How to get a grip on your career development

Ask any successful person about their career trajectory, and you’ll discover there’s a mentor (or mentors) somewhere in the background. People who set themselves apart aren’t afraid to soak up the years of wisdom and experience from the people around them. It’s what makes their career progression stand out. Getting a grip on your professional development takes energy, resilience, and guidance. You can’t learn in a vacuum.

When it comes to employee-driven career development, Sarah Walden, an Associate Project Manager at BPDTS, set the bar high. Recognising there were opportunities within BPDTS for someone with her experience, Sarah put a plan in motion to develop her skills in the delivery management space. Using a proactive strategy including, mentoring, shadowing, online training, and external courses, Sarah navigated her way towards a new destination.

Sarah celebrated her first anniversary at BPDTS in December 2019. In our On the Spot interview, we learn more about Sarah’s journey.

After relocating to the North East from London to find a job, I accepted a fixed-term contract working in business support at BPDTS. Before joining BPDTS, I was a project management officer (PMO) at Open Banking. However, the new role and move meant I had taken a step back, leaving my PMI experience behind.

I could see there were opportunities within BPDTS for someone with my experience. Although I applied for a couple of roles internally, I was unsuccessful. The experience knocked my confidence slightly, but I didn’t want that to hold me back.

I knew BPDTS offered a mentoring scheme, so I approached Steve Philpott, the Delivery Management Practice Manager, to see if he’d be my mentor. I met Steve when he first joined BPDTS, supporting him whilst working in the business support role. In that capacity, I helped Steve when he needed to interview people, set up Jira tickets, and assisted him with other business support activities.

Steve agreed, and we arranged our first session. At this meeting, we discussed my…

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