Rachael’s blog: Need careers advice? Try my hairdresser…..

My hairdresser Jo told me this week of her apprehension about her daughter’s decision to take a BTEC course at a local college rather than stay at school to do A-levels.

“We just thought she’d be better off doing A-levels and going to university like her brother, but she was determined to do the BTEC  because she wants a career in retail buying. “

I was interested in her initial misgivings and her perception that A-levels and university were the tried and trusted routes to progress. Because she hadn’t taken that route – even when fees weren’t the issue they are today. She trained as an apprentice at a Vidal Sassoon salon; qualified and went on to gain experience and seniority; then years later set up her own successful business.

“Seems to me,” I said, “that your daughter is like you.”

“Yes”, she said, “I don’t know why I was so worried about her decision. It’s like hairdressing. I’d advise any youngster interested in this career to go for it. It’s a skill that can take you all over the world, or into business, or fashion. And yet I still hear people say: “Oh, it’s only hairdressing.”

So, in the end, Jo made her daughter’s argument for her – but I wondered what would have happened if mother and daughter hadn’t known their own minds? Would they have followed a tried, trusted – but very unsuitable path to a career that failed to harness their talent and potential?

Jo took the apprenticeship route straight from school. I don’t know how she came to that decision but I do know that today, for this generation of young people, raising awareness about apprenticeships at school is vital. Not just because the Government is putting them at the heart of its mission to deliver skills growth in the UK, but because it’s a valuable alternative – among many.

So, it was shocking to hear – at the FEdS seminar on apprenticeships* recently – that resource for the National Apprenticeship Service’s formal role in raising awareness about this vocational route among young people had been cut.  Our guest speaker David Smale, head of employer accounts for the NAS in London and the South-East, said it used to be difficult for the NAS to get into schools, but now more schools than ever were contacting the NAS to see if they would could come and talk to pupils about apprenticeships, but they could no longer service that need.

When I asked David who was providing this service now, there was a deafening silence. This is an appalling gap, but it may also be an opportunity for other organisations and employers to step in and fill.  

Our apprenticeship seminar sparked an exchange of views from the Association of Colleges, City and Guilds, Sector Skills Councils and from other agencies and businesses.

And it is going to need collaborative thinking like this, followed by collaborative action to help achieve the strong, independent and motivational careers service our young people and their parents need and deserve.

And Jo, my hairdresser – along with thousands of other enterprising business people and professionals who started out as apprentices – would be a great role model. But isn’t it interesting that even Jo, despite her experience as an apprentice and her subsequent success, still believed initially that the academic route was best for her daughter.

I can’t help but feel that an independent and neutral careers service provided for, not by schools, is the best way forward. A service that covers a wide, enterprising range of options – and includes role models who can talk knowledgeably and enthusiastically about their careers and how they achieved them.

Someone like Jo…..

*The FEdS seminar – Apprenticeships: time for employers to show more leadership, was held on November 3 at Pearson in the Strand. A report will be published shortly.