About Us
Personal Info
DM Guidance stands for Darragh Molloy Guidance.
Darragh is in the unique position of having worked in both the public and private sectors in both PAYE and contractor roles. He also has the added experience of owning and running his own business.
All of this coupled with a university education and years spent as a fully-qualified teacher has provided a deep understanding of student needs when exiting second level education.
The primary objective of his work is to give students information about the world of work that may not be readily available from other sources. This information is vital when making life-changing decisions.
Services on offer
Currently there are four services on offer. Three are seminar based with the fourth being one to one consultation. The three seminars differ depending on the audience:
- Leaving-Cert Student Seminar – This seminar is designed to be delivered to students before the CAO submission and covers a range of topics which will make their decision more clear as well as allow for a Q&A session at the end.
- Transition Year Student Seminar – This seminar is designed to alert the students to the knock-on affect their subject choice may have for their future as well as provide them with the appetite to research details about future jobs and careers for themselves.
- Seminar for Parents – This seminar aims to bridge the gap between leaving school today and what it was in the past. The goal of this is to put parents at ease with the frustrating task of navigating the post-school landscape as well as communicating with the student.
- One to One sessions – These are an effective way to apply useful information to a specific case within a relaxed environment. All questions and issues are addressed and these are available to students, parents and both together. These can take place online via video-conferencing or in person.
What’s the difference between DM Guidance and a school careers officer?
School careers officers do a super job of preparing the students for the next immediate step beyond second-level education. This includes discussions about CAO applications, college courses, points and apprenticeships.
While they may be mentioned briefly, DM Guidance does not discuss specific colleges, courses, points or student life in depth. Occasionally, it’s forgotten that courses and apprenticeships are vehicles to the step beyond. It’s within this step beyond that DM Guidance aims to provide information.
Topics such as wages, loans, working hours, public and private sectors and tax-bands are all pertinent to students when they are choosing their next step and are rarely conversed.
The importance of communication for the purpose of interviews and how individuals present themselves are common themes as well as a focus on desirable industries to work in.
The whole ethos of DM Guidance is to provide something to students that they have not seen before and for that reason there’s little overlap in content with a school careers officer.