Finding your professional home
Everyone is always so busy - the phones are ringing, the pressure is on, there's a to-do list as long as your arm, the planned holiday isn't for another 3 months, and it can be all too easy to get frustrated with that colleague who thinks it ok to ask where the envelopes are kept (for the 400th time) or who uses the last of the milk without telling anyone. Time passes in a blur. I'm pretty sure the last time I checked it was February (it's now July)!
Why mention this? I'll hardly be alone in that experience after all. It's because I get a flutter of excitement every morning as I head to work. We can all be quick to complain but not necessarily so quick to laud and celebrate when 'normal' is actually great! So this article is a bit of a personal piece from me, Deborah, Eland Cables' Head of Marketing. It's to take a moment to proudly say I love my job and that I'm passionate about the company I work for. It's the culmination of previous experience, the sense of fulfilment, and an atmosphere that allows you to thrive to such a degree that you've found your professional home. Lobsters mate for life (according to Phoebe from Friends)... I've found my 'work lobster'!
Admittedly, it probably helps that I'm a little obsessed - whilst my friends talk about Crossfit, I talk about cables. I open the curtains in the morning and clock my neighbour's electric car, looking to see whether it's plugged in and I can see the cable; I sit on the train into London and look out of the window up at the overhead line wires, quietly reminding myself of their strange names - cockroach and hornet - and try to spot cable drums on railway sidings. Four years in and my stomach still does a little flip when the office comes into view as my fellow commuters and I pass through Kentish Town on the Thameslink into London St Pancras. (I sound exciting company, don't I?)
I do try not to take it for granted. I feel incredibly lucky in fact to have found a role in which I can excel, where my efforts have been rewarded with both recognition and promotion, and where I can still be me. After all, I'm won't claim to be the cleverest marketeer out there and I definitely wear my heart on my sleeve a little too often (I've never been good at poker) yet I've found a home amongst a team of people that are equally passionate and committed to their jobs, who believe it 'doing it right', and whose approach complements my own. I shared a video of our cable testing laboratory on LinkedIn earlier this week, posting about the fascination and pride I feel when it comes to the lengths we go to in order to assure quality and compliance - and it's true. I swell with pride when a colleague from sales passes on positive feedback from customers, and I am in awe of some of the projects we've worked on.
In fact, I can turn almost any conversation around to one about cables - after all, they underpin so much of our power and data-hungry society. I'm constantly learning - and seeing the company continue to invest in the well-being of its employees makes me ever more keen to perform for them and deliver against expectations. After all, I've enough experience now to know that the grass isn't actually greener elsewhere. I love how I'm talking about mining one moment and massive renewables projects the next; I've helped launch a brand and been part of developing a new cable quality Kitemark - I thrive on the fast pace and the entrepreneurial spirit in the office. Are there things I would change? Very few actually - and most of them are within my personal purview anyway.
So what's the message here? It's not just to say that Eland Cables is an amazing company to work for - it is, especially for me, but it won't suit everyone at every stage of their career. But at a time when the next scholastic year are awaiting exam results it's to tell them that if you're going to spend 40+ hours a week (and like me, potentially another 15+ in travel time) in work then it has to be something you are passionate about and want to put the time and effort into. Anything less and you're cheating yourself and, just as importantly, the people around you. You've got to find the right cultural fit for you too - whether ultra corporate, super laid back, or somewhere in between. Did I once imagine I'd be working in cables - of course not. It doesn't sound glamorous from the outside and frankly marketing & PR isn't the fizz-fuelled environment I been sold all those years ago - long gone are the boozy lunches - but I've found my 'lobster' of a role. I can't imagine being anywhere else (and heck, the time goes so quickly I wouldn't have time to think about it anyway). It all boils down to this: find the right company and you can go places... or rather, for me, you find that don't want to go anywhere else.
Good luck to everyone waiting for exam results and those searching for the next step on their career path.
