Blogs: Richard's job log: 17

Richard currently works in a Birmingham law firm, after completing a contemporary history degree. He’s thinking about a paralegal career, but also has media ambitions.

As I was preparing to start my degree a few years ago, a lot of people (my nan especially) kept asking me what I wanted to do with my life. They seemed under the impression that I would have formed some kind of general idea of what on earth I wanted to be by the age of about 21-22. They were very, very wrong.

The vague look of terror on my face when presented with this question always proved to be a catalyst for another, more searching question. ‘Why don’t you become a teacher?’

This is a good question in many ways, and it would seem to be a pretty reasonable career path to take. Decent money, excellent holidays and, in theory, not too soul destroying. Throw in that I do quite like the sound of my own voice (I host several podcasts) and I like to think of myself as being a relatively intelligent chap. So teaching seemed, to many people, to be the next natural step for me after obtaining a degree.

However, they were wrong. You see, I am not the best public speaker (exhibit A - my wedding speech. When presented with a room full of supportive family, friends and loved ones I nearly had a small, but very powerful nerves-based heart attack), so addressing a classroom full of 30-odd expectant children every day sounds like the single worst thing on earth.

Equally my friends tell me that when confronted with an issue I often degenerate into a stumbling Hugh Grant style gentleman buffoon. In retrospect, that sort of thing probably isn’t the best kind of personality trait to display, especially when you are responsible for keeping a group of tiny people from injuring themselves and literally everyone else around them.

My wife is a teacher and she is great at it. She can do an excellent teacher voice, she is fully adept at the whole telling off thing and being loud comes naturally to her. So too does disapproving of things (something I know about all too well). I often thought teachers spent about 90% of their working day disapproving of things - until I saw all the paper work that they have to do.

So, sorry to disappoint you Nan, but I am unlikely to become a teacher anytime soon. Unless I could teach people things via a weekly podcast in which you absolutely cannot ask me any questions at all. Then I would do it in a flash.