#24: Are you Wombling free?
Or do you know where you want to be in five years?
I didn’t actually live in London at the time.
I’d lived in Acton before, and then out in Berkshire – but still very reachable on the train into Paddington. It wasn’t much of a slog.
But on that day, I’d made the trip from my home in Leicestershire on what seemed like an endless string of taxis, trains (mainline, underground and, um, overground) and escalators to get to Canary Wharf.
I’d not been there before (at least as far as I could remember), but I was impressed by the whole feel of the place.
Sharp suits, Pret a Manger, the bustle.
Having found my way to the Barclays Bank building, I put myself in a lift and went up about 22 floors to get to my interview.
It was, I think, for the job of Head of Resourcing. I am sure it would have been for a small bit of Barclays, and not, you know, Head of everything in Resourcing, everywhere.
I was desperate to move on from my current job as I’d become sooo bored.
As it was, I’d spent 3 years gutting Alton Towers’ recruitment model and rebuilding it - which had been brilliant fun, working with great people.
The benefit of sideways moves and side projects
Strangely, I’d also been given the staff transport operation (a dozen buses and about 30 drivers) to oversee - with a remit to find a hundred grands’ worth of cost. It was the first P&L I had managed and a brilliant opportunity to learn about operations and finance.
Along with managing staff accommodation, it was a pretty varied role.
But after 3 years I was getting bored.
I couldn’t find somewhere else in the midlands where I could do the same thing again. So my boss had very helpfully moved me into a series of cost-saving project roles to keep me off the streets.
They were all very interesting, challenging, and in many respects, I grew as a result. I learned how to create a meaningful pivot table in Excel, for example. And I developed a thorough understanding of how to calculate energy usage in a waterpark.
In all seriousness, I talked to experts, asked lots of questions, and learned things. And removed many hundreds of thousands of pounds of cost.
And this is the point. Learning new things, working with interesting people, delivering something meaningful - that’s what I want to be doing in five years.
But you see, sat in the heavily glazed Barclays office, I didn’t know this. Relatively speaking, I was quite young and hadn’t had as many awakenings and self-realisations as I have now.
So when, half way through the interview, the guy asked me “So Phil, where do you want to be in five years’ time?” I was flummoxed. I REALLY didn’t know. I mean, what do you say? “In your job”?
I had no real aspiration to be a Director of Anything or run big teams (it turns out I hate people management), have accountability for big numbers – or, well, anything that normally comes with promotions (except maybe, bigger bucks).
I liked working on my own, leading projects and supporting others.
If I were to be asked this today, I’d know exactly what to say.
“I’m not ambitious for career growth. I want to do interesting work where I can use my skills and knowledge and learn more at the same time. I want to help people be better versions of themselves. I want opportunity to be creative. I like variety and autonomy. And, I’d like to get paid pretty well.”
And that’s what I want to still be doing in five years’ time.
In truth, that’s what I wanted to be doing when he asked me that question. I just don’t think I could articulate it. It wasn’t the ‘right’ interview answer. I wasn’t as comfortable in my own skin.
I think I knew I didn’t want to be getting endless trains and escalators to Corporatesville to do uninspiring work with uninspiring people all fighting for promotion and the next bonus.
Fortunately, I landed role at another firm where I had autonomy to create and implement a new recruitment model. I liked that. Creating stuff, explaining new ideas to people used to doing the same thing the same way and getting the inevitable same results.
This ticked a lot of boxes, particularly when a few days working remotely became an option. Travelling around the country, meeting and supporting lots of managers and the senior team in changing the culture to sales and service driven.
I didn’t know that’s what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted an interesting challenge – and that did it for me.
How Branson helped me.
Each time I’ve taken a new role, I have to some extent followed the words of Richard Branson –
“If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes – then learn how to do it later!”
It’s paid dividends and helped me learn and grow beyond my own expectations.
Now, however, as I sit firmly in the back end of my 40s, my thoughts on this are maturing. I’ve finally found something that ticks more boxes for me than I could have imagined possible.
The Wombles’ mission was to make good use of the things that they found.
Mine’s to help people make their own career ambitions come to fruition - making good use of the skills that I’ve grown. So I am in the situation where I want to go absolutely full-bore steam ahead in making the absolute bloody most of it.
I’ve created a new website (it’s live but needs some tweaks – I’m not letting perfect get in the way of great), I’m building a set of video tutorials, I’m writing this fortnightly, I’ve a book in the works, and… I just want more of it.
I’ve got to be careful not to overdo it and burn myself out, but by jingo I’ve finally worked out that the world is my oyster. The shocking thing is it was there all along.
I’m closing in on 50 and only now I feel like I’ve really got going. I’ve even been taking singing lessons and am going to be performing my first live solo gig this weekend.
There really is no time like right now to fuck what everyone else may or may not think, and do the stuff that ticks YOUR boxes.
Sure, have a five-year plan, but I’m pretty sure you could work out quite quickly what you could change in your life to do more of the stuff that makes you happy. Couldn’t you?
Don’t leave it five years.
Phil
In the socials
It’s been a bit quiet this last fortnight as I’ve been on holiday, but
Here’s one comparing your life to a pot plant. I know, right? It’s all about growth.
Here’s one that’s all me, me, me. As a great man once said, “do you know who I am?”
Here’s 10 things you need to consider when writing your CV.