We drove south last week. No, I drove us south. I missed one turning and mistook another. I’ll never hear the end of it, and I never want to see Pontefract again. (It did give a certain person the opportunity to deride my own lack of any sense of direction, and proudly show off their own.)
As for me? I am so accustomed to getting it wrong that I just regard it as part of the journey. I get there in the end. If this sounds like a metaphor for your own career path, then read on. You’re in good company.
I found a photo last week that revealed my career has been a bit like that, too. I’ve told my story often enough, so I’ll keep it brief today.
- Aspiring to a research career, I completed a research Masters then switched topic for a PhD. First mistake.
- Took fright at the thought of trying to become an academic, and trained as a librarian – without finishing the PhD. Second (big, big) mistake.
- First (temporary) post in academic library.
- 2nd post in public library (who says you can’t change sector? Anyway, I needed a permanent job) – and got Chartered.
- 3rd post in academic library (another switch, see?). This was where I wanted to be: an academic music librarian. The closest (I imagined) I’d get to being a scholar librarian.
- Boredom set in. I wasn’t very happy. Here’s where the LinkedIn career coaches say you should walk away. Listen, a breadwinner can’t just walk away! Hang in there. Plan, prepare.
- Mid-career PhD done, whilst working full-time with dependents. Did folk think me crazy? Assuredly!
- Partial research secondment.
- Retire from library, hang onto the research – no longer a secondment but a new part-time position. Onwards and upwards.
I look at that old news clipping (why did Mum keep it? I thought she found my latter research career an embarrassment! All those letters after my name – so immodest) – and I wonder what 22-year old me would have said if she knew how my zigzag career would pan out?
- Then, not many people did Masters’ degrees. Now, a lot of people do.
- Mediaeval plainsong? Completely unrelated to anything I’ve done since 1984! No use in the library.
- Fifteenth-century English polyphony? Ditto. Although I do feel a bit guilty that I baled out before it was done.
Don’t Look Back
Admittedly, I do wonder what I’d have done if I’d finished the first PhD, and found work as an academic. But there’s absolutely no point in playing “What if?”. We take the decisions that feel right at the time.
I wouldn’t dare to suggest that I had the model career. I didn’t aim high enough, lacking self-confidence to a chronic degree; got stuck where I was (see above); and had one helluva struggle rectifying the situation. Quite a ride! But I did demonstrate both flexibility and determination. I did get what I really wanted all along – eventually.
It all just goes to show that there’s more than one way to get there – if that’s where you want to go. And a few false turns aren’t the end of the road.
Karen McAulay, Musicologist 