PROTAGION
  • Proteges
    • Now What?
    • Career Support Guide
    • Career Goals >
      • Promotion / Raise
      • New Skills
      • Further Qualifications
      • Moving Countries
      • Switching: Consult/Contract/Startup
      • Transition: Specialism/Profession
      • Managing a Business
      • Portfolio Career
      • Purpose & Meaning
      • CPD
      • (Conference 1-5 Mar '21)
    • Example Professions >
      • Accounting
      • Actuarial
      • Asset & Investment Management
      • Risk Management
      • And more... >
        • Talent Management for Professionals
    • Our Services
    • Courses
  • Mentors
    • Encore Mentor
    • Featured Subset >
      • Anne - Australia
      • Boniswa - S Africa
      • Bradley - UK
      • Hafsa - S Africa
      • Lee - Hong Kong
      • Lusani - S Africa
      • Margaret - S Africa
      • Michael - S Africa
      • Natasha - UK
      • Nikki - UK
      • Sumit - India
      • Trevor - UK
      • And More on our Protege Platform...
  • Subscribe
  • Platform Login
    • Login
    • Sign Up: Free
  • Stories
    • Our Stories & Articles
    • Our Principles
    • Books
We help professionals achieve their career goals
OUR STORIES
Over 150 career-related articles and counting... Scroll down to read
NEED MORE CAREER SUPPORT? Our professional mentors & coaches are here to help
Join our in-a-group facilitated sessions & explore your career questions with us​
SUBSCRIBE TO JOIN OUR
IN-A-GROUP SESSIONS

Qualifying as a Professional: Challenges of Studying & Working

31/3/2020

1 Comment

 
Given our focus on professionals and their career goals, Protagion’s members tend to share a common experience during their lives: the challenge of studying and working simultaneously. Many professionals attest to the personal effort, dedication and diligence required in tackling their professional exams, particularly at board or fellowship level. While this pressure often arises during the earlier years of their careers, it can arise later too, if for example, they study further or write additional exams to change specialism or profession. And, once complete, the sense of accomplishment (and relief) is well-earned – every qualification is a substantial achievement to be celebrated! I know of an actuary who vowed to celebrate every week for a full year once she was done...

Two specific difficult areas which professionals reference are:
  • Making the change from studying full-time at university to balancing working and studying in your first job – it can take some time to find a rhythm which works personally, and support from your employer (such as study leave and/or payment of exam fees) can be very helpful in lessening the pressure
  • Picking yourself up again after failure, especially if you’ve written the exam multiple times already (not again!) – repeated failure can be psychologically devastating, especially considering the superhuman effort required to study for and write each paper
Picture
The global contagion and national lockdown responses this year are adding significantly to the stress involved in writing professional exams, including:
  • Uncertainty about whether the scheduled exams (which students will have dedicated months of study time to already) are going ahead; some professional bodies are making online alternatives available, but changes to the “exam conditions” that you prepared under can be incredibly disturbing to your state of mind
  • The impact of working from home on your study routine, compounded by family responsibilities you may have too such as homeschooling children or looking after relatives who live with you

Even under normal circumstances the nature of your role affects your possible study schedule. For example:
  • if you have client commitments, like a consultant might
  • if you have times of the year that are particularly pressurised at work, such as in a financial reporting area
  • if there is a pressing project (say a product launch or reprice or system upgrade) with a deadline near your exam dates

​Vacancies or unplanned absence
of your teammates can also contribute to additional work pressures. And, especially now given the possibilities of people falling ill, study leave may be cancelled at short notice in order to deliver on corporate priorities. Some roles will also be facing additional work at present, like those in risk management or business continuity areas. 

All of this work pressure is compounded with the team working from different home locations, possibly with less reliable access to the software and systems needed to operate optimally. Communication within the team and with seniors can also be more challenging.
Some suggestions for how to manage work and studying while working from home:
  1. Ask those in your home for their continued support in getting through your exams – this may involve showing them the hours required of you to prepare for each paper, as well as your planned study schedule
  2. Set aside specific days and/or times (such as evenings) for studying, including setting yourself targets for the number of chapters and/or exam questions to get through in each study session – it is important to get into a regular routine, even in the midst of the current turmoil
  3. If you find work colleagues are interrupting you during your dedicated study times, speak to them respectfully during your allocated work time; consider including on your email signature which are your study days and adding an out-of-office message on those days, confirming when you'll be back online and able to address work queries
  4. If possible, designate specific zones at home for different purposes i.e. a study space and a work space as this will help separate the two activities for you; ideally leave your phone, laptop and other work equipment in the work zone so that they are not accessible when you’re in your study zone
  5. Make commitments to others as to your weekly study progress, such as someone studying the same exam as you, your boss and/or your family – these public pledges can demonstrate to others how serious you are, as well as motivate you to honour them
Do you agree? Any other suggestions to achieve both passes and promotions? Which techniques have helped you study for professional qualifications while simultaneously delivering above expectations at work? Please also share further ideas to manage the particular challenges of doing this while working from home.

A final thought: given the significant personal and professional stresses we’re all facing at the moment, one of Protagion’s coaches in South Africa has very kindly offered to support our professionals with their current worries by offering a free confidential coaching session per person. Her intention is to be of service and support others through this difficult time, including sharing what she personally practises to remain calm in stressful situations. Please contact us if you’d like to take up Gretha’s offer of a space for those in need to unpack, offload and lessen some of the emotional stress.
1 Comment

Going to Hurt?! Adam Kay's Medical Career

21/3/2020

0 Comments

 
Some of the career goals Protagion supports our professional members with are related to transitions, including changing specialism or discipline within their profession, or even changing profession entirely. For example, we’ve shared stories before of a lawyer changing across to banking as well as a lawyer becoming a (famous) author… In this post, we share the experiences of Adam Kay, previously a doctor with the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom, before he shifted to become a comedian and writer for TV and film. 
Picture
In 2010, after six years of training and another six on the wards, Adam hung up his white coat and resigned from his job as a junior doctor. He set out his experiences in medicine in his often-hilarious book “This is Going to Hurt”*, described as a “no-holds-barred account of his time on the NHS front line”. 
97-hour weeks. Life and death decisions. A constant tsunami of bodily fluids. And the hospital parking meter earns more than you.
Welcome to the life of a junior doctor.”
FROM THE BACK COVER OF “THIS IS GOING TO HURT”*
I read the book myself over the Christmas break, and found its style reminiscent (to me at least) of another series of books I really enjoyed, which were set in a fictitious school much like the boarding school I attended in my teens: the “Spud” series*. While that series is primarily a nostalgic and amusing coming-of-age story, the underlying message in “This is Going to Hurt” runs far deeper...
​Both humorous and touching, Adam’s work is particularly timely given the significant pressure our doctors and nurses find themselves under with our global virus concerns this year. Adam acknowledges the positive impact recognition from patients can have: “I’ve kept every single card a patient has given me… They were the little fist-bumps that kept me going, rays of thoughtfulness from my patients that hit the spot when bosses couldn’t, or wouldn’t oblige.” While his book is primarily a humorous account, in this post we spotlight the undertones of his career journey, particularly the emotional and psychological toll of the ongoing stresses he faced.
The book is structured into chapters which follow Adam’s journey from starting work as a House Officer to becoming a Senior Registrar over a number of years, and shares anecdotes in the form of diary entries over his time at different hospitals. Read on to follow his career journey in medicine, including his reasoning for his choice of career and then of specialism, as well as the highs and lows he documented, including his burnout and decision to step away. In his introduction, Adam sets up the book with: “So here they are: the diaries I kept during my time in the NHS, verrucas and all. What it’s like working on the front line, the repercussions in my personal life, and how, one terrible day, it all became too much for me.”

Read More
0 Comments

Man and Machine: A Powerhouse Combo

14/3/2020

0 Comments

 
​At Protagion, we recognise the incredible power of analytics and automation, while at the same time believing wholeheartedly in our uniquely human abilities. As we’ve argued before, it is the blend of these powers (man and machine) that creates immense value. In this article we discuss and share a TED talk by an executive from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) on “human plus AI” approaches.
Some of our previous articles which touch on similar themes are:
  • Jobs of the Future where we explore Cognizant’s thoughts on roles that suit as as humans in future, particularly because as consumers we want the human touch: (i) coaching roles where we help others get better at, for example, managing their finances, (ii) caring roles where we improve others’ health and wellness, and (iii) connecting roles where we interface between man and machine or link the physical and virtual, adding human imagination and ingenuity to what machines do well
  • Celebrating our Humanness in which we discuss the psychology underlying our vulnerability and resistance to change, and how to use it to encourage people to explore what could be, instead of clinging to what is; it also references our skills which are uniquely human like empathy, compassion, creativity, strategic thinking, communication and collaboration / teamwork
  • Active Career Management: Embracing New Technologies where we share techniques for staying abreast of the changing technological landscape, recognising the importance of keeping up-to-date and taking inspiration from change
Picture
In fact, Protagion’s business and approach to managing our careers actively is built around the concept of combining human experience, expertise and judgement (from our mentors and coaches) with the benefits offered by technology, algorithms and analytics to offer personalised career suggestions that evolve as professionals grow.

Read more to uncover the ideas of Sylvain Duranton, a business technologist and leader of BCG Gamma, which has deployed over 100 customised AI and analytics solutions for large companies around the world. His team conceptualises, builds, and deploys data science and advanced analytic solutions. Sylvain joined BCG in 1993, and as you will discover, he is a fan of “human plus AI” approaches. He says artificial intelligence is impacting a variety of fields, including businesses’ relationships with their customers, their industrial operations, risk assessment and management (in areas such as healthcare, finance and insurance), and improving the supply chain. However, he warns against “algocracy” (rules-based decisions without human oversight). We conclude the article with a video of his roughly 14-minute talk, given in Mumbai.

Read More
0 Comments

    Follow @Protagion

    Author

    Bradley Shearer
    ​Founder of Protagion
    My Personal Journey
    I'd love to hear your stories

    SHARE YOUR
    STORY WITH ME

    Categories

    All
    Active Career Management
    Branching Out
    Connection
    Consulting
    Contracting
    Future Of Work
    Inspiration
    Leadership
    Learning
    Mentoring
    Non Executive Directors (NEDs)
    Personal Journeys
    Professions
    Psychology
    Real Life Examples
    Role Options
    Routes To The Top

    Tweets by protagion

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    RSS Feed

"NOW WHAT?" - a common question our visitors ask...
​WE CAN HELP!
Examples of common career goals, with resources for each: promotion, new skills, further study/qualifications, moving countries, switching into consulting / contracting / startup, transition to new specialism or profession, managing a business, portfolio career, purpose & meaning, CPD, and more... 


Follow @Protagion
Home / Proteges
> ​Services
> Subscribe
> CPD
​​

​Mentors

Our Stories / Blog

Sign Up to use our System
​
​
Privacy Policy​
Career Development and Talent Management for professionals: accountants, actuaries, analysts, asset managers, bankers, CFAs, data scientists, engineers, investment managers, risk managers, and more...
Protagion currently offers services in English, although some of our mentors & coaches speak other languages too. ​Please email us if you have any questions.
Picture

​© 2017-2023 PROTAGION LIMITED (10721032) is a company registered in England and Wales.
Registered Address: 128 City Road, London, United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX
Photos used under Creative Commons from Pjposullivan1, paul.horsefield, flazingo_photos
  • Proteges
    • Now What?
    • Career Support Guide
    • Career Goals >
      • Promotion / Raise
      • New Skills
      • Further Qualifications
      • Moving Countries
      • Switching: Consult/Contract/Startup
      • Transition: Specialism/Profession
      • Managing a Business
      • Portfolio Career
      • Purpose & Meaning
      • CPD
      • (Conference 1-5 Mar '21)
    • Example Professions >
      • Accounting
      • Actuarial
      • Asset & Investment Management
      • Risk Management
      • And more... >
        • Talent Management for Professionals
    • Our Services
    • Courses
  • Mentors
    • Encore Mentor
    • Featured Subset >
      • Anne - Australia
      • Boniswa - S Africa
      • Bradley - UK
      • Hafsa - S Africa
      • Lee - Hong Kong
      • Lusani - S Africa
      • Margaret - S Africa
      • Michael - S Africa
      • Natasha - UK
      • Nikki - UK
      • Sumit - India
      • Trevor - UK
      • And More on our Protege Platform...
  • Subscribe
  • Platform Login
    • Login
    • Sign Up: Free
  • Stories
    • Our Stories & Articles
    • Our Principles
    • Books