What's the best path to take

Scenario 1

John has just finished University and he wants to become a cinematographer.

1. John doesn’t have a lot of experience yet, but starts applying for cinematography jobs. He
sends in his CV, which outlines his educational background and his experience working in a
cafe and for student union. He also contacts recruitment agencies.
2. John applies as an entry level cinematography assistant and participates in a weekend course
in cinematography to start developing a portfolio of his skills. He also takes on free student
jobs in videography and for student film projects.
3. John wants to get into the film industry by any means, so he finds a job doing social media for
a small production company and diligently manages their website and social platforms.

Scenario 2

Monique is a lawyer in the city, who over the past few years has achieved her MBA. She wants to get
into the legal tech industry as she realises there’s a gap in the market. Monique comes up with an
innovation and decides she wants to create her own legal tech company.

1. Monique uses her experience and connections gained through her MBA to start developing a
business plan. She reaches out to accelerators, incubators and investors to start gaining
interest to realise her dream.
2. Even though she’s created her own idea, Monique finds a legal tech company to work for
where she can join in a business lead position and help the develop the company to gain
experience.
3. Monique decides to stay within the legal profession and become an intrapreneur, an employee
who is tasked with developing an innovative project within a company. She attempts to
persuade her firm to take a more innovative approach to legal services.

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Scenario 3

Tanya is planning to return to work after having had a baby, and she wants to switch careers. She
wants to go into international development having worked in marketing for many years. She realises
that her network is very limited and doesn’t know where to begin.

1. Tanya goes to a recruitment agency and looks into marketing roles because she realises that
she doesn’t have the right background to switch careers. Instead she now hopes to work for a
more socially-conscious company.
2. Tanya decides to stay in her career and volunteer in her spare time for aid agencies so that
she can still pursue her interest on the side.
3. Tanya starts going to networking events and conferences focused on international
development. She meets people and schedules follow-up meetings. She notices that her
marketing skills can be transferable and help these agencies communicate their message.

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Educator feedback

Question 1 Feedback: Answer 2 is the best option. This is because John knows what he wants to
do but he doesn’t have a portfolio to demonstrate his talent for cinematography and what he’s
capable of doing. A portfolio is critical for the career he wants for himself, as it’s a path where the only
thing of value is what the person can create and produce. By working to create a portfolio whilst
simultaneously doing an entry level position, John is able to get the experience he needs, and the
exposure to build relationships that will help him to start developing his dream career. In this
scenario, John is using a combination of the ladder and portfolio approach for his career.

Question 2 Feedback: Answer 1 is the best option. This is because Monique knows she wants to be
an entrepreneur and she has developed the skills set to do that: she is a lawyer, she has an MBA
and she knows how to create a business. Whilst the other two answers are valid options for Monique,
in this particular scenario she has an innovation that she wants to test out in the market. It makes
most sense for her to pursue that, rather than investing time in someone else’s innovation or trying to
embed herself in a practice that she feels isn’t being innovative enough. In this scenario, Monique is
using a combination of the entrepreneurial and matrix approach for her career. She will also use the
network approach in order to meet the right investors for her business plan.

Question 3 Feedback: Answer 3 is the best option. Whilst the other two answers would be valid
options, the last option is correct for Tanya. It is easy to switch careers when you tell people what
you’re looking for and the fact that you want to change. When you start developing those
relationships in the field you’re looking to move into, you begin to see which of your skill set is
transferable and that could be of benefit to this new career you’re trying to cultivate. In this scenario,
Tanya is using the network approach and the matrix approach.

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