How do you get to do that job....?

TheCatWoman said:

I could just imagine the look that says 'you're not taking this seriously, so we'll put you down for shop work'.

Exactly! I remember our useless 1970's 'careers' advisor at my Cof E Comprehensive - one visit [considered adequate], astonished looks as if to say, 'why do you think you can do [x]?' I hope kids get a better service now; after all, this is the point of education, not just passing exams. I'm glad apprenticeships and crafts are now taken seriously, considered the same level as 'professions'. Do you remembered the snobbishness at what was considered appropriate for the, 'working class.'

Looking back, I would have liked something practical  - decorating, gardening, book-binding, conservation, museum work. Though they knew my love for such things, no one explained how you might achieve a career in any of these areas. As to the sensory-based careers you mention, I've no idea. Do people fall into them after a Degree? I would imagine the paint colour designer and perfumier would need a science degree, maybe chemistry. I would be interested to know.

TheCatWoman said:

I could just imagine the look that says 'you're not taking this seriously, so we'll put you down for shop work'.

Exactly! I remember our useless 1970's 'careers' advisor at my Cof E Comprehensive - one visit [considered adequate], astonished looks as if to say, 'why do you think you can do [x]?' I hope kids get a better service now; after all, this is the point of education, not just passing exams. I'm glad apprenticeships and crafts are now taken seriously, considered the same level as 'professions'. Do you remembered the snobbishness at what was considered appropriate for the, 'working class.'

Looking back, I would have liked something practical  - decorating, gardening, book-binding, conservation, museum work. Though they knew my love for such things, no one explained how you might achieve a career in any of these areas. As to the sensory-based careers you mention, I've no idea. Do people fall into them after a Degree? I would imagine the paint colour designer and perfumier would need a science degree, maybe chemistry. I would be interested to know.

The biggest threat to us was 'you'll end up selling spuds in Woollies'! 

All that was expected of us was to get a job for a couple of years before marriage and babies, one teacher even said there was no point educating girls as we'd just go off and have babies. Our careers advice was an afternoon, after we'd made our CSE/O Level choices, so we were stuck with whatever we'd "chosen", although it didn't feel like a choice when parents and teachers overrode whatever you'd decided. I wanted to be a beautician when I was 14, the careers advisor had never heard of it.

I'm sure it was already decided for us regardless of how good or bad we turned out to be, I think it got decided by our secondary school choice, although that wasn't always guaranteed that you go to the place you wanted. Most us choose the school our friends were going to. I was the first year not to have to do the 11+, teachers didn't like it, snobbery was baked into the system, as was favouritism, if the teacher liked you you did well, got good marks, if they didn't you got marked down. Pretty much anything you liked doing, you would be allowed to do and would be made to do something you hated and were bad at.

School was more like a warehouse for adolescent girls than an educational estabilshment.

Marianne72 said:

I remember our useless 1970's 'careers' advisor at my Cof E Comprehensive - one visit [considered adequate]

I scraped into our local Grammar School and our careers advice was just as bad - go to university (any subject) or, if you're not good enough for that, train to be a teacher.