Throughout my career I have taken risks - I quit a role with no job lined up and more recently left a permanent position to join Phoenix on a 12-month fixed term contract, three years on I am still here (after securing a permanent position!). I appreciate not everyone is in a position to do this but those risks have truly paid off in shaping my career.

Have go......what have you got to lose!

When i joined the first financial institution i worked for, initially working in customer services, i had two goals in mind: 1. I knew Customer Services was not for me long-term, and i wanted to move to a more admin based role as soon as possible. I achieved this within a year of joining the first financial institution i worked for. 2. Standard Life had a great reputation and were well known in the City i worked in as being a great place to work. When i took my first job in financial services my goal was to ultimately join Standard Life but i knew i required some experience in the industry before doing so. After two years in Financial Services i successfully applied for my first role at Standard Life. This was a great decision for my career and i remain at Standard Life/Phoenix to this day, many years later.