Great news, three of my clients have got job offers and all got the letter in the past couple of days.
So much is written about the lack of jobs and how difficult it is to be successful but good news does happen. My clients were clear on what they wanted, had great CVs, and interviewed well.
But will they take the jobs?
As they have only applied for jobs they want you may think this is an easy choice, of course they will. But they still need to be sure.
David has an offer which will involve a move of home. He’s renting, doesn’t have family commitments but it will still mean the hassle of finding somewhere new to live and making new friends. On the up side the job will look great on his CV and will get him (maybe) out of a bit of a rut, he’d been with his last company for 8 years in the same job.
Simon is in his ideal profession, marketing and this new job is a better job with great prospects. But he is a bit concerned over how to make a good first impression and there is a little voice in his head that tells him that he may not be successful. He too has worked with his current company for many years and although he was looking for a change, now it’s about to happen he is a little hesitant.
Trevor had been looking to move into consultancy, it matched his abilities, personality, values and more. All identified through The Gold Programme, and we had created a plan for him to move to an interim strategic role alongside his MBA studies to position him for the job he wants. He’s just got a job offer to do just this, and they want him to sign the contract ASAP but he’s now found a job which is exactly what he wants and he intends to apply but will he then lose out on the job offer?
Talk to a career coach
For David, Simon and Trevor, setting up a session with me will help ensure they are happy with their decision. If they then decide to take the job we can work out how to be effective in their new job. This is not to make lots of changes but to take some time to find out what is going on, build relationships and then suggest changes later.
I covered this in an article for Changing Careers magazine which you can access here on pages 8/9.
Getting on well with colleagues is important but more so is the relationship with the new boss. Too many times people fail to identify their bosses key criteria for judging them as successful in their job, so it’s important to set up a meeting early on.
The work I’ll be doing with David, Simon and Trevor will be personalised to them.
So what can you do?
Some of my previous clients have worried whether or not they can live up to the demands of the job. Others have wondered whether their management style will be effective. For a first senior role it can be a concern over how to make a strategic impact.
Coaching in the period from getting the job offer to about 3 months into the job can include
- The transition to the new role including a review of personal strengths and development areas. Just because they were successful at the interview my clients may be aware of areas of development, and we will often review assessment reports to look for possible blind spots and other areas to address.
- Defining what success in this new job means to you. And also to consider this from their managers perspective, we want this to be congruent. We need to work out how to establish early successes and effective working techniques,
- The inner confidence needed to believe that you will be successful. If someone goes into a new job expecting to fail, guess what’s likely to happen? I help my client remind themselves of when they were successful before so they can draw on this again, plus we look for further ways to help.
- How to quickly assimilate to a different organisational culture. Organisations vary greatly and we can look at different cultures and how to fit in to this new organisation which my be very different to their current/previous company.
- There’s a need to work effectively with colleagues, superiors and staff. Reviewing personality questionnaire results can identify if there may be a need to adapt natural preferences, particularly in these early days.
- Finally there may be a need to work with a direct report who went for the job and lost out to you. It can be difficult but it doesn’t have to be.
I help people decide what to do, be successful at job search and then be effective in their new job. Don’t hesitate to get in touch to discuss how I can help you.
Denise Taylor is a double award winning career coach and Chartered Psychologist with Amazing People, established in 1998. When you are unsure of your career future, need help with job search or seek to improve your presence in an online world, Denise can help. Denise is the author of 7 books including How To Get A Job In A Recession, Now You’ve Been Shortlisted and Fat to Fantastic
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