I believe the best way of knowing is trying, and that’s been my approach to finding my career path. Pinballing from one thing to the next in the pursuit of discovering what I want to do with my life.

Trying
 

After finishing the Swedish equivalent of A levels, I wanted to keep studying but didn’t know what. I started to become a teacher because my friends said “you’re good at teaching and explaining things, so maybe try that?”. So, I tried that. Quite quickly, I found that the most interesting thing about education was the psychology behind it. This was a lightbulb moment and the first pinball bounce. Maybe psychology was it?

In 2010, I moved to Stockholm and started studying psychology, which was extremely interesting! Learning about people and why we behave the way we do brought out a new fascination. However, it was only one piece of the puzzle as a career in psychology wasn’t appealing. I like people, but I don’t like people THAT much for it to be my sole focus. So, I had to bounce.

Fixing Things
 

While considering my next move, I stumbled into security because I needed a job. It turns out, I was really good at it. I had a natural authority, strong sense of justice and fairness, and good communication skills. It taught me a lot about myself, what I’m capable of, and gave me a thick skin because of the difficult and sometimes dangerous situations I faced. In a sense, it prepared me for a career in HR because those qualities have served me well as an HR professional, albeit a lot less dangerous.

One day, while patrolling the shopping centre in Liljeholmen, my colleague said, “You know, you always do that…”. “Do what?”, I asked. “Fix things”, he replied. Sometimes he’d leave the metal chain curtain pulled out too far or move the public bin to block the pathway, just to mess with me because he knew I’d fix it. Unknowingly, he gave me the final piece of the puzzle as I realised I’m a very operational person and I love to fix things. Even before that conversation, I’d naturally been “fixing things”, updating policies, creating process maps and challenging management to raise the bar of my team’s health and safety.

Once I had my jigsaw pieces, it was clear that HR was the perfect fit for me. It involves the psychological aspect of people, the operational side of business, and the continuous need to fix, update, and improve things. In 2016, I started studying Business & Human Resource Management at the University of Portsmouth to pursue a career in HR. Today, I am an experienced HR professional with a wealth of experiences and achievements, whose career keeps growing.

The journey may have been winding, but the pinball approach has led me to a fulfilling career that aligns with my strengths and passions. Sometimes, you need to keep bouncing until you find the right fit.