Post-MBA life doesn’t always go to plan. I graduated in September 2020 and nearly 3 years on I’m now five months into my third job. Moving soon after graduating isn’t always unexpected – changing careers is a game of trial and error so quite a few of my MBA classmates changed roles in the first couple of years after graduating.
I decided to make a move when I realised my long-held dream of venture capital wasn’t quite the role I’d hoped for. I ended up joining a well-funded fintech startup called Juni in a great role that perfectly suited my experience. I remember the CJBS Careers Team asking me to write out my ideal role while I was at CJBS and thinking that the job I wrote down then was pretty close to what I had at Juni.
Sadly though, the company struggled and, once the tech downturn came, cuts were made across the board in pursuit of profitability. I was made redundant along with a large group of my colleagues and quickly found myself in a fairly difficult job market with a little too much time on my hands and far too much time with my own thoughts.
Losing my job hit me pretty hard as it tied in with a couple of other personal challenges including but not limited to Brighton football manager Graham Potter sadly leaving to join Chelsea. I quickly realised I was going to need something to keep me busy so I set myself a few goals to work towards and, alongside trying to break a few running PBs, I decided to try to fulfil a lifelong goal of becoming a radio DJ. I did some searching and came across Riverside Radio, a small volunteer-run, community radio station in Battersea that broadcasts across South West London. I wrote to them, went through all the training and was let loose on the airwaves after a couple of months to much fanfare from my six listeners comprised of four family members and their two dogs!
I’ve now been presenting the Riverside Run Club every Tuesday evening since November last year and truly love it. It was originally meant to be an hour of radio I’d want to listen to whilst out on a run but in practice it’s just an hour of good music (think middle-of-the-road 00s/10s indie interspersed with anything from The Rolling Stones to Abba to Oasis) while having fun with anyone I can convince to come on as a guest which can range from entrepreneur to Made in Chelsea superstars to Olympic athletes to my entertaining Dutch colleagues.
I’ve also had one of my MBA classmates on when he was over from New Zealand. Our tagline is that we try to make sure than when you leave us at 7pm you’re just a little happier than when you join us at 6pm.
Thankfully, I also managed to find myself a new job at Tink – another Fintech business recently acquired by Visa that offers a very welcome balance between startup autonomy and corporate stability. Alongside my great new job, the radio show is one of the best things to come out of my redundancy. I know plenty of my old colleagues and others in the tech world – including this years’ MBAs – are facing similarly challenging times at the moment. Pursuing something new and outside the sphere of work helped me over a difficult few months; I challenged myself, learnt some new skills, met some weird and wonderful people and enjoyed every minute whilst making loads of mistakes along the way. It’s definitely helped me to remember that with every obstacle comes opportunity and that for every Graham Potter, there might be a Robert de Zerbi waiting round the corner!
The Riverside Run Club radio sessions >
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