Gone are the days when impressive grades from school and university would guarantee a secure job for life. The traditional pathway of school, university, profession is also becoming less and less common, and today’s students are likely to have multiple careers in their lifetime, often spanning different sectors. Portfolio careers and entrepreneurship are becoming increasingly prevalent.

The current employment landscape is being reshaped by a few significant factors: rapid technological change, particularly in AI and automation, is transforming not just technical roles, but careers in law, finance, medicine and the creative industries; employers are moving their focus away from qualifications alone towards demonstrable skills and personality traits; globalisation and remote working have expanded the talent pool and our students are competing with a higher number of competitive applicants than ever before.

It can be hard to know what to do, or how to visualise a career goal, but employers do consistently look for a core set of skills in successful job applicants: critical thinking, communication, creativity, problem-solving, and resilience. We know that the future is unclear and that there will be new challenges and problems to solve, so their focus is on creating teams comprised of individuals with the skills to navigate these evolving conditions. Roedean students are well positioned to respond to this context. Graduates emerge having spent their time at school within an international community, and participating in a Futures Education programme that places skills, exposure, and experience at its heart.