The University of Cambridge has published a new article on the importance of creative thinking.
Organisations need talent. Cambridge University has plenty of it. In theory, therefore, running the Cambridge Careers Service should be the easiest job in the world. In practice, of course, it’s not. The sheer abundance of talent here combined with the University’s organisational complexity, makes this a noisy space both for those looking for a job and for those looking to hire.
Our role is to help filter out some of that noise, to bridge the gap between the University and the outside world and to give our students and post-docs good, impartial advice. This Christmas, Covid-19 will not have stopped parents, grandparents, well-meaning aunts, uncles and family friends gathering on Zoom to quiz our students about what they are going to do with their lives – and giving them the benefit of their advice. That’s great. But the problem with it is that everyone’s got their own angle – and we don’t. At the Careers Service, our students and post-docs can talk about their future with somebody who doesn’t have a direct stake in it. We also work hard to make sure that everyone who comes to us is treated as an individual, that our advice is designed for, and specific, to them.