Sign up for job alertsI didn’t have many expectations about my career path. I went through school and college and onto university without knowing what I wanted to be. I then worked overseas for a number of years, teaching English as a foreign language. My initial aim was to travel and work my way around the world.
I now work as a learning experience designer for the Co-op, designing various learning resources for colleagues across the business. I enjoy the variety of work I do. It’s project based which brings its challenges and problems to solve and I get to work with a team too, which I really enjoy. I love sharing what I’ve learned throughout my career while continuing to learn from others. Maybe one day, I’ll return to working as a learning consultant, as I enjoyed working for myself, but for now I really enjoy what I’m doing at the Co-op.
To be successful in learning and development, it's crucial to be a good communicator. This is how we transfer knowledge and create the opportunity to learn. It's a two-way process and requires empathy to understand those that you're trying to communicate with. Problem solving is also important as there are lots of challenges to overcome, especially when working with technology. Then alongside communication and problem solving, there’s teamwork. We can't work alone, we need to continually improve our performance by building on each other’s work and be open to everyone’s ideas. Creativity is key though, as the role of a designer is essentially to be creative.
I never knew what I wanted to do with my career and I think it's okay if you don't have a specific path to follow. I’ve often heard it said that the jobs many young people will do in future haven't been invented yet. I'm a learning experience designer and that was never a thing 20 or 30 years ago.
Mark
Learning Experience Designer