15 Sep 2019

When I was in Year 12, I was completely clueless.

I had no goals, no ambition and no idea about what I was going to do once I was out of high school. How was I supposed to know?

When I was in Year 12, I had been in school since I was five-years-old. School was the only thing I knew, but all of a sudden, I had to figure out what I was going to do for the rest of my life without the structure of classrooms.

And it’s not like there was just a handful of options to choose from. There’s an overwhelming amount of career paths out there, and unless you know what you’re crazily passionate about (does anyone?); it’s impossible to know what the right path is.

So, which is the one for you? How on earth do you find that thing that you’re going to do for the rest of your life? It’s a lot of pressure, and it’s easy to feel lost.

If you have any interests or hobbies, that can be a good place to start. Write them out, even if it includes binge watching the latest Netflix series. Then try to think of a profession that relates to each one (ever thought about being a film reviewer? What about a TV producer?). Now for each of those professions, find a way to get a taste of what they’re really like. Do some Googling, find an email address and flick a message off to someone working in the industry or see if you can land a volunteering gig in that field.

If you’re really stumped trying to figure out what your interests are, that’s fine. There’s plenty of ways to figure out what you might like – and one of them is to just give anything and everything a red-hot go.

Try out a short course or an online qualification. Do some work experience with whoever will take you or go to a careers expo and have a conversation with everyone. Every time you try something out even if you hate it, you’re one closed-door closer to finding something you love.

Another way to get your brain thinking outside the box is the Be Ambitious Career Matchmaking App by TAFE NSW. It looks just like a dating app, but instead of finding you a soulmate, it matches you to your future career. 

It can be a great way to find a career path that aligns with your specific interests, and what’s handy about the app is that once it finds you a match, it lays out exactly what you need to study in order to pursue it. 

And don’t worry – you’re not going to get boxed into one pathway. TAFE NSW offers everything from short courses and Diplomas to Bachelor Degrees in almost every industry you can think of and learning delivery, be it full-time, part-time online, face to face or both.  So the ideas it throws in your direction come from a huge range of options. It’s free to download and can you can get it here for iPhones, or here for Android. 

Another way to help solve the whole ‘what do I do with my life’ dilemma is by speaking to as many people as possible.

Have you ever wondered how every adult you know seems to have their life so together? Try asking your parents (or your friends’ parents, or your neighbour, or someone from Year13 - literally anyone) how they ended up where they are now, and you might be surprised by what you hear.

If you ask enough people, you should begin to notice a pattern. While it might seem like everyone has it all figured out, most people will probably admit that when they finished high school, they were just as clueless about their future as you are now.

And what does that mean? It means if you’re feeling anxious about your future right now, then you’re completely normal.

What you need to remember is that you’re about to enter one of the most exciting times of your life. You have the freedom to choose from an unlimited list of careers and pathways.

It could take a day or it could take a couple of years, but eventually you’re going to find your place in the world of grown-ups and jobs. So, the best thing you can do for now is embrace being uncertain, get out there, and try as many different things as you possibly can.