Finding the right #CareerParth

Parth Depala

Graduated, fell into a job, 9 years later, I felt my career had ground to a halt.

Over the last 9 years my sole purpose was to earn money, go on nice holidays and live my best life. These above reasons were why I thought I was on the right career path. Naively, I envisioned that’s what job satisfaction felt like, so it never crossed my mind to change fields.

Although that life kept me going through my 20s, inching closer to my 30th earlier this year, I came to the realisation that I had no passion for my job, or even the field that I was in. I was surrounded by people hitting major milestones in their careers, progressing to senior roles, and oozing real love for what they did. This overall had a massive toll on my mental health. So, I told my very typical South-Asian family that I will be leaving a career in finance to pursue something that made me happy (you can imagine the horrors).

Even though the lion’s share of my career thus far has been in finance I have always been intrigued by the world of social media and digital marketing. However, the world of digital marketing is broad, the question always arose – what avenue do I want to venture down?

Over the last 5 years I have created content and managed social media channels for multiple businesses alongside my finance roles. I also built my own social media platforms, creating and editing content surrounding dance, fashion, and my own mental health journey – follow me @parthofadancer (shameless plug alert). I finally wanted to make this passion into my career.

 

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After I left my job, I felt compelled to help the NHS in any way that I could and so I began volunteering at my local vaccination hub. I’ve always been of the sort that when the going gets tough it’s all hands-on deck, and within 2 months I was able to work my way up to becoming a qualified vaccinator.

During this time, I also started my own candle business from home and very quickly realised that running your own business is no mean feat. You are marketing, HR and you have to do your own coffee runs!!! Despite the challenges I faced, I was able to fire up that entrepreneurial spirit within me to ensure that the new venture took off.

After the local vaccination hub closed and I settled into the candle business, it was time to focus on me.  Also, the financial pressures of being a sociable millennial were getting to me, so I finally plucked up the courage and commenced Operation ‘find the right #CareerParth’. Countless applications and numerous rejections later, I was starting to lose hope. A close friend (also works at PHA) suggested I write an article on LinkedIn showcasing my journey and my reasons for leaving finance.

The article was well received, a lot of past peers reached out to say how they currently feel they are in a similar position and commended my bravery. However, I feel it wasn’t reaching the right audience. Through the power of manifestation and of course the close friend at PHA, I found out the PHA Social team were looking for a new intern. I sent my CV and my LinkedIn article, honestly not hoping for much. Having applied to several jobs and being ignored, I had become quite pessimistic to the process. To my surprise, I received a response the next day requesting a call.  I had an interview and was quickly offered a 3 month internship,  and the rest is history.