I moved to London to study modern languages in 1994 and, on graduation, started a career in TV broadcasting. After over 15 years working for different TV channels (MTV, Discovery Channel, Disney) I decided to take a break and I travelled for a year. On returning I found that the TV landscape had changed, and I could only secure contract work. With this I decided to retrain as an English teacher – TEFL. I then moved to Spain to teach for a year, after which, I returned to my hometown of Hastings to work with a language school.
Due to the pandemic, I could no longer work at the school in the short term and was struggling to know what I could do best with my time.
I needed professional advice about how I could best take my career forward. So, I got in touch with the National Careers Service.
My advisor, Jane, was warm, accessible, understanding, and informative from the get-go. It was a pleasure to speak to her. We spoke about my background, core skills and which direction I wanted move, career wise, in the future. She advised me on a number of resources available to me; explaining their use, how to use them and what I could expect from the search results.
She followed up the very next day summarizing all our discussion points, and ensuring I was comfortable with the new systems.
I completed the National Careers Service psychometric testing and explored the training courses available to me, all on the website. I’m now aiming to complete some valuable additional learning for the rest of the year to boost my skills, before resuming my teaching role next year.
My conversation with Jane has made a huge difference to me – I feel supported, I know that there are additional services I can tap into, and I now have access to a range of free courses that will help me boost my skills while I’m unable to work, And it’s fingers crossed that things do return to normal next year.
The National Careers Service provides free, up to date, impartial information, advice and guidance on careers, skills and the labour market in England to anyone aged 13 and upwards. To speak to a National Careers Service adviser, call 0800 100 900 or use our webchat (8:00am to 10:00pm, 7 days a week.)
