Every managing director, business owner and head of department has a story behind how they got to where they are today. Often these people start off at the completely different end of the scale to where they are now and it’s an interesting progression to see. You can plan your career path all you like but sometimes you can end up going in a complete different direction – for the better. The point is you can only predict your career path to a certain extent, it’s important to be open to change and to not be afraid of taking the steps to reach what you really want to do. This brings me to sharing my own personal development, how I started out and got to my current position.

  1. My career journey started with a newspaper round for the local Newsagent when I was 10 years old.
  2. I then went on to do gardening and DIY locally for £3.50 per hour when I was 14 years old.
  3. When I was 16 I worked as a Sales Assistant in the Menswear department at Debenhams.
  4. I then became an Activities Leader at ELAC Language School when I was 17 years old.
  5. At 18 I started at The Junction Tavern in Polegate as a Bar Tender.
  6. I then joined the Corporate Team at Watson Associates when I was 19.
  7. And finally from 23 years old to present I am Managing Director at Identity Group.

Each job gave me a different skill set. This is the most important thing about developing your career, its taking things you’ve learnt from previous roles and using them in your current position. It’s impossible to know too much so think of each stepping stone as a lesson which you’ll learn invaluable information from.

#MyFirst7Jobs