Humanitarian Career Advice (Part 1)

I’ve been reflecting on my career path to date and I thought it might be helpful to share some quick thoughts for those just starting out in the UK humanitarian sector (or those who would like to).

I’ve worked in the UK voluntary sector for 20 years, in the refugee & migrant sector, and the housing & homelessness sector, worked for large NGOs and volunteered with grassroots initiatives, in both national and local roles.

Through years of frontline work and leading many teams, I’ve also helped a lot of people to articulate and progress towards their goals.

Some things I think it’s helpful to consider if you’re planning your next step:

Life Goals

What are your life goals?

What is most important to you? Put another way, at the end of your life, what would you look back on and be happy that you prioritised? These goals might be professional, or personal, or both. Maybe consider areas of life such as; relationships, mental health, physical health, hobbies, education, finances, and career.

List as many goals as you want. Put them in priority order. Select your top 3-5 goals (any more than this tends to be too broad to be helpful and can be overwhelming).

Consider different areas of your life (as above), your current activities and commitments. How well do these things align with your prioritised life goals? For each life goal, think of 1 small, highly achievable action you could take (or a very manageable habit you could establish) which would help you on your way towards your goal. Remember that small, incremental changes are a more effective way of altering your behaviour and achieving your goals than biting off more than you can chew. Where possible, choose actions which would contribute to more than one goal simultaneously.

Know Thyself

What are your top strengths?

Alongside knowing and clearly articulating your priorities, understanding and engaging your strengths is key to living a full, satisfying life.

There are many different assessments and quizzes you can take to better understand how you are uniquely made. Personally, I think the most helpful for professional success is Strengthsfinder. Also helpful are; Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, and Belbin (for teams).

Further questions to consider:

Of your key strengths, which ones do you particularly want to grow and develop?
What weaknesses do you want to work on? And which do you just need to accept and move on from?
What lived experience, cross-cultural skills, or language skills do you have and how could these be an asset in your desired work? What unique perspective do you have that others don’t?

Salary

What is the minimum income you need?

Don’t get me wrong, I am all about purpose/values-led living AND I also know it’s important to be realistic about paying the bills. Finding the sweet spot between what we value, what we’re good at and what we can be paid for can help narrow down our definition of fulfilling work - (see also Ikigai).

Some years ago, I wrote down every type of job I’d ever been interested in doing and then turned this rather long list into a short list by asking two questions:

Which of these pays enough?
Are there enough jobs in these fields, and how competitive are they?

Although, not quite as predicted, working through this thought process helped me to sketch out something of a 10-year plan which has brought me to where I am now.

Well, I hope you found this helpful. Read Part 2 here.