Career advice for a 25 year old
Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2016 4:44 pm
Shamelessly ripping off Noided's thread because you're all such a bunch of wise owls
-25 years old
-Undergrad in Theology (2.i) from Cambridge (Mickey Mouse degree from a well-respected uni)
-Four years as military officer but now being medically discharged so no further opportunity there
-Decent at French
-Accredited but totally inexperienced project and programme manager
I just turned down the opportunity to train as a government accountant, possibly foolishly, in favour of an offer to do government policy work. Why? Because I believe I am more of a big picture thinker and that my attention to detail would be insufficient to do very well at audit work, and it also strikes me as repetitive work. I could just roll with the policy job - it's effectively a fast track scheme so there's progression, but we're not talking about the big bucks. It starts at £27k/annum and the expectation is that after the four years of this scheme you earn £45k, which is only a little more than I'm on now. Certainly not the end of the world - that's about as good as it gets in the public sector - but I do have ERE aspirations which would be better served by a better paid private sector job.
I do take a big interest in the economy, and investment, and it has occurred to me that something in finance would be a good alignment with my natural interests, whilst offering good earning prospects. I also lived in Switzerland for a bit and would ideally like to move back there in future for a few years, and feel that banking could be portable for that particular move. I don't really know what aspect, though. I'd describe myself as 65% nerd/35% people person if that helps. I appreciate it is hard to advise someone that doesn't really have much of an idea themselves of what they want to do, but any pointers?
-25 years old
-Undergrad in Theology (2.i) from Cambridge (Mickey Mouse degree from a well-respected uni)
-Four years as military officer but now being medically discharged so no further opportunity there
-Decent at French
-Accredited but totally inexperienced project and programme manager
I just turned down the opportunity to train as a government accountant, possibly foolishly, in favour of an offer to do government policy work. Why? Because I believe I am more of a big picture thinker and that my attention to detail would be insufficient to do very well at audit work, and it also strikes me as repetitive work. I could just roll with the policy job - it's effectively a fast track scheme so there's progression, but we're not talking about the big bucks. It starts at £27k/annum and the expectation is that after the four years of this scheme you earn £45k, which is only a little more than I'm on now. Certainly not the end of the world - that's about as good as it gets in the public sector - but I do have ERE aspirations which would be better served by a better paid private sector job.
I do take a big interest in the economy, and investment, and it has occurred to me that something in finance would be a good alignment with my natural interests, whilst offering good earning prospects. I also lived in Switzerland for a bit and would ideally like to move back there in future for a few years, and feel that banking could be portable for that particular move. I don't really know what aspect, though. I'd describe myself as 65% nerd/35% people person if that helps. I appreciate it is hard to advise someone that doesn't really have much of an idea themselves of what they want to do, but any pointers?