Publishing my career goals

During the few months I’ve taken off since I left the i-banking world, I’ve learned that even if I’m able to quantify to myself what I want to pursue next in my career (covered below) and am working towards that, it is still not going to meaningfully progress unless I also learn to communicate these career dreams and goals to everyone I meet.

So this article, my first ‘blog post’ since an ill-attempted poker playing blog I kept briefly in 2004/5, serves as the public repository of the goals I’ve set myself, and how I’ve arrived here.

By way of (brief) background, I traversed a reasonably lengthy 6 year investment banking career until February 2015, with a fantastic 18 month sabbatical thrown in in 2012/3, since which I’ve been considering where I’d like to go next. I’m a slow burner in this regard, as it has taken several months to reach a firm landing point (!), but this symptomatic not just of wanting to take my time to explore the world of tech and startups (and I’ve explored every type of role that exists), but also of another issue I have — an almost embarrassed demeanour I exhibit when interested parties enquire as to what I want to next!

This likely comes from a fear of failing in peoples eyes if I articulate a specific goal which I then fail to reach, and from also feeling under qualified (which I don’t think is justified) given this is a complete career switch. I’ve also been hesitant to waste the time of people in my network in case I subsequently changed my mind down the road (which again I no longer think is a possibility). The result to date: nobody in my network has been able to offer any assistance in offering job leads because nobody has been aware of what I’m looking for. Terrible communication on my part but something I can fix!

So I’m now acutely aware that I need to be verbose about the set of career goals I’m working towards with everyone I meet and be held accountable to them.

The book ‘Never Eat Alone’ has been invaluable in helping me go through this thought process. My dream career (venture capitalist) just isn’t a realistic possibility right now as I’ve not spent any portion of my career developing the non-finance aspects of that required skill-set, and I don’t have any personal brand in the start-up community yet. So my shorter term goals will aim to fill in all these gaps in my experience, and to find some roles I’m passionate about in the way I never was in my banking jobs.

Working backwards:

Long term career goal: Strive to be a (successful, happy and fulfilled) venture capitalist — I’ll leave this broad as I think the specifics define themselves as my path unfurls.

3–5 years goal: Demonstrate operational success within a significant role (ie. co-founder, executive) in the (hopefully successful!) execution of a start-up business. This plus extra-curricular experiences and a burgeoning network are what I hope gets me a seat at the VC table in some form down the line, when I have demonstrable value to offer to founders.

1–2 years goal: Execute on an operational or business role within a start-up. It doesn’t have to be senior as I’m confident I’ll quickly demonstrate my worth, but to work in start-ups I need to work in a start-up! This position is what I intend to leverage into the more significant role above (and maybe it’ll be in the same company!).

3-month goal: Find a suitable operational position in a start-up. Hopefully it will be in Sydney but I’ll go where I have to.

The timelines are obviously guides. And these goals relate only to the ‘9–5’ role. I have a separate and lengthy set of career development related goals I need to execute on outside of work, and I intend to tweet / write about these in near future (whilst also executing!).

Onward!

And now to deliver. If you made it this far then thanks for reading. Whether I’ve linked you this or you’ve serendipitously found your way here, any helpful advice is appreciated if you care to reach out. I’m embarking on a long journey in my ‘Career 2.0’, but being open and clear about my goals is the first step towards success!