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”
Many people are familiar with the work of Professor Carole Dweck and her concept of “growth mindset”. (Check out her Ted Talk, The power of believing that you can improve for a 10-minute summary.)
The idea is that people who believe their talents can be developed through hard work, good strategies and input from others have a growth mindset. Research shows people with this mindset tend to achieve more than people who believe talent is innate and fixed.
There are a range of misunderstandings and myths around growth mindset which can be misinterpreted, resulting in you holding yourself back.
Continue reading “Growth mindset myths – how growth mindset can be misinterpreted to hold you back”
With more than 0.5m university students about to head into graduate scheme recruitment processes or thinking about roles for after graduation, and college students also weighing up whether work or further study is for them, now is exactly the right time to be preparing your success stories for job interviews.
Continue reading “Preparing your success stories for job interviews”
Winning the race for talent – how career coaching can give you the edge
Job vacancies remain a major concern for businesses in 2024 moving into 2025, with skills shortages continuing to impact multiple industries. According to recent ONS data, job vacancies in the UK stood at 819,000 as of Q1 2024, reflecting the ongoing war for talent.
In addition, a LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report found that 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development, reinforcing the importance of career coaching as a retention strategy. Continue reading “How to retain your talent through career coaching”
In a fast-changing job market with roles harder to fill than ever, it’s no wonder organisations are focusing on why employee retention is important.
With estimates of the cost of recruiting a new person into a role ranging from £7,000 to more than £22,000, being able to hold on to your people, even for a little bit longer, makes financial sense.
From a cultural point of view, having a stable group of employees gives you more chance of having an embedded and secure culture than if there’s a constantly revolving door.
And recent research publicised by the World Economic Forum links employee turnover to decreases in product reliability in the manufacturing sector. Continue reading “Why employee retention is important”
In my last blog (link), we looked at the many benefits that being mentored can bring, from boosting your confidence to enhancing your knowledge and learning. But it’s not just the mentee who can reap the rewards; being a mentor can have positive effects on your own career, too. Continue reading “The benefits of being a mentor”
Mentoring has come a long way since the traditional picture of a young upstart being schooled by an older executive. In the modern business world, the concept of mentoring has had to adapt and become more relevant to careers that do not follow a straight line trajectory; it’s a more fluid, less easily defined concept these days, but undoubtedly, when it works well, it can be exceptionally – and mutually – beneficial.
Built on trust, respect and communication, mentoring is a supportive relationship between two individuals, exchanging and exploring ideas, discussing progress and setting goals for further development. Continue reading “The benefits of being mentored”
