Careers Advice Cambridge - Careers Service Not Helpful

Essentially, I really need some advice not on how to get into a particular career (that's easy enough to find out) but on what careers might be out there that I haven't thought of, and what sort of industries I might be able to enter with my degree. I've asked the Cambridge Careers Service but they refused to arrange an appointment with me until I could decide which career I wanted. They said I had to know what I wanted to go into before they could give me advice, which goes against what I though the purpose of a careers service was. I mean, if I wanted to be a lawyer, or a mechanical engineer or a systems analyst or something I'd just look up how to go into that industry. Surely the people who really need advice are those who -don't- know what to do. Well, really they're obviously both important, but I thought it was a bit crap that they only let you make an appointment if you already know what you want to do.

So my question is, is there anyone else I should speak to about this? I'd just like a bit of advice on the sort of things philosophers do...

Well I phoned them three times and each time they said we can only arrange an appointment for you if you know what you want to do because otherwise we won't know who to give you an appointment with.

You're supposed to shimmy your butt down there and read the library of material they have on the shelves there which gives plenty of ideas. There are shelves of books and handouts to take away on 'what to do with X degree'. They don't have the manpower to deal with basic - 'I've no idea what I want to do' starting point on a personal, face-to-face basis. They give you the resources to work the basics out for yourself and research ideas. Then when you've narrowed it down to an idea, they can fix you up with an advisor with experience in that career area, who can help you hone your application. It's your life, you're supposed to help yourself a little bit!

I've read all those. I'm not a moron. They all have the same limited range of careers that make me want to die. They also send out those crappy books with all the different companies for whom you can do essentially the same kind of managerial job. Trust me, I've been looking into a lot of stuff, but it would be helpful to talk through with someone my specific interests and abilities and see if they have any suggestions I haven't thought of. You can still feel like you have 'no idea' even if you've done a lot of thinking, a lot of research, and read all the ****ty leaflets. They have the manpower to give out pointless information about how to get into management consultancy person to person, despite the fact that that information is available everywhere you look, so I don't think it's as simple as that. I'd say they ought to invest the manpower in people who need more general help instead of people who need the very specific advice, since the specific advice is easily accessible in those books and on the internet. It's much harder to look into a career if you don't know it exists.