What would you tell your younger self now if you could?

I would tell my younger self that everything will work out in the end. I started my career at ITV in media. The media was something I was always passionate about, that’s why I went and worked for ITV and loved it there and then worked for a period of time at an agency, Opinium.

During the last part of my time at ITV and the time I spent at Opinium, I got a little bit lost, I think, because even though I joined ITV and I had really wanted to work in media, there was a period when I didn't really know what I was doing, so to speak. I didn't really know what my purpose was in my career and what I wanted to do. I got into the door, but after, I suppose the novelty had worn off, to a certain extent.

I did feel a little bit like: ‘What am I doing with my career?’ I've always been very career-driven, so that was a big question for me. So I left ITV and went to Opinium, and I joined as a mixed methods researcher and did that for a time. But I was a little bit lost. Looking back now, it was not really what I was meant to do with my career and I realised that quant research was the part of my job that was making me feel like that – and I'd predominantly done quant research for my whole career up until that point. At ITV, that was mostly what my job consisted of.

I was signed off for a period of time at Opinium for stress and during that time I was thinking about what I liked, what I didn't like, what I was good at, what I wasn't so good at. I realised that qual research was actually where my passion was and where my strengths were. When I came back, I asked my boss if there was a chance I could transition to qual full-time and they made that happen. From that point on, I was much more satisfied in my job.

I felt like I had found my purpose. It aligned with my passions. It aligned with my strengths. I have loved qual ever since and I do that in my job at Sky now. So, I’d say: “It will all work out in the end, but it might just take you a bit of time to get there and you often have to try a few things, as I did – industries, client-side, agency-side, different methods – to get to that point where you figure out what it is you're supposed to be doing.”

What advice would you give to early career researchers who are in a similar position as you were at that point – someone who perhaps isn’t enjoying an element of their role or struggling to establish what they want to do?

To give a bit of context, I was really lucky in my job at Opinium that I joined as mixed methods. I split half of my time between quant and qual, so I was able to realise quite quickly that I enjoyed qual more because I was getting exposure to that and working on purely quant projects or joint qual/quant projects.

But if someone is specialising in a quant role, a qual role or in a project management role, it sounds simple, cliche and obvious, but ask your career manager, your line manager, whoever it may be, if you can get involved in those projects that are using other methods.

I had a project manager at Opinium who really enjoyed observing and watching qual, but her role was project management. She asked if there was any way that she could get more involved with the qual side of things, rather than project managing it. So, I raised that further up and that wasn’t a problem, and we got her more involved. By doing that, you can see if you would enjoy the other method or the other industry or whatever. It also makes you a more rounded person working in research, because you get to see the whole picture, rather than just your one specific bit.

If you're working agency side and you've got those close relationships with your clients or vice versa, then asking them what life client side is like, in a way that doesn't look like you're going to jump ship – but I would definitely advocate for people using their network. To ask for that, to ask about that experience and to help them figure out if it is a good fit.

What does an average day look like for you?

At Sky, we're quite different in the way we operate, so I'm part of the research team, but we're in-house. We will use recruiters and sample providers and viewing facilities, but we conduct most of the research ourselves and sometimes partner with agencies. So for me, my day looks pretty similar to what an agency might look like, although I'm only working on Sky, rather than lots of other clients. It might be writing discussion guides, helping with recruitment moderation, writing reports or doing the analysis for those reports.

That’s the research side of things and there’s also a lot of other stuff. I get involved with quite a lot of external things but also internal things, like the Pride network at Sky or the people team that we have for our wider department.

My day is never typically just focused on project work. It’s usually a lot of project work, but also a few other internal and external things, which I think is nice because it helps break things up a little bit and make things a little bit more exciting.

You started your career through an apprenticeship and you’ve talked about that in the past. Since then, what do you think has really helped you in your career?

If it wasn't for my time agency-side, I wouldn't have realised my passion for qualitative research. I also wouldn't have realised that I'm better suited to client-side research as well, and I wouldn't have been able to get my job at Sky and be where I am today. It refocused me, help me figure out what I was passionate about and good at and has got me where I am today.

I would also definitely say my external commitments in the industry. It’s something that I have been involved in since early in my career. After I started my career I was getting involved with external initiatives: MRS &more and AQR. That was all because my manager at ITV was very invested in the industry and those external initiatives as well, and so he instilled that in me to get involved in those things and I absolutely did that. Being involved in external initiatives has grown my network and helped me understand the industry more.

What do you what aspect of your job do you enjoy the most?

I enjoy the moderation the most. If you met a quallie that didn't enjoy moderation, I'd probably be a little bit concerned given that it’s the bread and butter of our jobs, but I really do love the moderation. It’s still nerve-wracking for me today, I'll be quite honest, especially in person, face-to-face field work. I still get that adrenaline rush that I get if I do presentations, but I find it so rewarding just talking to people, whether that be face-to-face or online; just understanding them.

As an early-career researcher, what piece of advice would you give to someone who’s much further into their career? What do you think that they could do differently?

There have been instances throughout my career where junior researchers or younger professionals have not been given opportunities. I would say: “Give your young researchers, your young professionals, opportunities, and guide them through that.”

For example, at my first job at ITV, my old boss asked myself and another colleague to present at the first MRS &more conference, before Covid. We were the headline speakers and we talked about Love Island. He was a big advocate for speaking at conferences and he did a lot of that, so he could have quite easily taken that as an opportunity for himself, but he wanted us to do it. We'd all worked on the project, but he wanted us to do it because he wanted us to get that exposure, to get that practice and build that network with the people that would be in the room.

If it wasn't for him trusting me and giving me those opportunities, then I would not be as OK with presenting as I am now. It still does terrify me but that encouragement early on really helped build my experience and practice.

I would say to people 30 years into their career, who aren't giving these experiences to younger colleagues – do it and coach them through it. I think they would be surprised by how well that person would do and how much everyone would benefit from it if more senior people just gave younger colleagues more opportunities in those areas.

At the end of the day, those more senior people were in our shoes at one point. So, how did they get to where they are? Opportunities and experience.