Archive for the ‘job search’ Category

Job satisfaction comes from using your qualities as well as your passion. By qualities I mean not only your skills, abilities and talents but also your values, needs, motivation and, importantly your interests.

The better you know yourself, the more likely you are to choose a satisfying successful job.

How do you discover yourself?

One suggestion is to write things down. Have your own journal in which you can jot your musings, thoughts, and feelings down. And you can add results to any of the self-exploratory exercises or psychometric tests that you may take.

Some simple helpful steps:

1. Think carefully about your achievements at school, college or work and identify where you have done well. What particular subject have you excelled and enjoyed, and at work what tasks and aspects go well? What does this tell you about your interests and abilities?
2. Write down three headings – Abilities, Interests and Values and under each heading write down your thoughts regarding how you use your leisure time. So whether it is a hobby, social, political or religious activity, note the theme and points that reoccur when you are enjoying yourself.
3. Complete self-assessment tests or inventories that measure your abilities, interests, values and personality. Do these results reflect a true picture of how you feel and what you are good at?
4. Invest in some professional career counselling.
5. Identify your skills. Work through different exercises and talk through activities with a career counsellor or friend/family member to discover which transferable and employability skills you have; and which ones are your strongest and the ones you really want to use.
6. Write a personal mission statement including what you want to be, what you want to accomplish and what principles you want to guide you. Reread it regularly and add to it the skills, strengths and motivators.

Self-understanding happens over time. Sometimes it is a light bulb moment, but more often it happens over a period of time and with serious reflection it can be an invaluable investment in time and self-awareness.

Did you know that the top ten most wanted criteria in a job tend to be:

1. the type of work where you can use your skills and experience and feel that you have achieved something
2. a job that provides security and continuous employment
3. an organisation or company that has a good reputation and that one enjoys and feels proud to work for
4. having the opportunity to progress in your career, being able to have career advancement
5. working with people who are like-minded, amenable as well as competent
6. being paid a fair wage that meets your personal needs and is aligned appropriately with your colleagues
7. having a good manager or supervisor; someone who is considerate, competent and fair
8. working hours that give you a reasonable work/life balance and allow you time to enjoy your preferred lifestyle
9. enjoying benefits that meet your needs and are comparative to others in our situation
10. having a safe, comfortable and unstressed working conditions.

So self-awareness, exploration and research are key factors when you are job searching.

This is a short list of basic skills which are required in today’s job market. Ensure you mention them on your applications, on your CV or covering email/letter. You need to be able to demonstrate them and think of examples when you have achieved something significant.

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION – Being able to think through in advance what you want to say; having report writing skills; showing you can gather, analyse and arrange date in a logical sequence; avoid jargon and adopt your writing style for appropriate and different audiences and be able to briefly summarise your written content.

NEGOTIATING AND PERSUADING – Demonstrating you can develop a line of argument, using tact and diplomacy and handle objections to your discussion; make concessions to reach agreement and show that you can challenge points of views expressed by others; be able to emphasise the positive aspects of your point of view and understand the needs of the people you are dealing with.

VERBAL COMMUNICATION – Making effective use of speech, conduct, dress and body language; the ability to present to an audience [using visual aids, building rapport, getting your message across, etc]; accurately hearing what people say to you and being able to clarify and summarise what they are communicating without interrupting; being able to help others define their issues and having excellent telephone skills.

CO-OPERATING (TEAMWORK) – Understanding your strengths and weaknesses and how they contribute to a team; being able to contribute ideas effectively in a group and taking a share of the responsibility in a group; accepting and learning from constructive criticism and giving positive, constructive feedback to others; being assertive rather than passive or aggressive and concentrating on behaviour that could be improved.

INVESTIGATING AND ANALYSING – Being able to clarify the nature of a problem before deciding what action to take; being able to collect, collate, classify and summarise data and formulate questions; showing that you can gather information systematically and find where the required information is available; be able to use results effectively using text/graphs/tables/pictures; have impressive decision making skills; be able to formulate questions and condense information to produce notes.
LEADERSHIP – Being able to set objectives; organise and motivate others; take the initiative and persevere when things are not working out; being able to take a positive attitude to both frustration and failure; being flexible and prepared to adapt goals in the light of different situations; demonstrating you can accept responsibility for mistakes and wrong decisions.

PLANNING AND ORGANISING – Demonstrating that you can manage your time effectively and use action planning skills to prioritise tasks effectively; being able to set achievable and measurable objectives and identify steps needed to achieve goals; being able to use lists ad complete work to a deadline; having effective time management skills and be able to work effectively under pressure whilst managing stress.

NUMERACY – Being able to use simple statistics; calculate percentages; multiply and divide accurately; read and interpret graphs and tables; use a calculator and being able to manage a limited budget.

Competition is tough in a downturn, and for this recession it is not ending yet. So how do you maintain your morale and keep focused on getting that job. To be better than the competition you need to be proactive. Here’s some quick tips to help you on your way:

1. Be specific in your job search. Narrow the search and only apply for jobs you really want and/or are qualified to do. Don’t waste your time. Use it wisely to ensure that you prepare tailored applications for roles you are interested in.
2. Understand precisely what you want and what you can offer. Once you decide exactly what job you want you need to be very clear about what experience, skills and knowledge you can offer an employer. If you need to clarify this, do some simple analysis and draw up a couple of list including key words to help in the job search.
3. Be objective and set clear goals. Long-term goal may be finding the right job but short-term goals will help you develop and maintain your motivation. Hold yourself accountable. Examples might be improve your networking and join a new professional group; contact your alumni and seek out advice or look to attend an event.
4. Develop new strategies. Try a multifaceted approach. Don’t just job search on-line, develop relationships with recruitment agencies and use industry specific contacts.
5. Reappraise your skills. Whilst you are unemployed you have an ideal opportunity to gain more skills, and there are possibilities of funding. Consider carefully what skills would enhance your existing skill set and what skills are missing that would make it worthwhile enrolling on a training course or continuing education.
6. Research research research. If you find a suitable job vacancy and you are tempted to apply; do everything possible to stand out from the rest of the applications. Discover who is the decision maker, the hiring manager, the possible subordinates. Use LinkedIn for searching and make personal approaches to the right people. Include the organisation’s language and vision in your application.
7. Keep your professional edge and keep up to date. You need to be reading current trade publications, industry specific media and contributing to online blogs and forums. This will ensure that you have something to talk about with interviewers and that you are fully aware of new developments, changes in legislation or technology; all of which could be relevant to your job search success.
8. Build your online reputation. Use social media wisely, professionally and consistently. Having a LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook profile, populated with comments relating your field of expertise can position you as highly proficient. And recruiting managers are more than ever before likely to search your name online. Using social media effectively will bring up good results.
9. Have your own website. Write a blog, showcase your talent in different ways. Use wordpress or similar to build your credibility and professionalism. It can be a cost effective way of marketing.
10. Prepare prepare prepare. Keep practising for potential interviews and rehearse your answers. Use competency and behavioural examples. Remind yourself continually about your successes and achievements. Think about the situation, task you did, actions taken and the results and make the response fluent. You are the only person who can can sell yourself well. You must forget modesty and be prepared to shine.

Keep optimistic for as long as needed; looking after yourself and keeping focused will avoid the frustrations of the challenging job search. Join a career transition programme for support as maintaining a positive attitude will help you overcome and learn from any setbacks. It will be tough but it is achievable. Being proactive means you are increasing your chances of landing your ideal job.

Do you want to survive redundancy? Of course you do. And you will. It’s just that when it happens, yes, when you lose your job you often feel that it’s the end of life as you know it. It’s not surprising really as most job losses are not handled that well. Even if they are sensitively dealt with, it is not unusual at some point to feel traumatised.

The mix of emotions are hardly unsurprising. Your daily structure has just been shattered, so it is more than likely that you will experience amongst other things anger, dismay, rejections, self-doubt and disbelief.

In fact redundancy has been compared to losing a loved one.

As with bereavement, there is often a flow of emotions that we experience and for some the sequence is easier than others, and for others the emotions are more of a challenge. The pattern might be severe at first but ease after a while.

The stages and typical feelings are:

Primary – Initial Phase

• Numbness
• Denial
• Confusion
• Unreal optimism

So this is the time when you get the news, you might be in shock and you can’t believe it’s happening to you. When the truth hits home you might begin to feel confused, or perhaps even think that it’s a mistake and it is not happening to you. You might even think it is a temporary blip and that it is not worth signing on or claiming benefit.

Beware: this is the time that many people spend their payout on a holiday or property alterations.

Secondary – Intermediate Phase

• Worry
• Panic
• Anger
• Grief
• Unreal pessimism

This is the stage when negative feelings set in, fantasising about revenge, worrying about your personal responsibilities and financial status. Anxiety and despair may set in preventing you taking practical steps. If you felt a lack of emotion in the first stage, you might now be feeling overloaded with emotions.

You begin to worry about finding another job, you might have been unsuccessful in your first job applications so your self-confidence has taken a knock. You might even be avoiding your friends and acquaintances.

Beware: this is the time that social isolation can set in.

Tertiary – Settling Down Phase

• Acceptance / resignation
• Realistic optimism / hopelessness
• Purposefulness / defeat

Now, you know you are unemployed and you can accept this in two ways. With resigned acceptance or constructive resignation.

• Resigned acceptance

This is the negative continuation of the last two stages – and your morale dips further; you might be bored, isolated, bitter and your rejection continues. Your aspirations reduce and depression could set in. You have lost hope, our job search is sporadic, purposeless and without hope and expectation.

• Constructive acceptance

You are practical. You have come to terms with your situation, accepting the mix of emotions and your current position. You make realistic future plans and are able to look forward clearly and confidently. You become focused and energetic. You consider your future direction and take stock of your working life.

Depending on your personal coping strategies also depends on whether you are resigned or constructive at the acceptance stage. You will survive redundancy and finding a positive outlook is one way to retain your readiness for work.

There are a few things that help in making a constructive outcome:

1. Structure your daily routine
2. Build your confidence and self-esteem
3. Rebuild your security
4. Plan for the future

Contact us for more information on surviving redundancy and achieving a smooth career transition.

I am currently working as a career coach with Ki-work and we are in the process of developing a unique career transition support service for professionals.

Ki work currently has a network of over 50 career coaches throughout the UK and are contracted to the DWP providing job search support for professionals.

The career transition programme’s main target group is professionals that

- have been unemployed for 3 – 6 months or over;

- were earning over £40k per annum;

- could be looking for an alternative to full time or contract employment; and

- can afford the fees of £595 plus VAT.

The programme is for 12 weeks and includes

- 6 hours of one-to-one coaching

- 6 meetings with a group of five plus coach

- each meeting for 90 minutes once a fortnight

- a total of 15 hours of support

- web-based collaboration, marketing and research tools.

What might be of interest is that prior to the full launch, we are planning to run one or more programmes for FREE.

Would you be interested in participating in this first stage development?  Contact us now for more information

The best way to calm your nerves before an interview is to be well prepared.

ASSESSMENT4POTENTIAL has a guide to help you through the challenges.

We all get nervous, and feel fear and anxiety at the thought of interviews, and if it’s a really important job interview, then all the more reason to prepare.

Preparation includes research, reflection and presenting a good self-image.

Research – you need to know what the company does, who their customers are, where their market is and how the role you are applying for fits in

Reflection – think carefully about what questions you will be asked, how you will respond and what you will ask too

Presentation – you need to be confident, well groomed and well rehearsed

For a  complimentary download of our Job Interview tips e-mail lynn@assessment4potential.com. We’ll send you the pdf by return.

Good luck

Recently a client told me that his next job had to give him complete job satisfaction.  I challenged him, what does that mean to you I asked.  His response was interesting.

“I’m in a the best of jobs, in an excellent company and  I have great people to work with.”

So is that true for everyone?  Working for a great organisation, getting along with your colleagues and doing what you want to do, will it guarantee job satisfaction?

I would suggest that there are a few other pointers to consider:

1. You really have to understand yourself, your skills and what is and isn’t important to you. Make copious notes on what you really need and want from a job
2. Identify actual jobs that meet your requirements and match your interests
3. Consult a career professional – vitally important if you want to brainstorm ideas and get a reality check
4. Make sure you are satisfied at work. If you are not, depression and other emotions  can set in which affect not only your performance but your wellbeing.  Resolve issues as soon as possible
5. Understand how important  work and your career is to you. What is it about your job that makes it satisfying.  Check out your career values
6. Can you progress and do you want promotion? Is it possible to achieve this in your current role or do you need to look at other options
7. Are your expectations realistic?  Today’s job market is tight, employers may not have your best interests at heart when it comes to career development, so you have to look after yourself. If you are changing roles or direction you need to be proactive

It’s really important when you are job searching that you maintain morale and build your self-esteem as much as possible.

If you’ve been displaced it’s harder to keep a positive perspective whilst looking for work so here are a few tips for you:

• Think Positive – yes, affirmations can make a big difference and you could replace negative thoughts with positive self instructions to limit any negative thoughts and behaviour
• Deal with the Negatives – unfortunately there might be rejections and disappointments. Learn from the experience, question what you could do differently and how you would change your approach
• Understand Yourself - don’t listen to what others say about you, or let their ideas influence you.  Recognise your talent, your strengths and your potential.  *
• Use Your Nerves – think of the stress as positive, take deep breathes to control anxiety and work with the adrenalin to deliver your best. Nerves are normal
• Believe in Yourself and Stop Making Excuses – this is a challenging time for you but you have your own unique knowledge, experience and capability which will lead you to success

I recommend Cavendish Films DVDs, which are proven to make candidates at least FOUR times more successful at interview.

*Psychometric tests can give you an in depth understanding, ask me for more information

I recently wrote a blog at Birds on the Blog about how to use LinkedIn for job searching and reminded myself of how important it is as social networking site for professionals.  Not only are there jobs advertised but there are also numerous opportunities for positioning companies and individuals as experts.

It’s easy to contribute to the groups, post questions in the ‘Answers’ section and do online research about people, positions and companies.

The idea about building connections and developing a strong network is not new, but on LinkedIn it is fairly simple.  And through the network one can discover jobs, business opportunities or just new contacts.

As an employer, one can post vacancies whislt searching for suitable applicants and as a Jobseeker, one can discover who is hiring, read the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them. It’s also possible to save information about companies that are of interest.  The company information can be essential in preparation for job interviews and applications.

I thoroughly recommend LinkedIn and if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, sign-up for one now.  It’s never too late to expand your opportunities.