Holding a modest job today does not consign you to a bleak future

The lack of experience and skills in my field of study is disheartening me, not to mention I am doing a job that I don’t enjoy. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA

What you need to know:

  • The reputation you build in your current job will determine the quality and effectiveness of references that others provide about you to potential employers.
  • You could choose to be self-driven and assign yourself goals in your current role.
  • It is still early in your career, in your hands is the opportunity to diligently prepare for your next job

Q: I am 26, and work for a food manufacturing company as a receiving clerk. We record and do physical checks of goods delivered to the company. I studied finance and accounting, and my dream has been to work in an audit firm. I would like daily challenges and would enjoy working under pressure and strict time lines. As it is, I feel my skills are wasted here. Also, the lack of experience and skills in my field of study is disheartening me, not to mention that I am doing a job that I don’t enjoy. I need advice.

Although the job you hold at present may not resemble your career dreams, it is nevertheless an opportunity through which you could demonstrate your abilities and work ethic to your colleagues and employer. The reputation you build in your current job will determine the quality and effectiveness of references that others provide about you to potential employers. 

You indicate that you are involved in receiving, maintaining and verifying stocks. This is an opportunity to interact with numbers, an aspect in which you have expressed interest. You need not be assigned challenges and deadlines by your supervisor. You could choose to be self-driven and assign yourself goals in your current role.

Have you offered to help in your finance or audit function? Have you thought about how you might do your job more efficiently? What improvements could you make in your role today? It will be difficult for your mind to hibernate while contemplating such possibilities.

You appear to link your studies and career rather closely. Studies are important, but form only a part of the requisite requirements necessary for success in your career. Your qualifications should not confine your career interest and focus. Have you sought the advice of a mentor in audit? Have you tried the services of a career coach? Audit may well be the career for which you are best suited; there are numerous successful individuals in careers unrelated to their initial qualifications.

It is still early in your career. Holding a modest job today does not consign you to a bleak destiny tomorrow. In your hands is the opportunity to diligently prepare for your next job, bearing in mind that there are numerous journeys to dream careers that have had remarkably humble beginnings.