Contrary to popular belief, becoming a success after leaving school doesn’t depend on you following the perceived-best path; going straight on to sixth form and university. Of course, taking the common route has its benefits and with time, effort and dedication put in it’ll certainly be worthwhile. But, what if the prospect of spending another (minimum) 3 years in education and the best part of £40,000 doesn’t appeal to you?
If you’re worried or apprehensive about your future and how best to maximise your unharnessed potential, keep reading!
What can school leavers do after education?
The prospect of leaving school after spending the last 12 years of your life in education can be pretty daunting. Perhaps you can’t find something that you’d consider starting a career in or just haven’t had that “eureka!” moment yet. Well, the good news for you is there are plenty of options out there!
Apprenticeships
Taking an apprenticeship is an effective post secondary education option as it allows you to learn on the job by experienced industry professionals – all whilst getting paid! It’s pretty common, particularly in the trade industry, for people to take a one-day-a-week college course alongside their apprenticeship in order to learn, qualify and earn more, sooner.
Another common public assumption is that there aren’t many types of apprenticeship available and the ones that are available are poorly paid. This is simply not true. There is a bigger volume and bigger variety of opportunities than ever for young people to undertake when considering an apprenticeship. There’s everything from accounting to agriculture, veterinary nursing to vehicle servicing, graphic design to games testing – any job you can think of, chances are there’s a relevant apprenticeship!
Last year, in England there were almost 750,000 people in an apprenticeship. Compared with the 280-odd thousand students in sixth form, it’s clear that apprenticeships for education leavers are becoming a much more viable option. In fact, if you need any further convincing, why not take a look at
what you can achieve from an apprenticeship.
Get a Job
You’ve spent most of the years that you can remember in education, who can blame you if you’ve simply had enough? Maybe you want a temporary job to save up to go travelling? Maybe you want to go back to that restaurant you used to work at until you’ve figured out your next long-term move? Either way, there are plenty of entry-level roles out there to get your foot in the door at some great companies and industries. If you’re lucky, you may stumble across companies who offer school leaver programmes.
You’ll also be earning straight away whereas uni-goers will have to wait at least another 3 years! If you fancy some tips, here’s
how to get a job you’ll love without any experience.
Train Up
You know you don’t want to go to university. You don’t like the sound of an apprenticeship. You definitely don’t want to jump straight into a random job. Funnily enough, you know exactly what you want to do but not sure how to get there. Step forward training providers.
Training providers offer specially designed, industry-recognised courses in many different occupations. Most of them are designed to be taken over a short period of time to get you qualified fast and into a career you’ll love. A lot of them are even online-based so can be completed at a pace that suits your needs! Here are some of our favourite types of courses you can take:
- Teaching Assistant – roles for this position are highly competitive and though you can be hired without any experience, becoming qualified will boost your chances of landing a role.
- Events Management – the events industry is big business in the UK. You don’t necessarily need experience to land a job and you definitely don’t need a degree. Online and classroom-based courses are a great way to give you a good grounding of knowledge and make your CV stand out!
- Personal Training – one that definitely requires training before landing a role (or if you want to go freelance), there are a variety of Personal Training courses and extra CPD courses to further enhance your skills and credentials.
- IT: Ever wanted to become a Games Tester? Maybe you want to design websites or create apps? IT courses give you real-life insight and the knowledge required to achieve this.