Should we be advising students differently on their future?

Thomson2013

Should teachers and student careers advisers be giving student alternative routes into their careers than the bog standard, A-level - University route?

With vocations, such as construction trades struggling to find skilled workers now offering salaries of £25,000 - £50,000 per year, is a new lucrative career path emerging? And should we attempt to extinguish the misconception that construction trades are a 'cop-out' and bad decision for students?

Reply 1

username1494226

19

Original post by Thomson2013

Should teachers and student careers advisers be giving student alternative routes into their careers than the bog standard, A-level - University route?

With vocations, such as construction trades struggling to find skilled workers now offering salaries of £25,000 - £50,000 per year, is a new lucrative career path emerging? And should we attempt to extinguish the misconception that construction trades are a 'cop-out' and bad decision for students?

I guess its that people view the construction industry as a highly risky industry to be in unless you're near the top of the field. Economic weakness over the last few years sent a tonne of firms out of business and you always heard about builders losing their jobs because demand at the time had just died off by a large amount. I always wonder how the hell carpet businesses have survived this economic stagnation, nobody buys a new sofa or carpet every few years

Reply 2

Thomson2013

OP

14

Original post by marco14196

I guess its that people view the construction industry as a highly risky industry to be in unless you're near the top of the field. Economic weakness over the last few years sent a tonne of firms out of business and you always heard about builders losing their jobs because demand at the time had just died off by a large amount. I always wonder how the hell carpet businesses have survived this economic stagnation, nobody buys a new sofa or carpet every few years

Haha, you'll find that a lot of carpet companies include carpenters, so there's work there for them on sites when they aren't fitting carpet.

I myself was a plumber and heating engineer a few years back, I done both that and University and found that skilled tradesmen were very well off. In a trade like plumbing and heating the recession hit us bad, like real bad. To the point where the company I co-run lost around £1.2 million profit in the first year. Even still, the firm managed to fight through as although the recession hits the trades bad, it's more than possible to survive through it provided you know how to run a business efficiently and manahe your spending and overheads.

In fact a lad I had working for us done an Economics degree at a top tier University and decided he wanted to be a plumber just because he loved the business aspect to it. He has now gone off to run a successful gas installation company.

It's a field a lot of students aren't being given the chance to see, one which can and does provide very good money provided you are good at it.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

galaxica

12

Yes. Alternatives, should be acknowledged. However, this is not for me.

Reply 4

Thomson2013

OP

14

Original post by perspiracious

Yes. Alternatives, should be acknowledged. However, this is not for me.

Yes, and respectively University may not be for some students. Yet, there's still a huge amount of pressure for them to do so.

Reply 5

galaxica

12

Original post by Thomson2013

Yes, and respectively University may not be for some students. Yet, there's still a huge amount of pressure for them to do so.

Indeed. Some people are more action-orientated and formal education does not suit them. Better things could be done instead of spending time in some ex-polytechnic on a useless degree just for the sake of it.

Should we be advising students differently on their future?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you