Are you fed up at work? Perhaps you are returning to work after a career break, recently redundant or just looking for a change. This blog is for you.
Bored, unhappy and unfilled? Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make your work-life balance acceptable and occasionally it’s the biggest things that prevent you from achieving job satisfaction.
Could a professional career consultant help you? Someone who understands labour market information, current job search strategies and how career anchors and occupational interests can improve your applications and targeted job search could be the right person to work with while you embark on your career transition.
Did you know that you are more likely to be successful in your job change and search if you work with an adviser? Professional career consultants study hard to understand what makes you tick and how your preferences, style of working relate to the world of work.
Everything considered, it could be well worth your while. You would learn so much more about yourself; when you are at your best, how you relate to other people, how you like to be managed and what can stress you out as well defining exactly what role suits you, where it would be, what sector, what location etc.
For example: a well informed and up-to-date career professional can coach you through exploration and help you set a realistic strategy to find job and career satisfaction. It could be as easy as A, B, C!
Getting a job is a job in itself; you need actions, goals and specific SMART objectives. You need to keep robust records, give yourself regular tasks and rewards. There is far more to job searching than scanning newspapers and searching Monster.com.
Having a plan keeps you focused and maintains your motivation and unfortunately, many job seekers become dispirited and lose momentum quickly if they are out of work for a long period of time. Working with a consultant will ensure that when [and if] you have any wobbles, you can share your anxieties and get practical support to overcome them.
It’s equally important that you share your career plans so you avoid any difficulties and ensure that you keep on track. Reaching dead-ends are frustrating and fresh input from your impartial supportive consultant will mean you can actively overcome these disappointments.
Jobs might be hard to come by, but a career consultant can help you uncover the hidden job market and show you how to approach speculative leads to increase your chances of finding the right job.
Keep thinking about what else you can do and you might be surprised at the transferable skills and expertise you have. Put it down on paper and capture your successes so you are well prepared for interviews and questions about your contributions in the work place.
Look at career inventories or other psychometric tools that will give you ideas about where your occupational interests and skills lie and where and how you will be at your best in work within a team. Realisation that you are a round peg in a square hole will mean you will, sadly, not be happy at work nor reach your potential. Career exploration is a logical and simple process, it just takes some time and investment on your part.
Make sure you have a clear idea about the role you are looking for. The more research you do, both personal and job-related, the more likely you are to receive positive responses from recruiters. Niche roles require specific investigation that help position you at the right level for the right job.
Network, network and network again online and face to face. The more people you talk to about your job search and the ideal position and company, the more likely you are to find possible leads. People want to help, they enjoy sharing their expertise and passing on advice and recommendations if they can. So ask questions, listen to the answers and take on board suggestions. Network contacts can be very useful.
Of course you might already have been looking for a job for ages, and are feeling pretty despondent with rejections; so to overcome these feelings you could contact a career professional to regenerate and kick start your action plan.
Perhaps the consultant could give you some advice on how to update your CV/résumé, how to position yourself for the current market, where to look for jobs and how to approach recruitment agencies. They will be full of inspirational thoughts and are used to coming up with new opinions on what’s current and what’s acceptable when it comes to job searching.
Quite often, when you have a consultation, you come away with fresh ideas and realise that your efforts in job searching have been splattered instead of targeted. Get on target and you improve your chances of success 100%.
Realistically your career consultant can point you in the right direction and help you present yourself at your best and most attractive so that your employability skills and experience are eye catching and captivating to employers and recruiters. Your new employers needs to know what you can do for them.
Setting yourself up with professional profiles on-line and using social media to support your job search is another area where professional guidance can be invaluable. There are a number of pitfalls that can arise which could rule you out of possible employment if you are not careful.
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn are all useful tools in your job search IF they are used correctly. An appropriate photograph, a consistent profile of skills and achievements and threads about your chosen sector and role and all welcomed. Inappropriate behaviour, language and comments may well come back to haunt you. Google has a long memory.
Unless you are an academic with numerous publications there is no need for your CV/résumé to be longer than 2 pages and to position yourself correctly, it is only the first third of the first page that will grab the reader’s attention. Professional appraisal will help you write an eye-catching document that will put you at the top of the selection pile.
Very often you might be surprised at the results that the simple changes recommended by your consultant make to your CV/résumé, interview preparation and job submission correspondence. By making your job search attention-getting you’ll receive more interest and more opportunities to show-off your expertise.
X-rated email addresses [eg: ], poor grammar and spelling mistakes are all to be avoided once you start to look for a new job.
You’d be amazed at how many job hunters use out of date CV/résumés with no positioning statement, and one that is poorly written and hard to read. No wonder they are rejected.
Zero results confirms that if you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten so perhaps now is the time to change. Talk to a career professional and Get That Job!
This blog has been written after reading the How to Write Better ABC Challenge and maybe part of the competition
photo credit: Leo Reynolds via photopin cc
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