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?”
Understanding the difference between skills and strengths can be useful when thinking about your next career move. Both are important, especially when looking for a new job and going for interviews.
Here’s how to uncover your strengths and your skills, and why this information is useful when considering your career and preparing for a job interview.
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”
