Category Archives: Change

Careers Advice, Change, guest blogger, Job Hunting

How To Avoid A Career Plateau And Grab A Promotion

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This recession has been going on for a while now and getting a job is tough, never mind trying to progress in a successful career. For this reason, many people are finding that making progress in a job is hard; but it’s certainly not impossible.

If you are ambitious, hard working and a little bit optimistic there are plenty of opportunities out there, and improving your job prospects in 2013 is easier than you might think. All you need to do is work smart and be a little bit strategic. Try a few of the tips below and you will find your career on the up in no time.

It’s All About Networking

Being the best at your job is not sufficient on its own – you also need to be the best connected. Networking is all about knowing the right people and being open to job opportunities when they arise. In fact, being well connected can often get you a job even when you don’t necessarily feel like you are the best qualified.

Networking can be done online, and you should of course set up a LinkedIn profile and connect with all of your peers and clients. But you should also make the effort to go to conferences; either with your company or on your own if necessary. Let your boss know that you are going to the main conferences and you might even find that he comes along with you.

going up

Training To Improve Yourself

Most people are put off taking further training courses because they can be very expensive. The truth is though, that education is one of the best long term investments you can make, particularly if everyone around you is reluctant to do likewise.

Taking a training course, or even hiring a personal tutor, will help you to be better at what you do. It will also show your superiors that you are dedicated to your profession and that you are willing to invest in yourself.

Do Some Volunteer Work

Anything that sets you apart from the crowd is a good thing and since most people don’t want to spend their time working for free, doing so might help to boost your career.

If you have all the right qualifications but you lack experience, then consider volunteering for work experience in a company you would like to work for. You never know who might be paying attention, and working for free demonstrates a great deal of determination and dedication.

Often, work experience will lead to a real job, but if not, it provides experience and sets you apart from the crowd at the same time.

Ask To Be Promoted

Whilst you are busy doing work experience, training and lots of networking, you should also make sure that your boss knows that you exist and that you have big ambitions. Be open and let your boss know that you want to succeed.

You don’t have to ask for a promotion right now, but let it be known that you want more responsibility and that you want to progress. Once again, this will set you apart and means that you will be the first person your boss thinks of when an opportunity comes along.

Whilst you’re at it, ask for feedback on your current performance and find out if there is any way that you could make yourself a better employee. Regularly assess yourself and ask for more feedback so that you are always getting better and more valuable.

Guest post curtesy of the guys over here at uk Tutors.

Careers Advice, Change, guest blogger, Observations

What Career Suits You?

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How many times have you asked yourself what career is right for you?

Forget the qualifications, forget your previous employment, forget your experience in a field. We’re talking about finding that type of career suits your personality. After all, skills can be taught. Passion comes from within.

Psychologists and sociologists have, for years, tried to identify the ‘perfect’ job depending on your personality. But we’re naturally complex as humans, and have more than one – often conflicting – characteristics.

How then, can we decide what career suits us best? Here we will take a look at the ‘main’ personality types, and the careers they suit best:

Careers for realists

If you’re a ‘doer’, with a hands-on attitude and a realistic approach to problem solving; you would probably be described as a realist. If this sounds like you, aptitude tests and psychologists would tell you that you’re suited to a whole host of possible careers.

You would thrive in the fierce world of business, as your level headed approach would help you always make the right decisions. Jobs in a finance or marketing department, as well as computing would also be a good fit.

Careers for sociable’s

Some people prefer to work closely with others, throwing about ideas and generally working as part of a team; you would be classed a sociable personality.

For the outgoing and confident personality types, there are a whole host of careers that would really make the most of these traits. Jobs in sales will require you to really make the most of you social skills, as will jobs in the creative industries.

Make the most of your bold personality, and put those enviable traits to good use. Just be careful not to come across as pushy and overbearing. You want to be one of those bubbly characters everyone enjoys working with, not dreads!

Careers for the caring

If you’re the caring sort, there really is no better career path than a job in healthcare. Whether you’re a nurse, social worker, or GP; this is a highly rewarding career that will put your best personality traits to good use.

You obviously need to be extremely committed and hardworking too. These kinds of careers are certainly not suited to those who possess a ‘work hard, play harder’ mentality.

If you’re still not sure what the best career path is for your personality is, there’s a plethora of online quizzes designed to help you pick the perfect career. But do they really work?

Do the quizzes and tests really work?

There have been countless pieces of research as to what character traits suit what career types. A quick online search brings up more aptitude tests and quizzes than you can count; each claiming to help you find your dream job based on your answers.

While there is obviously research and science behind the quizzes, it is perhaps not wise to base your next career move on the results of a test. Instead, take your personality, qualifications, and career aspirations into account to help find your dream job.

This guest post has been supplied by Outcomes UK. The company specialises in recruitment for the social care industry. To find out more, visit their website today.

Change, guest blogger, News, Technology

Changing with the Times – ERM & CRM Systems

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The terms Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have been buzzwords in modern and efficient businesses for some years now. However implementing change can be difficult when there are in-built procedures that are working, but may not be as efficient as your competitor’s streamlined system. Jon Mell from IBM says there are some environments that still operate with huge mainframes that are unlikely to ever migrate. Yet innovation is the only way to remain competitive today and resistance to change will have a detrimental impact on business.

The problem most businesses face is accepting the initial cost expenditure in order to reap the rewards in the long-term. There is always a problem accepting that something needs to change when there seems to be little wrong with existing systems. In many situations it is hard to attribute a rise in costs because of extra marketing and sales efforts to lowering levels of competitiveness. It is easy to assume our businesses are suffering from the effects of the global downturn and shortening margins are an industry problem.

This is the best time to bring in some business analysis so a suitable design solution can be presented that can highlight where your business is haemorrhaging profits and falling behind similar businesses chasing the same clients. Data migration is almost always possible in modern systems and migration presents a perfect time for a remodelling of your data structure and this provides opportunities to streamline and improve efficiency.

In a world where data accessibility is improving productivity in workforces, empowering employees to implement change and giving leaders the tools to monitor and improve, the trend to encapsulate data in a decision centric environment is more critical in competitive marketplaces than ever before.  Some businesses will only need help on project management for specific initiatives, whereas others would require a complete design and build for an enterprise wide evolution. Whichever it is, there are obviously many ways to squeeze maximum profits from any operation.

Many companies have adopted ERM and CRM systems in the last ten years, but a lot has changed in computing in that time. Ten years ago, social networks were a concept and ten years before that we had no internet worth speaking of. Technology is constantly improving our lives in every way and businesses that are able to benefit from the right attitude to change will profit as a result.

Speaking to a professional who are specialist Netsuites consultants can give you a better idea of how a change can bring massive improvements in efficiency and profitability.