Taking control of your working life by career planning is a sensible thing to do, but is promotion the only option if you want to feel like you’re making progress?
Put another way, does getting on always mean going up when it comes to your career? Not necessarily. If you want to do more, you have three main routes for career progression – step up, broaden, or deepen and a multitude of options within these.
Continue reading “Career planning – is promotion the only option?”
Even if it’s positive, receiving feedback well can be a challenge – here’s my tips on how not to mess up receiving it.
Most genuine feedback is great information that can help us improve. So being able to receive it, reflect on it and adjust where we need to can help us make huge personal progress.
The clue with feedback is in the name – any kind of feedback conversation should be two-way (‘feed’ and ‘back’). But, even if you’re prepared for it, hearing feedback about yourself can trigger an emotional response. Understanding and being able to manage this is critical.
Continue reading “Don’t mess up receiving feedback – how to take it with grace”
When you’ve finally made it past the first hurdle and secured an interview, you might be thrown by the idea of doing one with lots of other people, so here’s my advice about how to approach group interviews. They are currently common in many graduate processes and some other interviews, so it’s worth understanding how to prepare for them.
Continue reading “How to approach group interviews - advice from a career coach”
It’s a tough market out there if you are searching for a new job; cracking how to stay motivated is a large part of the battle.
There’s been an increase in redundancies recently, and employers appear more cautious about recruiting – likely driven by cost pressures, economic uncertainty created by the US’s Hokey Cokey on tariffs, and higher labour costs thanks to National Insurance and National Minimum Wage increases.
Continue reading “Job searching tips in a tough market – how to stay motivated”
You are not imagining it – job searches are taking much longer than they used to, leading to candidates getting fatigue. A survey of 2,500 people found it takes, on average, 3.8 months to secure a job after investing 6.5 hours a week on searching and sending off 162 applications.
It’s no mean feat, then, to secure your next role, and no wonder people get worn out by the process. Here’s how you can combat job search fatigue and win.
I am often asked how to choose between going to university or doing an apprenticeship – often by 18-year-olds just about to finish their A levels or college courses, as well as by parents who are considering the benefits and costs of both options.
So what’s the answer? Well of course it depends on several factors. Currently, higher education and uni are still the most popular option (according to the latest data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency) but apprenticeships are increasingly recognised as a viable alternative path to future employment – if you can find a good one. Continue reading “How to choose between university or an apprenticeship”
If you’re being made redundant you might have heard the term, but you may not know exactly what outplacement is and what the benefits are.
The word itself is HR jargon used to describe the process of placing someone out of the business. In practice, it’s used to refer to the support provided to people who are leaving the organisation and is sometimes referred to as career transition support.
Continue reading “What is outplacement and what are the benefits?”
When you’ve decided you want a career change or a new job, how on earth do you figure out what to go for when there are so many options?
To have the best success at securing a new job without spending what feels like all of the hours you have spare on the search, you need a plan. Having too many ideas is just as tricky to manage as having no clue what kind of role to look for, so here are my tips for refining those ideas for a career change and coming up with a plan. Continue reading “Career change – Tips for deciding your next job role”
A career break, also sometimes called a sabbatical, is an increasingly popular option with people part-way through their working life.
Like the grown-up gap year, they take some planning and people choose to take the time off for a variety of reasons. So why would you take a career break, and if you’re already thinking of taking some time out of your 9-5, what factors do you need to consider? Continue reading “Career break – grown up gap year or 21st century necessity?”
It’s easy to underestimate just how important personal values are when it comes to choosing your next employer. It’s even easier to focus on just getting that next job instead of taking the time to reflect on whether it’s the right next step for you and whether you’ll be a good fit, particularly if you’re unhappy where you are or if you’re out of work. The pay packet can become the sole focus. Continue reading “Applying for a new job? Does the potential employer share your values?”
Long ago, in days of yore, a young dreamer would find a trade, train with an experienced practitioner and see out their days plying that trade near and yon.
Nowadays, the average UK worker changes job every five years and the idea of a “job for life” is pretty much dead. And since we no longer have our employers providing definitive career paths for us, we are far more responsible for our career success than ever before.
Continue reading “What’s an agile career path? And how can you get one?”
With millions of job-seekers in the UK and tough economic conditions, it would be easily to get disheartened if your job search is taking longer than you’d like. There are more unemployed people than vacancies in the UK, according to the latest UK Labour Market Statistics.
Constant rejections, being unsuccessful despite getting an interview and, worse, firing applications into an apparent black hole where you hear nothing at all, can all take their toll when you’re looking for a job.
Continue reading “Maintaining your energy during a long job search – the role of grit”
