Quit and avoid the blight of first job syndrome

I was on the wrong side of the demand curve: the supply of economics graduates vastly outstrips the number of traineeships for economists. This was my epiphany during my second year reading the dismal science. Seeking an alternative path, I found myself in the careers centre, taking a job suitability test. While indulging in the great university pastime of fantasising about my potential future importance to society, I confessed all manner of preferences and tendencies. Was I actually meant to be a surgeon? Maybe a barrister? Perhaps a chief executive? The test disagreed on all counts. I would make an excellent prison warden, it declared.

Despite the fact that I went on to make a career out of ignoring such advice, or perhaps because of it, I’m often asked for job guidance. A recent referral, a friend of a friend, was telling me over a drink the other week about how he was thinking of leaving the media sector. The job is far from miserable, but he spends considerable amounts of time doing things he doesn’t like, he explained. He had tentatively concluded that a job in finance — an industry I’ve worked in — might be a better idea. But what did I think? Should he move?