what to think about if you're in y12

You've probably started thinking about your options after school already, even if by mistake, but soon your teachers are going to start pushing you for a plan. So when the family's getting on your wick over Christmas, what better excuse is there for finding some time, than that you want to get ahead of the game?

Even if you have no idea where to begin thinking about a career, start with that thing that makes you happy, whatever it is. Think about when you feel most fulfilled, what you think you're best at and what you enjoy the most. Whether that's helping people, being creative, problem solving, playing football or performing in front of large groups of people, having a starting place is sometimes half the battle. ​

Spend some time looking at possible routes to get you here. And try out more than one - portfolio careers (when you've got many different jobs that usually feed into each other) are on the rise and there's no limit to what you can do - but our advice is always to begin with what makes you happy.

Most job roles have multiple ways to get into them now. With the ever expanding options of Degrees, Apprenticeships, Employment schemes and Degree Apprenticeships. While what once may have not been easy for you to get into, due to how best you learn and develop skills, may now have a route into it that looks desirable.

So in the few days between Christmas and New Year when you're not really sure what it is exactly you're meant to be filling your days with. Start researching potential roles and the ways you can get into those. Reach out to people in the industry already, more often than not they're happy to message back with some words of their experiences.

And once the research is done, come 2020 you can really hit the ground running and start developing your skillset to match your ambitions and get what you really want from life.

So enjoy your turkey/nut roast (delete as appropriate for all our veggie friends) but then find  a couple hours to plan ahead and think where you want to be in the next couple of years.

Author

ARON TENNANT is  the Talks and Editorial manager for Push. He is originally from South Yorkshire and has a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Sheffield. He also has an MA in Creative Play and Screenwriting from City, University of London and came runner up in Nickelodeon's international screenwriting competition in 2018. Alongside Push he does screenplay work for independent production companies and is working on his own independent film projects