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–93998–7 (ebk)
Contents
Preface vii
1 Decisions, decisions … 1
2 Creating your career 14
3 Working out the ‘how to’ 32
4 Connecting with your network: the world’s a network 46
5 Hunting out that right opportunity 61
6 Proving yourself: from scholar to worker 79
7 Promoting yourself 96
8 What’s stopping you? Make it happen 112
9 Moving on … Your future 124
10 Here’s to life! 139
Further reading 150
Useful addresses and further information 155

Preface
Your degree over – or nearly over – you contemplate your next
move, rather like a game of chess. You plot your next move, you
fall into it, or someone makes you fall into it. Life is continually
like a game of chess, but checkmate – the end result – is entirely
where you or someone else decides it is to be. You can plan to move
forward and make progress, or you can feel like a pawn, moved
around a board at someone else’s bidding.
As you read this page, look out across the blue sea and skies
before you and cast your mind and eyes to the opportunities beyond
them. Life lies before you like a huge ocean. The question is, where
are you headed next? Who and what do you want on board? Where
will your future port be?
You may be pulled towards the idea of helping people and having
an impact on their health, wellbeing and happiness. You are not alone.
A survey by Global Vision International (www.gvi.co.uk) found that
over half of British workers do not feel fulfi lled in their current jobs.
The NOP/GVI survey reported that many workers believed they
could gain fulfi lment by helping others, and when asked what would
make them more fulfi lled, 60 per cent thought they would like the
opportunity to help those less fortunate than themselves; 21 per
cent wanted to volunteer to help save the planet. Only 48 per cent
were striving for fulfi lment through material gain. Organisations
such as adoption agencies, child and family centres, community
organisations, counselling services, child protection agencies,
learning disability groups, employee assistance programmes, health
authorities, hospitals, local and central government, international
agencies, charities, voluntary organisations and more all need people
who care about others and want to make a difference.
In these days where knowledge is so important, there are many
organisations, societies and think-tanks and more which undertake
viii Preface
research into every aspect of society, politics and economics. And of
course, many social studies graduates enter careers in public sector,
industrial and commercial management, or move into the fi nancial
and business professions and allied industries. In this case, the more
numerate your degree – economics, geography – the more likely
you are to be sought.
Opportunities abound abroad, as well, through the development
of many voluntary organisations working internationally and in
partnership with each other. You could acquire the experience you
need to secure that entry level post you want by doing a stint of
volunteering on the other side of the world, such as participating in
Community Service Volunteers, preparing reports for organisations
on local level activities, or helping to raise money for a cause close
to your heart. Employers are looking for something which will make
them sit up and think, ‘Wow, I’ve just got to meet this person’, and
often it’s the unexpected, way-out experience which catches their
eye. This doesn’t have to happen on the other side of the world,
either. You could have done something really quite amazing in your
home or university town.
Of course, it may take time to fi nd your right place in the work-
place and in particular, time to fi nd the right level role you crave.
Having a degree does not guarantee having a good job. Nothing
in life guarantees you a job. The journey to full time or self-
employment (assuming that is what you want) may involve stints of
lower level work in retail, leisure and tourism, and administration,
as sales assistants, waiters and administrators. The key to success is
to keep your head, and put your career and life desires fi rmly at the
forefront of your mind, focus and efforts.
You may need to acquire relevant experience in these lower level
posts at the assistant and auxiliary stage before moving on to the
roles you aspire to. Value this time as a lesson in learning what it
is like to do these roles and be at the ‘shop fl oor’ level. Learn from
those who work in them, and listen to what they have to say. Look
for experiences which will build on your skills and capabilities. Show
a willingness to muck in and really get your hands dirty, and you will
gain much more from the overall experience. The opportunities will
be there but you need to work for them and be on the look out.
Those who persist in striving for a career and a life will succeed in
their efforts; those who give up will have a lesser quality life than
they could have and deserve. It is often all too easy to forget the
dream in the day-to-day living of life. Like any relationships in life,
Preface ix
careers need nurturing. The persistent hard work really truly only
begins when you’ve started them.
Whatever stage you’ve reached, you’re at a great time to assess
your life and what you want out of it. Use the exercises in this book
to help you determine just that. A career is only part of life – there
are a whole host of other things which are important too, such as
relationships, fi nance and lifestyle. The main emphasis of this book
will be on career and work, but you can transfer many of the tips
and advice regarding those on to other segments of life.
While you were at university, you chose to head straight out of
those zones you normally felt comfortable and put yourself to the
test. This is one of the reasons why people enjoy their university
days so much. It is time to leave that comfort zone again and take
risks to move on and make the most of your life ahead. Let’s get
started.