I was talking to one of my son’s nice friends and it made me think back to when I was at the start of what would do for the rest of my life.
I finished my degree and I had absolutely no idea of what I could do to earn my living; we had no career guidance; I knew I wanted to be a writer, but what career was open to me? What could I do to earn my living? The Polytechnic where I had studied had given me a great education but had nothing to offer on what I should do next. I went to Manchester University and pretended to be a student of theirs and managed to get some support from them, I filled in various forms and they suggested I should be an abstracter and gave e a list of jobs I could apply for; I applied for the British Rubber Company…. but with no success.. and after a variety of temporary jobs I ended up in the Civil Service which was dull, dull, dull, apart from other issues!
My son’s friend had taken a bold step, and moving from the subject he had studied for his degree, is now training to be a chef. One of my jobs while a student was working in what is now called hospitality and catering, and I really envy him! I loved my job in the hotel and I think I was good at it. And now I love food, buying it, cooking it,eating it, talking about it, writing about… how I would have loved a career in food!
Good luck to my son’s friend! The best of luck!
Lois Elsden 