Your career decision is for you, and you alone. It’s you who is going to have to do this job and probably for a long time (by the time you get there, the retirement age is bound to have moved to 70)! So it’s not about what your parents or family want for you – even if they’ve contributed towards the cost of your studies. Neither is it about doing what everyone else on your course is doing.

Why not have a careers appointment to talk about it? Good careers advice is about so much more than giving you information about application processes or job opportunities. It is about helping you to think about your own values and interests and how these might fit into the workplace so that you select a role which is right for you. Careers advice should also be about helping you to envisage opportunities you may not have thought were appropriate for you.

In advance of an appointment (or just in case your careers support isn’t any good) ask yourself these questions:

What’s important in your life? Family, sport, time with friends, work?
Where do you want to live? City? Country? Nice combination of the two?
What elements in a job are important to you? Academic challenge? Meeting people? Variety? Travel? Helping others?
What do you want from a job? Lots of money? Flexibility? Supportive environment? Competition?

Then have a think about the career you’ve been considering. How does it fit with your thoughts on the issues above?

If you want to have flexibility and time for family and your hobbies and to live in a rural location and to know that what you do helps others, then is that City law career really well aligned with your personality?

Similarly if you’re super smart, competitive, driven, a workaholic, love City life why are you thinking about working in a rural high street practice?

Be prepared to challenge your own preconceptions and to be totally selfish about this choice. What’s right for you?