Catherine Clark
I could read CVs / letters or be a person to bounce more general ideas off. I had a few people who I spoke to regularly during my job search as I had no clue what I wanted to do - I knew I wanted to be in a charity but wasn't sure which one or doing what.It is always good to look at your strengths, weaknesses, and strong yearnings through the eyes of another person to think laterally and see where you might end up. Sometimes it's about being creative!
From recruiter to recruited: Catherine's career transition
Read how Catherine made the transition from working in recruitment as a headhunter to her current role running projects at the Royal Commonwealth Society. She has generously offered to help people trying to do a similar transition.
How I can help Esc members
I could read CVs / letters or be a person to bounce more general ideas off. I had a few people who I spoke to regularly during my job search as I had no clue what I wanted to do - I knew I wanted to be in a charity but wasn't sure which one or doing what.
It is always good to look at your strengths, weaknesses, and strong yearnings through the eyes of another person to think laterally and see where you might end up. Sometimes it's about being creative!
Currently...
I work in an international education charity running projects across the world which seek to engage young people in global issues.
This involves planning the projects from scratch; marketing, fundraising, managing a small team, liaising with external partners and delivering the project to its end point.
http://www.thercs.org/society" rel="nofollow">The RCS is a small charity where the team is tight and we all help each other out.
Before I escaped...
I was a headhunter for 4 years before this. Having fallen into that after university when I didn't really know what I wanted to do, I was lucky to work in a large firm and was recruiting senior appointments to the not-for-profit and public sectors.
This gave me an insight into what it would be like to work inside an inspiring organisation, and meeting senior people in this industry demonstrated how interesting a career could be!
There were many good points; mainly meeting new people every day and the variety from working for different clients. But I always knew headhunting was not for me!
My moment of truth...
While volunteering in a medical charity in Peru as a translator to my Dad and other doctors, it struck me! I couldn't go back after that!
Planning for it...
I worked my notice period of 3 months, all the time signing up to the job alerts and organising hundreds of "cups of coffee", and set up 4 internships.
I was lucky to have some money which enabled me to live in London while I did these internships. I knew that the not-for-profit sector would not take me straight from headhunting so I had to do some volunteering/internships.
The worst and best bits...
Worst: The pay drop!!!
Best: Knowing that I am proud of my job is worth so much more than the cash!
Best advice...
Be open minded and don't panic into something.
Also, your CV / letter have to be really good - I can see this from both my time as a recruiter to my time now in the not-for-profit world where I recruit our own team members in a hugely competitive environment.
Useful resources and information...
The job alerts could be a bit stressful and if I had my time again, I would not sign up to as many! They panic you when you get hundreds each day and nothing looks suitable. I liked http://www.w4mp.org/" rel="nofollow">W4MP as a charity job site. If only Escape the City had been around then!!