Graduated. What comes next?
Talk to someone in a field and try one real task over the next seven days.
I’m just getting started.
Subjects, majors, degrees, first jobs and gap years, for students and the adults helping them.
Every guide in Starting out
32 guidesStudents and graduates
Course choices, what a degree can open, and what to do when graduation did not bring an answer.
15 guidesRead the guide
Should I change my major?
Distinguish subject, course and term problems before deciding whether to change your major.
What can I do with a psychology degree?
Test whether individual, group or data-focused work interests you after a psychology degree.
What can I do with a computer science degree besides coding?
Explore six routes that use computer science without making coding your whole working day.
What can I do with a business degree?
Compare numbers, people and operations work through small practical tasks.
What can I do with a biology degree if I do not want medicine?
Test computational, regulatory, environmental, communication or commercial routes beyond medicine.
What can I do with an English degree besides teaching or publishing?
Try explanation, research and communication briefs to explore work beyond teaching and publishing.
What can I do with a history degree outside teaching and museums?
Use a conflicting-evidence exercise to test research, policy and information work.
What can I do with an economics degree outside banking and finance?
Compare policy, commercial and analytical work through one practical transport example.
What can I do with a law degree if I do not want to be a lawyer?
Compare compliance, operations and policy work through a practical decision-and-process exercise.
I have an engineering degree, but I do not want to be an engineer. What next?
Separate engineering subjects from disliked tasks and compare routes through practical work.
A career exploration lesson plan: try, notice, choose a next question
Facilitate an account-free 45-minute lesson using public work samples, private reflection and a next question rather than career scores.
How should a teenager explore careers right now?
Explore work before narrowing your subject choices or first-job options.
How do I explore careers at university without taking the default route?
Find routes beyond default graduate recruitment and test a direction this week.
How can I help my teenager without pushing them?
Support a teenager’s exploration without turning your expectations into their decision.
Students and starting out
Subjects, majors, gap years, first jobs, missing internships and the YouTuber conversation, for students and the adults helping them.
10 guidesHow do I choose school subjects when I don't know what career I want?
Check enjoyment, grades and requirements for three possible routes before choosing subjects.
Should I take a gap year to figure out what I want to do?
Plan a gap year around two or three questions, with work, volunteering and quarterly reviews.
How do I choose a college major when I'm undecided?
Use your first year to test subjects and related work separately, then compare notes.
How can my teenager explore careers over the summer?
Ten contrasting summer activities and three reflection questions that turn them into evidence.
My teenager wants to be a YouTuber or streamer. What should I do?
Agree safety rules, run a six-week video test and read which parts of creating your teen loved.
Career exploration activities for students that go beyond quizzes
Twelve account-free classroom activities built on small real tasks and private reflection cards.
Does your first job after graduation matter?
Choose a first job for its manager and learning, then treat the first year as research.
I can't get an internship. What can I do instead?
Six realistic alternatives to an internship and how to describe them with task, action and result.
What are good careers for introverts?
Judge a role by its interaction pattern, ask four questions and test your energy at 5 pm.
How do I tell my family or partner I want to change careers?
Share why, evidence, plan and money threshold, then ask what worries the people affected.
Where to start
When nothing obvious is pulling at you, and the question feels too large to answer.
1 guideTests and tools
What quizzes, aptitude tests and AI assistants can and cannot tell you.
1 guideWhen AI changes your job
Role by role: what changes when software does the first draft, and which judgement still carries over.
1 guideActually changing
The method, the timelines, and the two questions everyone asks: no experience, and no degree.
1 guideBefore you pay to retrain
Master’s degrees, bootcamps, apprenticeships, portfolios and freelancing, with the checks worth doing first.
2 guidesIs a coding bootcamp worth it? What to check before paying
Check bootcamp teaching, costs and outcomes before trying a small coding task.
Apprenticeship or university: how to choose when both could work
Compare the work, study, costs and options behind apprenticeship and university offers.
From the notebook
1 guide145 guides. Many ways forward.
How we write & check our guides