Careers: Help! What am I good at?

Katie

Hello and welcome to the BBC Bitesize Careers Podcast. This is the podcast where we try and help you figure out what you want to do in the future. In each episode, we try and answer one of the hundreds of questions you've told us you want the answer to when it comes to your future careers. I'm Katie Thistleton, I'll be your host today, and the question we're going to try, and answer is, how do I know what I'm good at? To help me answer this question, I'm joined by two wonderful people. We've got Mark, our fantastic careers expert, who's going to be giving us all of his tips and tricks. He's helped loads of young people just like you find their path. Hello, Mark.

Mark

Hi Katie.

Katie

And I'm also joined by the wonderful Yasmeen, who is still at school. And so, like you, trying to figure out what she wants to do with her future career. Hi Yasmeen, how are you doing?

Yasmeen

Hi Katie, I'm so excited to be here.

Katie

Let's do a little bit of a warm-up game first just to get us all limbered up. Does that sound good?

Mark

Okay.

Katie

I'm going to give you different scenarios, and I want you to tell me if you think that's a strength for you or a struggle for you. And I want you to be honest, okay?

Mark

Okay.

Katie

Let's do it. First scenario, you've got to present a project in front of the whole class. Is that a strength or a struggle for you, Yasmeen?

Yasmeen

I think that would be 50/50. I enjoyed the research and coming up with a presentation, but standing in front of a big group of people is always nerve wracking, so I think that will be a bit of a struggle.

Katie

What about you, Mark?

Mark

Yeah, I would say it's probably a strength for me. It's not something when I was your age that I could have done, but I think in time, as I've done more and more of it, I've become more confident in doing it. So yeah, I think it's a strength for me.

Katie

Okay. Next one, you've been asked to organise a group project and you're the leader. Strength or struggle?

Yasmeen

I think this is a strength for me. I enjoy organising and I like seeing projects that I work on come to life. So yeah, strength.

Katie

Mark?

Mark

Struggle for me, I'm afraid. Yeah, I think it's one of those things I struggle to organise myself. So, to organise other people, not really a strength of mine.

Katie

And the last one is you're working on a maths problem and it's really challenging, a strength or a struggle.

Yasmeen

This is definitely a struggle for me. I hate getting stuck on something for a long time and not getting anywhere with it. So, maths is not my forte.

Katie

I agree with you. I don't have any patience, Mark?

Mark

Um, I think it would be a strength of mine, my maths was okay back in the day, but, um, I'm out of practice now, so don't quiz me now on it. So, don't give me any problems.

Katie

Don't worry. The next card is not full of really hard maths equations. I would never do that to you. Okay, so we've got a little idea there about some of our strengths. And that is what this episode is all about, how to know what you're good at. We know what we're good at with those three scenarios, but what else are we good at?

Katie

Yasmeen, you are interested in medicine and law, is that right?

Yasmeen

Yeah.

Katie

Okay, so that two amazing career options there, both very different. Both seem really hard. How are you navigating that decision of which one to do?

Yasmeen

I think with two very different careers, it's really important to kind of see what skills each one needs. So, medicine is a lot more science based. So, Biology, Chemistry, um, but law is a lot more written based, kind of English and a lot of, uh, negotiating and argument skills. So, I think looking at the different skills that each of them need has helped me.

Katie

Presumably at this stage, you've got skills that suit both. That's why you've still not made this decision.

Yasmeen

Yeah, I think so. Um, I think just because they're so different, it's so difficult to kind of see where the skills fit in.

Katie

Mark, what advice would you give to someone like Yasmeen? I'm sure there's lots of people watching and listening who are in the same situation. They've maybe got a couple of different careers they'd like to do, but they don't know which one is best for their skill set.

Mark

I think the more you research both options, if there are two options, the clearer you'll be about which one is the right one for you. So, um, research can be doing things like work experience. So, in your case you can try and do some work experience in law, in a law firm and then try and do some medical related work experience, talk to people who do the jobs, have those conversations. And the more you do that, the clearer you should be about which is the right choice for you. But it's not easy.

Katie

Is that something that you're doing, or you will do Yasmeen, do loads of research?

Yasmeen

Yeah, I've started doing some work experience in medicine, it's really hard to find, but I think doing it has kind of helped see the difference between what you see on TV and what you see in like kind of books, and what is the reality in the workplace away from just the education side. So that's been really interesting.

Katie

Also, the Bitesize website has got some really great tools and quizzes for this, something I wish I'd had when I was making these decisions. You can actually do a quiz on the Bitesize website, where you go through all of your skills, and it tells you the kind of careers that you might be good at. So, let's go back to that big question we're trying to answer today, Mark, how do I know what I'm good at?

Mark

A starting point can be talk to people who know you well, because sometimes we don't know what we're good at because we think it's just something that comes natural to us and it comes natural to everyone. But that's not always the case. So, if you can speak to your loved ones, people who know you well and find out from them what they think your skills and strengths are, that's a really good starting point. And then it's just about building on those strengths, so you're even better at them and you keep practising them because that's what's going to really put you in a good position for your future.

Katie

Has anyone ever told you you've got a particular strength Yasmeen that has surprised you?

Yasmeen

Yes, I think I was told that I'm good at kind of bringing ideas together, coming up with a nice conclusion, which is something I never really thought about. So that was kind of a nice surprise.

Katie

And you think that'll be good for the careers that you want to do?

Yasmeen

Yeah, I think especially for law kind of having that, um, argumentative ideas and kind of bringing everything together would help.

Katie

Has anyone ever told you you're good at arguing?

Yasmeen

Yes. I don't know if that was a compliment or not.

Katie

Well, it is if you want to be a lawyer, maybe. Right. I'm going to hand this over to you now, Yasmeen, because we're going to have a look at that Career Question Wall. What are people asking on there?

Yasmeen

We have a question here. How do I know what skills I have?

Mark

I think reflecting on things that you do naturally. So, things that you do might maybe in school, things that you do outside of school, things that you enjoy doing, you know. It's not… it's all very well saying you have a particular strength or a skill, but do you actually enjoy using that skill? And that's really important to identify.

Katie

Is there anything that you think that you do now that you think, oh yeah, that would stand me in really good stead for a law career or medicine career?

Yasmeen

I think I'm really into reading and kind of just watching vlogs or watching, um, podcasts. So, I think that kind of research element is going to be useful for either one.

Katie

You like to learn.

Yasmeen

Yes, yeah. Um, but I had a question for you, Mark. Um, how can I identify the difference between like, a skill I have for a hobby and a skill I have to take into the workplace?

Katie

Great question.

Mark

Well, in many cases, I think they can often be the same. Um, you know, there's going to be certain things that you only use as a hobby. But when you think about it deeply, some of the skills that you enjoy using, you're using naturally as a hobby and you're using it in something that's, you know, is a bit more serious. So, I think if you put them all together and then you think about which ones you would really want to be using in the job, that can really help you to identify the right path for you.

Katie

We're talking a lot about these strengths, Mark, but how can we consider our weaknesses as well when we're trying to make these decisions about our future careers?

Mark

Yeah, I think it's really important to be aware of weaknesses, because we may still need to be using those particular weaknesses in our day-to-day jobs. So, first of all, it's being aware of them. And again, you might know yourself what's a weakness or somebody else might tell you. But then it's also important to address those and try and get a little bit better at them. But I would say don't necessarily spend too much time focusing on those weaknesses. I think the most important thing is to make your strengths even better.

Katie

But we all have them and that's okay, isn't it? Like we said before, you know, you two would be very different people in a group scenario. But I think that would make you great at being in a group together and doing a group project. You need people to have different strengths and weaknesses. Yasmeen do you have another question from the Career Question Wall?

Yasmeen

We have, what are the key skills to develop for success in today's job market?

Mark

Oh, that's a good one because, you know, things are changing. The world of work is changing. So, the skills that are required now or in the future might be different to what was required in the past. But I would say that the key skills are communication skills, um, problem-solving skills. And I think they've always been the case. But also, now adaptability and resilience are really important as well.

Katie

Okay. Why don't we as our takeaway task today, because we like to give you something to do to go away and do and think about why don't we play that strengths and struggles game again. But we'll do it with those skills that you just mentioned. What's the first one again?

Mark

Right so the first one was communication skills. And that's really important. It's not just about talking. It's about listening as well and being able to reflect back what you've heard. So how do you feel you are with communication skills?

Yasmeen

I think I can communicate quite well, but I think, um, listening to what other people say and kind of seeing it from a different perspective can sometimes be a bit difficult. So maybe that's a weakness.

Mark

Uh, what else have we got? We said, uh, problem solving. You know, in a school scenario, you could be talking about solving problems in maths, for example. But in everyday life we are presented with opportunities to solve problems. You know, it could be personal problems or something like that. So, problem solving is really important.

Yasmeen

I think that's a strength for me. I think I quite enjoy sticking at a task and kind of seeing how to solve it. If we avoid maths, then yeah, problem solving is a strength for me.

Mark

And then we've also got adaptability. That's really important because when you have, let's say, a job description, sometimes you might need to go off-piste and do something slightly different, or you're being asked to do something slightly different. And we do need to be adaptable because the world of work is changing a lot, and we don't know what the future holds. So, it's a real skill to be adaptable.

Yasmeen

Yeah, I think that's also something I need to work on because, uh, when things change, when I have plans and they get cancelled, that really stresses me out.

Katie

Don't like change. A lot of people don't like change.

Mark

Yeah, yeah. You know, one of the big things about, uh, changing the world of work is AI, you know, and that's having such a massive impact on the way the world of work is. So, when you go into a particular job, that job might change in the future. So, it's really important that we do have that adaptability.

Katie

Right, what's the last skill?

Mark

The last skill is resilience because there are going to be lots of ups and downs in your career. And it's really important that we develop resilience so that we when we do get those setbacks, we can get up, dust ourselves down and keep going again. And that's a really important quality to have in today's job market.

Yasmeen

I think that might be a strength for me. I think once I enjoy something and once I've got my mind on it, I like to keep at it. And so, yeah, I think it's a strength.

Mark

Good.

Katie

Have a little think about your answers to that game. Maybe you'll look at the strengths and think, oh, I could do a job with those skills because I'm really good at that stuff. Maybe I'll look at the struggles and think, oh, I need to improve in those areas. Or maybe you want to go for a job that doesn't require those skills because you're never going to be good at those things. That's absolutely fine. Remember the BBC Bitesize Careers website is great for that. There's a quiz on there you can do all about the skills that are your strengths and the careers that might be good for you. If you're good at those particular things. You can also watch more episodes on the Bitesize Careers website, or you can listen to them on BBC Sounds. Until then, keep exploring, keep learning. And remember, you don't have to have everything figured out just yet. Take your time and discover those strengths. You will have some there even if you feel like you haven't, and the rest will follow. Thank you so much, Mark.

Mark

Thank you,

Katie

Thank you, Yasmeen.

Yasmeen

Thank you.

Mark

Take care.