Transport Planner
Halcrow

Jeff E

00:00:02 My name is Jeff E, I’m a Transport Planner at Halcrow Group. Been a Transport Planner for the past year or so. My particular role is mainly on transport research.

00:00:13 I don’t find the job challenging, I don’t find the job challenging at all. I find the job is – it’s interesting, you get tasks doing some really interesting jobs out there, we’re doing an awful lot of cutting edge research. Just to give you an example, one of the projects that we worked on is Movo Transfer, what would be the implications if you managed to get people off from using the car onto public transport? The amount of research out there is pretty limited. So we were asked, and tasked, to do that type of job.

00:00:43 Basically this is my third career. In my previous career I decided I’d had enough of it, and I decided to take some time off. So I did a bit of travelling. And I decided to sort of retrain. So I went to University, did a Masters degree in Transport Planning, graduated with that, and immediately finishing that I got a job here, and went straight in as a Transport Planner.

00:01:09 I went travelling in sort of New Zealand, and sort of Australia, did a bit of Asia as well. It was good to actually take time off, because when you’re in a work situation you get very limited leave, time off, and it was good to actually just sort of take a half a year off and just do a bit of travelling. And actually having sort of two careers beforehand it’s – you really do appreciate it, and you do take stock of what you’ve done previously, and what you will do in the future.

00:01:39 My first job was actually working for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I used to work in the state veterinary service, I used to actually work with vets. And my second job I was working in a University, I was actually working in Business Planning.

00:01:55 At school level I deliberately chose to do a generic degree to give me sort of a good sort of knowledge base, so I did it in Geography and Economics, which has given me a very good grounding. After that I wasn’t too set in what I wanted to do. I think it was just a question of trying to get some experience under my belt. And then after I’d got that experience, then determine what I’m good at, and what I’m not so good at.

00:02:19 One crucial aspect for me has always been, in any job, is to learn something new. I don’t like repetition in the workplace, I like to do something new all the time. And I think in any job I’ve had, it’s when you get to the point of repetition, of finding you were doing exactly the same thing you did a couple of months ago, or a year ago, then it’s time to move on. Actually on my third career it’s great now because I’m learning new stuff all the time.

00:02:41 I’m basically a Local Authority Councillor on top of a – having a full-time job, so I’ve got commitments in terms of School Governors, being – representing people in the local community, I sit on external bodies, so my – in a way it’s a triangle for me. The work/life balance is triangular, sort of holding down two jobs and then trying to make sure I’ve got a social sort of family side to tie down as well.

00:03:09 In the longer term, I might actually just take some time out, in a couple of years time. I think the idea that you work from 18 onwards to retirement age without a break – that’s no longer. You can take time off. I would like to have the opportunity – I’d like to work overseas, I think I do quite a bit of travelling anyway, I’ve been to quite a few countries, so it’s something I would like to do.

00:03:32 Initially when you first graduate there’s an expectation that you’re going to get your – the job that you ideally want from the outset, and sometimes that just doesn’t happen. And in a way – you can see it with retrospect – actually it’s quite good to actually have a couple of jobs when you first graduate and – just to gain that all-important experience, gain awareness, without having to commit yourself. You can gain some really useful sort of skills, knowledge and so forth, that you’re able to apply for a job that you really want to go for.

ENDS