It’s the time of year when we read stories about how “I succeeded even though I didn’t get the grades I needed”.
Here we go again, you may think, but I believe it’s essential to share different stories of achievement and the journey to get there.
So here’s mine:
I left school with 7 O grades (80’s equivalent of Nat 5s). Further education was for “rich” people, or so I believed. I started as an office junior and did my Higher English at night school because someone told me I had to have it (wow that made no difference to my career whatsoever).
No university degree for me, I continued to gain experience and progress in the world of finance until I felt I couldn’t get any further without another qualification, so I did an HNC in accounting (I was 22). This was important and relevant, unlike a physics O grade.
I stayed in the accounting field until again I couldn’t go any further, so I did my professional accountancy qualification while working full time. This opened so many doors and was the best decision of my career, I was 28.
After 25 years in finance and accountancy, I didn’t want to continue (that’s another long story) so in my forties I decided to retrain as a psychotherapist. I now have my own company and I’m privileged to work with a group of people who inspire me and challenge me every day. Training again at a completely different stage in life was extremely difficult but ultimately worthwhile.
What have I learned:
- I may not have secured that first role as office junior without those O grades, I beat my twin sister to the job!
- Learning on the job then gaining relevant professional qualifications worked for me as I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do.
- Knowing E=MC2did not help me understand The Theory of Everything by Stephen Hawking.
