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By SpiderMint

I have not blogged here for 10 months. The reason for that is that I thought I had found my niche. Incorrect. I had found a better job, but not my niche.

How do I know? Because when I think about the ultimate aim of my role in my organisation, I feel bored by my own thoughts.

As we know on this site, lack of passion is bad. I work for a local government education scheme as PA to the director. I genuinely thought I wanted to be a PA. In my case those letters stand for Professional Assistant. My boss believes in me which is both a welcome change and utterly frightening (reasons for that may belong in a different setting). I found that I spend all my time arranging meetings and chasing people up to supply agendas and papers; followed up with general secretarial assistance. Quite often something happens which wipes out half a day or, worse, a whole day, and my To Do list extends to a length I try to ignore.

Plus points are that I am working in the public sector, and not making money for someone else. Yet, I feel that my achievements occur by proxy; it is not really me making any changes, I help someone else to make those changes.

However, this job has really stretched me and I have learnt some valuable skills. I can negotiate meetings with very senior members of the organisation. I even emailed the CEO the other week and had a response in 10 minutes; not sure many people can talk of that kind of influence. But I am not bragging here, it’s not in my soul. I’m just amazed that this is what I can achieve.

I have been on a distance learning short story writing course for some time but progress has ground to a halt. A friend took me along to a literary party this week and it was inspirational – it made me realise that I just need to get on with things. An embryonic action plan formed this week; I intend to write as much as possible, anywhere on anything and see what falls out. This is the start. No it really is.

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What people are saying about Careershifters

"For 17 years I worked in the travel industry. In the period of unemployment and after attending the Careershifters workshop I retrained and am now employed as a trainer and coach. I'd recommend the workshop to anyone who may not know what they want to do."

Paul Kensett

"Careershifters helped me realise that there were many small steps I could take towards improving my job satisfaction. Gaining greater focus has given me a renewed enthusiasm for my work, giving me the confidence to negotiate a one year sabbatical."



Cath Rooney

“As of yesterday, I officially have a new career and start my new and exciting role next week! So a massive THANK YOU to all of you at Careershifters for your support. You really do deserve every success in what you're doing.”

Liz

“Thanks to Careershifters I'm shifting my career! Have been thinking for a while about the direction I'm going in and after looking at your website and reading some of the advice I realised that I've got to go for it.”

Justine

"The Careershifters workshop started me on the path to changing from the Practice Manager of a GP Practice to Community Engagement work that meets the needs I identified at the workshop."

Diane Cassidy

"I had a career in sales and now I run my own sales training company.  The Careershifters workshop gave me the motivation to get on and do things, as well as some good direction with regards to the sort of activities I needed to put in place."

Matt Hayden

"The Careershifters workshop helped me realise that it’s never too late to change your career, that these advances take time and, I am confident that if I stick with my ‘plan’ I won’t make another wrong career move."

Claire Coveney

"This website has been a lifesaver for me over the past year!"

Lindsey

“After attending a Careershifters workshop I had the energy and drive to start researching how to get into teaching. I applied for a course, had an interview, got a place and left my old job in less than a week. It was so easy when I finally decided to go for it.”

Nikki

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