How safe is your job? Denise on ITV1

November 18th, 2008

Denise was a guest expert on The Tonight Programme - ITV1 at 8pm on Monday 17th November.

For the next 30 days the programme is accessible from the ITV web site.

http://www.itv.com/News/tonight/episodes/Howsafeisyourjob/default.html

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About Denise ….

December 3rd, 2008

I’ve got a new personal web site, so if you want to know about the non work me, read on…

www.denisetaylor.co.uk

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How long will you work towards your dream

December 1st, 2008

Listening to the radio yesterday I heard about an amateur jockey who has finally won a race, after 28 years.

How long would you chase your goal?

He has won his life time ambition and is now going to give up horse racing. Read more

So many people give up on a dream or to be successful in the ideal job after just a few rejections. It takes strength of character and determination to carry on.

Reminds me of the motivational stores of Walt Disney and coloel saunders (of KFC fame) well over a hundred times they were turned down, but they continued and eventaually were successful.

So what is your dream annd hoew uch time are you prepared to spend on getting there?

 

 

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Students and gap years

November 30th, 2008

It’s the time of year when students are completing UCAS forms and deciding which university to go to and what to study.

Some are thinking about whether to go for a gap year or not and indeed some university students are considering whether to go on a gap year after graduating.

I’ve recently read that careers advisors at Welsh universities have reported a decline of more than 30% in the number of students taking a conventional gap year, concentrating more on studies and trying to get a graduate level job.

I can certainly appreciate this, particularly when the average student in leaving with debts of around £24,000. 

But what do you do when you can’t get a graduate job, like Paul who I recently worked with on ITV1 - The Tonight Programme you can try and try but sometimes you have to lower your sights and look for a more entry level job, or you can decide to get out of the country and work abroad, perhaps looking for a job in Australia.

Are you a student, or have a student in your family? Are you rethinking what you are going to do? Please do let us know.

 

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What the job searcher can learn from Woolies going into administration

November 27th, 2008

 With Woolworths going into administration it is a difficult time for their staff, wondering for how long they will have a job. If a buyer is found they are highly likely to close some stores.

But Woolworths have looked in difficulty for a while. With so much competition, how did Woolies respond - by increasing their product lines and so selling lots of different things but not enough of anything? 

So you could buy DVDs and CDs but their line wasn’t as comprehensive as in HMV.

So many other products, like children’s clothes could be bought cheaper in the major supermarkets.

Then they diversified into selling mobile phones, a highly competitive market and I wouldn’t have though they had a big enough market share to buy as cheap as the major phone companies.

So how does this help you, the job searcher?

Have a good look at your CV. Are you a bit like Woolies, showing how much you can do but not enough depth on anything?

I’m working with a client at the moment who has a background in catering management, retrained to become a legal executive and is now, following redundancy, looking for a new career.  Her CV was a combination of the catering and legal work, and neither really focused on the new area she wants to move into.

So we are now focusing all her work experience onto the new career path, and emphasising the education that supports this, and deemphasising her hotel and catering qualifications. It’s not just about discounting this though.  Her HND covered a lot of business topics, so we’ve listed them.  All is looking so much better.

So you may be thinking of a number of different jobs to apply for, but do make sure that each application is clearly focused on one specific job.

Want some help? Do get in touch.

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Why you might need a career coach

November 24th, 2008

I’ve just started work with a new client, let’s call her Jessica. Her reason for choosing to work with me is that she can’t see a long term future in the work that she is doing. Yes, her bosses think very highly of her and they have a plan for her career development but it’s not what Jessica wants.

Jessica has never really thought about what she wanted to do, and ended up on a path, because one job leads to the next.

So many people want to make sense of their career future, but need help in doing it. I’ll be helping Jessica to understand much more about who she is, and as she is going to follow the Gold Programme we’ll be covering the highlands ability battery, myers briggs type indicator, and strong interest inventory, values exercise, ideas bank and more she will have a great understanding of who she is and together we will draw together a list of jobs for her to explore.

I ask my clients to complete quite a comprehensive personal information form and this gives clients a chance to reflect on a number of questions so its been great to read this through before our first discussion.

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If you lose your job - advice from the career coach

November 23rd, 2008

You hope it won’t happen to you, but how can you best deal with the situation if you find your job being made redundant. Award winning career coach Denise Taylor shares some sound thinking.

1: Recognise it will be an emotional time for many

Loss of a job is up there, along with divorce or the loss of a spouse or close relative, so expect to have feelings of disappointment and loss.

You are highly likely to feel sad so take the time to express those feelings – it could be sadness, shock, disappointment, shame, resentment, and anger. Look for ways to let those feelings out or they will fester inside of you. Exercise can often be a good option to take, so go to the gym or out for a brisk walk. You could even considering kicking a cardboard box to release those negative feelings.

2: Don’t take it personally

Redundancy is more likely to be due to budget cuts and a lack of business rather than poor performance.

3: Think about what you want to do in the short and medium term

You need to review your CV and think about what jobs are likely to become available. In the current economic climate, no matter how great you are as an estate agent or banker, if there aren’t the jobs available what are you going to do?

For many who didn’t get a lot of job satisfaction out of their job, this can be seen as an opportunity, perhaps not initially, but in time.  

4: Think about how you will spend your day

Read more

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With a possibility of job losses, what can you do to keep yourself safe?

November 21st, 2008

No one is secure in their jobs any more. We never know what might happen so here are a few tips to ensure you are marketable:

1.    Make sure that you do a good job so if some staff are let go they are more likely to keep you.

 

2.    Be visible: It is not just doing a good job but letting other people know you are doing a good job, so don’t hide your achievements away.

 

3.    Be indispensible. Be willing to volunteer for those jobs that others don’t want to do and be flexible in helping out. Create great relationships with your customers, really understand the computer system. Your boss will not want to let you go.

 

4.    Make or save the company money. Look for what you can do to help the company bottom line. Can you save them money? Simplify processes? Negotiate a better deal with suppliers?

 

5.    Have a positive attitude. When just some people are being made redundant, companies will often use this as an excuse to lay off the “difficult ones.”

 

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It’s harder to get a job, so you have to have a really effective CV and covering letter

November 20th, 2008

 It’s getting harder to get a job, but there are still jobs available, you need to do everything possible to make yourself stand out from the rest.

That means that your CV, covering letter and every way you make contact with your potential new employer is as good as it can be. 

But some people send off their applications even though they know they could be better. I had an email today from someone who said

“I know my CV isn’t the most desirable as I have a mixture of short term roles.  I also think I let myself down on the cover letter”

It’s all about how you position your CV and letter. Short term jobs are not necessarily a problem, but it does depend what you have done and how you describe this.

A covering letter should be focused on the job being applied for but too many ramble and bear no relationship to the job being applied for.

It’s such a waste of time to let an application go forward when you know it could be better. That’s why people will work with me as they know I can help them to present themselves well, and to create a great impression at interview.

I can never comment without actually looking at a clients CV, letter and the relevant job ad, but the money spent on an hour or two working with me can prove very helpful.

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How safe is your job?

November 19th, 2008

I was on City Talk Radio this morning, talking about how the recession can have a personal impact on people. I talked on two areas.  What to do if you lose your job, and also the sorts of things you can do to keep your job, to help ensure you aren”t the first one to be made redundant.

These are available for download on the City Talk web site:

http://www.citytalk.fm/Article.asp?id=552594

and you can download them from here:

How to keep your job | If you lose your job

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