‘Careers’ and ‘social justice’ have been ever-present themes throughout my working life and I welcome the opportunity to explore and discuss them further as an editor of this forum.

I have always had a strong core value of justice which has driven my decisions and actions. My teenage years were spent in a youth organisation campaigning for the rights of young workers which began my fascination with the world of work.

Becoming a Careers Adviser gave me a true sense of purpose, I loved the variety of working with different groups of people and being in different places although I always felt drawn to working with the most disadvantaged or marginalised groups in society. These were the happiest days of my working life and I met the most interesting, inspirational and decent people. Reluctantly, I jumped ship as UK government policies began to devalue our profession and underfund the service.

I qualified as a Chartered Psychologist and became fascinated with ‘positive psychology’ approaches such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming and hypnotherapy. A change in my own circumstances (becoming a mother) and a growing disquiet with the neoliberal emphasis on the individual sparked a mid-career crisis. An out-of-the-blue opportunity for a PhD scholarship introduced me to Sociology and Philosophy, foregrounding the wider influences which can impact careers.

I am currently a lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Salford and a Teaching Fellow at the University of Lancaster working in Leadership Development. I am just finishing my PhD which explores students’ and graduates’ experiences of unpaid work. This has really made me think about how I can help students to prepare the best for their future careers – balancing notions of structure and agency; reality and aspiration. Although I am an academic now I still describe myself as a Careers Adviser at heart.

My own career aspirations are to always keep on learning, to make a difference and to be wise. Being part of this online community, I am sure, will continue to challenge and inspire me in this direction. I have been so inspired by the work of Hooley, Thomsen and Sultana in emphasising the central role of careers guidance in social justice and stimulating debate around practical ways to enact this. It would be great to hear from you if there is anything you would like to share on the blog.