# Transcript

Chi Onwurah

Well, I think one of the things that anyone studying engineering should be aware of is that it's a great foundation for many different careers. My last job as an electrical engineer was as Head of Telecoms Technology for Ofcom, the communications regulator, and I think my ultimate career ambition would have been to be a Chief Technology Officer, but I didn't make it that far. I took a different direction and moved into politics.

Everyone entering the workforce is always advised to have a career plan, and I think that's really good advice. I found it difficult 'cos I didn't really know where I wanted to end up, but what I did do, and what I always wanted to do, was to look for new challenges and new ways of using my skills, and new opportunities to learn more about the industry. So I started off in hardware engineering, then I moved into software engineering, then I moved into product development, product management, and then operations and project management, so I got a really wide understanding of the industry.

Your CV should really be the story of how you've got to where you are, and why you're the right person for the new job or opportunity that you are looking for. One of the things about always having a CV which is ready to send out is that you need to be constantly assessing where you've got to in your career, also you know what kind of skills you are lacking. So I did a degree in electrical engineering but didn't have enough understanding of the whole telecoms industry, which was one of the reasons why I studied for a Masters in Business Administration in 1998 to 2001. And that was sort of looking backwards on what I had done, which had always been very technically centred, but also looking forward to the sort of skills I wanted if I was going to get more opportunities. So yes, look backwards and forwards (laugh).

I've always kept either a logbook or done bi-weekly or monthly reports, about … either to the person I was working for, or right now I do them for my constituents. And that is a really good way of taking time out of what you're doing to see, you know, to see what you're doing in your sort of daily job, but also to consider how you want that to change and evolve. If you're always coming up against the same obstacles or if you are focusing too much on one area at the expense of other areas, then you can reflect on that while you're doing your monthly reports. It's also very important to have regular reviews with your manager. Every company I've worked for always had some kind of performance-related review, quarterly or annually, and I think that's a key time to assess where you are, how happy you are in what you're doing and what kind of other opportunities would excite you. Because a good manager should always be looking for the opportunities that will excite the person who's working for them.

I started a logbook because I always knew I wanted to be a Chartered Engineer and one of the requirements that they had was that you need a logbook. So it's taken different forms over the years, but it has always been physical rather than electronic because they are … it's still easier to carry around a physical book, especially if you're working in the field. And then on top of that a kind of electronic monthly report, which is usually about one page or two pages, so that's there as a record as well.