THE CAREER DOCTOR GOT MY DEGREE, NEXT STEPS?

You haven’t given me a whole lot to go on here, other than the fact that you weren’t particularly inspired by your brief stint in the insurance industry. What I would say as a foundation point is: Think long term.

A significant number of people emerge from formal education with no firm direction in mind. In your case, that’s fine, as your degree allows you quite a measure of flexibility in approaching the market.

Go back to first principles here. In order to be happy in your working life you need to be doing work that you are skilled at, in an environment/culture that you enjoy and feeling that you are being adequately rewarded for that effort.

That means that, as of today, you need to define those three elements: what skills/knowledge do you have that the market is willing to pay for? What kind of culture and management style do you enjoy working in? What aspects of the commercial role appeal to you? Sales? Marketing? Relationship management? Customer Service? What sectors appeal to you and why? What sectors do not appeal to you and why? And how much do you need to be paid to be happy right now? When you have clarified that checklist of your needs and wants, you are ready to start researching and approaching the market.

You then need to project that checklist forward and look at the career path that the different routes offer you. What are the pundits and analysts predicting for the sector? What extra skills will you need to garner in order to advance? It is only when you have determined your long-term ambition, that you can decide if you need to upskill in the short term. Right now, unless you are being unsuccessful in your job hunt solely because of the lack of a postgraduate qualification, I would say it is probably better to get your feet wet in the market and, having identified your ultimate goal, establish what, if any, further (targeted) qualifications you need.

Take solace in the fact that a huge number of people are in exactly the same boat as you – most of them just prefer not to talk about it. I would recommend completing ‘The Flower Exercise’ from What Color is Your Parachute? By Richard Bolles (the book sells 20,000 copies a month worldwide to people in your situation). This kind of inward-directed thinking will grant you clarity, focus and peace of mind as you approach the market.

A recent graduate who really knows what he wants, who he is and what he has to offer is a rare find in today’s marketplace. So do a bit of navel-gazing, apply that new-found knowledge when you are researching the market and you will stand out nicely from the crowd when you get to interview.

Rowan Manahan is MD of the career management firm Fortify Services and author of Where’s My Oasis? Visit www.fortifyservces.com or telephone 01 230 1313.

Irish Independent, Jobs & Careers supplement, October 20th 2005.

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