Ever so often, we lay down ambitious plans, charting our pathways to get to where we envision ourselves. This is particularly so for very ambitious people – you see the end goal you want and you lay years-long plans to accomplish it. What most of us fail to account for is serendipity, luck, chance and the complete randomness of life. As we plan for the new year, I think it is important to consider. I’ll use my current career path as a case study. Come with me.
My Pastor says that we should seek God’s plan for our lives and not mistakenly fall into it. I guess I am one of the lucky ones that have ‘fallen’ into God’s plan for my life. More than anything, this fact is evident in my current career, well at least one of them.
You are probably wondering by now something along the lines of ‘what does this girl even though?’ Don’t worry, your curiosity ends here. I currently work in project management at a Contract Research Organisation. In simpler terms, I manage projects in clinical research, specifically clinical trials. I hope your interest has been piqued by this revelation (especially if you are in Nigeria/subSaharan Africa where this is not a typical career option).
As a part of the project management team, I oversee the setting up, direction and coordination of clinical trial projects that have been contracted to my company (ie the CRO that I work for). It’s a pretty exciting role and has its crazy moments but I have found that I absolutely loveet!
One random thing that being in this role has done has helped me is brush up on my excel and presentation skills. I have always had above-average knowledge of excel (trust me it’s not that high, a lot of people just don’t know how to use excel so local champion? I’ll take it) but this role has made me constantly put that knowledge to use and improve on it. If you are familiar with excel, you know that not putting your skills to use can lead to disuse atrophy. These days, I use Excel sheets in my personal life and I am constantly inundating my friends with sheets upon sheets, but they don’t complain. Haha. I have digressed a lot but I just wanted to give a brief background of my work.
Now back to the main gist. The title of this post talks about serendipity and that’s what we will be discussing- how serendipity and curiosity led me to my current role. I am writing this post because a number of people have reached out to me to ask about transitioning into clinical research. While I have been able to give tips, my foray into this space was not exactly strategic or planned. As I said, I think I ‘fell’ into this industry, but I have since been more deliberate about my work and growth.
After my medical internship year, I knew that I wanted to explore other aspects of medicine beyond clinical practice. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but clinical research was not on the list. Partly because it is not a popular field in Nigeria, and also because I thought it would mean working in laboratories. at the time, my laid-out options were working in development (health policy, health economics, health systems strengthening) or working in a health management firm. I was keener towards health economics since this features in both industries above.
After spending months at home, cold emailing and sending various applications, I landed a job in clinical research at 54Gene, a genomics start-up. Now, this is completely away from what I wanted, and it was very evident in my initial reaction to the job offer. I put a call through to a senior colleague working in one of the companies that I wanted to work for and he advised that I take the job, while seeking my next opportunity – a bird in hand is better than 2 in the bush. Since I had no job and my savings were running low, I decided to take the job.
A quick note to say here that some people may have stuck to their guns and keep searching for the job they want, and get it big (think Robert in Tyler Perry’s ‘Acrimony‘). If you are at crossroads with similar decisions, seek advice but ultimately also consider your personal circumstances to make a final decision.
While at 54Gene, I kept searching for opportunities in health financing and policy. This led me to more cold emails and forming multiple connections. It was in the process of doing this that I got to know about an open position to work with a director at the Lagos State Ministry of Health. I was elated and it seemed like my career dreams were manifesting. In my 5-year career plan post housejob, I had said I would like to come back to Nigeria (after an International Masters Degree) to work in the Ministry of Health. And this was barely a year after and I was getting an offer to work there? Awesome! (Serendipity also came to play in how I got this offer). Taking this role meant that I would have to leave 54Gene AND take a circa 33% pay cut.
I was slightly worried at the time, but I had other means of income at the time (from research work and other side hustles) so I decided to take it. There’s the popular advice that taking a pay cut early in your career can propel you further in the long run. Sadly, this didn’t exactly happen in my case. I admit that I probably did not stay long enough in the role to see that propulsion manifest, but I believe I left the role at a good time, albeit abruptly. While I gained invaluable experience at the Ministry, after a few months there I knew that I needed to significantly upskill and also explore other aspects of public health beyond policy.
A quick note: All the ‘best’ career advice may not pan out for you the way it does in self-help career books. This may not mean you are doing anything wrong, sometimes it is just life ‘lifing’. Also, know when to leave a role and try all within your power to leave ‘properly’.
While at the ministry, I told almost all my friends that I was looking for a new job. I also told my senior colleagues as well. One of my friends shared the details of a research company recruiting sometime in June 2022. At the time, I was still sticking to my guns of finding something in health consulting or health financing, so I passed. By August, I knew that I just had to leave the ministry and so I resigned without another job in hand. This is not the popular career advice you here. Majorly people tell you to resign when you have another job, which is solid advice especially when you don’t come from money, but sometimes you just have to go against that norm and leave asap.
The research company my friend shared in June was having another fair in August and since I was now without a job, I thought that I had nothing to lose so I went for the fair which ended up having an interview session. I went there with zero preparation but residual knowledge from my years of research in medical school, my wide reading, my recent experience at 54Gene and being able to ‘interview well’ all came in handy. By the end of the fair, I had a job.
A quick note: when searching for a new role, tell your friends as well. While they may not be able to offer you a job they can become more open to posts that they would normally have ignored and send you links to apply. Also, all experience is useful. I didn’t want to take the 54Gene role but 1 year down and that experience was instrumental in me securing a job I love.
Looking back now, I should have been elated but I wasn’t. I wasn’t even sure that I would take it. Luckily, I found out that I knew a couple of people at the company and so I reached out to them to find out more. They all had only good things to say. Also, in the traffic-laden state of Lagos, the company’s office was situated about a 5-minute drive from my home. So even though I wasn’t certain, all these factors helped me decide to go with the job. And I am so glad that I did.
One thing that my career experience over the past 5 years has thought me is that plans change (I wish I could share my career journal but it’s far away and I want this post to go out today – my current trajectory is completely away from the plans). There are so many elements that we can not factor into our plans, not because we don’t want to, but simply because we can’t. Life is too serendipitous to think that simply because you did A and added B you will end up with C. There are general principles that govern life, but life is still full of randomness. Life is too random to try to game your way through. All we can do is give our best every time, so that we can always look back and know that we did our best, irrespective of the outcome.
To every person – young or old – who is reading this, I want to implore you to plan. Plan like your life depends on it (because it does). But after your plan, allow room for serendipity and chance to work its magic. If you are religious like me, you would believe that God wants the ultimate best for you and he can surely blow your mind. You plan because you obviously cannot see the future (even if you see it, you still have to prepare to receive it). But you also know that your Father specialises in blowing the minds of his children.
When your plans don’t go as you have laid them, instead of agonising over them, believe that he is preparing something better for you – the destination that is made specifically for you. As the youngin’s say, ‘We are gonna make it’.
All my love,
Sisikunmi
