Making big decisions

Dear Readers,

As many of you will know, in order to take my position at Age UK, I decided to decline a very lucrative offer from a huge global consultancy firm. At the time, many of my colleagues, trusted friends and esteemed mentors, told me I must be mad. Now (maybe it is blind ignorance, stupidity or sheer willpower) but I still maintain that I made the right decision.

For any of you who are fortunate enough to have multiple job offers/ offers from companies that most people who deem 'career changing' I urge you to make your decision after you have answered the following questions.

1. Will I be able to pay the bills/ save for a mortgage/ pay rent etc if I take this job? This may sound obvious, however it is important to remember that being financially responsible and understanding the impact of your new role on your personal plans is key. For me, covering my rent and bills was all I needed to ensure I made the right decision. Things can get hard when you reject a financially lucrative role however for me, this came down to something closer to my soul. My desire to work to live rather than live to work.

2. Will I be comfortable in this role? Again, for me, this was crucial. Both roles had lovely offices, brilliant staff and fantastic job descriptions. I decided to go for the charity sector as I knew what I wanted to achieve and I felt that I was 'one of the team' right from the initial interview. The consultancy, we shall call X Ltd, had fantastic staff and were very welcoming but as I scratched the surface it was clear that they also had major communication issues, internal conflicts and brand image issues. For me, this was enough to show me that I needed to ignore the financial offer, the boost my career could gain from the role and follow my gut to go where I needed to be at this point in my career and life.

3. Is taking this role my choice? The final point that cemented my decision, was my realisation that had I taken the consultancy role, I was really taking it just to please everyone else. To me, X Ltd represented success, breaking the glass ceiling and proving any doubters wrong. That may seem ideal but really it also represented, giving in, making myself work to make others happy and even as a young professional, I was not ready to sell my soul.

For any of you out there who are lucky enough to be making these choices, I am not trying to convince you to avoid the big players in the global markets. I urge you to follow the words of my late Nan and 'never let anyone oppress you.'

As ever, if any of you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch.

K