For many young people, exam results season can feel like the biggest moment of their lives. There are grades to achieve, big decisions to make and, too often, the expectation that you should already know exactly what you want to do next.

Helen, Head of Relationship Fundraising at RSBC, is responsible for philanthropy, trusts and corporate relationships, alongside community and events. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time outdoors and pottering in her garden. Her career is a great reminder that there’s no one way to build a career, so we caught up with her to hear about her journey and get her top tips for young people navigating exam results and figuring out what comes next.

You don’t have to have it all figured out

Helen knew at university that she wanted to work in the charity sector. What she didn’t know was what role she wanted, or where that would eventually take her.

Her first fundraising job came through an old school friend, giving her a way into a sector that she knew she wanted to be part of. From there, her career developed through a series of different roles and experiences, working for an organisation in international development and sight loss prevention, some short-term consultancy and later joining an organisation working to support children to grow up in loving families before arriving at RSBC.

Along the way, she learned just as much from the jobs that didn’t feel quite right as she did from the ones that did.

At one point, Helen considered whether fundraising was really for her. It was only when she went to work at an organisation dedicated to sight loss prevention in developing countries that she realised the importance of caring deeply about the cause to enjoying her role.

That experience helped her understand what her own “happy place” looked like: a job where she could use her skills, feel she was adding value and making a difference, communicate the impact and work with a team she enjoyed being part of.

Other roles helped her realise she preferred the variety of a role in a smaller organisation, where she could work with donors, manage a team and contribute to strategy. All experiences that have led her to where she is today.

Her top tips for navigating exam results

Helen knows how stressful exams can feel because she experienced that pressure herself. “I bombed my A-Levels,” she says. “I was too stressed about them. I put too much pressure on myself. It felt like the end of the world.”

That’s why her advice to young people going through exams is simple. To do your best. Your best is always good enough, and that’s all you can do.

And, importantly, your best won’t look the same as somebody else’s. Comparing yourself with friends can make an already stressful time feel even harder, so she encourages young people to focus on their strengths and interests rather than trying to match somebody else’s journey. And if your results don’t go the way you hoped, it isn’t game over.

There are opportunities to retake exams if you want to, explore different routes, try something new and discover options you might not have considered before.

Thinking that exams are everything can be a very easy mindset to fall into, but Helen says exams are important without being everything. They’re not the only way to build a future, a career or a fulfilling life.

What if you don’t know what you want to do?

Perhaps the biggest pressure after exams is feeling like everyone else has a plan.

One person is going to college or university. Another already knows what career they want. Someone else has secured an apprenticeship or has their first job lined up. If you don’t know what your next step is, it can feel as though you’re falling behind.

Helen’s advice is not to worry. At 16 or 18, you are still very young to be deciding what your entire life will look like. Instead, give yourself opportunities to experience different things. Her number one piece of advice is do something you care about and enjoy. “Your working life is a long time in your life, you really want to spend it doing something that you can enjoy” she says.

That doesn’t mean every day will be perfect, or that you should never challenge yourself. It means paying attention to what interests you, what you’re good at and what matters to you, rather than simply following someone else’s idea of success. Helen also believes there is value in taking small steps. You don’t have to work out your entire career trajectory at once. Try something. Meet new people. Learn something new. See what you enjoy and what you don’t.

Sometimes those experiences lead to opportunities you didn’t even know existed.

It’s okay if the plan changes

Helen’s own career is a great example of why there is no single route to success. The job she once thought she wanted to do, working in international programme delivery, ultimately wasn’t the right long-term fit. Other roles didn’t tick all the boxes either. And that was ok, useful in fact.

Each experience helped her understand herself a little better and eventually find a role that suited her skills, interests and life. We asked her what advice she’d give her 16-year-old self today and her advice would be wonderfully straightforward: “Chill.” Take each day as it comes. Surround yourself with good people. Don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself to have everything mapped out. Exam season may feel like a huge moment, but it is only one part of a much bigger story. You have time to explore, change your mind, take a different route and find your happy place. And importantly, you don’t have to follow someone else’s path to find your own.