The Conclusion⌗

Over the past couple of months I have had a number of ups, downs, doubts, smiles, bad and good days etc, but all were needed for me to get to the point I am at now, in coming up with a conclusion to this piece, when I started up this blog, I never would have thought I would be writing about this topic. Shows how life can throw some grenades aye!

When I look back at all the dates I have had, there were a few major takeaways that I would like to pass on to others for consideration:

  • Keep all your options open, but know what you want
  • Ask for an opinion and be willing to help yourself
  • By keeping up a focussed routine it will keep you prepared for anything

Keeping your options open, but know what you want⌗

Originally I said to myself, I only wanted to do contracting roles, as being at $lastjob for 6 months it would look bad on my CV, if I went to another company and the same situation to happen, so my mindset was to avoid this at all cost. However I came to see quickly that this single mindedness was going to get me nowhere. Keeping all the doors open allowed me to see what the whole job market was like and to be able to evaluate my skill set to get an accurate market value on myself. Additionally, with eyes wide open, I was able to confirm exactly what I wanted from my next position and company. This fact shouldn’t be undervalued and/or underrated, although I was looking for a job as soon as possible, I still had to think about the best situation I’ll be putting myself into.

Keep A Routine⌗

People may not like the mundane feeling of getting up and going into an office however what it does do is gives you a routine. You know at X time you need to get up and out or do something. When you’re looking for a job you are basically moving to your own beat. For some, that may suit them, but I found that once you get out of a routine it gets harder to get back into one especially if you have been dancing to your own tune. Whether it means you getting out of the house or staying in, keeping some sort of life structure will help so much! As a side note, the routine I kept was renting desk space from WeWork in London Fields, Hackney. I personally didn’t want stay at home, so going into an office and just keeping that office environment was good to keep me focused.

Asking for help is Good⌗

There is a difference between asking for views and opinions from people, you interact with on day to day based, I’m a chatty bugger on NetworkToCode, and constantly asking basic questions or ‘fishing’ from others. This actually took me some time to work out, as simple as it sounds. As I believed asking for views/opinions would make me come across as only using them for their professional connections, which was never the case. People are willing to help others that are willing to help themselves. Never forget this, always go that extra step yourself before asking, within reason, of course!

There were a few minor points, as such:

  • Have a wingman for different situations
  • Dating on your own is also cool
  • Playing the field is acceptable

Would be useful, but these minor points can fit within aspects of the major takeaways!

Throughout this whole piece I have attempted to portray speed dating as an analogy about how I went through the process from going from being a self made unemployed specialist to, come 10th August 2018, a brand new excited member of a Network Team, but more importantly an organisation that honestly made me feel wanted and a company that I, wholeheartedly, believe will improve on my current skill set, help develop new skills and hopefully I can drop a few nuggets of knowledge to help the team move forward in the best way possible. As I said earlier, I have been fortunate enough to have a strong squad of friends and family behind me at a personal level, who have allowed me to progress during this time, but I can’t forget the people who, in a professional level, have pointed me in the right direction. As I’ve mentioned both @Ruiari and @irldexter have helped me out plenty and the day I do get to put faces to names, I will be owing them a beer or two! Additionally the guys and girls at Hamilton Barnes, they had been a great help although I didn’t get my position from them, the advice and nuggets from them were extremely valuable!

This article had taken longer and much more open than I had expected, and to be honest, I am pretty glad this is the case. The notion that you need to have a new job lined up, before leaving your current position, is always ideal however we don’t live in an ideal world. These couple of months have shown me that: Struggling, Doubting, Re-Evaluating, Adapting, Progressing, Failure and Success, these are all situations that can be apply whether you are employed or not, but being happy within yourself and the decisions you make is more important than sticking it out in a place you feel isn’t the best fit or a place where you have mentally and emotionally given up. Once you have gotten to that place, you will see that you can find more opportunities by backing yourself and taking that left turn to happiness compared to staying on the straight and narrow.

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