National Careers Week 2023
National Careers Week 2023 ran from Monday 6 - Friday 10 March 2023.
For NCW 2024, please visit our National Careers Week 2024 | Bitesize Careers article or our tips and inspiration page.
To celebrate, you can watch a fun and interactive online workshop called 'Career We Go' for 13 to 16 year-olds and presented by teacher, Mr P.
You can also watch a special careers livestream, where legendary comedian Russell Kane talked to special guests from TV, fashion and games design about their fascinating careers.
Watch the livestream
We marked National Careers Week with a livestream exploring different careers with top guests.
Hosted by Russell Kane, the livestream (which you can watch below) features top tips and careers advice from author and TV writer Malorie Blackman, former finance big shot, turned influencer and fashion entrepreneur, Fisayo Longe, and visual effects designer behind some of the world's biggest films, David Sheldon-Hicks.
If you missed it live on the day, you can watch again at anytime.
To view the Q&A commentary page from the livestream, click the link here
Please note, the live commentary page is now closed and you won’t be able to submit any questions for our guests to answer.
Watch again: Careers livestream hosted by Russell Kane
'Career We Go' workshop
This interactive video presented by teacher Mr P can be used by students and teachers within a lesson and watched back again at any time.
It features fun activities designed to help you find out about your skills and interests, and how you could apply these to different job roles and career paths.
Figure out your dream job with Mr P. videoFigure out your dream job with Mr P
Watch the interactive workshop, hosted by Mr P.

Dream job or worst job?
We put some of you to the test with questions about the best and worst jobs you could imagine doing when you're older. What’s your dream job, worst job and would you choose money over happiness?
Student 1:
To be a professional footballer.
Student 2:
Maybe a basketball player.
Student 3:
To be a footballer, yeah.
Student 4:
Same, footballer.
Student 5:
Therapist.
Student 6:
I want to be a doctor, a surgeon.
Student 7:
Probably to be a doctor, because I like helping people.
Student 8:
Starting a business.
Student 9:
To be an architect.
Student 8:
Start off really small and humble.
Student 10:
Yeah, you draw like a five-year-old.
Student 8:
And then you can like, be one of the top businesses in the world, like Tesco.
Student 6:
I have like, people’s lives in my hands. Don’t come to me.
Student 11:
Next question.
Worst Job?
Student 12:
For me it would be like, a teacher.
Student 1:
A teacher.
Student 4:
Yeah, a teacher as well.
Student 9:
A dentist, they might have smelly breath.
Student 12:
Just can’t handle a lot of kids in the class.
Student 13:
A bin man.
Student 14:
Therapist.
Student 15:
A baby sitter, I hate kids.
Student 13:
I just can’t handle the stress.
Teachers, kids I mean, coming at me. And in primary school, even worse.
Student 7:
Like all kids, like all kids? So, you hate yourself?
Student 15:
No.
Student 7:
Okay, that’s good to know.
Jobs for the other person?
Student 13:
What job do you think I’d be good at?
Student 5:
I think that, you’d be an athlete.
Student 13:
An explorer.
Student 14:
I would say, a teacher.
Student 16:
A teacher?
Student 1:
Get out of here man, I’d be a professional footballer and everything.
Student 16:
I’m offended.
Office or home?
Student 15:
Office.
Student 8:
I would like to work in an office.
Student 6:
An office.
Student 16:
Office
Student 11:
Because if like, I mess anything up. She can like, fix it.
Student 6:
I’m not going to be there.
Student 7:
Home.
Student 15:
Why, are you lazy?
Student 7:
Yes, exactly!
Student 13:
At home, I’ll just be by myself.
Student 17:
I’m working from home.
Student 18:
Why?
Student 2:
I’m usually a lazy guy, stay at home. Take a nap.
Student 11:
Money.
Student 6:
Money.
Student 19:
Money.
Student 20:
I’m going to pick money.
Student 2:
Money
Student 15:
I’ve never like, seen a sad rich person.
Student 21:
Money, as long as you know how to use it properly.
Student 9:
Money can buy happiness, honestly.
Student 22:
Shut up!
Student 9:
No, no.
Student 11:
You can get things with money and it makes you happy.
Student 14:
As long as I earned it.
Student 1:
You could make your family happy.
Student 8:
It’s not going to matter if you’re happy, okay. It matters if you have money.
Student 11:
So you’re saying happiness doesn’t matter?
Student 8:
Exactly!
Student 7:
Whoa, didn’t know that.
Best and worst careers advice
Before they were famous, celebrities were just like everyone else, wondering what they wanted to be and trying to make sense of all the different information coming their way.
Here are some familiar faces sharing their reflections on the best and worst careers advice they ever received and remembering what they dreamed of being when they were younger.
Find out what social media and Blue Peter star Joel M, Saturday Mash-Up! presenter Joe Tasker and Radio 1 host Vick Hope, and others have to say.
Ade Adepitan:
I wanted to be loads of things, I wanted to be an explorer because I love travelling.
I wanted to be an astronaut because I wanted to see what our planet looked like from space.
Vick Hope:
I wanted to be a journalist, specifically I wanted to be a foreign correspondent.
Around the world reporting from the front line, a hard hat and a bulletproof vest, it just fascinated me.
Melvin Odoom:
I actually wanted to be a singer because I love the idea of entertaining people, but then I realised I can't actually sing and hold a note, so I thought presenting was the next best thing.
Nadiya Hussain:
As a very young kid I wanted to be an archaeologist.
I love discovering new things, I loved getting mucky and loved dinosaurs.
Sara Davies:
I wanted to be a history teacher.
I thought my history teacher was the coolest person ever and quite honestly, I just wanted to be her.
Melvin Odoom:
I would probably be a teacher because I actually used to teach before I got into TV and radio.
Nadiya Hussain:
I would probably have been a social worker.
Social workers play such an important part in our society.
Joe Tasker:
Anything to do with cars, vehicles, anything that moves fast.
I love stuff like that, whether it's washing them, test driving them or trying to sell them. I would be good at that.
Michaela Strachan:
I think I would quite like to be in production management in television. I enjoy working with people, I like detail and I think I would have enjoyed it.
Joel M:
I would probably be a music teacher, I really looked up to my music teacher in school, I play a bunch of instruments, and I like helping people learn how to do things.
Megan McCubbin:
I would love to be a safari guide out in Africa, with all those animals and that landscape - magic.
Alishea:
That you need to know what you want to do by the time you leave school, because you absolutely don't.
I'd just say that it's important to know what you like, what you're passionate about, and follow those routes and just see where it takes you.
Ade Adepitan:
Do you know what? I think I would have ignored any dodgy careers advice.
My advice would be, try out things until you find something that you're passionate about, something that you really love.
Megan McCubbin:
The worst career advice I was probably ever given is that there's only one way of doing things.
There's lots of people with different minds, different ways of thinking and different ideas, so there's always more than one way to overcome a career obstacle.
Sara Davies:
I think the worst careers advice I've ever been given was to pursue something because I was good at it.
I think the really important thing is to do something that you love and you're passionate about.
Vick Hope:
Anything to do with changing something fundamental about myself, how I look, how I talk, how I express myself.
If you have things that are unique to you, then they are going to be the things that people will be drawn to.
Cel Spellman:
You can do or be whatever it is you set your mind and heart to and don't let anyone stop you or tell you any differently.
Quiz: What’s the perfect career for you?
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Try this fun quiz to find out about the types of jobs you might enjoy and different careers you could consider.

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