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Archive for the ‘Client Stories’ Category
Friday, August 27th, 2010
A recent enquiry asked me if two years out of his desired career path will mean that he will never get back to doing the job he wants.
It depends.
Like many, this person had been made redundant and after a few months of not getting as job in his desired field took on a different job, it took him time to get to grips with the job and a year had gone by before he started looking for a job back in his specific branch of HR. Since then he has applied for many jobs and has yet to get shortlisted.
He is now concerned.
So I asked him what he has been doing to get a job in his desired field.
· He is registered with agencies
· He is making applications online
And that’s it.
He is not doing anything about building contacts and finding out more.
Asking him to be honest he said that some weeks he is spending about 5 hours a week on job search, but some weeks he doesn’t do anything.
Some of this is down to motivation, and it can be hard to keep ourselves motivated without support. It’s similar to losing weight or getting fit, you could do it on your own, or you could go to a weight loss club or see a personal trainer, both would help. And so working with a career and job search coach can help.
I’m not sure if we will work together, but what I’ve suggested to him is that
- He gets his CV/ application approach reviewed and improved. I can see some significant enhancements to his CV and he could implement some of these himself using the advice in my book – How to get a job in a recession.
- He looks to enhance his CV by demonstrating that he is keeping up to date on his professional area, such as getting qualified, doing short courses, attending professional meetings, reading journals and writing reviews on Amazon of business books. The later will also enhance his online profile.
- He gets an online presence, starting with LinkedIn and my eBook How to use LinkedIn to find a new job will help.
- He increases the amount of time he spends on job hunting, and he could do this by getting up an hour earlier and doing an hour each evening, this would double the amount of time he is spending on job search.
- Finally he decides if he actually wants to return to his desired field. If he is comfortable where he is then he won’t have the impetus to really give as much as it takes to get a new job. He really has to want the new job. It would be easier (I don’t mean easy) if he really disliked the job he was doing or didn’t have a job. Then he has the pain to escape from, so now he has to concentrate on the pleasure he will get from being successful and to make sure that every day he is doing something that moves him slightly towards his goal.
Any thoughts, comments, questions? Do leave them below.
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Denise Taylor is a chartered psychologist, registered guidance practitioner, author and award winning career coach. I love my job, and love helping other people get their ideal job both helping them get clarity on what this is and also ensuring they are successful in job search. I haven’t always loved my job and like many people climbed a ladder and when I got close to the top realised it was the wrong one. Read more on my web site www.amazingpeople.co.uk . Any questions? email me Denise@amazingpeople.co.uk.
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Posted in Career Motivators, Client Stories, JOB SEARCH
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Monday, March 29th, 2010
Being an intern …
Prompted to write this after hearing back from one of my clients, let’s call him John. John wants to get into a very competitive field, working in film and TV ultimately as a producer/ director. It’s going to be tough and he knows this. There are so many people who want to do this sort of work that he has to look for ways to enhance his CV and that means working for free to begin with. Not ideal, but without some effective work experience he stands little no chance of getting the work he wants.
If you are seeking work as an intern there are sites which advertise opportunities, both paid and unpaid. These include Graduate Talent Pool and Wexo and these are both short and longer term assignments.
You will still find yourself in a competitive market place so you can still be even more proactive and identify companies that you would like to work for and approach them direct. That’s what John did. We’d already had a couple of sessions discussing what he wanted to do, and his options for getting there, revising his CV and creating a brilliant letter to send to companies. We then drew up a list of companies that he could approach, initially by letter and then in a fact finding (informational) interview.
I was delighted to hear that John had been successful in getting a 3 month internship with a film company – it’s a great length, time to get some significant work experience, and this should really enhance his chance of getting a paid job.
With an internship there’s a need to make sure that you get the best out of your experience. This includes discussing your objectives at the start, getting feedback on how you are doing. Making contacts and gathering testimonials. LinkedIn can be brilliant for this. Of course you have to be careful not to be too pushy, but you don’t want to look back on this in a few months time and realise that you didn’t make the best of your opportunity. It’s also worth gathering examples of what you have done which you can use as part of a personal portfolio when you start applying for paid work.
John is one of a number of people I’ve helped get great internships, and they aren’t just young graduates. Unpaid work experience can also be a brilliant way to segue into a new career when you realise you have lost your passion for your old job and must find something new.
Can I help? Don’t hesitate to get in touch
Posted in Client Stories, JOB SEARCH, STUDENTS AND GRADUATES
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Saturday, February 13th, 2010
I love helping clients to understand who they are and choose their ideal career, plus helping them to get there. Usually this is about finding something new, but occasionally people realise that the grass wasn’t greener and what they are passionate about is something that they have done in the past.
XXX says ‘ I am in the process of going through redundancy and therefore looking for a new job. However, I would LOVE to go back to what I did when I first started working – I was a civil and structural draftsperson and I was PASSIONATE about it. Is it possible for me to go from being a PA to doing what I love after 18 years?‘
Can she do it – yes she can, but she needs a plan. What I suggest is that she:
- Reviews the knowledge, skills and personal attributes needed for this role as of now, so she understands the current requirements of the job
- Measures how well she matches up and if there is a need for any refresher training
- Adapts her CV on the lines of a Functional CV where she pulls out relevant experience from all her different jobs. Her current job as a PA will have lots of transferable skills, but there may be a need to be creative to see how they fit with the job she wants
- Identifies people to have informal chats with, possibly with the firm she used to work with but otherwise using contacts (her own, plus from people she knows). She can then find out to what extent she would be a realistic candidate
- Completes a further review of her CV plus create a covering letter and starts contacting companies direct
- Consider doing some work shadowing/ unpaid work experience/ attend relevant conferences/training to enhance her CV if necessary
- Continually monitors progress and keeps heading towards her goal, if what she is doing isn’t working, look to make further changes
Posted in Client Stories, JOB SEARCH
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Monday, May 11th, 2009
One of my clients called – she has been in a new job for 6 weeks and the long hours she was expecting are even longer. Turns out she is working through her lunch every day and the 46 hours she is contracted to work is now 50+ and she isn’t particularly well paid.
So what does she do?
Like many she is concerned that she might lose her job if she asks for what she wants, but she can’t carry on like this – she has no time for a life and we can see how over the next few months it could seriously damage her health.
She is good at what she does, and exceeding her targets, and her boss is happy with her so this puts her in a stronger negotiating position.
We’ve talked about options and strategies and she is going to see her boss and treat it like a negotiation. Being clear on what she wants and what she will settle for. It is much easier to get what you want if you know the outcome that you want. You may decide to settle for a little less but you know what will and not be acceptable.
If you find yourself in a similar situation and want to talk it through get in touch.
Posted in Client Stories
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Monday, April 27th, 2009
If you are thinking of working with a careers coach you will obviously want to make sure that you have made the right choice.
My approach is to ask people to send me some details about their situation by email. This means that I can reflect on what you have to say and make some comments on how I see the persons situation. I like this, it means that a person can take time to tell their story and the purpose of reflection can help them to gain clarification, and I can also reflect on what I think will be the best sort of help.
I’ll sometimes exchange a few emails before we talk – that means that our conversation is much more focused and is much more on the specifics of how we can work and me being able to answer any outstanding questions.
Other coaches take different approaches and many offer a complimentary one hour session. This is generally undertaken by coaches who want to sign people up for the 3 sessions a month means of working with a client.
I don’t take that approach, as many of my clients only take one or two sessions. The last thing I want to do is to seek dependency with my clients.
I’m also busy – I’m booked up at least a week and it can be almost a couple of weeks in advance and so an enquirer would need to wait for an introductory chat. The approach I take means that I can reply in short breaks between appointments or outside of normal working hours and it is much easier to fit in a 15-20 minute appointment.
I’ve been prompted to write this as I’ve exchanged a few emails with a potential client and she has told me that I’ve demonstrated more empathy with her situation and already come up with some suggested ways of working that demonstrates I know what will work for her, whereas by the end of a free hour with another coach she still felt that he hadn’t got it.
Interested in working with me – tell me your story and let’s see how we could work together.
Posted in Career Advice, Client Stories
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Monday, December 15th, 2008
I am delighted that another one my clients has got a job.
Linda was being made redundant and her company paid for her to have some one to one outplacement support from me.
We did everything I do with my job search clients, got very clear on her strengths, and the sort of job to apply for. Reworked her CV and taught her how to write a covering letter. Then coached her in how to interview.
She wasn’t shortlisted for the first two roles she applied for so I helped maintain her motivation.
She got through the first interview and the second and today got the job offer!
She’s excited and I am too! Well done Linda
Posted in Client Stories, JOB SEARCH
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Thursday, 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.
Posted in CVs, Client Stories, JOB SEARCH
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
I worked with a client the other day – he had rushed into making a decision last year, had left his job to start a masters degree and now half way through was questioning whether he should continue or do something else.
It is so easy to make a decision but not to have fully thought through options. It might have been better to have considered all options earlier, but he is not atypical, often people only think things through thoroughly after they have made a decision
So how have I helped?
The process I’ve used could also be helpful for anyone who isn’t sure what to do
1. Write down your options
2. List the positives against each option
3. List the negatives against each option
Sometimes it can be hard to think broader about options so then it can be helpful to talk with people and to get more ideas and suggestions.
For this particular client, before withdrawing from the course a lot of things should be considered – how will this look on their CV, are they clear why they want to move to something else and really think deeply about the reasons for the move.
Posted in Career Advice, Client Stories
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Tuesday, August 5th, 2008
I’ve started working with a couple of people in their mid 50s recently. Both were unhappy at work for different reasons – one would probably have stayed feeling miserable at work, but the slump in the building industry has led to them being made redundant, although with only minimal redundancy payments. The other person has realised that this could be their last chance for a happy career – with 10-15 years left to retirement.
When I work with people in mid life and beyond I’m careful to let them know that alongside helping them to understand who they are, their strengths, natural talents, and a better understanding of what will be a great job for them, there is always the danger that they may become even more dissatisfied.
That’s because we can work together, either through my Gold Career Programme, one of the alternatives or via one to one sessions and identify the perfect career in theory, but will it work in practice – it could mean several years of training, or having to take a substantial drop in salary.
It doesn’t have to be so, so we take a realistic approach, thinking about what is important – salary, working environment, stress and pressure, levels of satisfaction and more.
Today I worked with Roger – whilst some of the jobs we identified could have resulted in a high level of retraining there were other areas that connected better with past experience, or he had sufficient experience to be come a credible candidate.
It’s always worth taking the time to consider the future and for some people they decide to stay put, a couple of years ago I worked with a Manufacturing Director who, after working with me decided to stay in his job – yes, it wasn’t making him happy but he was earning a substantial salary, with an indexed linked pension and he put into place a way of working shorter hours and creating a better social life, thus improving his quality of life.
If you are 50+ and think it’s too late, why not get in touch to see what might work for you?
Posted in CAREER MANAGEMENT, Client Stories
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Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
It must be that time of year but i’ve bene having quite a few enquiries from new mums and expectant mums.
Having a child can be the impetus we need to make a change of career as there are already changes in life style.
What I suggest to be expectant clients is that although tthey have a long time on maternity leave to consider their career future, once the baby is born the amount of spare time they have will be limited.
I’ve just started working with a couple of pregnant ladies, one with their baby due in november, the other in December - they will both be following the Gold Career Programme.
Where they both want to get to is to have reached the career exploration phase for when they go on maternity leave, this means they can then take a more leisurely approach to explore further.
Posted in CAREER MANAGEMENT, Client Stories
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