Jobs, Children and Pride (part 1)

At my daughters school recently they had a "careers day".  She was only seven at the time (now eight) so the conversation about what job's they may want to do when they are older was kept relatively broad....however something surprising came out of her choice of jobs.

The first I knew of this surprising choice was when I attended Charlotte's parents evening.  We sat down with the teacher and as always I was trying to get relatively comfortable on a chair designed for an 8yr old (and not particularly comfortable for someone over 6ft) the first question from Charlotte's teacher was an unusual one...

"Mr Daems, What's a Principal Financial Solutionist?"

"I'm not sure!" was my reply "Principal Financial Solutions is the name of my business, but I don't know what a Principal Financial Solutionist is!  Why do you ask?"

Charlotte's teacher then guided me to their "careers board" where all the children had an individual card to put what jobs they wanted to do when they are older.  There were plenty of actors, footballers, nurses, a couple of teachers and one or two fireman....but on Charlotte's card she had put that she wanted to be a "Principal Financial Solutionist".

Whilst I'm not sure that Charlotte knows what we do as a business (her broad understanding is that "we help people look after their money"), and I'm sure that she will change her mind quite a few times before she decides on her eventual career, the fact that she was proud enough of what I do every day to put this down is actually more than enough for me.

Now, whilst I was immensely proud of the fact that Charlotte had put this down on here board, I didn't think it was fair to give her a job straight away.....so she had to interview for it first (I don't want to be accused of Nepotism!)....the results of which I'll tell you about in a later Blog Entry...