As part of the World Ready Programme our Sixth Formers enjoyed a panel event on “Squiggly Careers.”  A squiggly career is a non-linear career trajectory where individuals frequently change roles, industries, or career directions based on their evolving interests, skills, and circumstances.

Deputy Head of Sixth Form, Ms Postlethwaite, introduced the session and explained to students that they “might not end up where they thought they would, career-wise, and that’s OK.” She also shared some thought-provoking stats:

5-7 is the number of times 18-24 year olds change jobs

21% of university graduates use all of their education in their jobs

66% of millennials want to change their careers

London is the city with the highest % of workers regretting their career choice

Ms Postlethwaite highlighted the ability to look for and adapt to change – to be open to opportunities and change. A helpful resource is the Squiggly Careers Podcast.

Our panel of Mr Hegarty, Head of Psychology; Ms Massis, Spanish teacher; Ms Beckerman, French teacher; Dr Pearce, Head of 6th Form and Ms Postlethwaite, Deputy Head of 6th Form, then shared their own non-linear career journeys and advice.

The panellists had all experienced a wide variety of interesting careers before moving on and deciding it wasn’t for them, ranging from IT, accountancy, advertising, politics, journalism, recruitment, scientific research to even running their own business. Reasons for changing careers included money, life/work balance, location, financial difficulties (you or company), family and hating the job itself.

One tip was to check in with yourself from time to time and ask, “am I going in the direction that I want to be going in? What do I do that I really love? What really matters to you?” If you find something that aligns with your values then you’ll enjoy it, you’ll be good at it and want to keep learning to get even better at it.

All panellists agreed that there are dull parts to all jobs and sometimes it’s a trade-off – you might find the work a bit dull but are working with really nice people. They also said that you will learn something new with every job (even the boring ones!) and not to forget that you often learn and pick up skills that you are not aware of which can be useful later on. Communication skills are essential no matter which career you choose – listening and talking to people and making connections. 

There were some excellent questions asked by students, including:

Do you regret not finding this career earlier?

How did having a family impact your career?

How do you know if a job isn’t for you?

A huge thank you to our panel for sharing their experience and advice.