When you’re looking for a job, you can make life easier for yourself by looking for career paths where there’s a strong demand for jobs, rather than a glut of people competing for a small number of positions.
When there’s a big demand, you should easily be able to find a position even if it’s not precisely what you want and acquire the experience you need to go on to a role that’s more of your choosing. On the other hand, if there’s too many people competing for too few positions, the jobs are going to go to people with connections, people with the resources to work unpaid internships, and if you don’t have those advantages you’ll find it difficult to get started.
Today we’re taking a look at jobs where there’s plenty of demand to help you get a foot on the employment ladder and begin shaping your ideal career.
Social Work
There is always demand in the UK for social workers. Just look at the listings in any online social work agencies and you’ll see plenty of entry level posts there for the taking.
If you’re considering a career in social work you will need a degree equivalent qualification: social work degrees are available at most major universities, with the advantage that you get to train for a nigh-on guaranteed job upon graduation while enjoying the full university experience with peers studying all sorts of different subjects! If you’ve already got a different kind of degree, you’ll need to convert to qualify as a social worker but these courses are cheaper and less time consuming than going for another degree.
While the opening jobs you’ll get will likely offer hard work for little pay in departments with less resources than you’d prefer, you have the chance to shape your career into exactly what you want it to be, whether you’re interested in management, research or policy setting you can acquire the skills and experience to take you where you want to go.
Teaching
Another job that allows you to do a great public good while earning a salary and shaping your career is teaching. As with social work, every extra teacher is appreciated so unless you’re going for fiercely contested spots at the best schools you should have no trouble finding a job to begin with. The great advantage of teaching is that there are so many different routes into the profession based on your needs.
If you’re still in school, you can engineer your subject choices to help you get onto a teaching degree at universe, and study a three year course with classroom time so when you graduate you’ll feel ready and confident to take your first class alone. If you already have a degree, post graduate courses are available that compress that experience into a shorter time, and if you learn best by doing, then direct routes combine learning with starting in the classroom, with the advantage that you begin getting paid right away!