Not sure what’s next? Careers Educator Michelle McKinnon can help you find your path

What if a student realises they don't want to continue their degree and want to do something different? 

That’s very common. There are a few timing issues also, and I would advise not continuing and hoping it will get better.

Usually, you can trust your instincts a little bit. Students I speak with who are feeling a bit unsure say, "Everyone in my degree seems to be enjoying it more than me," and I think that’s the key indicator. If a student decides that they’re sure they want to change their degree, one of the questions we’ll ask is, "On a scale from 1-10, how sure are you?’ If it’s a simple transition and they’re 10 out of 10 sure that they want to change degrees, and know what they want to change to, then it's a simple process of an internal transfer. 

Often, when I ask students to rate how sure they want to change their degree, it’s a 6 out of 10 and that's a good time to seek professional help with a careers advisor.

For some degrees, the first year can be very dry, learning the basics, and sometimes that isn't very inspiring. I do get a lot of students in their first year saying, "This is very dry and boring," and I’ll advise them to look beyond that. Just because it’s dry doesn’t mean the degree is not suited to you. The basics and fundamentals have to be studied before students do the really cool stuff in the third and fourth years of the degree, where they can do all the things that may bring them enjoyment in their studies. 

These are the key questions: Is it the degree? Or is it just a few subjects? 

What is your advice for figuring out what career path you want to take?

As I said before, it’s about getting familiar with the employment landscape. Alot of the time, we don’t know what we don’t know. We know the obvious occupations like doctor, physio, engineer, lawyer, so we find that students making decision gravitate to what they know, that's in front of their eyes. But there are so many exciting opportunities out there that we've never heard about. So, we need to research those occupations, which we discuss with students in the career planning process, starting with self-awareness. 

1. Self-awareness 

The first stage of the career planning process is self-awareness; working out where you excel, what you really enjoy, and what your friends compliment you on. People may often think, "Ugh. Self-reflection..." but it’s an important part of career decision-making. We have to be brutally honest with ourselves and question what what you enjoy and what you're good at. Then you can move to the second part of that career planning process, opportunity awareness.

2. Opportunity awareness

If I were to pinpoint one part of the career planning process that is the biggest obstacle for students, it is the lack of awareness of the opportunities out there. I recommend that even in your first year of university, you look at job advertisements, go on to Seek, see what’s out there, and see what excites you.

3. Competing for jobs

This involves building resumes, cover letters, interview skills, a LinkedIn profile, and networking. When I talk to students, most of them find that part very daunting. But when you break it down compared to the deep discipline knowledge that students are gaining along the way, writing your resume is a piece of cake.  The Career Team teaches students how to build these resources, check their resumes, and teach interview skills. We know that with the advancement of AI, alot of linear, predictable tasks will be automated. So, what employers are looking for from our graduates is the ability to think outside the box and deep critical thinking skills. Creativity is valued in the workplace, and this is an attribute that students will get from their degrees at the University of Adelaide. 

Self-directed professional development 

Students need to take responsibility for developing their soft skills. For example, if you’re studying and working in a team, and are having trouble with communicating, time management, or conflict management, we can go out of our way to do some learning, such as  LinkedIn Learning, to help develop those skills. I see lots of students get multiple job offers when they’ve understood what areas they need to improve in and do the learning to grow their soft skills. 

Qualifications 

You can't get a graduate role without a degree. I get many questions from students asking if GPAs matter. For some employers, yes, it is especially important, but for others, not so much. Do not be obsessed with that. If two students are like-for-like for a role and one student’s GPA is higher, but the other has a lower GPA with tons of extra-curriculars, they may be better suited for certain employers. My advice is to control what you can control, keep your GPAs as high as possible, but if it does drop a bit, do not think that it’s going to make it difficult for you to get a job. 

Work experience 

Lots of different types of work experiences exist. There are traditional credit-bearing work experiences that can be done as a part of a degree and vacation work with larger companies in Australia during the summer period. But then there are other sorts of work experiences, like volunteering. That can be a good way to pad out your resume and demonstrate the skills employers are looking for. 

Volunteering shows an ability to take initiative on one’s own time to contribute to an organisation, and work on professional development. It shows dedication and passion, which are really underrated things that employers look for.