Next Step: Your career questions answered

Graduate training schemes are an excellent way to start off. Many industries, such as investment banking, often only accept CVs directly from candidates for such schemes. These will also give you a great opportunity to experience various areas of the business.

Alternatively, you could join a technology company, which will provide a great opportunity to get commercial experience, improve your skills set and gain indirect exposure to different industry sectors.

After working in a customer focussed technical role for the last three years, what sort of skills do I need to develop to move into a more managerial role, where I have some people responsibilities?
The obvious answer to that would be 'people skills'. The main skills you'd need to develop for a people management role would be a strong leadership ability, which could be gained in various ways and not just in the workplace - sports achievements for instance. Time management is key - as a manager you need to manage your own time and ensure your team is managing its time effectively. Listening skills are important, as you need to be aware of any issues within your team in order to help maintain staff morale. Also, be a strong mentor, as you would be responsible for helping staff reach their full potential. Listen and understand what individuals need and want from their job, and use this to guide them in the right direction and to provide the training to help them achieve their goals. A good place to start developing your management potential is by offering to take on a supervisory role for new recruits.

Are many major networking and comms projects currently going on within the City, and are new technologies still being pushed through, or are companies limiting their budget with regards to new technologies?
The City in general is experiencing a consolidatory period, where few new projects are being signed off. Bar a limited amount of business critical projects, many projects that were in their infancy this time last year were put on hold and the majority have remained in that state. Unfortunately the introduction of new technologies is normally in unison with major projects, if not the sole reason behind them, and as a result few are being pushed through. However, organisations aren't being nonchalant about the importance of investing in new technologies. For example, in many investment banks their technology platforms can be their competitive advantage and as such many test labs are being constructed to house and test ideas. So employees are still gaining exposure albeit not on such a commercial scale.

I have been told that a good way of learning and progressing within my company would be to have a mentor. What sort of person should I seek, what working relationship should be established and what ground rules should we lay down?
A mentor should be someone you admire, respect and aspire to be like, so try and find someone that fits that description and approach them on that basis - flattery always helps! Depending on your expectations, it would be best to ask someone you already work closely with. Perhaps it could be someone who works in the area you are hoping to move into who can guide in the areas you need to develop. It needs to be a professional relationship, and establish up front that you want and expect constructive criticism. It's no good having a mentor if you are not prepared to accept constructive criticism and any help given to you. Always ask for ways in which you could have improved things and try to show that you've taken comments on board, which will assure your mentor that you value the advice and are not wasting their time. However, don't be afraid to disagree if you think you have a better idea either.

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Adam White is a consultant at recruitment agency Robert Walters

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