Crossroads

by Ellie Cowlam
(East Midlands, United Kingdom)

Hello,

My name is Ellie, and I left school last may after completion of my GCSEs. I didn't really enjoy school and decided to enter full time work, I found this a struggle as there is no work around and I have applied for so many jobs and had no response. I have a dream to be big and successful, but doesn't everyone? I have some ideas of what I would like to do such as fashion designer, but I just don't no how to go about it,

Its frustrating me, where do I go from here? Please help!

Response from Carl: Thanks Ellie and sorry about your current situation and how you're feeling about it. I'm not from the UK so I had to do a quick search to find out exactly what GCSE is and I now know!

You mention that you didn't really enjoy school and so you decided to finish and go into the work world. Understand that you are now competing for jobs that in some/many/most cases might also be contested by people who hold post-GCSE qualifications ie. university degree, college diploma, etc. In my experience in recruitment, some companies and hiring managers specifically are biased towards people with more education, it's really that simple. Not all the time, but in many cases in my experience this is the case.

Does that mean I'm suggesting you should go back to school? At the end of the day you'll need to decide this but I'm just telling you what I think based on what I've witnessed. Having more schooling tends to separate you (in a good way) from other people applying for the same jobs you are who don't hold the same qualifications you do.

I personally found high school to be pretty good - nothing to write home about but no bad memories either - but when I started university, I found it very difficult at first. Lots of work, not enough time in the day to complete it all. By my second year, I had a better sense of time management and started actually enjoying school more. I got involved in outside activities, met some people, had more fun and started doing better in school. I also found of course that the education itself helped me down the line. Bottom line: Just because you didn't like school before doesn't mean you won't like post-GCSE studies especially since you can now choose exactly what subject(s) you want to study!

You're not the only one applying for jobs and not getting them. It's a hard economy out there and many experienced people with degrees and fancy letters after their names are probably finding the same thing. I'm not sure this is going to go away anytime soon unfortunately.

I'd seriously think about what you like in life. What subject(s) did you like? What activities do you like doing? What do your friends tell you you're good at? What do you think you're good at? Think about your own opinion of yourself and ask for the opinions of people in your life who you trust too. Hopefully you'll get a better sense of who you are, what you're good at and what you like.

But the bottom line is as long as you don't have the same level of education and/or experience as others, you might find yourself behind the eight ball in terms of job searches, just as you're finding now. Not everyone needs a degree or certification to have a successful career of course but as long as you're applying to the same jobs as the people who hold these designations, you're going to be measured against them.

Carl