When I left school at 16 years old after taking my O Levels I really didn’t know what career path to take. I felt I was not proficient enough in any one subject to study anything at University so decided to enrol at College on a Secretarial Course, which included A Level Law.

After a year of studying, I found out a local large company ‘BNFL’ were recruiting Administrative Clerks. My father already worked for the Company so I knew there would be good prospects, with a decent salary and company pension, so I applied. When I found out, I was successful with my application I ended my College course but managed to complete the first year gaining qualifications in touch-typing and shorthand.

After 2 years of working at BNFL an opportunity came up for a job at British Aerospace as a Secretary. As I had originally trained to be a Secretary, I decided to apply and hoped to use the skills I had trained in. I was successful in my application and started working as a Secretary to an Estimating Manager.

After a number of years of working as a Secretary for different Managers within British Aerospace plus covering for Secretaries up to Director level I felt I was becoming stale and was capable of much more, I wasn’t being used to my full potential. I briefly took a sideways move within the Company to work, as Business Support in the Typhoon Training Department, to see if that would be more of a challenge.

Whilst working in the Typhoon Training Department I became aware of an opportunity that had arisen within the Flight Operations Department. There were 3 vacancies for Air Traffic Operations Officers, training would be provided for people who didn’t have experience. I thought this was a fantastic opportunity and made an appointment with the Manager of the Department so I could have a look round. I really enjoyed the visit and felt I could definitely use some of the skills I already had. After a chat with the Manager, he offered me one of the vacancies, the paperwork was completed for my transfer and I was enrolled on the relevant training courses. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of training on a very different subject and ended up achieving ‘best in course’.

It is now 21 years later and I still enjoy my job. No two days are the same and I am always learning new information. I am so glad it took the opportunity to retrain and do something completely different. I knew that some of my skills were transferable but the rest I was willing to do the training. It was definitely worth pushing myself out of my comfort zone.