Clueless about careers like me?

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]ut what are you going to do with English Literature degree?” is a question I hear on a regular basis, yet the very reason I chose to study English Literature at university was because I did not, and do not know, what I want to do in the future.

Traditional academic degree subjects tend to open doors in a much broader spectrum of potential careers than vocational subjects. Although vocational degrees can be beneficial in reducing the time to reach desired jobs for those who have decided on a career, I cannot agree with those who suggest them to be the only worthwhile university subjects. I understand the recent hike in tuition fees will mean more careful consideration of subjects’ potential career prospects but I do not believe this should eliminate academic degrees as an option altogether, especially considering the benefits they offer those unsure of a career path.

However, since coming to university I have felt the same, if not a heightened, pressure to decide on a single lifetime vocation.

Recently I attended a talk where a well-meaning career advisor claimed there to be two types of people. Meerkats: proactive in attaining experience in the field they wish to work, and ostriches: bury their heads in the sand and hope university is endless.

Needless to say many, including myself, felt excluded; we want to be proactive but we simply do not know what we want to do. In some cases this notion of university as government-funded years to gain work experience is overshadowing what, in my opinion, university should be about: expanding knowledge in your chosen field and obtaining the best mark possible. That said I am not suggesting we entirely reject any extracurricular activity, whether set on a career or not. Nonetheless the pressure to decide, especially when faced with friends’ CVs that endlessly list experiences relevant to the aspiration they’ve had since age 12, can be daunting.

In such existential-crises I constantly return to these lyrics from Baz Luhrmman’s Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen:

“Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 [post-graduation for many of us] what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.”

There are many benefits to universities encouraging the use of our years of study to gain experience but graduating with a degree and, nothing else, through indecision or choice, should in no way be considered a waste.