What Should My Next Job Be...?

"What do you want to do next...?"

That's the question on the lips of whoever I speak to when I start a conversation about my next job, whether they are a friend, a recruiter, or a prospective employer.

"What is your ideal job?"

"What do you want to do?"

Short of saying Formula 1 Driver (my dream job and, as I can still fit in my kayak, I can clearly fit in an F1 car) you would think that's an easy question to answer but it's actually pretty tough, so I had the idea to go through my CV, reflect on the jobs I've had in the past, then highlight the things I enjoyed most about them.

So, in no particular order then, this is what I came up with:

Public Speaking & Presenting

Without doubt one of my favourite things to have done in all my roles is to present. I love 'being on stage', whether that's in front of a handful of people, a large audience, or serving at the bar.

I've chaired panels on the benefits of technology in the hospitality sector, I've spoken at events on the value of digital infrastructure or communication strategies and I've delivered in corporate environments from small teams to board presentations.

I'm not talking Death By Powerpoint here. I love a good presentation as much as the next speaker, but I was once taught that the slides are there to remind you what you were talking about if you go off track, rather than for the audience to spend too much time looking at - if they're doing that, they're not listening to you.

Training

You could call this a sub-heading of Public Speaking, but I've enjoyed creating and delivering training courses over the years.

Helping others around me has always been a passion and if I've been able to impart with knowledge that has successfully led to another individual progressing or a business developing, that makes me feel like I've earned my Friday night beer.

Project Management

Being tasked with a goal and building the strategy that leads to the successful launch of a project is something I enjoy. Watching the pieces come together, solving the problems, managing expectations in the stakeholders and then delivering the final product is hugely satisfying. And I won't deny there have been days when I've stamped my feet in frustration too!

Regardless of whether it's a web or ecommerce project, implementing customer relationship management solutions or writing policies to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation, each has had their own set of challenges to overcome, and each have brought endless amounts of satisfaction upon completion.

Leadership & People

I love leading people, be it an individual or a team, and getting them to believe in the vision for a project. I enjoy watching those around me develop and enhance as we take the strategy forward.

It isn't about "management" or "dictatorship", it's about getting the best from those around me. Everybody has a skill, a subject they're passionate about, a job they can do better than me; identifying that and nurturing it, watching others grow, thrills me.

I'm a people person, cliched as that may sound. While I'm every bit as capable as the next person of getting on with my own tasks, working on my own and, in this Covid-world, sitting in my home office interacting by email, Slack, Teams, Whatsapp and Zoom, I enjoy working with others. Creativity is bred through interaction with others.

Technology

I've been very lucky over the years. I've had the chance to play with toys to see if they're the next big thing, the solution to a problem I'm dealing with, or to write about them as part of an article.

From the weird and wonderful such as thought-powered beer pumps and pee-powered urinal games to order and pay apps, loyalty solutions and researching electric vehicle charging points for car parks, I've enjoyed the quirky and unusual and the thought processes behind them that help me decide whether they'd be valuable for my employer or not.

Writing

Last, but certainly not least. Sitting and writing is cathartic for me. I started out life wanting to be a motoring journalist but I was 38 years old before The Publican gave me the opportunity to write something online for them. Then the Morning Advertiser got me to write an opinion piece on getting online in the pub trade.

I've since written opinion pieces and articles for several trade publications, across a variety of subjects around digital and technology solutions, and have even been quoted in the business section of The Times and in Private Eye.

It's a passion more than a career, but one I enjoy nonetheless.

So I thought it would be a great idea to crowdsource what my next role should be; now you know me as well as I do here's my question for you:

What should my next job be...?