Fellow testimonials: Finding a job after programme
Embarking on a new career path can be both exhilarating and daunting. As our Associates approach the end of the programme, the big question arises: what comes next? To help answer this, we spoke to our Fellows and asked, "How did you approach finding a job after the programme?". Their responses provide insights, practical advice and strategies to help you navigate the job market and find meaningful, impactful employment.
Dan Enzer
“For the last quarter of the Associate Programme, I was thinking about the future. So I was reviewing my CV and looking into different opportunities in the social impact space. At the same time, my heart was pretty set on staying with my second placement, Altruistiq, and I started discussing this with my team about three months into the placement. It then ended up working out with Altruistiq and I even got to co-design my job description!”
Laura Podmore
“I started applying for jobs in the last two months of the programme. I then went travelling for a month, and actually ended up doing some interviews in Vietnam in a hostel! While searching, I made use of a really good portfolio of purposeful job boards and checked these on a regular basis.”
Rosi Croom
“It was quite a busy time! Towards the end of the programme I was finishing my Masters’ degree, I was about to get married and was also moving house. So I approached job hunting with a no nonsense-do-what-needs-to-be-done kind of way. I was very proactive and looked at a number of jobs which I felt might challenge me and allow me to further develop a number of skills. I applied to anything that I felt would offer me those opportunities and got the job done. That was a necessity at the time. However, when looking for my new role, I slowed down the process and really reflected on what is going to challenge me, yes, but also what is going to make me happy and fulfilled. I feel like I've learnt a lot about both how to look for a job and how not to!”
Rachel Bronstein
“One of the things I learnt on the programme was that I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about being ‘a generalist’. I found it quite hard to explain my experience to potential employers, for instance, as some of the softer skills that come with being a generalist can be difficult to outline on a CV. So before joining the Associate Programme, I had a crisis of confidence and wasn’t sure on what I could bring to a role.
As an Associate, my placements taught me that my ‘generalist’ skill set actually enabled me to have a number of transferable skills I could apply to different contexts. During the programme I also learnt how to talk about being a generalist in a more nuanced and confident way, which meant that, when applying for jobs, I felt comfortable to look for a role with breadth and was empowered to do so.
When it came to applying for jobs, I was quite selective and only applied to four positions. I spent a lot of time cultivating quite personal cover letters that gave more insight into my time on the Associate Programme and what I was looking for and why. I also very much manifested a break after On Purpose, so when interviewing with organisations, I used a confidence I hadn’t had before the programme and told them that I would be free from November onwards (rather than late September when the programme ended). I then found out I got my current job at the end of August and started my role in November.”
Caleb Wheeler-Robinson
“As part of one of our Friday training sessions on ‘life design’, I had identified that I wanted a job that was varied and within the environment space. Ideally, I also wanted to be able to combine my previous experience in consulting and finance. So towards the end of my time as an Associate I asked around a few places, such as my second placement, Big Society Capital (who weren’t hiring at the time). I also trawled a number of job boards and sent out quite a few applications. I got to the interview stage with a number of organisations and Finance Earth felt like the one for me!”
Olivia Beecham
“I started looking for jobs whilst I was in my final months of the Associate Programme. I used the fact that I was on the programme to network and reached out to people with unusual job titles or who worked in organisations that I was considering applying to and asked them for a chat. Importantly, I started these conversations before jobs were being advertised, giving me time to figure out whether it could be a potential fit.
My On Purpose coach helped simplify my thinking on my next role and we established a succinct criteria I could map roles against. My new job would ideally have to:
- Contribute positively to our world
- Have a supportive and fun team
- Allow me to connect and meet new people, rather than be fully desk-based
- Be close to the ‘end’ impact so that I could see the difference my work was making.
Having this list helped me focus my job search, realising the ‘how’ I worked was equally as important as to the ‘on what’.
Despite my best intentions there were of course stressful moments of frantically trawling job sites at night, and becoming very anxious about what I’d do afterwards. This wasn’t helpful and just left me more tired and drained.
In the end, my current job came up via the On Purpose Slack channel. I initially wasn’t too sure whether I should go for it but after speaking with the person who had posted the job as well as two other people within the organisation and realised that this role would be a really brilliant fit!”
Juan Pablo Astolfo
“My last mentor really helped me approach the process strategically. He recommended I create a list of organisations I liked as well as the people I wanted to have a coffee with. I then started networking with those organisations and people. When having coffees, I always showed up with ideas and suggestions, for instance, of what an organisation could do to solve a particular issue. Having coffee with people really enabled me to redefine what I was looking for… I did it the hard way and had to ask for many introductions, however you’d be surprised how many people are happy to help and the On Purpose network is incredibly useful for that too!”
Rabia Abrar
“I’m particularly interested in sustainable diets - I actually conducted my master thesis research on the topic and stayed on top of the news on developments in this space. One day, I came across the “Meat Your Match” campaign run by Hubbub, which aimed to get young, male gym users to replace half of their animal-based protein with plant-based protein. I became very excited by the innovative, positive, and playful approaches Hubbub was taking to promote sustainable behaviour change.
I reached out to Alex Robinson, a Fellow who was working at Hubbub and who was hiring for a role on this team, to learn more. This conversation was the first step that led to me starting my first job after On Purpose with Hubbub.
I’m glad that instead of applying to jobs en-masse, I started my job search from a place of identifying what area or skill or workplace I was most excited and curious to explore next - and then reaching out to people in those spaces to learn more. I would recommend that approach to anyone on the job search. “
Surabhi Narendranath
“Towards the end of my second placement, I saw that Nesta was recruiting for a position to work on a Fund that I had previously conducted due diligence on during my placement with Big Society Capital. I applied and got the position. I think it definitely helped that I already knew the team at Nesta and they were familiar with the On Purpose programme.”
Sinead Kirrane Davis
“While on my second placement with Lighthouse, I started having conversations with my team about the job that I had been doing and the potential opportunity of staying on with them. As it became clear that I would continue my role with Lighthouse, I didn't do as much planning ‘beyond on purpose’ than other Associates would have done.”