When You’re Stuck

Thomas Jones says not to worry if you can’t think what on earth you want to do....

Some people just know what they want to do. Every small child has their professed goal – ‘I want to be a fireman!’ etc – but for some people this can become a genuine ambition. There is nothing particularly remarkable about an 11 year old who declares that he wants to be a doctor, and who still feels the same at 17 – yet for those of us who have never known what we want to do this feels very alien and unfair! Why should some people have such a perfect sense of direction? The real panic sets it when you are in your last year at uni and all of a sudden the ranks of the ‘no ideas’ people seem rapidly to be thinning. Is it just me, one wonders. But it’s not, and nor is it the end of the world to be 21 or 22 and not yet to have found your niche or desired career path. There is much that can be done to de-stress the situation and to help you find a good first job – you just need to look at the situation a slightly different way.

The first mistake that is made – and the number one culprit for stressing people out – is to think too much in terms of big career labels.

“Do I really want to be a banker? I’m not sure I’d be suited to being in advertising. And I really don’t just want to do law like everyone else.…”

Don’t worry about big headings

Big headings are not important when you are initially thinking for your first job and unsure of direction. What are important are the individual elements of individual jobs. Careers guides that look to help you break down your own interests and priorities – and then look to match these with a job – are definitely on the right lines. So what makes more sense here rather than the top down ‘here is an industry – do I fit it?’ approach, is a bottom up ‘here are three or four things I want from a job, where can I find them?’ approach. It takes the pressure off and accepts the realism that no job will ever be perfect….

Ticking your boxes

So how does this work? The key is to think in terms of a job ticking your boxes. No job will tick all, but some jobs you may not have thought of will tick enough for you to think ‘hmmm, maybe that is an idea….’. This requires considerable flexibility across job sectors – don’t rule anything in or rule anything out. So – for example – let’s say you think that even though you don’t really know what you want to do, you’d like to do something challenging, earn enough money to enjoy London and live out, work with lots of intelligent people, and not work until 10pm each night. That is a start – and there are lots of jobs – from consultancy to buy-side finance – that match these criteria extremely well. So if you can pin down what would make you happy at least in the short term, it can be a more relaxing approach to picking a starting point for what could be a very varied and flexible career. No job will perfectly match every demand you have – that is the nature of the beast. But if a job seems to be ticking four or five boxes, chances are it’s worth some further research.

Starting your research

How to go about your research? Stage one should be very much the above, exploring your own motivations and ambitions and trying not to rule anything out. Use the contacts you have – people who have started work or done internships – for valuable feedback on their experiences. The stage to start ruling things in or out is when you have really developed a more nuanced picture of an industry or type of work. Your own work experience and internships can really help here – don’t make the mistake of seeing summer jobs as being just about the cash and having something on the CV. Work placements and open days are vital – they offer a priceless window into a job and thus they can be used effectively in your initial filtering process.

Once sectors have been sensibly chosen for further focus, the real research starts. Only a fool would think ‘definitely investment banking’ without spending a substantial period of time digging into their various departments and roles. There is a big difference between the day to day of the trader, salesman, M&A analyst and prime broker – which would suit you best? If you have followed my ‘box ticking’ method, chances are that you can continue that here. So if you want a big name on your CV, to work in a fast-paced and high-earning role but also have lots of immediate human contact, this would lead more on to certain positions than others… Again personal contacts can be used profitably here – if you have a friend who did a trading internship, grill them about it!

Use your interviews

Lastly, don’t be afraid to bring up some of your ‘boxes’ at interview. If you have chosen logically it’s likely that this will impress the interviewers as suggesting you have really done your research and understand the role. If they think it’s not for you – and it isn’t – this gives them a chance to say why, and to help you find something that really suits you. Again, make sure you see interviews as being for your benefit. What can you get out of it? What can you learn? You may find that an interview makes you think ‘this isn’t bad, but actually I don’t want to do it because of x’. Thoughts like this are to be encouraged – it’s all part of the gradual process of moving from ‘no ideas’ to ‘some ideas’.