Tag Archives: research

Careers Advice, guest blogger, Job Hunting

Get back to work! Tips for the long-term unemployed

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The reasons for which people find themselves out of work for long periods are many and varied. Whether you have been out of work for personal reasons (illness, family crisis, raising children) or by choice (ski seasons, summer seasons, an unintentionally extended career break), the results are always the same: a great yawning hole in your CV. Getting back to work can then be considerably trickier since you now lack recent and relevant experience, and most companies seem incapable of taking a chance on their next recruit. However, an incomplete CV may not be the sole cause of the problem. For instance, many job seekers target niche markets or simply aim too high, while others have not yet discovered that they interview poorly or have bad references. Fortunately, these are all factors which can be improved with a little perseverance and some external careers advice.

If you feel your CV is holding you back, there are several ways in which you can fill in the gaps. Consider further education, which either adds another academic qualification or provides you with a trade skill, putting you a step ahead of the competition, though beware that this could be a costly affair. Volunteering and charity work are great ways to keep active, meet people and make job networking links. If possible, subscribe to a temping agency and take on any part-time work you are offered. This will prove that you do not wish the grass to grow under your feet any longer. Try not to lose any existing skills you have, such as languages and sports, so your CV remains up to date.

Back to work

Once you are happy that you are doing everything possible to enhance your CV and your employment chances, it is essential to keep the job hunt going. The first step is to subscribe to a recruiting agency, which will help link your CV to relevant job descriptions while you search yourself. Spending 20-30 hours per week looking for work is recommended, time which is best spent targeting jobs you are truly qualified for or writing to your most desirable employers. In applications, always try turning a negative into a positive. For example, your long-term unemployment means you fully appreciate the value of a job. You can get further advice from careers centres where advisors provide interview coaching and often highlight strengths which you had not seen for yourself.

It can be an emotional and difficult time but it is essential to remain positive and not become despondent or desperate. Do not isolate yourself from friends and family (nor burden them continuously with your problems) but keep enjoying doing the things you can afford. When you find that much desired job, everyone will be delighted for you and you can really thank them for their support.

http://www.itris.co.uk/

12 days of Christmas, No, Planning, Seasons Greetings

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

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On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

…12 Drummers Drumming! In our final 12 days of Christmas piece we are going for: on the 12th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a 12 stage plan, 11 ways to keep motivated, 10 years in detail, 9 pages too long, 8 mistakes of applications, 7 deadly sins of job hunting, 6 Key Achievements, 5 Golden Rules, 4 calling cards, 3 networks, 2 referees and a killer CV.

It seemed only fitting to round up the series with a 12 stage plan of finding that next role:

  1. Check your CV – get it professionally reviewed, plenty of organisations will do this for free including The CV Righter.
  2. Make appropriate updates – listen to the feedback given and make sure you address these in your CV.
  3. Make a list – what do you want to achieve? More money, a new challenge, career progression.
  4. Research – look at the roles out there which match your skill-set and start to really understand where your applications will progressed.
  5. Networks – make contact with your networks and let them know you are looking for a new opportunity.
  6. Get your CV out there – place your CV on job websites and register with agencies. Make sure you refresh regularly so you are not going to the bottom of the pile.
  7. Decide who you want to work with – having made a decision about which agencies and job boards work for you, keep to a short list of these and keep in regular contact.
  8. Be clever – set up “jobs by email” and google alerts so you can let the technology do the trawling for you.
  9. Research employers – understand all there is to know about the companies you wish to work for and keep an eye on activity. You may get ahead of all your competitors by anticipating new roles due to changes in the organisation such as new product launches, partnering with other businesses and mergers etc.
  10. Join in professionally related discussions – LinkedIn and Twitter often have lots of discussions; you can get yourself noticed and hear about new roles through such networks.
  11. Review – keep an eye on your applications and see what works and what doesn’t, you may need to revisit point 1 if you are not harvesting interviews.
  12. Keep organised – a simple spreadsheet covering all your applications and endeavours to keep track of everything is a good way to help generate new ideas and see trends for the right jobs for you with specific agencies and job boards.

On the 1st day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a Killer CV

On the 2nd day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me Two Referees

On the 3rd day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me Three Networks

On the 4th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 4 calling cards 

On the 5th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 5 golden rules

On the 6th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 6 Key achievements

On the 7th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me the 7 deadly sins of job hunting

On the 8th day of Christmas The CV righter gave to me 8 mistakes of applications

On the 9th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 9 pages too long

On the 10th day of Christmas The CV Righter said to me 10 years in detail

On the 11th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me 11 ways to keep motivated

on the 12th day of Christmas The CV Righter gave to me a 12 stage plan

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.

Careers Advice, CV Tips, Job Applications, PMO, Project Management, Project management CV, project management resume, Starting out in Project Management, Transferable Skills

Let’s talk about transferable skills – starting out in Project Management

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There’s always a lot of talk about skill-sets and particularly transferable skills; however if you want to transfer your career into the project management field then it is important to highlight the right skills which will be of greatest benefit to you and your potential employer. Now we all know there are differing types of project management roles from support through to managing and there are also more technical PM roles too – not just IT, they may be construction / engineering etc where you need to have a good knowledge of the field as well as PM methods to be successful in delivering benefits. So I am going to cover some key transferable skills for the PM aspect not any specific industry based element, here are a few to consider:

  • Investigating – Researching and questioning why? Key components to any good PM professional, being able to push back with quantifiable evidence is required even more now that funding is tight and projects benefits really do need to be explored thoroughly before starting off another project.
  • Planning – Planning / scheduling projects, predicting outcomes / scenarios, organising events and preparing for tasks – it’s a must!
  • Leadership – Core requirement for any good Project Manager and comes in very handy for Programme Support professionals too.
  • Influencing – The ability to gain buy-in is a big requirement for PM professionals, whether it’s from senior management, external (or internal stakeholders), sponsors or suppliers – you need to be able to persuade and encourage others.
  • Teamwork – Proving you can bond with others and build a strong force which produces results is key to successful project delivery.
  • Problem solving – Taking different viewpoints and exploring solutions is a big part of PM, from understanding workstream leads other commitments to supplier issues.
  • Budgeting – At some point you with be either managing your own budget or monitoring budgets on projects in a support element.
  • Decision making – The ability to look at your options and actually pick a way forward is crucial especially in a critical situation.
  • Training – Working with others either as a manager (PM) to mentor and train people in the project team or as a support person (PMO) to train others in various aspects of the project lifecycle such as risk management etc through workshops and 1 2 1 engagement.
  • Organising – From coordinating teams and individuals, arranging meetings and resources to scheduling.
  • Time management – Meeting deadlines and setting priorities are the core factors of project management and being on time is a given.
  • Creating – Not always highlighted as a core skill for PMs but in my experience of delivering projects, inventing, originating, designing or composing play a big part to success.

Now you can use this as a starting guide to performing a skills audit – once you have a list of transferable skills, you then need to provide some good examples of each skill (where you have used them / how / outcomes etc). These will help you form a basis for applications to project management jobs.