Insider profil
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Top Insider Advice
Always have a career plan, no matter how vague and set your self targets/goals that you want. Be flexible though, as sometimes you may need to take an indirect route to get to your next goal. Opportunities will come along that might not be an exact fit to the plan, sometimes you will use your head and other times your heart to choose whether to take up an opportunity but keep the plan in the back of your mind at all times. Its good to always consult your friends or colleagues, be prepared to be challenged, embrace this though, do not fight it. You should always listen and take account of both sides an argument, that way you can make and take informed decisions and actions. No such thing as failure and do not be afraid to make mistakes, no matter how careful you are, they will happen, so don't stress it, use that energy for getting things done. When mistakes do happen, own them, be accountable and learn from them. Your mistakes and those made by others are all part of what makes you. They are as important was your successes and make sure you add them to your building experience and knowledge. These lessons can be applied anywhere and will increase your personal resilience. You own your career, no one else, take those opportunities that fit.
Career path
Facilities Project Manager
Phoenix Group
Started 06/2015 to Presenttoo many to list individually
British Army
From 01/1996 to 04/2015Company
What do you like about your job and the company?
Key source of immense personal satisfaction and motivation, is seeing the change that has been planned, resources aligned and budget secured etc, is watching the plan unfold and the change being instigated/delivered with a variety of different levels of involvement from myself (depends on the project or impact on the customer or business).
Greatest achievements
The project management and delivery of concurrent projects to refurbish our office space at 2 different sites (130 miles apart) while minimising the impact to the business using the existing space. The worst bit was as we were nearing completion the principal contractor went into administration and as project manager had to pick up the remaining deliverables in short order to keep to schedule and work with multiple suppliers overnight. Awful at the time but we got through and delivered, that built up reserve of experience, knowledge and importantly resilience over my careers was critical to my personal, team and project success. Over the entire projects (almost 2 years) I saw things all the way through from start to finish and handed back the refurbished space back to Operations/BAU. It took all of my skills, experience and knowledge in operations, project and change management to deliver. All of which was made worthwhile by watching people utilise, with enthusiasm the office space we had envisaged, created and delivered to them.
Stuart T
Operational Governance & Control Consultant
Top Insider Advice
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.
Jason C
Top Insider Advice
I understand this isn't for everyone but we're in a business and company which thrives on change so we should be accustomed to it. Change is good for your career progression and also ties in with personal challenge which helps with development. You don't know whether your good at something until you've tried it and you'll be surprised how the skills gained in one role can be translated and enhanced in another.
Navdish W
Top Insider Advice
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.
