Career advice for teenagers

So how can you plan? The best advice I can give
you is to get the best education you can. Study
subjects that interest you. Keep as many doors
open as possible.
This means keeping your options wide open.
Don’t specialise too early. Try to learn a little
about as many subjects as you can.

What if Sir Alexander Fleming, who discovered
penicillin, had never become a pharmacologist?
Medicine would be completely different. Many
people’s lives would not have been saved by
penicillin.
Or if John Lennon and Paul McCartney had never
learnt to play the guitar? The rich and diverse
world of music we enjoy would just not be the
same.

So try as many things as you can, leisure activities as well as educational. Join in at sports, learn a musical instrument, swimming,
take up golf –perhaps you will find a career in
leisure?

What about politics and current affairs –do they
interest you –maybe you are a future Prime
minister or news reporter?
And take your education seriously
too .Qualifications can open doors for you, and
lack of qualifications can mean some doors
remain closed.
For example many large corporations have
graduate entry schemes, and these are the best
route to management.
But not everyone is academic, and some of us are
destined to work in other sectors, perhaps the
caring sector, or leisure. So be realistic, assess
your academic ability with career advisors, family
and teachers. Go as far as you can with education,
but when you are no longer enjoying your
studies, perhaps it is time to look for something
else.

Lifetime learning is a well-accepted principle now,
and you can always come back to studying later.
Bear in mind though that “later” you may have
family and responsibilities that will make
returning to study a challenge
economically .That’s why it is best to go as far as
you can in your youth when you don’t have any
other responsibilities.

#Focus