Home Leeds App for School Leavers to Discover Dream Career

App for School Leavers to Discover Dream Career

As GCSE and A Level results come out and thousands of young people across Leeds make decisions on their futures, the UK’s leading independent training provider is offering free career advice clinics for any school leavers who’d like to explore what next steps to take and has a fun app on hand to help people uncover their key skills and strengths.

Pitman Training’s ‘Career MOT’ App uses a series of psychometric profiling questions, based on the methodologies of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, to generate a diagnostic report of recommendations of the type of career that would suit certain character traits and interests, as Pitman focuses on trying to help school leavers connect these qualities to their careers.

Kim Middleton, Pitman Training Leeds Operations Manager said: “Pitman Training’s Career MOT app has helped thousands of people across the country focus on what kind of work will make them happy and we’re excited to share this with Leeds school leavers to try and help them find the right direction for them. By coming into centre to run through the app we can then chat with young people about the different routes to their dream career, to help guide them there without the need for university. You can share the app with family and friends to get further insights from them and also return to it a later date, when you next feel you want to review your career situation. By giving people access to this tool we hope they will take a fresh look at career options”.

Kim added: “Research we undertook last year revealed that very few young people connect their interests and passions to their career and this is very worrying for us – we want to try and help change the curve of this behaviour”.


Along with a free skills analysis to help people establish their current competency in things like typing and MS Office, the team at Pitman Training Leeds 1 City Square is also on hand to help create tailored 5 year career plans.

Further free resources are available via www.pitman-training.co.uk/advice-centre/not_going_to_uni to help school leavers discover how inspiring careers can be achieved without a degree. Sharing tips from ex-Pitman students who now work for the BBC & ITV alongside the PA to Ann Summers’ CEO, the advice hub aims to shine a light particularly on the career path of a PA, challenging the myth of this role being purely admin related and highlighting the perks of such a route into diverse industries.

Claire Lister, MD at Pitman Training added: “We’re really excited about meeting school leavers not going to uni to help them structure their next steps because if at school age young people fall into jobs, or further training that is a ‘filler’ rather than a vocation, they really risk not achieving their true potential. Many of our training courses can open doors to help people work in the industries they really want, if they are focused on progression. PA, web design and accountancy courses in particular can open up a huge variety of doors into interesting careers”.

A gap in support for young people exploring career options was revealed nationally in research Pitman Training carried out last year when 4 in 5 (80%) young Brits claimed they wish they knew more about options available to them on leaving school. However Yorkshire came out as the third most confident in believing that with the right guidance they would be able to achieve their career dreams.

Further findings from the research undertaken by Pitman Training and Censuswide found that that:-
> 37% of 16-24 year olds stated they don’t have the confidence to turn their passions into careers
> Fear of failure halts 35% of 16-24 year olds following their dreams, compared to 20% of 35-44 year olds
> Only 7% of 16-24 year olds cited their parents wishes and approval as a barrier
> Only 65% of 16-24 year olds felt University wasn’t the only way to a dream career, compared to 51% of 45-54 year olds who felt it was
> 35% of 16-24 year olds feel like they’ve outgrown education

Pitman Training has been synonymous with office based training since Sir Isaac Pitman invented shorthand in 1837, and the company now helps thousands of students each year progress their careers through tailor-made study programmes and Diplomas with one to one support at over 100 local centres, as well as via online courses, and short seminars to help top up skills.

The Leeds centre is located at 1 City Square Leeds. Visit www.pitman-training.com/leeds to find out more.