Stay Curious: How to Find Your Next Career Opportunity | Jane Scott

Curiosity Over Certainty

Being curious so that you're not too fixed in your thinking about where you might go and therefore are more able to follow the opportunities, which will probably be in places you don't expect them.

What if not knowing what comes next isn't a problem that we really need to solve? Well, Jane Scott now leads a respected university communications team, but she never planned this career. There was no single turning point and she couldn't see where each step would lead. She simply stayed curious and she kept learning. If your own path feels uncertain, well, maybe Jane's story can help you see what's next. Sometimes you don't need the whole plan, you just need to recognize the next step. In our conversation, Jane talks about emotional intelligence, learning as you go, and why we shouldn't become too fixed on where we think our careers should take us. I'm Judy Oscombe. This is Stories of Change helping you navigate what's next.

Living Abroad Builds EQ

I notice your your first career was in another country. You were teaching English in another. How did you find that and how did that shape sort of your your worldview?

Oh, um how did it it, I'll go with how did it shape my worldview because I think um experiencing living in a different country and trying out a different language and all that sort of thing does definitely change your your worldview specifics. I think it probably made me more acutely aware of etiquette because certainly at that time, and we're talking a long time ago now, um, etiquette in Japan was very different to etiquette in the UK, and I became quite rightly hypersensitive to that. And I think that's been a useful um skill through my life as you navigate not just different cultural behaviours but different um on a on an international scale, but cultural behaviours in different organizations and in different groups of people, that sort of thing. So I think it helps you with your EQ, and I think anything that stretches you and makes you do something that you haven't done before and is a bit scary is good for you and is good for you all through your life. And now I'm still very much trying to do things that I find new and a bit challenging because I I very firmly believe that that is um really important to your personal development within and outside of your career. To just keep learning, right? Yes, absolutely.

Yes. Well, you mentioned EQ. Um talk about how important that is for our students today, whether they're at Queen Margaret University or Texas State University. How important is the EQ equation?

I think it is very, very important, but also I wouldn't want people to worry if they feel that they're lacking in EQ.

Because there's a way to learn that.

Yes, exactly. Um, and I think that um I'm I wouldn't say I'm I'm I wouldn't claim to have any wonderful skills in EQ. And also I think that as as it is easier as you get older because you've got more experience of dealing with different people in different situations. So if for any young people listening um to this podcast, I think that just they should know that having EQ is important, but that it's not something to worry about if they feel they've got less AQ EQ than others, because it is something that grows with time, and the more that you throw yourself into different situations and meeting different people, the more it will grow.

Yeah, I totally agree with you. And our students here have have had such great experiences. They've gone out and they've done communication projects in the community, they've talked with local business owners, they've traveled across Europe as well, and that really gave them such a different perspective, you know. So I think that's really something that's helpful. And you sort of experienced it in your Japan trip, and our students are also experiencing it right now.

So I think it's hugely it's it's really encouraging to hear um that your students are experiencing that and enjoying that, because I do believe it um that travel abroad as a student is one of the best things that you can do, and there's a lot of evidence that does show that it does make a real difference for one's career and indeed for for um your life experience generally.

What Makes Stories Land

Exactly. Well, and and in the communication world, in your world, um uh it's all about telling stories. And what makes a story meaningful in your view? It's being people focused, um, I think is is the uh is one of the key things. Um when when I'm presented with things to communicate, I'm always looking for the human element because people understand people, obviously. Um without getting too jargonistic or um academic about it, having having a story arc, you know, there's all the sort of um standard story arcs that people talk about, that people with much more expertise than me can talk to. Um, but but being able to play on um archetypes like the hero and storytelling, as you've said, is absolutely key to communications because if you can't tell a story, you're not going to communicate effectively.

Yeah.

Leading With Focus And Innovation

Well, you've got you've built a whole team here to do just that. And we've had the pleasure over the last two weeks of meeting a lot of your team members who have really kind of talked about how they work together and collaborate on helping to tell that story. And in your role as the leader or you know, the director, how have you maintained that that focus and that that uh innovative um look at keeping moving your team forward and continuing to encourage them to learn?

So there's two things there, isn't it there's focus and innovation. Um, so in terms of focus, um, I think it's being clear about what we're trying to achieve at any time. So we have um our our yearly operational plan, um obviously there's more long-term planning, strategic planning that goes on in a three, five-year cycle as well. And then we have team meetings when we talk about priorities as well. And all those documents have buy-in and input from people across the university and take into account university strategies and what's going on in the wider world. So that the aim, I'm not sure we get it right every time, but the aim is that we all have a clear sense of what the priorities are at any time and therefore what we should be focusing our energies on. Because particularly in communications and indeed marketing and all the sort of professional areas that um my my team touches on, you could you could be creative, do all sorts of things all the time and have loads of fun, but not have the focus that's necessary to achieve your objectives. So having that those sort of they sound quite boring, but um those mechanisms to ensure that you have you're doing the right things are so important. So that's the focus part of your question. Um then turning to the innovation um question, one of the key things that I am so enthusiastic about, and I and I hope my team members would would say the same thing, is looking at what's going on out there and then thinking about what that means for us. So uh in at a basic level, I spend more time than I probably should do looking at other universities' social media accounts and uh social media accounts that aren't university, things that, yeah, what is working, what isn't, um, what new ideas, and then sharing them with colleagues. So that's an example of the sort of tactical, tactical sharing that goes on. Um beyond that, um at a more strategic level, I'm always keen that we go out and we um network, we go to conferences, we meet friends with people at other institutions and find out what they're doing, both in the sector and outside of the sector, so that we're bringing in different knowledge and also looking at at what's going on in the um political climate.

No One Turning Point Just Steps

Has there been an experience in your life where it's sort of been a turning point as far as your your career that when you look back, has there been a turning point or something that really led you into the area that really allowed you to flourish?

I don't think there's ever been a turning point. I think it's been a been a uh you know, incremental steps and a a series of things working out in particular ways. Um and I think that's maybe it it's maybe just the way it was.

What are you still learning? Uh you're still learning, you're still writing your own story.

I'm learning lots, lots all the all the time, and I I need to keep learning lots. Um learning more about thinking about AI generally in terms of how that that informs the workplace and how we can take advantage of that. That that's been um hugely important. Um and um learning about how human beings tick. I think we all back to the we started this conversation talking about EQ, continue to learn that, and that continues to inform the way um I communicate myself and the way I advise others to communicate.

And if

Advice For Graduates Who Face Uncertainty

you were looking at a classroom full of students about to graduate, what's the most important lesson they can learn based on maybe your experiences?

I think um lee I think this that message is probably more important than than ever at this point because I know that graduates at the moment they're entering an uncertain world in terms of you know globally in graduate employment. We at Queen Margaret are very lucky, we've got very strong employment rates, but it's it's I know that um it it weighs on on people's minds generally. So um leaning in to take advantage rather than um uh giving up being the at the other extreme um and engaging with the the technology and engaging with people um and um being curious so that you're not too fixed in your thinking about where you might go and therefore are more able to follow the opportunities, which will probably be in places you don't expect them.

Well, and I think students are so thinking that there's a plan for this and there's a there's a clear directive path. And there's not. There wasn't in your life.

There wasn't in your life. Yeah, and very few people, even if they set out to form the most traditional established type career, their their their final job will be very different from the the one they set out to do at the start of their career, I think in nearly all cases.

Authentic Communication And Closing Reflection with Judy Oskam

Love it. Any last words to our listeners about communication, the importance of telling your own story and their own story?

Well, being your authentic self, being your best authentic self. I sorry I sound very cliched there, but um um putting putting your best foot forward, presenting yourself in in a in a in a good, strong way, but being genuine with it as well, so that people believe in you and that you believe in yourself. I think that's hugely important.

Fantastic.

Love it. Thank you so much. Pleasure. I totally agree.

Jane Scott didn't build her career by following a user's manual or a carefully drawn roadmap. She followed her interest and she kept learning. She stayed curious and open to new experiences. And those experiences helped shape the leader she is today. Jane's story reminds me that change doesn't always happen in one big defining moment. It happens a little at a time. One decision leads to another. I also kept thinking about Jane's comment not to become too fixed on where we should go. A plan can help, but we also need to be flexible. If you don't know exactly what comes next, that's okay. I'm right there with you. You might still be learning and you might still be exploring. Here's a question to think about. Are you so focused on one destination that you might be missing an unexpected opportunity? Well, think about it. Many thanks to Jane Scott and our friends at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. I'm Judy Oskam. Thank you for listening to Stories of Change, where we're helping you navigate what's next.