Whoa, I went off track there

In my recent post, Sorry; you're not who I was expecting, I described that things haven’t recently gone well with my career. I suggested a couple of things contributed to this: over-inflated expectations of myself and brain injury issues. There is of course quite a lot more to say about these. Here I go trying to better explain what I meant…

It isn’t easy finding a job in a new country, no one really knows about the places you’ve worked and the things you’ve done. Add to that a CV made a little unusual by a brain injury and it’s tough to get the start you want.

Yet, my recent history made me think I deserved such a start. I’d recovered from brain injury to complete an Ironman triathlon and a Masters in economics. I’d backed those up by getting two useful, somewhat demanding corporate roles in New Zealand. However, I lacked the experience to demonstrate I’d be much help to London employers, doing the sort of jobs I thought I was capable of.

After mucking around for some time, doing contracting roles, I was lucky to get a permanent position as an analyst, working at a major UK retailer. I started the role, but didn’t appreciate it would be quite different to work I’d done previously. I needed to adjust my approach a whole lot. However, brain injury issues and a lack of insight about myself meant I failed to perform in it. I resigned after it became obvious I wouldn’t pass my probation.

With a very supportive family and partner, I went back to the drawing board. I sought and eventually found a job doing economics, a subject I know I love. I have much more to write about this episode, including the brain injury issues that affected my work at the retailer. I’ve started the new post label, Recovering revisited. Look out for most posts shortly on it.

Cheers,

Mike