Not sure, What To Do After Year 12?
Are you about to complete your year 12 studies? That is great news as you are going to enter the next phase of your life! Life has too much to offer you at this age and you will have too many things to discover and experience. You can live your passion or so much more.
However, graduating high school can be worrying for many as it is the time when you will have to make big decisions regarding your future career. More importantly, family and social pressure and your own dreams, make you even more nervous!
If you are open to suggestions after Year 12, here you will find some tips that can guide you better during this important phase of your life.
How Important it is to Decide on Your Career After Year 12?
It is not only important but compulsory to start thinking about your career once you have graduated from high school. So that you can start building your career right away. After completing Year 12, some students leave their studies and find a job for themselves, some choose to take a gap year are try out their hands in things they are passionate about, and others enroll for further study. So, once you have the idea of a career in your mind, you can plan your next move.
If you already have a plan in your mind, it can help you set your future goals. You can plan where you want to be in the next one, five, or ten years. Moreover, it will also help you do proper research on a variety of career options, salaries in the industry, job prospects, job requisites to apply for jobs, and also your liabilities and securities before dedicating yourself to work or study.
What are the Common Mistakes to Avoid When Planning a Career Roadmap?
There are people and family members around you, who will not stop giving you unwanted advice on career selection once you graduate high school. But, what matters is your own research and likings.
Here you can find some common mistakes that you should avoid while choosing a career path,
1. Do not hurry in decision making
By the time you graduate from year 12, you already have a career goal set in your mind. But it is important to do proper research before jumping into it without knowing about it properly. Make sure, you have explored the career options minutely. It will help you in finding many jobs that you may prefer doing more.
Most of the time, students out of curiosity or hurry make a career choice and end up disappointed. Therefore, it is vital that you know every aspect of the career that you are interested in. Taking decisions without giving proper thought to them may lead to dissatisfaction.
2. Avoid family and social pressure
Usually, students after completing their year 12 have to face a lot of family aspirations. Families usually offer a long list of career ideas. While their advice may be great most of the time, make sure you follow your own instinct. Do not fall for advice and pressure from family and society.
Likewise, you may want to study the same subject or follow the same career path as your high friends, but make sure, you actually want to do what they are planning to do.
3. Do not give more importance to salary
A high-paying job is quite irresistible! So, people tend to pick a job that offers a lot of money rather than making a career in the field that interests them. Ensure you are choosing something that you are passionate about. Take note of other benefits that come with certain career options, like job satisfaction, work-life balance, and growth.
4. Know your potential and your aptitude
If you have failed to get the job you wanted, do not get upset or dejected. If you are unable to find one job of your dream does not mean you are incapable everywhere. There are many career options where you will excel and where your skills will be essential requirements. Go for such jobs that allow you to showcase your skills, or you can also learn new skills or upskill yourself to get your dream job.
How to Decide What to Choose After Year 12?
Steps that you should follow to decide what to do after year 12,
- Make career goal plans
You know yourself better than anyone else. You know what interests you most and also what you enjoy doing most. So, create your own career plans. Make sections for what you like most, what you aspire to do, what you are good at doing, and what suits you best. Add notes to every section, find a job related to each section, and also connect them to jobs that interest and suit you. For example, you may like the Information and Technology (IT) field, but now there are numerous jobs related to the IT field. You may want to become a programmer, a project manager, or a business analyst. So, you will have to find out what work is more close to your liking, potential, and also your aspirations.
This planning will help you see a broader picture of what you want to make of your career. This map will also help you prepare for job interviews or even while making long-time professional goals.
2. Write down a list of career options that interest you
Do not get overwhelmed. List down every single job that you have a liking for in any form. Then try to find out about the industries they are related to and understand ins and outs to know the industry better and reach a conclusion about what fits in with your goals, interests, and your personality.
Once you have the full list and you understand every industry, you can narrow down your list from there. Also, find out what benefits the industry offer and if that fits your lifestyle and job needs.
3. Take advice from people who are in the job you want
Talk to people who are in the jobs that interest you. This is one of the best ways to get yourself aware of a lot of things in that industry. Try to understand the different job profiles, what they do, what qualifications they hold, what other qualifications are needed for other departments in that industry, and above all if they love their job and the work environment. For this, you can connect to people over LinkedIn and start a conversation to understand the requisites and connect with professionals from different industries.
4. Find out what are the essential qualifications for a job that you like
Some jobs need you to be professionally trained and skilled. You will require to possess a formal certificate, diploma, or degree from a recognized school, college, or university. Some jobs allow candidates even if they have done online courses. Online courses are a great way to get qualified and hold certificates and degrees from prestigious institutions as many global international institutes have started offering online courses to international students. You will also find some institutions allowing part-time courses to those who are working and willing to study side by side.
5. Do not overstress if you fall into the wrong career path
Finally, do not panic or get overstressed if you have chosen and wrong career path. It is totally fine to change your career path if you want to. Everywhere in the world, a good number of people change their careers multiple times in their lifetime. If you find too do not find the path you have opted for uncomfortable or dissatisfactory, you always have the option to switch industries or increase your skills and move to a completely different profession.
Conclusion
It is always a good idea to continue with your higher studies if your circumstances do not go against you. Higher education adds to your professional profile and makes you more eligible, knowledgeable, skilled, and confident for any job of your preference. Nowadays, online education, online certificate courses, and online professional courses have made the process of changing careers much easier while you are already in a job.
The above points can be very helpful in guiding you in the right direction. Choosing a career that suits your personality, skill sets, aptitude, and aspirations is a challenging task. However, when you are just out of your school, you are already overwhelmed with various dreams related to your future career goals. This is also the time and age when you easily get distracted and fall into the wrong job. Therefore, it is advisable that you talk to experienced people around you for guidance.
If you still find yourself in a soup and unable to find an easy way to plan your career path after year 12, you can take advice from education consultants and career advisors to start this new phase of your life in a more rewarding and fulling way.
Find the best tutors online from all across Australia – Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Newcastle, Goldcoast, Canberra, Brisbane.
To make it easier for you to decide, your first session is completely FREE!
Select and book an online Math tutor, Science Tutor, English Tutor and all the other subjects.