New skills academy by evelina angelova

ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CAREER INTERVENTION

Your one resource to take you through the steps of considering your career option & turning your ideas into reality Courtesy of

ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CAREER INTERVENTION

Your one resource to take you through the steps of considering your career option & turning your ideas into reality Courtesy of Be-a.co.uk & New Skills Academy

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Ultimate Guide to Career Intervention

Index

Introduction

Why Career Intervention May Be Required

Lack of Employment Opportunities

Working Unsociable Hours

Lacking Job Satisfaction

Matching Your Career to Your Personality Type

Should You Change Careers or Improve Your Qualifications?

Are There New Jobs You Could Do Faster Than Changing Careers?

How Long Will It Take to Further Your Education?

Costs Involved in Further Education Vs Your Expected Salary

Identify Your “Transferable Skills”

Brainstorming the Job Boards to Compare Supply Vs Demand

Using Social Media to Help You Into a New Career

A Top 10 List of in Demand and Safe Careers

Constructing the Perfect CV

Using Power Words to Boost Your CV

Crafting Your Covering Letter

Prepping for Your Interview

Dress to Impress Without Going Overboard

Relaxing Your Tone for Professionalism During Your Interview

Mastering Your Breathing

Keeping Calm and Controlling Your Body Language

How to Approach the Salary Topic

The Power of the Pause!

Further Resources for Your Career

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever heard the saying “Life begins at 40”? That’s true to a certain extent, but realistically, life begins when you decide it’s time for a change. The age of 40 is used in that saying for a reason. When people turn 40, they’re pretty much at the halfway point in life. They start to evaluate the things that have happened in the past, and put things into perspective for the future. Do you want the rest of your life to be the same as before, or are you looking to raise the bar? Successful businesses have been created at this turning point in life. Asking the questions that identify where your true passions are. Finding something you can get real job satisfaction out of. When you start to consider career questions, and evaluate what you really want to get out of life, you may have reached that turning point in your life. Striving to reach a point when you don’t go to bed at night dreading going to work when you wake up. There’s no joy there. That’s not living. Let’s take a moment to consider where time goes. The typical working day is 8 hours long. Then there’s travel time to add to that. A 9 – 5 job will see you leaving home approximately an hour before you start work, so the working day goes from 9am to 5pm to being 8am to 6pm. People are supposed to have 8 hours sleep each night. If you’re up at 7am, to leave at 8am, arriving at work for a 9am start, then returning at 6pm, to get 8 hours sleep... you have from 6pm to 11pm to enjoy something. What can you realistically do in 5 hours?

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Make the dinner

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Maybe watch a couple of soaps on TV

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Get the housework done

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Read a couple of chapters in a book

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Take the dog for a walk

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Then head to bed, ready for the same routine the next morning!

The thing with being in the wrong career is that it is mentally draining. Not just for yourself, but it will affect everyone around you. If you’re not happy in your job, it usually shines through when you come home. On a working day, people return home physically and emotionally exhausted. The word “fun” has no place in their lives. It doesn’t have to stay like that forever though, and this is what this report is here to help you with. It will take you through the steps that will lead you into the right career path that you will enjoy. You know those romantic movies, when the couple are successful business people, coming home from work, saying “hey honey, how was your day at the office? Oh, oh... you know what happened today... this is so funny...” You too can have that sort of happiness in your home, and the key to releasing your full potential lies within the choice of career you make. A job is a job. Nothing more. A career however is a roller coaster ride. You have ups, downs and loop-the-loops to go around. You can’t experience the thrills of a roller coaster by just watching it ride the tracks. You have to be on board, riding the rails to experience all the thrills and the nerve-wracking moments, before you take that plunge.

The problem most people face is the lack of inspiration and knowledge of themselves. •

Do you know what drives you in life?

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Do you understand your strengths and weaknesses?

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Do you know the transferable skills you have?

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Do you know who you are?

That’s the key to finding the career path that’s right for you. You need to know you. If you don’t know yourself, you’ll struggle to find true job satisfaction. Jobs are more than bringing home pay. When you do a job that you’re thrilled to do, you begin to realise things about yourself. You’re giving something back to help society. That goes in every career. If you’re a cleaner, you’re not just a cleaner. You contribute to people’s health every day and that’s something to be proud of. So many people put themselves down by saying things like “I’m just a _____”. Remove the “just a” from your mind and replace that with “I am a _____”. That last blank is anything you want to become in life. A scientist, a global investor, or perhaps a medical secretary. You can become anything you want to be. We all have the power to shape our own futures. That power comes from decision making. Once you make the decision to change your career into something you truly want it to become, then it’s only a matter of putting the steps in place to help you reach your personal career goals. That’s what you’re about to take a journey through. Getting in touch with yourself, understanding what drives you, and ensuring that your next career choice is one that will offer you job satisfaction.

Why Career Intervention May Be Required

Introduction

Before jumping right ahead into changing your career, there’s an important issue that needs to be raised: the question of whether or not a career intervention is necessary. Let’s cover some of the reasons why you may want to change careers. •

You feel you’ve been in the same job for too long and are stuck in your current position

If this statement resonates with you, then seriously consider the organisation you’re working for. It may be that the company doesn’t have the capacity to drive your career forward. In this sort of situation, where you get stuck, bored and lack a challenge, it might be that a company change may be the better option, rather than a complete career change. A change of career is more difficult than a change of company. •

You’ve lost interest in your line of work

It happens to the best of us. What we once saw as a joy to be doing for a living becomes tediously repetitive, and there’s no motivation or desire to do anything in the industry you’re working in. Manufacturing, for example, is quite prone to this problem. Starting out, you’re amazed at how creative you are, when you play a vital role in the process of making something from nothing. Then machines come in and you begin to think that all you’re going to be doing is operating a machine for the rest of your career. An interest in your work is needed to feel any satisfaction. If this statement resonates with you, then a career change is your best option. •

Do you feel undervalued in your current position?

People have this underlying burning desire to feel valued. Without it, working is demoralising. The more responsibility a person has, the more important they feel. It raises self-confidence and motivates you to push yourself to the boundaries.

Feeling valued is needed in your career. The more valuable you feel within your job, the more value you provide. In this instance, if you are considering a career change for valuation purposes, then you should consider if it’s the company you’re working with, or an industry wide issue. An industry wide issue is one typically seen in companies with high staff turnover.

Some call centres and fast food chains can be examples of where there’s a high staff turnover. When there’s on the job training provided and the positions can be filled with anyone. A lot of jobs are like that, but it’s the way the employers treat their staff that creates the valuation issue. If there are no prospects for career advancement, it’s viewed as a dead end job, decreasing moral, and increasing the amount of people walking out of the door in pursuit of a more rewarding career choice. If you are feeling undervalued, then consider your transferable skills, and whether not your employer is able to meet your needs in terms of valuation. If they’re not able to meet your needs, are there other companies offering the same service who will provide you with the opportunity to progress, or is the industry itself tainted? You will need to do a bit of research into the industry and other companies to establish if it’s your employer or a problem in the industry in general. If it is your employer, try approaching a different company; and if it’s a common trait in the industry, then it’s time for some career intervention.

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Colleagues

This is probably among the top reasons for people switching jobs. Not getting on with their coworkers. Spending most of your day around people you don’t get along with makes for a long day. Most jobs require teamwork, and when a team gets along, it’s fun. Laughter, some jokes, and some helping hands go a long way in terms of productivity. A lack of fun and enjoyment does more than lose a smile. It loses motivation and you end up clock-watching the shift away. This is something you should give some serious thought to before jumping in and changing careers: your own ability to work with people. You have to consider how you view others. Sort of like gauging your own personality. If you view people in suits as not to be trusted, and only interested in business and making money, and you aren’t able to see the person behind the suit, then a career as a paralegal isn’t going to be very satisfying. You’ll have a cynical, negative view of your boss, hot on the pursuit of their next victim’s wallet. Similar types of work could be done on the shop floor, where you’re working with the general public, meeting different people every day, but not having to spend the entire day working with the same person. Then there are other people who could perhaps suffer from social anxiety issues. That’s going to really affect the ability to build relationships in the workplace. In this type of situation, if you feel awkward around people, then a career change would be advisable, but with careful consideration on the new working environment you’d have. Changing careers into becoming a web-designer, writer, consultant or some kind of job you can do from home, or in a quiet office, where interaction isn’t a major part of your working day, could be the best career choice for you. That’s something you should consider about yourself, prior to deciding on a career you’d like to do. You need to know that you’d be comfortable working in your new position. Without knowing that, you could find yourself in the same predicament as you are now. Once you know the problems you’re experiencing in your current line of work, you’ll be better equipped to know the type of career you’d be suited to. The start of a career change is to establish if it really is the career that’s a problem for you, or if it’s the company employing you that’s the issue.

Lack of Employment Opportunities

Introduction

Prior to changing careers, there’s often the issue of the availability of alternative jobs. If you can’t find a job in your line of work, then it only makes sense that you’d change to a career where there are employment opportunities. This is an issue for those who are trained to work in one career path, who find themselves in the long-term unemployed status. That’s when you’re out of work for more than 6 months. A good rule of thumb to gauge the employment opportunities is to look at the temporary job board websites. Don’t just search your geographic region. Look at the busy areas, such as London and the surrounding areas. Expand your job search to a nationwide one. That will give you an insight into the demand there is for your current career. It could be that your geographic location that doesn’t have the jobs that you’re suited to, in which case, you’d need to consider what jobs are available in your region. You will need to analyse the businesses around your area, and consider the services you could offer to support local business. Let’s use an example to demonstrate how effective it is to look at the employability factor for your career. Suppose your current trade is working as a welder, and you’re looking for welder jobs. On a nationwide scale, you could find that there are very few positions available, even on a short-term contract. You could expand into different fields, such as pipe-fitting, to find there are even fewer vacancies. The future starts to look bleak when there are very few jobs on the horizon. To become a welder can take years of training through an apprenticeship program. The reason welders do the training is because they like the nature of the work. Working with complex designs, fabricating metals and supporting the construction industry with their architectural abilities. With that in mind, there would be other career options that would offer the same sort of benefits in terms of job satisfaction. Instead of welding, it could be that some further training into becoming a plumber could be something more suited. That could see a welder transferring their technical abilities into the plumbing field. In this sort of scenario, you’d identify your trade opportunities using online job boards. When you see that there are few job opportunities throughout the UK, then you’ll know it’s not yourself

who is struggling to find the work, but rather there aren’t any employment opportunities for your trade. There are many careers that used to be high in demand, and over the years, they’ve just diminished. New technology comes onto the horizon and the jobs start to disappear. What you have to do is to try to predict the future. Ensure that when you identify your current line of work has a lack of opportunities, you don’t further your training into a new career path with the same problem. You can use the job boards, local papers, and current businesses around you to decipher where there is a need, and a continuous demand for the services you’ll be offering after you switch your career. Taking that career example of a welder further, it would be pretty pointless for a welder struggling to find work to go on and train in CAD CAM, to become an engineer and assist the designs of projects, if there aren’t any jobs for CAD CAM engineers near you. You need to consider the overall employment factor in your career choice if you’re changing career, due to a lack of employment opportunities.

Working Unsociable Hours

Introduction

In some careers, there’s often an unsociable hours element involved. When you start out, free, single and happy-go-lucky, the hours aren’t a problem. As you progress in life, you can find yourself settling down in a steady relationship, then starting your family. Suddenly, what never used to be a problem becomes an absolute nightmare, juggling family commitments with shift-work. It’s not just when your own family comes along though. Some health concerns can occur that affects your ability to work shift patterns. When working shifts, some people develop sleep problems, which affects their ability to work. Things change in life, and this can be a factor for people needing to switch careers.

When you find yourself struggling with shift rotations, you have two options available to you. Either discuss things with your employer, to seek a constant shift, without rotation. When that’s not possible, the only other alternative you have is to switch your career into one that doesn’t involve shift work. Consider the hours that you would prefer to work before switching careers. Not everyone is an early morning type of person, and there are some people who prefer to work the night-shift. If you find that you’re more of a night owl, then consider the jobs you can do during the night. That could be security work, bar work or doing something within the manufacturing industry. There are also going to be some people who feel they neither want to work early mornings, or through the night. In this type of situation, then you could look at call centre work, either salesorientated or customer services. The call centre industry has regulations on when they can call people, so that places your hours between being too early and too late. You can have shifts that start at noon, working through until 8pm. Those hours can suit some people, whereas for others they’re too unsociable as there’s not much time in the day to do anything else. Those sorts of hours can lead to people looking to change their career, so they can have more time in the day to do the things they enjoy. The hours you’ll be required to work in your chosen career will be a key factor to consider before switching to a different line of work. This again requires you to think about yourself: identifying what hours you’d be happy to work. When you know whether you’re happy to work shifts, or need steady hours, you’ll be able to narrow down your choice of career into one that suits your personality.

Lacking Job Satisfaction

Introduction

This is going to be a tough thing to recognise in yourself. You will need to think about what would give you satisfaction in a job you enjoy doing. If it’s not the company you work for, not recognising your true potential and not contributing to your career in terms of supporting further training towards promotion, then what is holding you back? The ability to progress in your career is as much your responsibility as it is your employer’s. When there are qualifications required for certain positions, then you can take distance-learning courses online, or participate in evening classes, to gain any necessary qualifications to progress your career. Any further training should always be updated with the company you’re working for. The more your employer knows about your abilities, the better they can allocate jobs to you that meet your criteria, and probably give you more job satisfaction. Many a person makes the mistake of thinking that if they want to switch careers, they need to find a new job. You’d actually be surprised at how rewarding employers find it when staff continue training, gaining qualifications, and letting them know. It goes a long way in assisting companies to put the right staff in the right jobs, and contributes to lowering the cost of recruitment. If you’ve studied towards a business and administration certificate, then updated your details with the company, your employer will be more inclined to offer you a suitable new position or promotion, prior to advertising the vacancy for new staff. You’ll have demonstrated to your employers that you are focused on progression, and that also makes them aware that they’ve a responsibility to help you help them. It’s a collaboration between both parties, rather than you always giving and getting nothing back. However, if you have been studying, and keeping your employers notified, and find that there are vacancies being filled externally, then you’d need to think about moving companies, to somewhere that will recognise your qualities. You can do that with the qualifications you’ve studied towards. When you don’t want to move company, but want to change your job? There are those who find that they actually enjoy the work they do, but to continue their career and progress, it would require switching companies.

Leaving a job that you’ve been in for a while is a bit of a shock to the system. Some people describe it as similar to a breakup. The reason for the breakup scenario is that people can spend over a decade in a job, with nothing more than hopes of promotion, yet they love the people they work with. The longer you spend with a company, the more friendships you develop. When you leave a job, you’re leaving behind the workforce that you’re used to working with. Starting over working with new people, all over again. For those who find that they’d like to stay in the same company, but require more responsibility to have a higher degree of job satisfaction, then you need to work with your employer. The only way to progress within an organisation is by demonstrating your desire to progress. You do that by establishing the role you’d like to work in. •

Do you want to supervise?

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Maybe manage the organisation?

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Is there scope for international work?

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Do you want to do something entirely different, that the company could help you with?

Answer these questions and you’ll have an idea if you can progress in the company, or if you need to start your career all over again with training to become whatever you want to be. Note though that there are other careers you can do internally, with the assistance of your employer. Take a manufacturing company as an example. There will be labourers on the shop floor, who can progress to team leaders, supervisors or factory managers. There will also be engineering positions to maintain the equipment. Additional departments could have accounts, payroll clerks, and operational managers. If you can work with your current employer, to find out if there is opportunity for you to change your career within the company, it will make things much smoother to transition from one career to the other. When that option isn’t there for you though, you will need to identify what you would like to do and then use any transferable skills you have to make that transition independently and enter a career that will give you job satisfaction.

Matching Your Career to Your Personality Type

Introduction

Your personality reflects a huge part of you being happy in the work you do. It’s an area not everyone pays attention to when they first consider the career they’d like get involved in. It’s only after you’ve trained, and gained the essential qualifications, that you can find you don’t actually like your work environment. Before you decide on going into a particular career, it’s advisable to do your due diligence, prior to your training. One way you can do that is by talking to people already in a position that you hope to have in the future. This will give you an insight into what you’ll be expected to do once you’ve qualified. If you find out before your training that there are other areas you’ll need to work in, it could save you the hassle of retraining when you switch your career, and after realising that the job’s not for you. You’ll find that if a job isn’t for you, it will reflect your own personality.

The 5 types of personalities •

A friendly and outgoing personality

If you’re a friendly person, and find it easy to get on with people, then a career that involves dealing with the public or with a number of different people every day will be appropriate. Customer services, human resources, and also secretarial work are suitable for those with an outgoing personality. •

A dominant personality trait

If you have more of a dominant personality then you’ll enjoy making the decisions, as opposed to be being told what to do. This type of personality will suit business roles, such as administration and managerial: a career where you’re the leader rather than a follower. This can suit you in a range of professional careers, such as the legal profession, accountancy, medical work, or perhaps a career in engineering. •

The introvert personality

If you have an introverted personality, then you’re best suited to working on your own. It doesn’t mean you aren’t a people person. It just means that you do your best work when you’re left to your own devices. This type of personality is suited to research roles and careers in computing, where most of your work is done independently. The simplest way to decipher if you have this type of personality is to ask yourself what you believe the workplace should feel like. If you feel that work should only be a place of business and not somewhere for socialising to occur, then you’re probably going to find you have an introvert personality. •

An analytical personality

This type of personality describes those who love to solve problems. If you find yourself enjoying Sudoku puzzles or experimenting on different scientific studies, perhaps researching things so you can thoroughly understand things, then you will have an analytical personality. This type of personality is suited to careers in teaching, where you continually analyse and solve problems, and teach them to your students. Other professions where research is required will suit those with an inquisitive mind. That can be researching properties as a real estate agent, or accountancy work, or perhaps even becoming a stock broker. •

Team Player

This is the opposite of the dominant personality type. As a team player, you’ll enjoy being around people, but not so much enjoy making any decisions. If you have this type of personality, then you won’t be suited to managerial positions, where a large part of your work will require you to make decisions. When someone who prefers to work as a team progresses into senior roles, what can tend to happen is the need for approval by others. Both can go hand in hand, but managing people does require a little bit of dominance so you can be comfortable in the decisions you make. If you feel that you’re more of a team player type of person, then jobs in marketing where you’ll deal with people of all walks of life would be more suited to you. What personality do you have? By identifying the personality you have, from the list above, you’ll be equipped to understand if you have what it takes in your career. It could also show you why you’re perhaps not enjoying the work you do at the moment, leading to you looking for a career change. By selecting a career appropriate to your personality, you can be sure that when you are in your new job, you will be much happier than you are at the moment in your current line of work. Another thing to notice about the personalities is that they can intertwine. An example of that is an introverted personality, combined with being analytical. When you feel that you can put yourself into a couple of personality types, then you can mix that into your career to find one that’s suited to you. In the case you feel that you are of the introvert personality and analytical, then working for yourself in a career such as a driving instructor lets you combine the two. You won’t be working solely alone, but you will be working one on one with students, while using your analytical side to better teach pupils how to drive. That’s just one example of mixing personalities with different job roles. The important thing is to consider your own personality type, then look at what the job roles will be, and the working environments for the career you’re considering. When you know about your own type of personality and the working environment, you’ll be able to make an educated choice of career that will suit your needs.

Should You Change Careers or Improve Your Qualifications?

Should You Changens?

When you first start out in any new job, it’s an exciting time. Your brain is more active as you’re constantly learning the new roles and duties you have to carry out. The learning curve is what gives you the work experience, and lets you experience the challenges of your job. Completing each different task for the first time gives you a sense of accomplishment. It forms part of your job satisfaction. After doing the same job for several years, you will begin to feel that you can do your job with your eyes closed. It becomes so repetitive that there’s nothing there for you to learn anymore, and with that you lose the job satisfaction. The more you’re continually learning and taking on new challenges in your work, the higher job satisfaction you can experience. Therefore, to experience the best job satisfaction, you’ll want to be working with a company that can let you do various tasks, and not, for example, only sit answering a telephone all day. Versatility is important. Career changes aren’t always the answer, as you can use transferable skills within your current place of work, to seek out new opportunities to learn different aspects of an organisation and take on more responsibilities. On other occasions, you might find that for the company you work with, or the industry as a whole, that you’ve reached a stage where you struggle to find a challenge. This can happen in careers such as manufacturing, when you become an operational manager. This can be the peak of your career, where you’d have to gain new qualifications and then capitalise on your work experience to progress into perhaps director roles, getting more involved in costing, and operations, rather than managing one department. If you’re a team leader, then a business qualification can take you to a higher level in your field. If it’s the work you’re doing that’s lacking job satisfaction, and you want to leave a particular field of work, then you’ll need to change careers, rather than further study to progress your career. It’s important to consider all your avenues before you commit to a career change as you will be starting in a new role from the ground up - essentially going back to a trainee level in a completely new profession. Depending on what field you’re moving into, you could find that you’ll be taking a pay cut to get started in a new line of work. It will give you the challenges you first experienced when you began your first job, but you’re going to have progression goals in front of you, which will bring higher salaries as you progress towards your goals.

Are There New Jobs You Could Do Faster Than Changing Careers?

Introduction

This is the type of scenario where you can work with your current employers. If you don’t have a job at present, then this section won’t apply to you. For those of you who are in work, consider the different departments and tasks your employer is in need of. Just by chatting with colleagues in the canteen can give you a good idea of where the company needs assistance. Towards the end of each month, there may be a payroll needing run. That can put a lot of work on the accounts department. In this case, if that’s something you’re interested in moving into, you can volunteer your services to get a feel for working in that environment. It could be that you would only shadow someone during your break to get a feel for the work, or you could study towards doing the job yourself, and offer those services when you aren’t busy. The more you can do within a company, the more valuable an employee you’re going to be. In tough economic times, that can do a tremendous deal for your job security. At the same time, it can also increase your workload, so you’d need to have strong communication and organisation skills if you’re going to multi-task with different jobs. In small offices, a receptionist can find that their employers will prefer SAGE certification, which avoids bringing in a payroll clerk, and adds to the variety of tasks the secretary does. It can be a win-win for both employer and employee. On the other hand, when a secretary has this level of responsibility, they can find that they get burdened down with too much work. When you see that happening, then there will be opportunity for you to gain the work experience by assisting first, and then you could find that you’re promoted without being required to gain any qualifications. You’d effectively transition from one line of work into the other, by demonstrating your abilities in the job required. This isn’t unique to offices. Even in restaurants, if you’re working a part-time job as a kitchen porter, you can assist further by getting involved with the stock-keeping, perhaps using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to catalogue the stock amounts, use-by dates etc. This can be a tremendous help to a restaurant manager, as they have something to doublecheck their original work, and will help you progress from a kitchen porter into another job in the hospitality sector.

Always consider the job you’re doing at the moment and if there’s a gap you can use to switch into a different job role, gaining relevant experience towards advancing your career. When employers see that you’re applying yourself to the job, they’ll be more likely to offer further training to you, so you can gain recognised qualifications to help progress your career.

How Long Will It Take to Further Your Education?

Introduction

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to know the length of time it will take you to gain the qualifications required for your career of your choice. You need to know you can comfortably afford to study towards your accreditation. Without factoring this into your career choice, you could find yourself studying full-time and working part-time. The juggling between work and studies for some people can be extremely stressful, and lead to them failing their exams, and possibly having to re-sit a year in university. That can add thousands onto the cost of training, and leave you with a hefty amount of student debt. Some careers such as hairdressing can be done with short introductory courses, then further vocational training letting you earn while you learn. For those with careers in mind that require a lengthy time in education, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good idea to think of jobs you can do on the way to your end goal.

As an example, if you were to have aspirations of becoming an accountant, it is going to take you a while to become ACCA certified. Another option is to study towards an AAT certificate and work in the accounts field as an accounts technician. This will let you earn while you’re still shadowing a certified accountant, which can assist you with your accountancy studies when you reach that stage. Going back to the hairdressing career, this could also apply to the health and beauty industry, if you were planning to become a fully qualified beauty therapist, running your own beauty parlour. You could start out hairdressing, progressing onto manicure courses, and eventually moving into study the fields of business, to help you when it comes time to start your own beauty parlour. There are very few professions where you go to university, gain your degree and enter directly into the line of work you intend to do for a living. Most often, when you graduate, you enter into work at a junior level anyway, so it makes sense to break your studies up and diversify your CV with time spent working and time spend studying. It will give your CV a balance between your formal education and your work experience. A combination of the two is what will help you achieve the job you’ve been striving to reach. The length of time it will take you to gain whatever qualifications you need will be paramount to seeing your studies through to full fruition, where you can finally reap the benefits of using them, when you get into the job of your dreams. While nothing is impossible, it’s important to be realistic with your expectations. Career planning is one of the most important things you can do prior to enrolling in any formal education courses.

Costs Involved in Further Education vs Your Expected Salary

Introduction

The costs involved when you’re furthering your education can be astronomical, depending on which type of career you’re going into. Not every job requires a Master’s Degree and in some cases it’s an expense that can be cut out, although that’s not always the case. When you’re considering your chosen career path, try to get an understanding of what you will earn when you first start in your new job; remembering of course that you’re going to be in a junior position. Most jobs will have salary ranges, and the junior posts when you first start out will see you earning the lowest. An entry-level salary of £17,000 per annum isn’t going to be much if you’ve spent 4 years in university, accumulating student debt. You need to know if it’s going to be worth the investment. That will require you to consider how long it’s going to take for you to progress into a higher level position, when you can eventually earn the top-paying salaries you may have initially expected. Also try to get an understanding of approximately how much you’re going to need for your higher education. When you’re earning above £16,365 (as of April 2013), any student loan balances are repaid at 9% of your earnings above that figure. Crunching the numbers, you’d need to take the salary you’d expect to earn and calculate as follows: Estimated salary: £30,000 per year Deductible Allowance: £16,365 Repayable total for the year: £13,635 For the year, you’d be liable to pay 9% on the remaining £13,635, totalling £1,227.15. With a £30K salary you would have around £102 per month deducted from your pay to repay your student loans. The more debt you have, the longer you’re going to have this deduction coming of your pay. When you factor in that you already have your Tax and National Insurance coming of your pay before you see a penny of it, then include an additional 9% automatically deductible through your employer’s payroll, you may start to reconsider your career options. When you consider what career you want to do, try to keep your costs as low as possible, by studying towards the minimal level of qualification to start work. The only careers this isn’t applicable to are those in the medical, legal and similarly highly-skilled professions where the highest of education is required.

Identify Your “Transferable Skills”

Introduction

Before you approach any formal training, you should establish if it’s absolutely necessary for you to gain relevant qualifications. Some employers pay more attention to what you already know, rather than what you’re qualified to do. Qualifications aren’t always good for your career, as it is possible to over-qualify yourself, and leave you struggling to find work. If an employer gets an impression that you’re too valuable for the position they want to hire you for, they could be put off, thinking they don’t have the potential to fulfil your ambitions. This happens as employers don’t like to spend money on recruitment. They want career-focused people who will stick with their company. That means giving you the opportunity to do what you’re skilled to do.

If you’re holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, with managerial work experience, you’re hardly likely to stick it out in a secretarial position. You’d eventually get bored and move on to greener pastures in pursuit of a more challenging job in line with your qualities. The employer would eventually be left back at square one, looking for a new recruit. This can be avoided when you know the transferable skills you have that can benefit companies. Here’s how to identify your transferable skills: (Write or type this exercise so you can read it back) 1.

Analyse your current position, or the work you’re skilled to do

Go right back to the very first job you had. Write down how it was you got that job, and then where that leads you to. Progress onto the next job you had, and list the responsibilities that job required. The more you go through your work history; you’ll begin to notice a pattern develop. From one job to the next, there will be skills you’ve picked up, which have come through when you see you’ve had more responsibilities in the next job you took on. 2.

Identify the problems that arose

This isn’t specific to your career. It may have been that you took on another job in a different industry just for the sake of employment. That’s a problem, and gaining that new job will have been a problem solved. You’ll have taken the dilemma of not being able to find work in your first career path, and adapted to work in a different environment, which will use some skills from your previous line of work. Within your previous job roles, think of the problems you encountered and how you overcame them. Did you have to fill in for holiday cover, help at reception during lunch breaks, and juggle your own work too? That would make you a team player. You help others, you get on with people, and when you’re burdened down with lots of work, you could be good at delegating work to others to meet time deadlines. That sort of situation would give you transferable skills of:

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Ability to delegate

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Work to tight deadlines

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Being a team player

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Deal with pressure well

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Can adapt to different roles when required

These are all things that can help you transfer into a new career, and could be more beneficial than any formal qualification. 3. Your personal qualities With your list of jobs written out, along with the problems and solutions you’ve had experience with, the next step is to figure out what personal qualities helped you progress. If you started out on a work-training scheme and moved into full-time employment, then your employer must have seen you as hard-working and determined, if they kept you on after your initial training period. Likewise, working as a secretary to be doing payroll duties is progression. That would require motivation to learn new skills. This shows you’re career-driven, striving to be the best you can be. 4. How did others help? Not every progression you make in your career is done by you alone. There are often team members who play a vital role in your success. Consider the different struggles you had, and how you were able to work with others in any company you worked for to overcome obstacles. If you were stuck on something, and unsure what to do... would you turn to the computer searching for solutions, or were you comfortable to ask the advice of others when needed? That’s a certain quality in itself as it demonstrates you’re not going to waste time doing a job you’re unsure about, to have to redo it later. Nobody is going to know everything, so losing the chip on the shoulder is beneficial to ensure you’re doing things correct the first time. It also shows you have the communication skills to speak to people when needs be. The other thing is how you communicate: do you ask, or do you instruct? This can tie in with your personality types. Someone with a dominant personality wouldn’t be the type to do all the work alone. They’d be good at delegating different tasks to other staff, ensuring everyone is doing their part. Someone with an introvert personality may be more prone to finish work early, and be working alone, getting ahead, while others in the workplace struggle to meet their deadlines. In these situations, would you be the introvert type, doing your work and getting ahead, or would you be the dominant type, to delegate work to suitable staff, so you could meet the deadlines? The way you work with people speaks a lot about the work you’re suited to do.

What you enjoy in your spare time This is extremely important to employers and something that’s often underestimated on CV’s. The personal biography that goes on your CV does more than let your employer know you have a social life, or if you’re more of a bookworm type of person. Your personal qualities transfer out of the workplace too. If you have on your CV that you enjoy paintballing at the weekend... guess what? You’re used to working in a team, and you’re competitive. On the other hand, if you’re into your poetry books, relaxing to classical music, then employers will have the impression that you’re intellectual. Going back to the personality types, this type of personality would indicate an analytical person. This is why it’s absolutely crucial that you have a thorough understanding of who you are, so you can apply yourself wholeheartedly to a career you’d enjoy doing. Running through an analysis of yourself gives you a better understanding of your own capabilities, and will help you identify the right career path for you. It’s easier to market yourself to employers when you know what your key skills are, than having to rely on employers to ask you in an interview, when you could end up stumbling. A thorough understanding of your transferable skills is essential for any career, as it’s these qualities that will be identified in your interview, leading into your new career path. Know your career goals with a clear path to get there When you first started working, what was it you were aspiring to reach? For some people they may have just been working, with no defined career path. That’s fine if you have done that, as all you’ve been doing is getting to know what it is you like doing. Going forward though, now that you’re at the stage of defining a career path you want to follow, it’s good to have predefined goals that will let you reach your aspirations. If you want to become a barrister eventually, then a reasonable place to start would be working as a legal secretary to get your foot in the door. Of course, to get to that career decision, you would have something that sparked your initial interest. That could be any type of administration job. On the other hand, you could have already made a career decision, worked your way up the career ladder, and then decided you want to change, as it’s no longer giving you job satisfaction. In this case, you’d already know how you went about progressing your career from before, and you now have to repeat the process, starting from a junior level and progressing to where you want to be, in the future.

Having a clear cut career path and a route to take you where you want to go in the future, shows employers that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re goal-orientated and can work towards personal achievements. There may be some parts of your work history that show this if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve already progressed, either within a company, or into higher paying jobs with more responsibilities. The ability to plan ahead (forward thinking) is a major attribute to your transferable skills and will help you tremendously.

Brainstorming the Job Boards to Compare Supply vs Demand

Introduction

Some people know the career path they want to embark on, while for others it’s a journey down the yellow brick road, not knowing which signpost to follow. If you don’t know what career you’d like to get move into, then job boards are definitely going to help you. Not in terms of what they’re designed for though, so hold off on submitting your CV to every job board online, in hopes of an employer finding you. The purpose of job boards is to match employers to candidates who could be suitable for the positions they have. They weren’t intended to help people decide which career they want to take, but that’s something you can do with them nonetheless. There are some job boards that list categories of jobs, which will give you an encyclopaedia of job information. You can scroll through different industries, and anything that piques your interest, simply jot it down on a bit of paper, or keep a file on your computer, giving you list of career choices to look more into. Note that when you’re browsing the different careers, select the ones where the job actually interests you. Don’t pay attention to the salary right off the bat. There are plenty of high-flying careers out there, but if you don’t have the job satisfaction, the money isn’t going to bring you happiness. Choose your career with a role that ignites something in you. If you’re creative, and like to work with your hands, then jobs in construction could be something of interest. For those who prefer to draw, but find there are no companies looking for an artist, then move into other careers that would need some sort of drawing. How about landscape design? Maybe home staging for a real estate company? Do you see where you’re heading now? You’re thinking outside of the box and taking the things you’re interested in to match your interests to a career. Essentially, you’re matching your own interests to companies that will pay you to do the job you love. Employers are looking for people who enjoy their work and not just someone who will turn up and do whatever’s required. When you enjoy your work, it creates a better working environment, so choose something of interest first, and then compare salaries later, to establish if it’s going to give you the finances you need to comfortably live on.

It might take you a while going through the different categories, but once you have that list compiled, you’ll no longer be navigating the career scene blindly. You’ll have a starting point to find out more information on the different jobs available, any training you may require, as well as career advancement opportunities. That’s the first thing that you can use job boards for, but more importantly, you can use them for measuring supply vs demand. There’s no point in training towards a new career path if there are no jobs requiring your skills. It’s also helpful to look for the junior entry-level positions that are available, if you’re going to be doing further education to gain relevant qualifications. While you’re looking into the jobs that are available, possibly noting down the salaries and the duties of the different roles in the profession you’re interested in, don’t forget about the employers. When you’re sifting through the jobs listed, you can see where the CV’s are to be submitted to, and the company recruiting for the positions. This is handy information for you, when you start to get proactive looking to network with others. When you see the company name, you can then search online in different places to find the staff that work in the company. Some may be on LinkedIn, others could be on Twitter. The company website may have their contact information listed too. When you’re unsure if the career is the right choice for you, you can take notes of some companies that are recruiting, then get in touch with them just for an informal conversation about what like it would be like to work in that environment. Certain people already in these positions could be good prospects for you to network with, so you can discuss things about the profession and find out what it’s really like to work as a _____ (fill in your job title). There will be some careers that just don’t seem to have the jobs available. Trade careers in particular, where people work as independent contractors, or perhaps financial consultants. Other factors could be that the market just doesn’t have a need for certain services. In which case, you’d know that if you pursued that career, then you would still struggle to find work. For those professions where you’d work independently, you’d need to factor in the business start-up costs in line with your further education, to establish if it’s going to be financially feasible for you to pursue that line of work. Where there are jobs being advertised on the job search sites, it’s a good bet that you’re on the right tracks in terms of training towards qualifications that you can use to find employment.

Using Social Media to Help You into a New Career

Introduction

Increasingly, employers are turning to social media to advertise their job vacancies as they arise. It’s more cost-effective than traditional advertising in newspapers, and local classifieds. Larger organisations will also use their social networks to update followers of upcoming events, such as career days. There are also a number of employers who will snoop around social sites, to get a real glimpse into who their potential new recruit really is. If you’re on Facebook and cursing in your posts, then it’s not going to reflect well on you, and will probably count you out of the running of getting a job with any employer who sees your daily rants. You have to be careful with everything you post online as any details you put up will probably stay there forever. Even deleting your accounts won’t help as others can share your updates at the click of a button. Always use caution when posting, and remember that you’re reflecting yourself to potential

employers, so make that first impression count. Let’s go into the three main social networks you can use to help you into a new career. 1.

Facebook

Facebook has the power to be any type of site you want it to be. You can have followers full of old schoolmates, focusing your connections on your past; or you can create an online group of people you want to connect with in the future. What would you rather do? The answer should be simple. Look to the future and develop connections with people in positions where you want to be. One of the ways to do this is to actually read your news feed. That’s where you’ll find the most active career notifications appearing. Each time you log into your account, check the news feed first. If you’re among the first to discover an opening or an event, you’re going to have a head start on your competition. The other thing that happens in Facebook is that you have the power of influence through your connections. While it’s easy to say you’re actively looking for employment, when you’re on Facebook, participate in career-focussed group discussions. When employers look at your personal information, they can see at a glance the connections you have. Since connections are valuable to any business in terms of their reach online, you may even find it’s your influence on Facebook which gets you the job. Not that it should be an influence on who gets hired, but in business things are cut-throat. Any advantage a company can get they will grab with both hands. When you’re connecting with groups it’s good to be involved in conversations. Also, if there are people posting questions that are work-related and relevant to something you’re trying to get started in, Facebook can be the place to showcase your knowledge. While you may not be qualified for certain positions, simply posting advice about your work can be influential in getting into a new career, with your new employer assisting you to gain the relevant qualifications they’d look for in their candidates. You can also use career-focussed apps on your Facebook account, such as the Be Known app from Monster, which lets you separate your career-based usage from your personal use. There are also some companies who actually use Facebook pages so that staff can interact with potential job candidates, to get a feel for how they’d perform with co-workers. It can be used as an informal interview channel where you can even find yourself being invited to an

interview, just through your social media interaction. 2.

LinkedIn is the largest career-focussed social network there is. It’s more geared towards a formal type of recruitment, and is where headhunters go to find the best talent there is for corporate recruitment. If you’re looking for a high-flying white collar career, such as the legal field, accountancy or any kind of managerial position, then LinkedIn is the social network to get yourself on. You can collaborate with others in your industry, network with organisations that can help your career, as well as get helpful titbits of advice from others already in the profession you’re trying to break into. By networking with people already successful in their career, they can offer inside knowledge on how you can best put your career on the fast track. You could potentially tap into the key insights that employers look for in candidates, as well as get instant notifications when companies you’re interested in have a vacancy needing filled. The key to using LinkedIn is being active. Not just posting anything and discussing your career. LinkedIn works differently, as it’s the place to set yourself as an expert. When you post on this platform, you have to remember it’s business orientated. Keep things on topic to your career and share relevant industry information. When potential employers, and headhunters see that you have a complete profile that’s updated with your latest training and qualifications, and backed up with relevant industry related updates, you’ll stand out on this network as a real player to be watched in your industry. Companies want experts on their team, and this is where you can set yourself up as the expert. 3.

Twitter

In terms of social media sites to help you switch over careers, Twitter won’t do you much, if any, good at all if you use it exclusively. It serves a different purpose, because it’s hardly reasonable to expect to find out much about a person in 140 characters. Employers can tell a lot from the combination of tweets, provided they are all industry-related. When your social media efforts start to raise eyebrows, either on Facebook, or LinkedIn, recruiters will look for your Twitter feed just to ensure that you’re really as professional as your other interactions make you seem to be. There’s more benefit to you though when you’re looking to find work with particular companies, as Twitter lets you learn more about particular businesses, and their culture. Since tweets are so

small in length, it’s handy to catch little titbits of things of interest to a firm. That can be used to your advantage if you get the chance of an interview, as you’ll have an understanding of what the company believes in and stands for. You can use the hash tag feature here to retweet industry related information that you find interesting, so you don’t need to try and choose your words carefully all the time. The one area you have to be careful with on Twitter is directly contacting hiring managers in firms. They will have a number of tweets to respond to, so if you don’t hear back straight away, don’t pester the firm to get a response. It’s like leaving a voicemail on a company’s phone numerous times. Eventually it gets annoying and you’re completely ignored. Take your time and be patient. Before you try the direct approach on Twitter to find work, be sure you’ve taken the time to present your profile as best as you can. Use the description field to showcase yourself as the person suited to the profession you’re looking to go into. Anyone scanning your profiles should tell at a glance, what it is you do for a living. Even if you aren’t the master you claim to be, you should be using your time online to advance towards becoming that master of your trade or skill. The same goes with all your social media accounts. You have to use your page to display what it is you do, so there’s no guessing when potential employers land on your profile. They should instantly see they are on the right track, and not second-guessing if they’ve landed on the wrong page, losing their interest and then moving on. Social media is there to help you show yourself as a leading example to become the best there is in your career. Companies want the best people they can get to help their business thrive during competitive times. The more influential you can be in all your social media accounts, the more credentials you’ll have to switch careers. It shows your true motivation and dedication.

A Top 10 List of in Demand and Safe Careers

Introduction

For those of you who aren’t sure of the career you would like to pursue, then a sensible approach to career selection would be to train to work in evergreen sectors, where there are always going to be job opportunities, as well as opportunity for career progression. The following are a list of 10 careers that you could train towards and enjoy a safe career where you’ll be in work, and not have to spend time between jobs seeking out employment opportunities. 1.

Accountancy

The accountancy field is always going to be needed to serve every size of business. Not just as an accountant but all the supporting roles as well. Careers such as a financial advisor, a banker, a stockbroker, an independent financial consultant. Everyone needs financial assistance at some point in their lives, whether it’s for personal finances, planning for retirement, or managing investment portfolios. It is a skilled profession that people need to increase their wealth, as well as wealth management. 2.

Technology

Technology is the new driving force for small businesses to succeed. Whether you train in web development, graphic design, or JavaScript programming, there’s going to be work available.

As of 2013 statistics in the UK indicate that there’s 1 in 4 businesses operating without a website, and for those with a website, they aren’t using it for driving sales.

For the foreseeable future, web design and development jobs are going to be in demand, but as the years the technology will no doubt change, so your safest bet, for those interested in technology anyway, is to continue your training in development. Technology is constantly evolving. As time passes, things may move towards website management, installing updates to maintain websites, rather than the design process. 3.

Medical

People are always going to be sick, so any career in the healthcare sector is going to be a safe choice. You don’t have to spend years studying to become a General Practitioner to have a career in healthcare. Anything that relates to people’s health is a safe career. That includes positions in

pharmaceuticals, physiotherapy, mental health care, as well as carers for the elderly. You could also be providing a home support role, or working within nursing home establishments. 4.

Dentistry

In the dentistry sector, you can find jobs as a dental hygienist, and a dental technician, so you don’t have to become a GDC registered dentist to get involved in this career. 5.

Driving

Every year there will be more people turning the legal age to obtain their provisional driving licences. There’s also going to be a number of mature learner drivers who need to learn to drive, for employment reasons, or perhaps for medical reasons. As a driving instructor, you can be the person teaching people the rules of the road, but you can also progress onto teaching other types of driving, such as LGV training, PCV or even teaching people to ride motorcycles safely. As your career progresses, you could even move on to become an assessor responsible for ensuring new drivers meet the test requirements to obtain a pass, or even train new driving instructors to join the industry. 6.

Construction

The construction industry offers a number of opportunities. There are going to be residential homes being build, some will be older buildings getting torn down to make room for new developments, while others will in the commercial sector. Any type of trade will be useful in the construction industry. Architects will be needed to draw up the initial plans, with builders coming in to lay the foundations, and bricklayers coming to build homes and commercial premises. There are also going to be careers in the safety and regulations industry to control the health and safety for both properties and on-site workers, which could be another career choice for you to get involved with in the construction sector. 7.

Hospitality

What would Valentine’s Day be without being able to be take your special someone out for a special treat in a top class restaurant? Birthday bashes, Christmas lunches and Anniversary celebrations, all call for a splendid dish to be served up as a special treat. Then there are hotels catering to the needs of guests, as well as local restaurants open for daytime pass-by trading, for those busy days when people just feel the need to splash out and enjoy being catered to instead of cooking. Everyone has different reasons for dining out, but we all love something about it. That’s been the

same for decades, and will continue well into the future. Any type of work in the catering industry, whether it’s as a Chef or a front of house assistant, you’ll have a stable career in hospitality. 8.

Plumbing

A plumber does more than unblocks a toilet. They’re essential for any type of water leak that can happen day or night. Wintertime especially, when the cold weather kicks in and pipes freeze up, can see plumbers more in demand than any typical working day. It’s a round the clock job in the plumbing repair sector.

Other roles can see you work within the construction trade too, fitting new water pipe systems, kitchen and bathroom fitting, as well as drainage services. As long as water pipes are around, there’s a demand for plumbers to maintain them, as well as the heating systems that run off the mains water. 9.

Teaching

Teaching doesn’t just apply to schools. There are also college professors, as well as private tutors. You can even take something that you’re passionate about, such as swimming, playing tennis, football, basketball or step aerobics, and teach that to others interested in learning. Or how about Salsa dancing? Anything that you’re interested in, you can do a bit of research and find out how many others are interested in learning the same thing. You can tie that back to your social media efforts to establish if groups already exist where you could fill a gap. Therefore, besides the normal occupations associated with teaching, such as primary schools, nursery schools and high schools, you can also teach outside of that, or even teach foreign students the English Language. That line of work is known as becoming a TEFL worker (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). There’s also going to be a requirement for additional support within schools, so you could even train to become a nursery nurse, classroom assistant, or offer your services as a learning support assistant. 10.

Fitness and Nutrition

People are always going to be interested in keeping themselves in good shape. In the fitness industry, you could become a personal trainer, or you could train to work specifically with people suffering from illnesses such as arthritis, back problems or need advice on their dietary plans to maintain a healthy weight.

You can find many of these careers are going to be suited to self-employment, but there are also going to be health clinics, as well as private clinics to assist people in maintaining their physical health and keeping them looking great. Any of the types of careers listed above will offer career progression within them, as well as give you the opportunity to continually keep your skills updated and your services in demand. If you havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t got a clear cut career path in mind, then the above should give you some ideas of something you can do for a real future with continuous employment available.

Constructing the Perfect CV

Introduction

To put together a perfect CV to land the job you’re after, it’s essential you take the time to do this right. It will need to be customised to each job you’re applying for. No CV can be universal enough to fit the needs of each company you apply to work with. Your CV is your sales pitch to employers to hire you, so make sure you market yourself in the best way possible. Formatting and spell checks are your best tools for this. In terms of formatting, this is how you should lay out your CV before you type any information into it: Personal Details Personal Profile Career History

Most recent job title + Employer Duties Achievements Qualifications gained (where appropriate) Next most recent job Achievements Qualifications gained (where appropriate) Additional Information Personal interests and information on any job gaps you have. References

When you are about to write your CV bear in mind it should be done differently for every job application. You can tailor it to suit each job, so you will need the specifications of the job you’re applying for so you can customise your pitch to each employer. Your personal details will remain the same, but if the organisation has a social media presence, and you have too, then include that in your social media details, for them to reach out to you. •

Name

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Address

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Telephone Number

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Facebook

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Twitter

Next you have your personal profile to fill out, and this again can truly set you apart from others. Most people put in here things like, “I’m a highly conscientious worker, reliable and punctual.” Imagine yourself as a recruiter, having to read that same line repeatedly from the hundreds, if not thousands of applications to fill one job vacancy. You’d begin to get blinded by it, and look right past it. It’s the introduction to you, so you need to capture their attention right off the bat here. Example of a Personal Profile “As a career motivated individual, I strive to keep up to date on all the latest news surrounding sales and marketing. I take great pride in the work I do, and also take time for further studies to help me become the best there is in my field.

It goes without saying that reliability; trust and dedication to my work come as part of my package. Understanding the importance of work and life balance, I like to settle down in the evenings with a book from one of my favourite authors, such as Robert Cialdini. The weekends I shift gear and like to exercise down the gym, and also coach the local football team, where I can call on my motivational skills to drive the team to score the goals needed to win.” Looking over that profile, you can see it’s one that’s tailored to a sales and marketing position. It wouldn’t do much if you were to apply for a position as a retail assistant. If that were the case, you’d need to capitalise on the job description and make yourself suitable for the job role, by discussing how much of a people person you are. Your personal profile would discuss the retail sector, and how you make a positive contribution by always brushing up on your communication skills. Part of customer service would need you to be calm when you’re dealing with a difficult customer, so if you practice meditation in the morning, then that can be a unique quality about you, to help you succeed with working in customer services. The aim is to adapt your CV to the job you’re applying for. It’s just as important as adapting yourself to a new career. You first have to get the job before you can adapt to the career change. Your CV is the first place to start.

Moving on down your CV layout, you’ll then have your work history section to complete. This is where you have to refer to your transferable skills and also highlight these in your career history section. Your layout should help you with this. Since the CV is going to be formatted so employers can scan quickly through it, each job title should be in bold type. If they’re looking for a customer services manager, and your CV has a manager, supervisor or team leader job title right at the start, then you’ve more a chance of holding their attention. Next up is to give a description of your job. In this part, you only need a short summary of your typical roles. The description will summarise what you did (or currently do) on a daily basis, listing your key responsibilities too. After that, fill out what achievements you’ve gained. This doesn’t have to be an academic achievement. It can also be about you. Learning that you enjoy a certain industry, or thrive on the additional responsibilities you have, or showing you that you want to achieve more in a certain line of work. This can read like a personal journey of self-improvement, where the employer learns about what you like to do, and shows you’re now shooting for career progression in a field that gives you job satisfaction. The qualifications area isn’t always going to be applicable. If you required further training to achieve a qualification for that job, then list that in this area.

If you haven’t had training from the company, you can also list any relevant qualifications you gained studying part-time or through distance learning, to assist in your career. Just state on your CV that as you aim to progress into whatever career you’re interested in, that you were working in this position, and studying in your spare time. It shows employers that you are committed to the job and your career. It looks more impressive when you list this with the job you were doing, than just leaving it until the end, when you list the qualifications gained and when. When you list things separately, a recruiter has to solve the jigsaw and figure out that you were working and studying. You may as well toot your horn, and ensure they know you were juggling a full-time job with your studies. The idea is to keep everything at a glance on your CV, making it easy for an employer to see who you are, and give them everything they need to know as fast as possible. Once you have that done, it’s then just some additional information about you. This is a description of your personal interests. To fill this out, you can write in here about your hobbies, but put an emphasis onto what skills you have from your personal interests that can transfer into your career. Paintballing at the weekends, shows you’re a team player. Coaching a football team will indicate that you’re motivated, and can motivate others. Brain games are indicative of your analytical abilities. Whatever you do in your spare time, it can bring certain qualities to your career. It also humanises your CV and doesn’t make you just all work and no play, which can be damaging to your health if you are consistently working and not having time to socialise. Both are important and combine seamlessly from your personal interests and hobbies into your career. Once you have all those details, then you should finish off with verification sources. The last section to complete is your references. The first should be your most recent employer. Try to provide two references for employers to check your suitability for meeting their needs. Give details on the name of the person they should contact, the position they hold within the company, and the contact details they need to get in touch with them. Note that if you’re already in work, and you don’t want to have your current employer contacted, this isn’t the place for that. That issue should be addressed in your covering letter to each employer, asking for their discretion in obtaining references to safeguard your current position.

Using Power Words to Boost Your CV

Should You Changens?

Power words can really make your CV stand out, provided you use them effectively. There is a list of 89 power words provided below, but it’s going to be impossible to use them all. To use these effectively, it’s best to select one for the beginning of each sentence in your CV, and use at least three power words in your personal profile. Instead of listing a job duty as “I collaborated with a team to come up with ideas to assist in marketing”, you can alter that wording to read: “I contributed to a team of consultants, generated marketing ideas, which were designed to assist in the achievement of business goals, and increase sales revenue.” Can you see the impact power words have on your CV? They turn stale descriptions into something that captures and holds the attention of the reader, leaving them in no doubt that you’re a true professional, who they want to hear more from. Use the power words below to revamp or construct a CV that will work wonders for your career. Assist Able Action Analysis Achievement Accomplished Advanced Conduct Consult Committed Conducted Contributed Coordinated Develop Deliver Design Denied Diversified Devoted Distinguished Encourage Earned

Enhance Evaluate Examined Extended Facilitate Formulate Fulfilled Forecasted Generated Gained Gathered Headed Hosted Identified Implemented Improved Improvised Influenced Launched Maintained Managed Marketed

Maximised Mediated Modernised Motivated Negotiated Observed Obtained Operated Organised Originated Oversaw Participated Performed Planned Prepared Presented Promoted Provided Published Pursued Received Recommended

Redesigned Reorganised Represented Restructured Revised Safeguarded Secured Selected Specified Strengthened Structured Suggested Superseded Supervised Targeted Taught Tested Trained Upgraded Utilised Validated Valued

Crafting Your Covering Letter

Introduction

Your covering letter first needs to go to the appropriate person. That’s the hiring manager of the company. Bypassing this chain of command could see your mail be identified as unsolicited mail, and land in the bin, rather than on the desk of the person you need to see it. Do your research first, and establish if the company has one person in charge of recruitment, and if possible find out the name of that person. The company secretary will be able to advise you on where to send in your CV, whether to address it to their HR department or For the Attention of: Contact Name. Once you know the person you’re addressing, the next issue your covering letter should address is the reason why you’re interested in working for the firm. This isn’t a place to put that you’re interested in switching careers. It’s about why you want to offer your services to the company you’re approaching. You do that by researching the history of the company. Telling them why you’re impressed with their business, and how you would like to be a part of that success in the future. The personal attention to detail and addressing the passions of each business is what will have a hiring manager look beyond your covering letter, and into your CV to find out more. The most important aspect employers want to see in your covering letter is your skills. Present them in a succinct way that is tailored to their company requirements. Remember, you’re applying to assist the company with your services - not them to assist you by giving you a job. The one prevailing question on every recruiter’s mind is: “Why should I hire you?” Answer that question in your covering letter. Here’s how to go about addressing that issue. Start out by addressing them personally by Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms __________. This will personalise your covering letter to that person. Personalisation is always appreciated and it shows you’ve at least done some research and you aren’t just canvassing every employer with the same letter. As you move onto the first paragraph, you need to address the position you’re interested in within the company. Give the company some information on where their advertising is being seen. That’s a huge benefit to companies in terms of the costs of recruitment, when they know which advertising channels are beneficial to them. Just a short summary of this will suffice. For example: “Having seen your recent advertisement in the (newspaper, job search site or wherever), I’m writing to express my interest in applying for your position as a __________, and would be available

to start ________.” Paragraph 2 – Addresses two questions 1)

Why this type of work interests you

The first part of your second paragraph is to focus on you. What it is about this line of work that satisfies you. If you’re a secretary, what it is about the role that you thrive on? Is it the organisational skills, or being the first point of contact, and feeling like the face of the business? This is where you put the reason why you’re in the career path you’ve chosen.

Why this company interests you

The second element is about the company and where you can sing their praises. For small organisations, it could be that you’ve looked at their site and feel you’re more suited to a small family business, than the corporate world. Alternatively, it could be a massive organisation, where they could help you progress in your career. Let the company know about what interests you about their business. Identify the successes they’ve had in the past, and that you want to be a part of their future successes. Just be sure that you identify what the business actually does to bring in revenue, and tie that into your interests to offer your services to help them to do that. The third paragraph will form part of your CV, but in this area, you aren’t copying your skills from your CV. You’re taking the skills you have from the variety of jobs you’ve had and transferring them over to your new position. Let the employers know exactly what skills you have, and tailor them to the job you’re going to be doing. For this part, you’ll have the job specifications the company requires, and you’ll hand-pick the skills from your CV and make them relevant to the position you’re applying for, while disregarding skills that aren’t appropriate. The purpose of the covering letter is just to bring everything together into one short and concise summary of the skills you have to fill the position required. Also tie in the transferable skills you’ve learned from past work experience that will benefit the new job role too. That will bring your cover letter to a conclusion, when it’s time to wrap things up. End on a positive note by listing any dates you aren’t available for an interview, and then thank the person for their time in reading your application, and then sign off by saying you look forward to hearing from them soon. Now for the next part in terms of your writing. This is where some people do excellent work in their CV and their cover letters, and then 2 words can ruin their credibility instantly.

You have to finish on the same style as you started. If you open with Dear hiring manager, you aren’t personalising the cover letter to any particular person. In this instance, you’d close off with “Yours faithfully” then your signature. If you address someone personally, using their name, then to continue that personal tone, you’d close off with “yours sincerely.” When you don’t know who you’re addressing and then the word “faithfully” translates to you trusting they’ll do the right thing. There’s no point signing off with “sincerely”, when you weren’t sincere enough to find out the name of the person. “Faithfully” addresses that and acknowledges you’re placing the next course of action in the company’s hands, whereas “sincerely” lets the company know you’re sincere with your application.

Prepping for Your Interview

Introduction

Once you have landed that all important interview, you’re one step closer to landing the job. However, this is the final step and you have to get through this stage successfully to get the position you’re after. That will require you to prepare in advance of the interview. You’ll need to consider everything from your journey, what you’ll wear to the interview, as well as what you’re going to say when you get there. It’s not just about what you say in the interview room though. You have to back up what you say with your body language. If you’re sitting saying you’re confident in your abilities, and mumbling your words, then it’s going to tell a different story to employers. Your dress code is important too. If you go for a job as a cleaner wearing a power suit, then you’ll probably feel overdressed for the occasion. A simple pair of dress trousers and a casual shirt could be more suitable. In terms of what you’re going to say though, you’ll have to consider what it is employers are looking for in you. They will be asking you questions, so think about the interview from the perspective of an employer. Put yourself in their shoes and interview yourself first. What questions would you be asking candidates? Prepare a list of questions that you could be asked at your interview and prepare answers for them. Questions such as: What makes you feel you’re suitable for this position? What made you pursue this career? Where do you see yourself 5 years from now? What qualities do you feel you could bring to our company? Have your answers prepared for these types of questions but don’t stress over memorising answers. Just be ready for them, but also be ready for questions you haven’t thought of. You can brainstorm these when you’re researching the company background. For every interview you go to, the employer will have spent a great deal of time going through

your CV and covering letter, as well as every other CV and covering letters from other candidates. The shortlisted applicants have a great expectation on them to deliver. Extend the same courtesy to potential employers as they have to give you the opportunity to present yourself at an interview. Devote your time into learning as much as you can about the company. The founding years, the team they have, their past successes and their future goals. Then factor in those business goals and where your services will help them reach that point. Show them straight away that you’re going to strive to assist wherever you can. Don’t be surprised when employers see that you’re knowledgeable about their business, for the questions such as.. What are we doing now that you feel we could be better at? This is a question designed to get your optimum input and discover exactly what you’ll bring to the table. Not every business is perfect and there are always areas that can be improved upon. If you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of a business, then you’ll be able to come back to that question with a constructive answer. That could be that you’ve found their customer service lacking, as customers could be leaving negative feedback online. Your solution could be that you feel more interaction with customers could benefit the business. Be sure to mention positives as well as negatives though, for example: “While customer service seems to lack, there isn’t an issue with the quality of service. It only appears to be reaching support.” Employers want their staff to be confident in their work and forthcoming with problem areas that need to be addressed. Without knowing what’s happening at the forefront of a business, companies won’t know where to increase their efforts on service improvements. That’s a quality they look for in staff. The confidence to be forthcoming with feedback and business suggestions. In terms of getting ready for the interview and preparing yourself for the questions that could be put to you, you could look through their social media channels, putting you in touch with some of the staff currently employed by the firm. This can put you in contact with people who have already been through the stages that you’re about to embark on. If you can’t find someone who can offer you advice, or you don’t have a computer, you can use the local library to research the company online. Most firms will have information online about their business. There may also be a company motto they have and strive to adhere to, in which case you should familiarise yourself with those details. Being familiar with a company gives employers the knowledge that you’ve already done your homework and researched into the company background.

When you’re equipped with the relevant knowledge about the company, and prepared answers to anticipated questions, then you’ve the important journey to consider. It’s good practice to do a trial run to where you have to be, so you know the time involved. It’s generally good to arrive at an interview 10 minutes earlier than your interview time. It shows employers you’re punctual. Another thing you can do is travel to the place of work and get a feel for the company dress code. This can help you decide on what to wear to your interview. Your dress code is going to have to be appropriate for the position you’re applying for. A warehouse assistant job applicant could get away with a smart-casual dress code, but a warehouse manager on the other hand, will need to be suited and booted to indicate their professionalism. Note that there are some outfits that just aren’t suitable to wear for an interview. Going too under-dressed with waistline miniskirts and bra-like tops isn’t an outfit to wear to an interview. Always consider the person who will be interviewing you. They need to feel comfortable talking to you, as much as you need to comfortable with them. If you have too much on show, it’s going to be make them feel uncomfortable, in which case, the interview will be rushed through to get you out the door ASAP.

Dress to Impress Without Going Overboard

Introduction

What you wear speaks volumes about your career! Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something you should keep in mind, when deciding how to present yourself at an interview. There are typically three types of dress codes, and your line of work will probably fall into one of them. 1.

Strictly Formal

Active Professional

Smart Casual

The strictly formal attire This is the dress code suited to the highly professional careers: solicitors, accountants, officials in government offices, and managerial types of jobs.

In this line of work you have to be of the smartest appearance and wear an outfit that showcases your professionalism, bringing out your business look. The dress code needs to be sharp and powerful. That look is done best with power suits. Suits that are dark in colour and fit snugly to the body. The look can be personalised for both male and females. Gents can personalise it with a bold, yet formal business tie. Women can wear pencil skirts (below knee length), with a formal blouse under the suit jacket. In terms of accessorising, be careful not to overdo things. Too much bling can take a formal dress code into the look for an evening out. Wear belts that compliment your outfit, and not overtake the look. Jewellery should be kept to a minimum too. For your hair, it’s important that you’re taken seriously. If you’ve had a weekend away at a Glastonbury festival, with your hair dyed purple, you need to get that back to your natural colour before an interview to be taken seriously. The style you wear your hair doesn’t really matter, as long as you’re comfortable with it. The main thing for formal positions is that you don’t use your looks to get the job, and attempt to overshadow your skills. Your skills are what will get you hired and not your appearance. Your appearance only represents yourself in the business world. Look sharp and polished, as though you’re already successful in the corporate world, even if you aren’t. The active professional jobs Not every job in the world is going to have you in the office all day. If your job requires you to travel around, such as in the Social Work profession, or perhaps teaching, when you’re constantly on the go, then pointed shoes, high heels, and tight power suits probably won’t be your best clothes to represent your career. For active professional jobs, when you’re on the go, you can showcase that in your interview apparel. Your best piece of clothing is going to be black trousers. That’s it! A pair of black trousers can be accessorised with almost any type of clothing. Men can wear a dress shirt, with an open collar, topping it off with a blazer; or for the ladies, a simple blouse, in any colour can sharpen the look. You could also use accessories to dress the look up, such as a necklace to compliment your blouse. The Laid Back Look This type of look is for those types of jobs that are non-qualified roles: typically labouring work, shop-floor, call centre based and so on.

Where the company just looks for staff to present themselves smartly, a collar and tie could be seen as being overly dressed for the position you’re applying for. The type of dress code for these types of interview settings will call on some common sense. Tracksuits aren’t appropriate, as it gives off a sense of not really caring about whether or not you get the position; but on the other hand, wearing a tie could present you as being too smart for the job you’re applying for. Your safest dress code in this type of environment is to go with a simple pair of jeans. Something dark. Dark navy blue jeans, or black. Try to avoid the washed out looks though as that sort of style is more for out of work wear. Make sure they’re plain and fit well. On the top half, you can have tee-shirts, V-necks, sweaters, cardigans or dress shirts. All will look smart casual, provided they aren’t the kind of t-shirts you’d wear to go skateboarding full of gold, silver and bling that draws the eye. Keep the colours toned down and neutral. The great thing with jeans is that you can formalise the look casually, with a simple blazer on top, or an outerwear cardigan. Be sure that you wear shoes and not trainers though. The footwear with jeans can take your look in a completely different direction, taking your look into the sporting look, rather than smart casual. A note for those with tattoos Unless you’re being interviewed for a job in a tattoo parlour, tattoos should not be on show. Especially in the formal type of interview that’s career orientated. Tattoos give off the wrong impression and are geared towards your social life, and not for the workplace. Wherever tattoos are on your body, keep them covered as much as possible. If you have one running down your arm, then wear a long sleeved shirt, or a long sleeved top. If it’s on your neck, you’ll need to wear a collar to cover it up and not an open neck shirt. A common place that tattoos are on people is around the ankle, or on the wrist. They’re there but not too visual. If you have those, as small as they may be, still keep them covered. If it’s on your wrist, then try wearing a thick strapped watch or a bangle. If it’s on your ankle, then wear a pair of trousers, and not a knee-length skirt. Present yourself as professionally as possible and don’t give employers an excuse to dismiss your professionalism to your career.

Introduction

Relaxing Your Tone for Professionalism During Your Interview Nervousness is a natural part of a job interview, but it’s not exclusive to you. Your interviewer will also be nervous as this is their first time meeting you. They will have a rough idea of what to expect from you, from reading your covering letter and CV, but they won’t know who you are until they meet you. Employers experience nervousness prior to interviewing too. It’s that unexpectedness that you never know who is going to walk through the door until you get there. With that in mind, you have to conduct your tone from the get go, to set a relaxed environment where you and the interviewer can relax and discuss things about the job. You do this by: Developing a rapport This is the first stage of the interview. You need to set the environment for a topical conversation. Whether it’s formal with a panel of interviewers or a one-to-one interview, you first need to develop a rapport. There is a sort of unspoken rule that can really help you out when you need to develop a rapport almost instantaneously. The rule is to mirror the person you’re trying to communicate with. When you think of your friends, and how you have rapport with them, there will be certain styles of communication that are similar to your own. People like to see their personal traits in others, as it gives them a sense of belonging. However, when you’re in an interview, meeting someone for the first time, you’ve no idea how that person communicates. This is where you have to use your powers of observation. When you first meet your interviewer, you won’t be straight into the nitty gritty of business talk. You first establish some common ground. Just think of your interviewer’s office as being their daytime home. You’ve been invited over for an informal chat. When you go to someone’s home for the first time, they make you feel welcome. You greet with a handshake and some compliments are shared. This mindset will take you out of the formal business introductions, and into a mindset of meeting someone on a personal level. Personal rapport is established at this point as you can personalise your greeting. Look around the office and see how organised it is, perhaps a family photo, a computer with stacks of paperwork. These are all telltale signs of how that person works. You can use those aspects of the office, to

open a conversation, rather than open with what the weather’s like outside. A compliment on how you love the look of the paperweight on their desk would be a much better way to get your interviewer leading into the conversation casually. As they speak, pay attention to their body language. Do they sit forward, tapping their fingers, or lean back on their chair, with their arms folded? Folding arms is evidence of them observing you, so you can then alter your body language to reflect the observation that they’re using. Just be careful you don’t mimic their interactions directly. You have to do this subtly. When you’ve opened communication between you both, a good tip is to pay attention to how the person is speaking. If they speak fast, brief and to the point, then you need to do the same with your answers. If they’re looking for examples, let them ask for you to give an example but don’t offer it without being asked. You could find yourself taking up too much of their time, which they may not have, since there will be other candidates to interview. Eye contact This is vitally important to your rapport. You can’t hold someone’s attention while you’re staring at the floor. Keep your chin up and your eyes focused on the person interviewing you. This lets them know you’re alert to what’s being discussed and they aren’t boring you. On the note of feeling bored, the one thing you cannot do is yawn. Eye contact also gives employers knowledge that you can communicate effectively and hold the attention of the people you speak to. Don’t underestimate this part of your interview. Body language The body language you use is louder than the words you use. If you say you’re confident in your abilities to perform on the job, then say it with authority. Don’t sit twiddling your thumbs, or tugging your shirtsleeve, mumbling about how competent you are. You have to speak with competency and believe every word you use. Without a solid belief in your own abilities, you won’t be able to convey your qualities effectively to potential employers. Get a firm understanding of your capabilities then speak about them with confidence in your interview. Never apologise for inexperience You may find that there are certain aspects of a job that you aren’t familiar with. That’s nothing to be apologetic about. So many people will say in an interview that they’re sorry they don’t have any particular work experience to showcase their abilities to perform a certain task. Never apologise for being inexperienced. Turn it into one of your positive attributes. Acknowledge the inexperience but back it up with the benefits to your employer. You’re a fast learner and fortunately they can mould you to their requirements by showing you the job they need doing, without having to break bad habits brought from previous employment. You bring freshness to the workplace and learn as you go.

Let the interviewer lead the interview Lastly, have patience. Your interviewer will have a process in place to streamline the interview, letting them find out everything they want to know. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important you let them lead the interview, and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t interrupt them. They will have a busy day interviewing other candidates and will have other things they need to do. Give them the respect of being able to conduct the interview without you throwing them into another area that can be addressed later. Any questions you have, leave them until youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re asked at the end of your interview.

Mastering Your Breathing

Introduction

Breathing is something that drastically impacts on how well you present yourself. If you’re in an interview, experiencing nervousness, anxiety, and unable to think creatively, then you probably need to focus on your breathing. This area is something you need to practice every day, and not only prior to an interview to relax on demand. Meeting new people is going to happen throughout your life, in your personal life and your career. That brings with it an element of anxiety. What if you didn’t have to experience excessive nervousness? Well, you don’t because your breathing is how you can control your emotions keep them in check, and keep your brain functioning well enough to get you through a job interview. The mechanics of breathing provides relaxation to the body and the mind. That’s how you can increase your focus during an interview, but you have to do this efficiently and not in a way that’s obvious to your interviewer. The simplest way to control your breathing is to inhale through your nose. As you listen to your interviewer speaking, keep eye contact with them, while at the same time, in those couple of seconds, take a slow inhalation of air through your nose, keeping your mouth closed. Once you’ve inhaled for 2 – 3 seconds, then slightly split your lips a tiny bit and slowly exhale the air you’ve just inhaled. The time you spend exhaling should be twice as long as that spent inhaling. • •

Inhale through your nose for 2 seconds Exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds

Do this exercise before and during an interview and you’ll feel your nerves are calmer, and you’ll be able to focus more and be more assertive with the answers you give to your interviewer. This simple breathing exercise isn’t exclusive to job interviews, so regularly practising breathing exercises can help you improve your confidence and focus. Effective breathing exercises, such as the one described above, can help you a) b) c)

Through an interview In your job In your personal life, by reducing anxiety

Arriving at your interview 10 minutes earlier, gives you the valuable time to practice your breathing, which will calm your nerves in preparation for meeting your interviewer, or perhaps, your potential new employer.

Keeping Calm and Controlling Your Body Language

Introduction

Keeping calm and controlling your body language are two different things, which make them difficult for most to do, especially in a formal environment. However, there are certain postures you can use to indicate your emotions. The position of your head By holding your head up, you signal that you’re attentive to what is being said. Eye contact is essential at this point. Going forward from there, you also have to use your body language to express you’re really taking on board what’s being said to you. In other words you’re not just letting the information goes in one ear and the other. You’re absorbing the conversation. This is reflected in your body language, and you do it by sitting yourself up straight. Cross your arms, and place a finger over your mouth, with your thumb pointing downwards, and placed under your chin. You’ve probably expressed this type of body language several times in the past. It happens naturally as your interests are piqued. You start to get your thinking cap on when you’re interested in what’s being said. Subconsciously, your arms will fold or cross across your lap, and you’ll find one hand rising towards your mouth with your index finger pointing upwards, covering your mouth, and your thumb will be under your chin. This shows that you’re interested and engaged in the conversation, so when you’re being spoken to during an interview, try to include this body posture to show your enthusiasm for the job. Sit up straight, cross your arms, and place an index finger to your lips, and your thumb beneath your chin. This type of body language expresses your interest in the conversation. Know when to move your arms You have to make the shift from listening to speaking. When listening, you should try to have the interested body posture, signalling you’re fully coherent with the discussion. As you transition from listening to speaking, your body language will shift too. It’s only natural, but what you need to try to avoid is using your hands too much. Waving your hands around too much distracts people’s attention. They’ll wind up listening to your body and not what you’re saying.

If you have that problem, (often due to nerves), then try intertwining your fingers together, so you aren’t speaking with your hands, and instead move them from a crossed position, to your lap. Intertwining your fingers together, and then having your two index fingers touch together is a sign of confidence. For those who play poker, or have watched the shows on TV, you might notice this in players when they’re dealt a strong hand. As much as poker players try to conceal their hands, the body language they use can be a signal that they’re extremely confident in the hand they have being a winner. You can use that same type of gesture in your body language during an interview. When you’re speaking to your interviewer, intertwine your fingers, across your lap. You’ll feel confident in what you’re saying and your body posture will be one of confidence. Those are the main two postures you should try using during an interview, alongside your breathing techniques.

How to Approach the Salary Topic

Introduction

With businesses being competitive and paying more attention than ever to their overheads, there are many positions advertised that don’t give specifics on salaries. This is when you see jobs advertised with lines such as: •

Salary range: TBA

•

Competitive salary

•

Salary dependent on experience

These statements leave the salary open for discussion and the question is then raised during the interview. If you’re attending an interview with no idea on what you can expect to be paid, you could do one of two things. Undervalue your true worth to a company and land a job without the pay you’d expect to get elsewhere, or on the other hand, you could price yourself out of a job. You will have to dig around what other companies are paying in your area of work, to get a ballpark figure on the salary you can expect to be paid. That said, you don’t have to go right into the salary expectations when you’re asked. There is a technique that’s extremely beneficial to use in these situations, and that’s known as deflection. When you’re asked what your salary expectations are, you can simply deflect the question back at your employer. You have to be careful how you approach this though. Confidence is key, as without having the confidence it can come across as defensive, or at worst, aggressive. The subtle way to deflect the salary topic back to your interviewer is to say something like you’re flexible in terms of the salary you can expect from the position. You understand that you don’t have all the skills, but at the same time, you have the qualities to provide a valuable service. The deflecting question you relay back to your interviewer is about value, and there are three components to address. Dropping value into your salary discussion A statement along the lines of: “As I’d be able to add value to your business through my skills and personal attributes, and also be valued within your organisation, how would you value the position yourself?” “Do you have a budget in mind?”

Then pause! The pause is going to feel awkward but stick with it and give the employer time to think. Some people expect this, but more often than not, they’re not expecting the value to be mentioned three times and won’t be ready with an answer. They’ll be caught off guard, and could throw you a bone by giving you a figure. That could be higher or lower. If that figure is lower than your expected salary, you could address that and ask for more, but most will be uncomfortable with that solution. In that case, you can discuss the opportunity for performance-based assessments, or financial incentives that could boost your salary, or if there’s an increase the company offers after a certain amount of service. The most important thing you can do is keep your tone upbeat and don’t get downhearted when salary crops up. If it’s lower than you imagined, try negotiating. If the interview has reached the salary topic, then you’re nearly into a job. If the interviewer didn’t think you’d be suitable, they wouldn’t ask how much you’re going to cost them to hire you. So stick in there at this point. Keep your tone positive and look towards how you can increase the salary, and if there’d be an opportunity to progress into a more financially viable role for you, and if there’s going to be further training you could do to further your work within the organisation. You could also find that if you’ve performed extremely well during the interview, that you have a higher than expected salary package offered to you. After that pause though, another thing could happen is that the question is deflected back at you. You can’t deflect every time the question comes at you, so you need to address this if you find yourself being caught in a deflection trap. Some employers are savvy to the technique, particularly in graduate type jobs and corporate recruitment. You have two ways to come back at this point. The first is to be direct and let them know politely that you’d rather not commit at this stage in the process until you have sufficient time to think things over. The second is to just throw a figure out there. If you’re going to put a figure on the table, make it an educated one, based on research into what your line of work will generally pay in the industry. Don’t say you’d appreciate a £40,000 salary but would settle for £10,000. Salaries are a serious topic for businesses and not something employers take lightly. This has to be taken seriously. When you put your figure to them, be confident in that figure. Know that you’re worth that amount, and don’t add to your statement that it’s negotiable. That casts doubt on what you value yourself at. Provide a ballpark figure of between x amount and y amount. Then pause! Give the employer time to consider what they have and let them open the next part of the

conversation. Give them the pressure to decide and don’t make the decision for them. That can happen when a discussion freezes for too long, that the interviewee interrupts the thinking process and comes in with a new lowered figure. Regardless of whether you choose to use the direct or deflect approach to the salary question, remain upbeat, speak with a smile, and be patient during the long pause that’s sure to arise and create a sense of awkwardness. During the silence, remind yourself that you wouldn’t be discussing salaries if you weren’t a serious candidate for the job. That will surely put a smile on your face and increase your confidence.

The Power of the Pause!

Introduction

During the course of your job interview there are going to be times of complete silence. This isn’t your cue to start rambling to the person interviewing you. The pauses of silence can be influenced by yourself or the interviewer. If it’s yourself, then you can control the pausing circumstances. If you’re asked a question and are unsure of the answer, you can take a moment to think things over. Just a moment though and not 10 minutes. It’s better to ask for a moment to consider the question, than to answer with filler words, such as “eh?” Let me think... just a moment?” You’d be better off in those circumstances just to say the truth: “Good question. Can you give me a moment to think about that?” Control your breathing, consider the question and come back with a constructive answer. Just don’t do it too often. The other times you can use the power of the pause in an interview is before you state something you want your employer to remember about you. If you went to night classes to obtain a certificate that lead to an internal promotion in your career history, that’s when you can use a pause to emphasize that. For example: “When I worked with ________, starting out as a kitchen porter, I was interested in progressing into more responsibilities within the company. Mostly, that earlier job was inspired by the head chef. [pause] That’s why I rotated shifts with colleagues so I could complete my NVQ 1 in cookery, starting my career in this profession. [pause] (opportunity for interviewer to respond. If no response, you can continue with a brief sentence...) I got to this stage in my career from that initial inspiration as a kitchen porter. [pause]” The pause time gives you and your interviewer time to consider what’s just been said. There will be occasions during the interview when it’s the person conducting the interview who initiates a pause. This could be to take notes on what’s being said during the interview, to assist them later in selecting the best suited candidate for the job. You’ll have to respect their time as they are doing their job efficiently by taking notes on what you’re saying during the interview. Other times, the interviewer could pause while still looking at you, and not take notes. This could be due to them expecting to hear more. In these situations, just politely ask if they’d like you to elaborate. Sometimes it may just be something in particular that you’ve said, and they haven’t fully grasped what you meant, and ask you to elaborate on that specific area. Pauses during interviews are going to be inevitable but they are also powerful. During your

time speaking about your qualities, qualifications or work experience, a short pause before important elements can be the influential factor that makes those statements memorable to your employer. They can increase your opportunities to impress and land the job youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re being interviewed for. On the other hand, if your interviewer is taking a pause from talking to write down notes, and you interrupt them at that point, it could be considered as rude. That could be scribbled in their notes and rule you out of the running for the job. Take short pauses during an interview and allow your interviewer to do the same. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll let the interview run smoothly, without unnecessary pressure on yourself or the person conducting the interview. The more relaxed you and your interviewer are, the more productive the interview will be. The more productive your interview, the better your chances of it being successful are. A successful interview will result in you landing the job of your dreams.

Further Resources for Your Career

Introduction

Job Boards CV Library

http://www.cv-library.co.uk

General Job Board with over 60,000 jobs advertised Jobsite

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/

General Job Board with over 40,000 jobs advertised Indeed

http://www.indeed.co.uk/

Job search engine Total Jobs

http://www.totaljobs.com/

General Job Board with over 90,000 jobs advertised Monster

http://www.monster.co.uk/

General Job Board Fish 4 Jobs

http://www.fish4.co.uk/

General Job board with over 17000 jobs listed JobServe

http://www.jobserve.com

General Job board with over 7000 jobs listed MyJobGroup

http://www.myjobgroup.co.uk/

Careers Advice Be-a National Careers Service Prospects NHS Careers

http://be-a.co.uk https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/ http://www.prospects.ac.uk/ http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/

CV Writing CV Tips Business Balls CV Lizard

http://www.cvtips.com/ http://www.businessballs.com/curriculum.htm http://www.cvlizard.com

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