Co Clare-based Julie O’Connor provides that service. Through her business, Synergy Careers, she spends her days helping students and parents make good decisions around education and career choices. She even helps guidance counsellors to better navigate the mire these choices can be.

While Ireland’s national apprenticeship system has been growing substantially year-on-year since 2016, there are still many parents who are oblivious to its existence and benefits. 

Julie O’Connor says: “While students learn about this in school, many tune out while they are being told – perhaps because they assume a talk on this topic is of no interest to them.

“Later, because they genuinely don’t recall it, they may say they did not hear anything about that topic at school. As a result, most of what parents are hearing about apprenticeships is through misinformed, disengaged or blinkered students.” 

 Recalling her time as a guidance counsellor in schools, O’Connor says students would approach her saying that while they wanted to apply for a place at LIT or elsewhere, they had ‘no clue’ how to do so.

“They’d say this even though I talked to them about CAO in their first term,” she says,” and they didn’t know how to apply because they were not tuned in during the talk. In their heads, they didn’t hear anything about this as nothing was told to them about applying to college and CAO.” 

Meanwhile, because of social media and YouTube quick fixes, there’s a tendency for people to scan through communications and miss key information.

O’Connor says: “This speeding along habit is linked to students not doing enough research on the course they plan to study in college. Many just read the title of the module and make a decision based on that, without knowing what’s actually involved.

“This leads to problems with them not knowing how to access modules. Each college has a Book of Modules, a sort of encyclopaedia explaining what will be taught in a module: the outcome, the goal, and how it will be assessed. If students read all of that, they could quantify their interest in and suitability for that course.” 

 O’Connor believes parents could help their young people by reading these modules themselves. It is vital that students pick a career or course that suits their interests.

O’Connor says: “Many tell me they intend to study business, because it is a general degree and one they believe will land them a job. But I often find that when we go through what the degree involves, they have no interest in it.

“Students really should follow their interests and remember that employers regularly look for graduates with a degree, without specifying what that degree should be.” Something about which O’Connor is passionate, is the fact that apprenticeships need to be considered more than they are.

“Students that learn better by doing, than by going the college route, come out from apprenticeships with anything between a Level 6 to a Level 9 or 10 degree. Everybody should be aware that the level of qualifications for those going the apprenticeship route have dramatically increased.” 

To help spread awareness of education and career options, O’Connor hosts the Synergy Careers Webinar Series for students, parents and guidance counsellors. 

“They focus on 20 different career areas and 16 topics, one of which is: ‘Apprenticeship options’. Webinars are free to attend, with unlimited access to all of the recordings available for €25 per annum.” 

In an unequal world, access to guidance and careers can be difficult for the marginalised. I wonder if this is something O’Connor encounters in her work.

“That is part of the reason why I host webinars at zero cost to everyone,” she replies. “Because I know that only some can afford one-to-one career guidance, I wanted to provide a service that caters for everyone. Not just for those who can afford the service.” 

www.synergycareers.ie