Career Development comes in many different forms

Career development comes in many different forms for electrical engineers.

Or, to put it another way, your career development can be blocked in many different ways!

At a key stage in your career, it is important that you are not missing out on many opportunities to learn, but it always surprises me when I talk to young junior and intermediate electrical engineers that they are not getting all the development they could be, even at otherwise very good companies.

So why is that? There are a thousand answers to that question! But some of the examples I come across are:

• You are working on repetitive work, doing the same project over and over – so you are not learning new skills
• You are being given work that is too easy – so you are kept in your comfort zone
• You are being micro-managed – so you are not learning to manage yourself, which is one of the most important skills
• Your manager and more experienced colleagues do not have time to spare to help teach you – so you are not able to benefit from their experience and advice
• You are the only junior on your team – so you don’t have the benefit of other learners to develop together, to ask the questions you don’t want to ask your boss

Do any of these sound familiar? Even if you are developing in some ways, is there a possibility that things could be improved – that you are missing out on development in other areas?

If so, it might be worth a conversation about a particular M&E Design Consultancy who I’m helping recruit for their growing London team.

This company prioritise career development more than almost any other company I work with, by ensuring the following:

• A range of project types, sizes, sectors etc, and a commitment to keeping people involved in as many different areas as possible
• Continually challenging you by giving work that is just slightly out of your comfort zone
• A commitment of time and effort given by all senior staff to developing young engineers
• But at the same time, giving them enough responsibility to develop themselves – not micromanaging
• A young team, who learn together and encourage each other in their learning

If you are interested to hear more – please give me a call on 07814 619544 or email john.sanger@1ststepsolutions.co.uk