If you’ve been rocking with me for a while then you’ll know that I have a background in Speech and Language Therapy.
In the UK, the route from a NQT (Newly Qualified Therapist) to becoming a specialist means you have to serve your time as a “generalist” where you’d treat a bit of everything either in schools or a clinic.
Once you’ve paid your dues, usually about 2 years, you get to specialise in one specific area.
Now this is a really simplified explanation but I’m telling you this so you can see why a lady called Miriam Levine was such an angel to me during this period of my life.
You see, just before I graduated I’d applied for a job at a clinic in the London Borough of Brent. I managed to get an interview and Miriam and another lady, called Fiona, were the ones who interviewed me.
I remember coming out of that interview feeling like it had gone really well.
I’d answered the questions as best as I could but —most of all — I felt like I’d made a personal connection with the ladies (I had determined to be authentic yet professional, making them laugh more than once in the process).
A few weeks later, I received a call from Miriam but my hopes were crushed when I heard her say that- although they really liked me- there had been other candidates that suited the position better.
A few weeks after that call, I’d continued attending my last few lectures and applying for jobs but still was having no luck even securing another interview.
Then, one day, I got an email from a lady from a school that I’d never heard of- let alone applied to- saying that she wished to speak to me about the possibility of working for them.
Long story short, Miriam had recommended “a lovely girl that they had interviewed recently but weren’t able to take on”-
Me!
The best part about this job that plopped into my lap?
I’d be working in a language unit attached to a primary (elementary) school which would mean that I would bypass the 2 years of general practice and end up specialising in language disorders straight away!
As you can imagine, I took the job and it completely fast tracked my career development, saving me (years of) time!
The only other thing that’s fast tracked my career like that has been PR
Here’s how PR can do the the same for you:
