The process of managing your own career,
and particularly the aspects which involve changing jobs,
have close parallels with the process of selling a product.
When you are looking for a job the product that you are
selling is yourself. It is therefore important that you
understand exactly what it is that you are offering the
potential employer. This sounds simple, but it is important
to think of yourself not in terms of a set of qualifications
and experience, but in terms of what it is that you can
do and the skills that you have. To extend the parallels
with the selling process, your product literature is your
curriculum vitaeand the sales meeting is the interview.
Use this
checklist as a prompt to think about your skills and achievements.
Is there anything that made your academic or vocational qualifications
a 'special' achievement? - e.g. was there a particular difficulty
you had to overcome or was the outcome particularly noteworthy
in some respect
Is there
any activity that you undertake as a leisure pursuit or hobby
where you have made use of particular skills or achieved success
that could be interesting to an employer? If you had a 'gap'
year, what did you do? - if you used it constructively to
undertake a particular project this could have relevance.
For example if you took part in a conservation project you
might have had to raise sponsorship - how did you go about
this? If you have had previous full time or part-time employment,
identify your achievements.
What did you learn
- where you promoted etc? Do you undertake any voluntary work
or similar - what skills are needed here and what relevance
could these have in the workplace? Think about situations
and their outcomes where you have been able to demonstrate
the following skills rated as important by employers:
1.Teambuilding skills - being able to
work as part of a team or project group to achieve a goal
2.Interpersonal skills - being able to work well and effectively
with colleagues and clients 3.Communication skills - being
able to communicate effectively either through speaking or
writing 4.Business awareness - being aware of business realities
and the need to be commercial in a broad context
5.Self-awareness - being aware of the
image you present and how you may need to adapt this according
to the situation you find yourself in
6.Motivation - being able to keep yourself
focused on a task or problem and to persevere when things
are not going well When you begin to think about what you
have to offer, bear in mind that employers are more interested
in what you have achieved, rather than what you have been
responsible for. You should spend some time thinking back
over your current job and previous roles, picking out those
things that you have accomplished. People often find this
difficult to start with and most people will be inclined to
say that they have just done what has been required by the
job! Remember though that what is written in a job description
and what somebody actually does can be significantly different,
and it is what somebody does that leads to their contribution
and also to the achievements which are their own.
Think back
over what you have done and how you have done it. Think in
terms of what you have achieved and how these achievements
can be expressed as results. Think also about the skills,
knowledge and experience that you have used and which, when
applied, led to the particular result or achievement that
you have in mind. Try to think in terms of a sequence; what
was the background of a particular situation, what did you
decide to do, what did you actually do and what was the result.
Graduates - you may be thinking 'but I haven't had a full
time job before, so what can I say that's relevant?' You need
to focus your thinking in a slightly different way - think
about any holiday jobs you have had, what skills did you learn
and how could these be useful?
If you were
a member of any clubs or societies while at university, did
you play an active part - what notable successes did your
group achieve and what role did you personally play? When
you reflect on these activities and then think in terms of
some of the skills and personal attributes employers are looking
for you will be surprised. For example, the time you you directed
the student review will have given you skills in organisation
and teamworking; being on the debating society team will have
given you experience in planning and giving presentations
etc.
In addition
to your skills, knowledge and experience, there may be other
factors that influence where you want to work and how you
want to work. For many people there are aspects of work which
are in themselves intrinsically rewarding. These aspects are
not always at the forefront of the mind, but to help you focus
on these we have designed theCareer Influences Survey which
will give you some instant feedback to help you with your
thinking.
If you have had
experience of work whether part-time or full-time, it is important
to reflect on how the role you were filling matched up to
your expectations. Very often we have expectations that are
not met: this may be because we have assumed something would
happen in a particular way and this has just not been the
case, or there will be times when an organisation has held
out the expectation of certain things and these have just
not transpired. In either event this can have a significant
impact on one's enjoyment of a role and it is important to
identify what your expectations are going forward in order
to get the best fit between you and any future employing organisation.
Try the
Career Expectations Survey which will help you focus in this
area and will assist you in thinking about the questions you
want to ask an employing organisation and to decide how important
these expectations are in terms of any particular job role
you might be offered.
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