After nearly 5 years working in the financial advice industry I took voluntary redundancy and was given access to a career transition service called Lee Hecht Harrison - this was extremely useful for me to understand what it was I was really looking for in a job and how my skill set could be best utilised.
Extra Curricular & Work Experience
In school I always was a part of the football team which is a great way to learn to work as part of a team and develop essential communication skills.
Through working in both financial advice and now as a flight attendant in the aviation industry I have developed many invaluable skills. Communication is absolutely essential which I learned quickly in the working world, through working as part of a small team I quickly learned how to communicate efficiently and effectively with my peers in order to ensure we were all aware of each other’s status and knew where to focus our attention to work toward achieving collective goals. Also essentially I’ve learned how to prioritise workload and be self efficient, using initiative to decide what to do and when to do it. I have learned that it’s absolutely crucial to realise that my way of working/thinking isn’t necessarily the best way and it’s so important to listen to others points of view and learn from your colleagues to better yourself, it’s important to keep an open mind.
I would probably tell myself to spend a bit more time working out what I enjoyed studying and learning about so I know where to put my main focus. Maybe even just to start to try and think about what type of job I could see myself in the future and what subjects could help me learn the skills and knowledge I might need. I know now that there is such an incredibly vast range of paths you can go down in relation to professional life and sometimes it’s okay to think something is for you but realise further down the line it’s not and to press the restart button and try something completely different is OK.
Enjoy your school days, they are some of the best you will ever have. Take all the opportunities that the school gives you, there are some great opportunities that can really help you get a head start with the transition from school to adult life. Relax and don’t put too much pressure on yourself, things work best if you can chill out and just be yourself!
