1. What makes you tick?

Understand what motivates you and use this to identify your dream job.

2. Action plan

Have a clear objective, and some stepping stones.  Make your career change come alive but committing the steps to paper and giving yourself some SMART goals.

3. Check your financial position

 If you are changing direction you might need funds for retraining, or you may want to take a reduced salary to get your dream job.  Being financially secure and having enough money to make the transition ensures a strong starting point.

4. Keep positive

Self confidence and self-belief are most important at this time.  Focus on what you want and how you achieve this, tackling obstacles as they appear.

In every successful job search and career change there are five critical areas:

A focused and realistic job and career objective

A clear objective based firmly on your strengths and supported by your experience.

A dynamic presentation

This objective must be communicated energetically, both in writing and in person, Your CV and your verbal presentation must be clearly focused and show you at your highest level of effectiveness.

A well-planned job search

A campaign based on your clear and growing understanding of how the job market functions which enables you to use your time most efficiently and is the key to the successful outcome of your job search

Building a contact network

Your job search should encompass building a contact network that is both supportive and challenging. Regardless of where you start, the people you meet and build relationships with are the most important factors in a job search.

Thoroughness and persistence

It takes a determined effort to write good letters, conduct productive meetings/ interviews and follow up opportunities. Your commitment to a planned campaign will pay off.

Good luck

There’s also the process to finalise. These are a few things to consider:

• Have you got an in-house design that you need to stick to? What will the content of the advert be?
• How will applicants respond? By application form, fax, telephone, in person at the organisation or agency, by letter, by email on the internet, by tape or braille?
• Who is to be responsible for sifting the applications? What is the selection process going to be?
• If interviews are to be held, when will they be and will everyone who needs to be involved be available?
• Are selection tests to be used? Is there the expertise to administer them and ensure they are non-discriminatory and appropriate?
• Are references/medicals to be requested?
• Are arrangements in hand to give prompt acknowledgement of applications received?

Now, the advertisement itself.  These need to be designed to catch and attract the right applicants.  If you are submitting to newspapers or professional journals, you can ask for guidance.

Remember to target the right audience, so tailor the advert appropriately. The advert should be clear and easily understood and must be non-discriminatory, avoiding any gender or culturally specific language.  It is a good idea to include your company’s statement of commitment to equal opportunities saying you welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Top tips:

• if your company is well-known, does it have a logo that could feature prominently in the advertisement? Make the advertisement consistent with the company image
• should the job title be the most prominent feature?
• keep the text short and simple while giving the main aspects of the job, pay, career prospects, location, contract length
• can specific details – such as pay, qualifications and experience required – be given in a way which will reduce the number of unsuitable applications?
• is it possible to avoid generalisations such as ‘attractive salary’, or ‘appropriate qualifications’ which may discourage valid applications?
• can you provide job details on tape or in braille and accept applications in a similar format?
• is the form of reply and the closing date for applications clear? Is there a contact name and phone number for further information and enquiries?

All advertisements should carry the same information, whether for internal or external use.

• Career, Aptitude & Selection Tests, J Barrett, Kogan Page
• How to Pass Graduate Recruitment Tests, M Byron, Kogan Page
• How to Pass Selection Tests, M Byron, S Modha, Kogan Page
• How to Succeed in Psychometric Tests, D Cohen, Sheldon Press
• How to Pass Civic Service Qualifying Tests, M Byron, Kogan Page
• How to Pass Verbal Reasoning Tests, H Tolley & S Thomas, Kogan Page
• How to Pass Computer Selection Tests, S Modha, Kogan Page
• How to Master Personality Questionnaires, M Parkinson, Kogan Page
• Test Your Own Aptitude, J Barratt, G Williams, Kogan Page
• How to Win at Aptitude Tests, P Pelshenke, Thorsons
• Interviews Made Easy, M Parkinson, Kogan Page

Lynn Tulip Chartered MCIPD, PgDip Guidance & Assessment
HR & Career Management Consultant
http://assessment4potential.tel/

It’s 2010 – a sigh of relief that we’ve got here.

2009 has been a challenging year for many of us, and despite the recession, lawmakers continue to update and later legislation which affects businesses employing people.

Why not try our quiz and check you’re fully up-to-date?

Questions

In memoriam

1.  What statutory rules affecting employment rights died in April 2009?

Births

2.  What new arrival joined the employment law world in April, the latest in a long and distinguished line?

3.  What new rules affecting those working with children and vulnerable adults came into force on 12^th October – but without their central database?

Honours

4.  Which bearded businessman was elevated to the House of Lords this year – and hired as enterprise car?

Paying the price

5.  Who hired an illegal housekeeper – and paid the penalty?

Moving on up

6.  What amount did a week’s pay for redundancy purposes increase to in October?

7.  What can employers in the restaurant and other service sectors no longer use towards paying the National Minimum Wage?

8.  What, since April, is 28 days or 5.6 weeks?

9.  Who, apart from parents of children under 5, disabled children under 18, and carers of people over 18, can since 6^th April request flexible working arrangements?

Nearly gone

10.  Can employers still lawfully require staff to retire at age 65?

Answers

1.  The Statutory Dispute Resolution procedures were abolished from 6^th April.

For more information, see NatWest’s news story: New rules on discipline and grievance handling now in force (April 2009)

2.  The new ACAS Code of Practice on discipline and grievance handling in the workplace came into force from 6^th April.

3.  The Vetting and Barring Scheme came into force on 12^th October.

4.  Lord (formerly Sir Alan) Sugar was hired by the Government as an “enterprise champion” and was given a seat in the House of Lords in June.  Read more: You’re Hired – Alan Sugar to advise government on business issues (June 2009)

5.  Baroness Scotland – the Attorney General – fell foul of the Home Office’s Civil Penalty Scheme for failing to check the immigration status of a person she hired as a housekeeper.  For more information: Attorney General fined for hiring illegal worker (Oct 2009)

6.  Statutory Redundancy Pay increased to £380 per week in October.  Check details: Redundancy Payments to increase (May 2009)

7.  Since 1^st October, employers can no longer use tips received by staff towards paying them the National Minimum Wage.  Read more: Tips will no longer count towards the National Minimum Wage (May 2009)

8.  Statutory minimum annual holiday entitlement increased to 28 days or 5.6 weeks from April 2009.  More info:  Annual Holiday Entitlement

9.  From April, parents of all children aged under 17 have the right to request flexible working arrangements from their employer.  Further info: The right to request flexible working

10.  Following a recent ruling in the Supreme Court, employers can continue to require employees to retire at age 65, provided they follow the correct procedure.  However, the ruling makes clear that changes to this rule may need to be made.  Read on: Retirement at 65 legal – for now (Oct 2009)

How did you score?

8-10 Well done!  You’ve pretty much kept up to date in a difficult year.  But make sure you look up the answers for the questions that floored you.

5-7 Not bad.  It’s understandable if some changes passed you by in this busy year.  But it is worth doing some homework on getting to grips with the changes you’ve missed.

Under 5 You’ve clearly been very busy “minding the shop” – but you have let some important developments in employment law pass you by.  You may be taking risks by not bringing yourself up to date.  Many of the changes this year are new minimum rights for staff, or things that mean you risk a financial penalty if you don’t comply with them.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Unpaid interns earn their rights (guardian.co.uk)
• HRTrain’s Top Ten Workplace Trends of the Decade (prweb.com)

The CIPD’s seasonal employment law quiz made me think!  How many employers fail when it comes to compliance and understanding their obligations?  I bet it’s a bigger number than you think.

Related articles by Zemanta

• HRTrain’s Top Ten Workplace Trends of the Decade (prweb.com)
• Your 21st century career will NOT be as an employee (flowingmotion.wordpress.com)

There’s a whole lot of expressions being used now to make sense of changing jobs, being out of work and looking for new opportunities.  Career management has never been more important as now in these recessional and challenging times.

If you find yourself in the situation of career transition then who do you turn to?  Can Job Centre Plus give you the answers and help you need?  Not necessarily.

Sometimes you might just need an independent unbiased person to talk to. Talking can lead to personal discovery; like understanding what your preferences are and where and with whom you want to work.  It’s not only your skills, knowledge and experience that need to be considered when you are searching for work.   Think about what you are interested in, the environment you want to work in, the values and motivations that are important to you too.  All are important if you want to enjoy and be fulfilled at work.

A professional career consultant has resources, expertise and knowledge that can help you get back on track and make sure that whatever gear you are in,  the career change is as smooth as possible.

Yes, there’ll be some HR, top tips and updates and there’ll be some career management strategies and guidance but I’ll also add some links and ideas as the weeks go on.

How to recruit the right people, what’s changing in Employment Law, how to manage a job search, all that and more.

Plus, networking and how an online presence is essential for both employer and employee.

A robust assessment centre draws out, assesses, compares and observes behaviours in action and examines the overall results together with all the other candidate information such as a self-assessed personal profile, structured interview and CV/application. By offering your candidates the opportunity to be assessed formally, you are not only gaining a deeper understanding of them but giving them the chance to really understand your business, the culture and the exact role requirements. You make sure that the candidates get a good insight into what it’s like working in your organisation and whether or not they have the ability to demonstrate that they have the skills you need for the role. With a variety of practical exercises, the candidates have more than one chance to show you their worth and capture the essence of what’s required.

More than 90% of employees who used assessment centres believe that they are a very [48%] effective means of recruiting staff to fill vacancies according to research by Employment Review. The survey of over 90 HR Practitioners also found that more than half believe the financial costs of the assessment centre are justified.

Psychometric testing, group exercises and role play may be components of the assessment centre in which the candidates participate individually or in a group.

The value of an effective and rigorous assessment centre is typically around £250 per candidate and, if this is compared to the potential cost of recruitment errors [which could be between £5,000 and £50,000 depending on the position and risk of business mistakes], it is certainly a worthwhile investment.

Interviews are still the one element that both employers and candidates expect, but they only have face validity and cannot be used to predict potential performance. ["A traditional interview has a reliability factor of between 5% and 19%" Source: British Psychological Society].

However, using a range of assessments it is possible to identify the behaviour, skills and capabilities of people before you invest in them.

There is a better than 95% correlation between the way participants behave in a series of experiential activities that have been matched to your competency and capability expectations and their behaviour in the workplace. Under pressure, interacting with a group of peers in differing activities, normal behaviour bubbles to the surface where it can be observed and objectively noted.

Assessment Centres are ideal for all kinds of recruitment where selection of the candidate that matches your competencies, capabilities and culture is important enough not to risk the trial and error approach. You can save resources, in time, money and energy on candidates that just make themselves look good on paper or have personality traits unsuited to the role. Combined with a logically structured interview, with an assessment centre you have the most powerful and proven recruitment technique available.

Scrupulous preparation of the assessment centre is essential to recognise present and possible future job requirements and competence. Feedback to all candidates and a development plan to the successful applicant are also recommended outcomes to ensure that you become an employer of choice.

The best predictor of future behaviour is past and present behaviour – so if you want to recruit effectively hold an Assessment Centre.