In late 2023, I left Accenture and was thinking of my next steps in consulting. I was approached for a strategy manager role by a recruiter for a company that had hired a head of strategy and needed someone to work with him on kickstarting a bunch of strategic initiatives.

Now they were looking for people with 6+ years of experience and here I was with my 3 years of experience at the time. But being the risk taker I am, I applied for the role, did the interview and successfully secured the contract role.

Now I hadn’t realised till my first paycheck but my day rate meant that I was earning over £10k a month, something that I didn’t think I would hit for at least another 3-4 years minimum.

Now this post isn’t to brag (money comes and goes) but more to share a lesson on how developing certain traits allowed me to get to this point as a 25-year-old.

The first trait was having an ‘open mind’ when it came to opportunities. I was particular (more out of enthusiasm than wisdom) about exploring new and interesting opportunities in my career. This allowed me to move from asset management to insurance to strategy consulting, working on such a range of projects which gave me a unique set of skills which ended up being attractive to this employer. S

So one thing I would say is that if you’re currently in work, have a ‘Yes’ Mindset when it comes to unique opportunities, you don’t know what skills or doors it will open up for you in the long term.

The second key trait was constantly pushing myself and taking on roles/applying for jobs that were ‘above my level’. One thing about me is that I always back myself and I am very comfortable working in ‘unknown’ environments where I don’t know something or lack experience/skill. The reason why is that I was a quick learner and was comfortable quickly picking up the relevant skills I lacked through hard work and asking the right questions.

This meant that when I applied for the manager role which I hadn’t been before, I was comfortable knowing I could quickly learn the skills I didn’t have which prevented me from being put off from applying.

So the key lesson here? Apply for that role in which you only hit 6/10 requirements or don’t hit the necessary years of experience. As long as you go in with a mindset to learn, be open-minded and quickly adapt, you’ll do fine!

The last key trait was having a ‘growth mindset’. This is an amalgamation of the two previous points, but one thing I’ve tried to instil in myself is a ‘growth mindset’ which has pushed me to take on challenging projects, pivot careers, constantly learn new skills and ultimately position myself in the place where I was able to apply for and successfully land the strategy manager gig.

So final key lesson? Keeping pushing yourself to grow and develop. I still to this day can be complacent and/or risk averse when it comes to growth but I always try and remind myself of the benefits a growth mindset can bring you.