Getting your dream job in the current climate might seem overly ambitious and it’s true that many candidates are now having to rethink their options when it comes to the careers they choose. However, as the old saying goes ‘there’s more than one way to skin a cat’ and I think this applies to job hunting.
John Kay, a leading economist and author of ‘Obliquity’, talks about why our goals are best achieved indirectly. He uses a number of examples ranging from getting to a geographical point when there are obstacles in the way to meeting sales targets by using less obvious and direct routes. I think his theory could be applied to interim work in a similar way. For example, on the Interim team here at FreshMinds Talent we work with a lot of candidates who have taken interim roles they wouldn’t have considered as permanent jobs but through taking them on, they learned new skills which actually boosted their CV and helped them to reach their original career objectives.
Likewise, many graduates want to get into top tier strategy consultancies but there are limited roles available in these organisations and competition is fierce. But through taking on short term interim work for example as telephone or desk researchers with these companies they gain valuable insight into the role of a consultant and build up research and analytical skills which make them instantly more marketable as candidates for future permanent roles as consultants.
Interim work used to be predominantly for candidates who had already gained their experience and had the ability to freelance using skills they had gained but I think project work can be a great way to climb the career ladder, gain a variety of skills and exposure to different industries making it a useful tool in finding your dream job.
Keri Link is a consultant on the FreshMinds Talent Interim team