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We’re all told that career planning is vital to success – but what if that’s not for you?
Award-winning Cait Percy believes that although having a career plan has its utility, it’s not the be all and end all of achieving your goals.
There is a lot of emphasis on the importance of knowing where you want to go in your career, but that can add a lot of pressure in trying to live up to a future that’s impossible to predict.
Cait and the NPF joined us to discuss how you can build the skills you need to thrive in the sector by being ready to jump on opportunities without necessarily knowing where they’ll take you. Cait talked about her experience of taking opportunities as they come, what success looks like for her, and on building up a portfolio of skills which (so far!) has led her to her own personal success.
About Cait Percy
Cait Percy was awarded Woman of the Year 2021, Women in Defence UK, and has since joined the Civil service, furthering her passion for technology collaboration. She is an advocate for a diverse and inclusive defence sector and is currently working as a science advisor for the Ministry of Defence.
She graduated with a Masters in Physics with Space Science from the University of Southampton and attended the International Space University Space Studies Program in Montreal, Canada. She joined BAE Systems, spending seven years working across technology in the defence sector and partner companies including specialising in technology strategy and innovation, and working in the research domain bringing together experts from multiple sectors across the company and externally to progress future sensing technologies.
Cait spent three months working directly in the Woman in Defence UK team, including supporting the Women in Defence Charter, before joining the Civil Service in 2022. Alongside her previous roles, she has led a Millennial Think Tank within BAE Systems and was Chair of the ADS New Professionals Forum, supporting other new professionals from across the industry to innovate, channelling their skills and passion for technology into productive outputs. She is a lifetime fellow of the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange and is working towards her Chartered status to cement herself as someone who is qualified, capable, and passionate about building environments to better exploit cutting edge technologies and position the UK as a leader in its field.
