Sometimes the best opportunities are the ones you don't see coming. Be your own authentic self and if you see an opportunity which catches your eye - go for it! You have nothing to lose, and you could just end up in a great new environment where you're able to keep learning, inspiring and loving what you do.

There isn't enough kindness in this world generally, but as a person that has to recruit is quite clearly obvious in most interviews when you are being your authentic self. As an engineer, you would often exclaim at the stereotypical management that you would hear about on the internet. As I grew into the position that you would hear stories around, and developing myself, I realised that all those are based on trying to second guess the answers that you think the interviewer would want to hear. Generally, I want to just find out about the person; approach an interview as an opportunity to show who you are, what you enjoy and what you are good at. Be open and honest with your answers and don't forget that an interview process is a two way process.

Looking back to when I was starting out, if I could give my younger self any career advice, it wouldn't be anything to do with networking or improving my excel skills and it definitely wouldn't have been to do lots of free creative work for potential exposure. The first does help but not in proportion to how much it's touted, the second is still very much work in progress for me and the third only saw me poorer in time and hope. My advice would probably be three-fold. 1. Know yourself. Spend time noticing what excites you, what brings you joy and what ignites that spark in your tummy or gives you energy. Follow that. Go after that. See where it takes you. Nurture that side of you instead of focusing on areas with "room for improvement". There's plenty of time to learn a VLOOKUP or improve your presentation skills. You want to be doing something that's good - that you're good at and that's good for you. 2. Career paths aren't like the movies, despite what films like "What Women Want" will have you believe :). It's not all glamourous and straight forward. Your career path will likely include jobs that you hate, jobs where you're watching the clock like a hawk and jobs that you even forget you had! But I've lost count of the number of times I've thought, "huh, fancy that coming up here" and knowing the answer or what steps to take because of something I learnt trying to teach a 4-year-old how to hit a volley in tennis. Approach life with open ears and eyes, be a collector of thoughts, experiences and skills and remain curious! You'll be amazed at what you can sponge up to later put to use when you really need it. 3. and finally 3, if you want it, go for it. In spite of all the discomfort and worry and number of things on the job spec you don't think you're qualified for. It's hard and comes with a lot of mental hurdles to overcome but you won't regret it. It always seems to me to be more about the attitude you approach something with rather than your current level of experience. We've often found that people new to a subject come with a fresh perspective which can be worth its weight in gold! Good luck - you've got this.