By Keiran Barber, Executive Director of Defence at Kainos
There is a tendency to think about career progression in traditional terms: join an organisation, gain experience, move into a more senior role and eventually move elsewhere to take the next step.
But I’m not convinced the best careers work like that anymore. Meaningful progression is less about following a predefined ladder and more about continuing to be stretched by new challenges, responsibilities, technologies and people.
That principle has shaped my own career. I joined Kainos in 1995 as a graduate Software Engineer and today I’m an Executive Director for Defence. In between, I’ve worked across project management, delivery, account leadership and sector leadership.
I could never have mapped that career out when I started. What I did know was that I wanted to work somewhere I would be challenged.
A senior lecturer at university once advised me to choose an organisation where the people around me would stretch me every day. That stayed with me, and more than three decades later I think it offers an important lesson for organisations thinking about attracting and retaining talent.
People need more than a promotion every few years. They need difficult problems to solve, opportunities to take responsibility and the freedom to develop in directions they may not initially have considered.
Sometimes progression is vertical. Sometimes it is lateral. What matters is that people continue to feel they are moving forward. That becomes even more important as organisations grow.
When I joined Kainos, there were around 60 people in one office. Today, the business employs thousands of people internationally. Growth creates new opportunities, but it also brings a responsibility to maintain the culture that made people want to join in the first place.
READ MORE: Your first role is just the beginning: why Kainos is a place to build a career that keeps evolving
For me, retention is ultimately about momentum. People stay when they are still learning, still being challenged and still able to see what their next opportunity could look like.
In a technology sector where skills and roles are constantly evolving, organisations cannot rely solely on recruiting expertise from elsewhere. They need to create environments where people can continue to develop.
The strongest cultures do more than make people feel valued. They give people another reason to stretch.
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