Tonight I've had the duty of providing an information stall at the College parent information evening. Although our department doesn't offer any courses, we do have a presence at these events to promote what we do. We have done a lot in the past but we've not really benefited from them. So we asked to not attend them. But now we seem to be asked again.
Parents and their children have been invited to choose potential courses and careers for when they leave secondary school next year. Because we don't offer any courses and I just had information about our department. I made myself useful by asking parents or their children if they had decided what course(s) they were looking for, or decided on a career to pursue. Whilst I don't know a lot about some subjects, I felt proud and helpful that I had been signposting people into the right direction to the right courses.
Tonight reminded me of how important it is to choose the right courses and start to decide on a career. I had a patchy start in deciding what I wanted to do for a career, and it took a while to find that out. So I reckon with the right questioning and knowledge of subjects is essential to help others.
When I was speaking to some parents, they didn't know what their children wanted to do. So I asked them what their children's interests and hobbies were. If they didn't know, I asked them to try observing their children from now, so that they would get a better idea to help get them the right start come next September. From my journey, it's important to try and not waste too much time in doing courses that aren't relevant to a career. But in saying that, it did help me inform and develop my career.
Advice and guidance is important!
