In one of her excellent podcast episodes, Kimberly B Cummings highlights “meaningful career moves do not happen without intention.” I couldn’t agree with this more. When thinking about my first career, the only intention I had was to find a job. I wasn’t even thinking in terms of it being a career and I effectively fell into it.

I left school not being able to pursue the career I wanted after failing to be accepted into the police force. Back in 1989, the way to find a job was either through knowing someone who worked for a company and there were vacancies going there. Or by looking in the job section on in the Thursday edition of the Yorkshire Evening Post. I did the latter, circling every job that looked vaguely interesting and where I could see myself working. I ruled out all the office jobs, which is ironic since I have spent more of my working life in an office than not.

I applied for a job as a laboratory assistant, there were 2 jobs available, 2 people applied, automatically getting an interview, and ending up being given a job by default. How times have changed. It didn’t matter that I had no experience or qualifications. It was all on the job training and off to college/university for day release studies. It was a case of a career being created by default with the end result gaining a degree in applied chemistry and eventually moving up to research chemist.

But I knew early on that it was not something I envisaged being involved with for the rest of my working life. There were many positive things to come out from the career I fell into; meeting my husband, having a laugh nearly every day, my first taste of real danger which shaped my perception of risk, how to assess it effectively and how to manage myself in risky and life-threatening situations. And who can forget playing Leisure Suit Larry from a 5” floppy disc at lunchtime on a humongous PC?

On the flip side there were far more things I hated. Studying 1 day a week and all the homework that came with it. It took 7 years of my life and yes, any studying after this was easy in comparison but back them, I felt it was my whole life. It was all consuming, with very few breaks. And when it was over, it took some time to adjust to having lots more free time. I often felt out of my depth and never felt confident in understanding the work I did. Some of the chemicals were stinky, noxious and dangerous, and working with dyes, it wasn’t always just my lab coat that was a variety of colours. Not ever drinking tea or coffee, I resented as a junior staff member having to make it for everyone else in the lab. And most of all, as I became older and more aware, it just wasn’t interesting.

Whilst I might have fallen into my career, this first job at such an informative age, shaped who I am today and how I approach any work environment. From cementing my work ethic, perception of risk, both in and out of work to my attitude towards high pressure/responsible workloads. It also gave me a perspective on money, my salary in most of those years was very low and yet I never felt like I was missing out or that everything was a struggle. When I started my salary was less than £5000, money doesn’t buy you happiness, it just lets you buy more stuff, and has the potential to trap you in a career you might want to step away from.

Did you fall into your first proper job?

<p”>How did that first job shape who you are today and how you show up in your current career?

Are you following a meaningful career? If you’re not, it’s never too late to make a change.