Category Archives: guest blogger

Careers Advice, guest blogger, Happy work environment

7 Steps to Follow When Changing Career

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Changing career can seem like a very daunting prospect, particularly if you have been in the same job for a long time. Follow our seven steps to make sure you get it right and make the transition as smooth as possible:

1.         Motivation, Not Money

Think about what is driving you to change careers and focus on it. Job satisfaction is the key to success and will keep you motivated to do well at your job, raring to return to work rather than dragging yourself in each day.

Make that change2.         Determine Skills

Write down what you are good at, what you enjoy and conduct your research from there. If you take a career in something that you are skilled in you are much more likely to enjoy it and get more out of it than something that you struggle with.

3.         Explore your Options

Take each skill one by one and look into the careers that can use them to the best ability. Link these to things that you enjoy doing and you will be amazed at the vast range of jobs available to you!

4.         Make “The List”

From the variety of options that have stemmed from your research, you can now start to make a short list of jobs that you would like to do. Concentrate on every possible aspect; location, hours worked, transport, training and anything else which may affect the reality of you obtaining your new career path.

5.         Contact the Professionals

Business Networking meetings are popular in all areas and are a great way to connect with people from your chosen career. Alternatively look online to see if you can find any organised events surrounding your chosen job.

6.         Watch and Learn

Where possible see if you can contact businesses directly and ask for advice; most will admire your determination and be happy to help. Ask if you can ‘shadow’ someone to get a better idea of the job and to learn more about how to do it.

7.         Try it out!

The only way to find out if you will enjoy a job is to give it a try. Lots of careers have a way of volunteering to see whether the job is suited, or if your career path is suitable, try part-time freelancing to build up a portfolio before taking the plunge.

There are several reasons why someone might want to change career, level of job satisfaction, a chance to learn new skills, a change in life circumstances and many other determining factors. Whatever your reason, make sure you are prepared and weigh up all of your options; then go for it!

Simon Appleton is CEO at Workcircle.

guest blogger, Interviews, Recruitment

3 Things You Shouldn’t Forget Saying During A Job Interview

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We bet you dream of building a really good and successful career. But every career starts with a successful job interview, doesn’t it? Your main task is to make a good impression on a job interviewer and make him understand that you differ much from other candidates (in a good way of course). It’s clear that there are many cliches a majority of candidates use to attract the attention and make an impression, but interviewers know them perfectly already, so, they rarely work today. It’s high time for something different!

InterviewsDo you want them to hire you? There is no need to use assignment help for that: just remember these 3 things to say during an interview to make an impression of a potential employee they actually need.

Ask them questions

Certainly, they will ask you many questions, and you will have to answer all of them. But remember, that your job interview is not a grilling: you have the right to ask questions too! Moreover, you should do that in order to show your interest towards this job and the company itself.

But our tip here will be the following: forget about all those cliché questions every interviewer heard a thousand of times already. Your task here is to attract the attention and differ from other candidates, so, your questions should be as original as they can be. For example, you many ask an interviewer about what he personally likes about the company he works at. Quite unexpected though logical, isn’t it? Or ask about what they expect from you within the first month of your job there.

What will be your value to their company?

It’s clear that a company that hires you wants to earn money. Your task is to show them how you can bring this money to them. Just try to demonstrate what your skills and knowledge can be used to achieve and bring the results they want to see. Do you have any ideas how to improve their business? Do you know how to make a company better? What new will you be able to bring them if they hire you? Just answer all these questions to an interviewer before he asks about that. It will prove the fact you totally understand what they need you for, and you know how to give it.

Your examples

While telling an interviewer about your skills, knowledge and achievements, don’t forget to support your answers with good examples. They will prove the fact that you are a person of a word, and you don’t just try to make an impression by telling about something you didn’t actually do.

Show an interviewer that you perfectly understand a job you will do in case you are hired, and you know all the requirements needed for this job. But anyway, don’t try to impress by knowing everything! Remember, that no one likes people who just boast, so, avoid long monologues about what a unique and perfect candidate you are.

The article submitted by , a pro copywriter and blogging enthusiast, who is always ready to help you with writing on different topics.

Careers Advice, Graduates, guest blogger, management advice, Observations

What On Earth Is Talent Communication?

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A phrase that may not be that familiar to you is something you’ll need to get to know if you’re going to get the right people to join your business and see you developing into the future. In order to find the right people, you need to know about their talents. To get their talents to join forces with your own, you need to communicate with them. Talent communication puts you in touch with the people who could be the next generation of employees and executives in your organisation.

Depending on how early you want to target future talent, there are different ways in which you can communicate to get them thinking about your organisation when they’re looking for a place to work. The type of individuals you’re looking to attract will also make a difference to the way in which you put your message across.

Getting in early

One way in which organisations large and small have historically attracted some of the top talent in the country is by joining the Milk Round of recruitment fairs at top universities to put them in touch with box-fresh graduates looking for work in the best companies in the UK and beyond. However, some organisations are looking to get in even earlier in order to secure the most talented young minds and direct them towards study and development that will best suit them for a career in that company.

Big hitter

Some international big hitters are now turning to agencies to help them gain insights into targeting future talent before they leave school and move on to further studies. Careers advice services are crying out for ways to better engage with young people as they decide what they want to do with their lives and companies who are able to offer something that’s compelling and helps teachers and advisers to better support young people at this vital stage is greatly welcomed.

Finding the right way to approach and communicate with children and young people is tricky. As a demographic group, they are rapidly changing and using more and more different modes of communication which can make it difficult to keep up. Finding the right language that resonates with children and young people can be a challenge, so it helps to work with specialists in the field of communication with this group to get the most out of your efforts.

Getting the big hitters

While it makes good sense to appeal to future employees early and build your brand image in the minds of young people, this doesn’t stop the need to recruit the best people later in their careers. No amount of graduate recruitment and succession planning will fill all the gaps in your teams and when it comes to going out to find the right people for your vacancies it helps to have a clear strategy.

Big Hitter

As budgets get tighter and the impetus to find the best quality people grows, making sure that you’re targeting your communications at just the right groups is increasingly important. Just putting an ad in the newspaper isn’t enough if you want to get the best; a well-rounded strategy that takes in placing articles in key industry publications to build reputation and brand recognition and covers the growing importance of social media marketing will make sure your hard-pressed recruitment budget comes up with the goods.

Conclusion

Whether you’re looking to attract talented young people embarking on the first steps of their careers or fill vacancies at the highest level of your organisation, seeking advice to develop a carefully targeted communication strategy will pay dividends in terms of finding the right people and building their appetite to join your team.

Written by Nathan Griffiths who recommends http://www.saslondon.com for tips on talent communication.

guest blogger, Project Management, Project Management Training

Why The Role Of A Project Manager Is Often Overlooked And Why It Shouldn’t Be

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A project manager is essential to the success of any project. Without utilizing this invaluable resource, projects will operate inefficiently, team members will lack motivation and miss deadlines and the overall project will cost significantly more than originally budgeted resulting in losing long-term clients.

Liaison

The project manager is the glue that holds the entire project together. They will act as the liaison between team members and upper management. In some instances, they may also act as the liaison between the company and the client. Each project management role will be slightly different; however, the level of importance of the role for successfully completing a project on time and on budget while ensuring the client is satisfied is equally important in all organizations.

Communication

Communication is key to the success of all projects. Today, most people work on a number of projects simultaneously. Without the direction of a project manager, every person on the team must wait for another member to complete part of a task before they are able to complete their job. Communication in these circumstances is appalling which leads to delays and frustrated team members without the guidance of a project manager.

Lifecycle

Motivation

Part of the role of a project manager is to keep team members motivated. A happy team member is a productive team member. By being in constant communication with the team, the project manager maintains their motivation and focus on the project at hand. If a team member is not performing as well as the others, the project manager will be able to work with the team member to determine ways to increase their level of productivity.

Deadlines

Part of the importance of constant motivation is to keep team members on task to meet deadlines. A project manager will follow up on task assignments to ensure each milestone and deadline is met. These deadlines are created with both internal and external clients. Missing deadlines in business will cost companies money and long-term business partners. Managing deadlines is a critical role of the project manager.

Budget

One of the most important reasons to hire or assign a project manager is to ensure the project does not exceed the predetermined project budget. Poor communication will result in poor efficiency and poor efficiency will lead to missed deadlines. Any misstep will lead to greater expenses. A project manager will monitor the cost of the team, materials and any other expenses directly related to the project to ensure the budget remains on target. Because emergencies do occur, the project manager will be able to immediately communicate such emergencies to directors and executives so that the client will be informed as soon as possible to prevent any dissatisfaction from the client.

To ensure the success of any and all projects, a project manager should be utilized. They will act as a liaison, enhance productivity, keep tasks on target and the budget in check. Companies that use a project manager will have far greater success than companies that do not.

Sally writes for Milestone UK who specialise in Primavera courses and Oracle training in the UK, to learn more about their enterprise solutions.