Starting Over in Your Career (Again) | by Reshma Gayadeen
"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."—M. Scott Peck
Starting over has been a reoccurring theme in my life. As a child, I moved from the UK to the Caribbean to start a new life with my family. In my twenties, I moved back to the UK to start a new life as a single person chasing my dreams. In my thirties, I took a career break to deal with heartbreak and grief. I then decided to try to build a new life again in the Caribbean before realising that whilst for a time I needed to heal with my family, now I needed to be me again. So, after a year of the glorious Caribbean sunshine, I jetted back to the UK to start all over again!
My First Career Break
I didn’t go to university. I sort of fell into my first job in social housing and discovered a passion for enhancing people’s life chances and delivering continuous improvement. I was happy in my job having progressed up the career ladder within the same company I worked for over ten years. I was comfortable there. My colleagues were like my family.
I separated from my husband and took a six-week vacation to spend time with my family in the Caribbean. I thought I would take a break and come back to my job and rebuild my life. But when I returned, I was unhappy. I felt alone and missed my family and friends. This led to me taking an eight-month sabbatical from work. This was both scary and exciting. For me, my career has always been my main focus and my security.
My Second Career Break
"Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind."
Marcel Proust
Less than six months after I returned from my sabbatical, I experienced a loss that impacted me and my family massively. When we lose someone older like a parent or grandparent there is that grief but when you lose someone young, the grief is combined with anger for the unfairness of the hand that was dealt. It changes you.
For me, that meant that I needed to make a change in life and be closer to my family. What it also meant was me giving up a career that I built and starting out again in a different country without a university degree. I spent just over a year in the Caribbean before returning again to the UK as my career prospects were much better here. This time, progressing up the career ladder proved more difficult. So much had changed in the year that I was away. I was able to get a job as a project manager, however, I wasn’t successful in progressing further. I started my project management apprenticeship to help me develop my project management skills and also to progress in my career.
How My Apprenticeship Benefited Me
What I quickly learned when I started my apprenticeship is that I would not only gain knowledge and skills in project management but a wealth of support and all-around development skills. Through my coaching sessions, I was able to identify areas for personal development and to address these by applying my learning and by attending community events. I was able to improve my communication skills and build my self-confidence. This allowed me to start networking and build connections in the departments and fields that I was interested in. My confidence and training helped me to manage up and build my personal brand. These skills and coaching sessions have been extremely valuable to me as my confidence in my skills and abilities dipped with each career break I took.
I returned to my apprenticeship from a break in learning in December as I had my first child who is now 19 months. From December to the present date, I have accomplished so much in my career. I am extremely happy to share that I have now started a new role in programme management in our corporate project management office.
My advice to anyone thinking of starting an apprenticeship is to go for it. Here are my top tip’s for getting the most out of your apprenticeship:
- Be fully open and honest with your coach on the areas you would like to develop
- Engage with the Multiverse Community!
- Be open to trying new ways of doing things
- Network, network, network
- Put your learning into practice, be it self-development, time management, or communication, put your skills to use, and make a difference to your organisation.
What I have learned through this experience is that it is never too late to restart your career. There are opportunities to be gained no matter what path you choose in life. And time out from your career can also provide you with the opportunity to gain new skills, focus on what you want from your career, and to provide the time to focus on yourself and your family. The time spent with my family was invaluable and I am now happy and secure in my career again.
Reshma Gayadeen is a Project Management apprentice at Multiverse based in London, UK, and is writing for the Apprentice Lens as part of the Blogging Team. Here’s more about her:
‘I have always been passionate about creative writing and journaling. I am inspired by personal life stories, music, and nature. I am a new mum to a 19-month toddler, and I decided to join the blogging team so that I can justify finding time in my day to dedicate to writing.’