A run of poor exam results can feel like the end of the world, but James Bream is here to tell young people that the end of high school isn’t really an end at all.
This week, young people across the country celebrated surviving their first proper exams in over two years. But not everyone will have received the grades they wanted.
Mr Bream is currently CEO at Aberdeen-based Katoni Engineering, and he serves as the chairman of DYW North East, an organisation that promotes relationships between employers and young people across the region.
When we approached Mr Bream for advice to students who were disappointed by their results, he wasn’t sure it was a compliment.
I wanted to go to university, but I was struggling to find a course that I could get into with the grades.”
But he’ll be the first to admit that his career didn’t have the most auspicious of starts.
“I left high school with two Ds, four Cs and a B.”
Upon further reflection, it might have been just the one D, he said.
“But there were definitely no As, anyway.”
Now, he wants youngsters to learn from his example that all of their potential lies ahead, regardless of their results.
Exam results are only the beginning
He said that at first he felt like his results were going to limit his options, and he began rethinking his future.
“I wanted to go to university, but I was struggling to find a course that I could get into with the grades.”
His lifelong passion for sport gave him a starting point, but he said that his grades also directed him towards economics. It was a surprising direction for him at the time, but he applied himself early and made the most of it.
“Now I knew nothing about economics, I’d never studied it. As it happens, I fell into it and I really enjoyed it, and I actually started a career after I graduated as an economic consultant.
“The whole story was a bit of serendipity and luck, more than anything that was planned.
You never know where you can get to
“Now I write in the P&J about economics, I’m still fanatical about sport, and I’m running an oil and gas engineering company,” he continued. “All with no background in engineering.
“You never know with some good planning, a little bit of luck and a bit of determination where you can get to even if you’ve got Cs and Ds in your exams.”
Mr Bream thinks that there were three skills that helped him climb the ladder:
- Planning ahead
- Having a mix of skills
- Showing determination in every setting
There’s no wrong path. You don’t need to know all the answers when you leave school.
“Whether you’re in an oil company, retail, hospitality, if you work hard and be the best you can be with the tools that you’ve got, you will always get on,” he said.
“There will always be a door that will open even though you’re not sure where it might be in a year or two.”
He said that he would have appreciated hearing more from business leaders about their personal journeys. That’s why he thinks it’s important for groups like DYW to build strong relationships between students and employers.
There’s no wrong path
And he said that it’s important for adults in his position to encourage students from a young age and send a positive message.
“There’s no wrong path. You don’t need to know all the answers when you leave school. It’s the start of the journey, it’s not the end. Everything is really in front of you and there’s great opportunity.
“Probably if I’d gotten a little more advice from people who were in business, I might have been able to get where I’ve got to a bit more quickly. Or, if not more quickly, I might have felt more confident that I was doing the right things.”
More on exam results from the Schools and Family team
Video: Dedication and commitment pays off for Highland students
‘It was a big jump’: Aberdeen pupils receive results after sitting first-ever SQA exams
North-east exam results show a ‘bumper year’ with increased pass rates
Conversation