Achieving Your Career Goals

Achieving

Your Career Goals

Copyright Owen Weaver Limited 2008 1

Achieving your career goals

1. Introduction – Why we need to manage our careers

Today’s organisations are placing even more importance on the relationship
between themselves and their employees. Attracting the very best employees who
have real commitment and dedication to the organisation is crucial to their
success. This is called the psychological contract and embodies more than just the
scope of activities that the employee is expected to carry out, in exchange for the
remuneration offered by the employer. It encompasses what the organisation
expects the values, commitment and performance of the employee to be as the
company evolves and also how it intends to stimulate and reward its employees.
Therefore, it is vital that workers expect things to keep changing and are well able
to adapt to those changes quickly.

So whether you are looking for a change of career within your current
employment, or are looking for opportunities externally, it is important for you to
start the process by getting to know who you are, through a stock take of your
own values, strengths, achievements, skills, and what has influenced your life’s
journey so far. That way you are more likely to know for sure what you want from
your career and what you have to offer a prospective employer or give to a new
role within your existing organisation.

2. Key stages to successful career management
Try to approach career management like you would when buying a car or a house
etc. In fact the investment you make in managing your career will have a much
greater impact on you and your family than purchasing any of these items, no
matter how expensive they are at the time. You wouldn’t buy a car without first
considering what sort of car you want or need; what it will cost you to run over
time and its likely depreciation. Neither would you buy a house without first
considering what commitment it will take to meet the payments, how much it will
cost to heat and light and whether it is a good long-term investment. So
preparation is everything. There will always be the unexpected things that
happen, but most of the time researching carefully will help us to go into such a
contract with our eyes wide open. So here is a checklist that will help you manage
your career.

Carry out a personal stock take
This will help you to identify what you have to offer a potential employer

Identify and refine your career objective
This will help you to understand what sort of career you really want

Produce a self-advertisement
This will help you to crystallise your optimal skills and competencies


Draft a self-marketing strategy
This will help you to plan your campaign

Establish a strong network of contacts
This will provide you with a strong supportive base and a stepping-stone from
which to launch your career offensive

Research and approach prospective employers
This will help you to know your market and gauge any competition

Be persistent
This will encourage you not to give up when the going gets touch

Prepare for interview and negotiation
This will help you to stand head and shoulders above your competitors and secure
the best deal for yourself and your new employer.

3. Getting to know who you are
Your journey so far
Before you begin to take stock of what you want out of your career and what you
have to offer a prospective employer, you should spend some time considering
what makes you the person you are. Let’s consider what have been the key stages
of your life’s journey to date and the things that have impacted on you and driven
you to be the person you are. This will have begun in childhood, especially
through your formative years. Remember, these things may have had a positive or
negative impact on you. So try to list the key stages in your life:

Key stages in my life:
E.g. early family life, school, university, relationships, achievements,
ambition etc


Key stage impact
Thinking about those key stages in your life in more detail, and what you have
gained from them, which of them do you think has had the greatest positive impact
on your life? (It’s worth remembering that some of the things that had a negative
impact on us at one time may have equipped us better for the future and as a result
now has a positive impact on our life.)

Key stage that had a positive impact Key stage that had a negative impact
at the time but has a positive impact
now

4. Carrying out a personal stock take
Everything that has happened to you in your life, and in your career to date, will
have equipped you with a unique set of skills and talents. Your hobbies and
interests will also have contributed to this unique set of tools that you have at your
disposal. Knowing exactly what these are enables you to understand why you
have the career objectives you have and whether or not you can realistically
achieve them. So let’s start the stock take by looking at your strengths:


Strengths
Your strengths are usually a combination of what
you do well and what you are interested in and
enjoy, i.e. your abilities and interests. The
combination of these two provides you with your
Unique Selling Points or USPs. All successful
products coming to the market place have these
USPs and are crucial to know if we intend to
market ourselves. Where our abilities and
interests cross over are our key strengths.

Complete the following exercise by inserting a cross in the Interest column if you
really enjoy the activity and one in the Ability column if you regard it as one of
your strongest abilities.

Interest Activity Ability
Problem solving
Budgeting
Planning
Decision making
Leadership
Team working
Installing
Operating
Innovation
Empathy
Listening
Mentoring
Negotiating
Written presentation
Oral presentation
Flexibility
Project management
Analysis
Interpretation

Now take a look at your three top scores. What are they? These are your primary
skills and strengths.

1..................................................................................................................................

2..................................................................................................................................

3.................................................................................................................................


Transferable skills and strengths
Many of the skills and strengths you have listed above are transferrable from one
employer to another. In order to really appreciate this you need to take each of
these skills and strengths and identify why you feel successful in this area.

For instance, you may have ticked Oral Presentation in the above list. If you have
then try to think of all the occasions when you have given an oral presentation,
which went well. What facts were you presenting, who was your audience, what
preparations did you make, what if any technology did you use? How did you
know it was successful, in other words what did it result in?

You will soon realise that you have more strengths and skills than you first
thought. You may have had to research your facts before the presentation and
formulated them into a visual presentation. Did you anticipate what your audience
needed to know and be prepared for questions afterwards? Did you communicate
well, so that your audience could hear you clearly? Did you listen carefully to the
questions asked afterwards so that you could answer them succinctly?

So, therefore, you have more than just oral communication/presentation skills.
You have research skills, written skills, listening skills, planning skills, and if you
have had to work with others to prepare the presentation, then team working skills
too! These are your sub primary skills and strengths.

Let’s return then to your three top primary skills and strengths. Take each of them
in turn and identify examples that demonstrate how you have used them
successfully in the past. Then consider each of these examples and identify sub
primary skills that enabled you to achieve that success.


Primary skill and 1. 2. 3.
strength and how
I have used it in
the past

Sub primary
skills and a) a) a)
strengths that
enabled me to
succeed

b) b) b)

c) c) c)

d) d) d)

When considering new employment opportunities you can match the requirements of
that job against your inventory of transferrable primary and sub primary skills and
strengths listed above. It is worth remembering that some of your key strengths will
not have come from employment at all, but from life itself!


Achievements
By looking at the occasions when you put your
primary skills and strengths into practice you
were able to identify a whole lot more sub
primary skills and strengths that enabled you
to achieve that success. So let’s take a look at
your major achievements, not only in your career
to date, but also in your life generally. But before
we do, we have to understand exactly what an
achievement is. An achievement is evidence of your effectiveness. It is a tangible
outcome. It is something that started with a challenge or problem to solve, and then
required you to take various actions or steps, in order to receive the result or benefit.

Now consider three of your greatest achievements to date:

What was the
Challenge/problem?

What Action/steps
did you take?

What were the
Results/benefits?

By using the same method as you did to identify your sub primary skills and
strengths, now look at your major achievements above and list all the primary and sub
primary skills and strengths you put into practice to achieve these successes.


List of all my primary and sub primary skills and strengths

Values
As well as your primary and sub primary skills, strengths and achievements, there is
the important issue of your values to consider. So what are values? Well values are
about the things we regard as precious or guiding principles. For instance, they could
be our beliefs, our integrity or the standards that we live our lives by or what we
regard as vital to have. They are the things that make us feel uncomfortable if they are
compromised. Reviewing your values is a good exercise to carry out at various stages
of your life, as they may change and develop as you mature or your circumstances
alter and your experience grows. So let’s consider what they are now, whether they
are being met in your present job and whether or not they should influence you in
your choice of a career/job in the future. Here are some examples to get you started.


Examples of values
Friendships Integrity Lifestyle

Competition Morality Honesty

Creativity Knowledge Truthfulness

Excitement Decision-making Accuracy

Authority Travel Supporting others

Freedom Profit and gain Global

Security Team working Fast-moving

Risk Working under pressure Getting along with the
boss
Stability Community Work/life balance

Recognition Independence Loyalty

Now list your values:

Value Impact on it in your Must be congruent to
current job – positive or future career/job
negative Yes/No


Now that you have articulated your values, you should be able to see how identifying
a career or job that is congruent to them, and your primary and sub primary skills, will
lead to greater job satisfaction. You will feel good about yourself and your
achievements, which in turn will make you better and more confident at your job.

Comfort zones
Finally, before we finish our personal stock take we need to spend some time
considering our comfort zones. These are the zones in which we live and work which
are the most familiar to us. Their familiarity provides us with a certain degree of
security and comfort. Unfortunately though comfort zones can often stifle our
creativity and bring about the onset of boredom. How many times have you been
challenged out of your comfort zone only to find that the general unease you felt at
first was completely superseded by a real sense of achievement and growth when you
successfully rose to the challenge? Fear of change is mainly about moving into
unfamiliar territory. The more we allow ourselves to move out of our comfort zones,
the more likely we are to react positively to the stimulus of change and benefit from
the new skills and experiences we pick up on the way.

Try to imagine coming out of your comfort zone like
moving house and living in a new area. Everything
and everybody look strange and unfamiliar. The
journey to work, the trip to the local shops, your
neighbours, the way your furniture looks in your
new home all seems strange and incoherent. But in
time, these will be as familiar to you and your
current situation is now. It just takes TIME! Think
for a moment about when you were a child. You
may not remember your first step, but that must
have been very scary for you. You may have fallen
over many times before you managed to walk
unaided, but you did it! Every one of us has had to
wander out of our comfort zone at some stage in our
life in order for us to be the person we are today, so don’t be afraid of coming out!

However, here we must sound a note of caution.
All of us have boundaries beyond which we
CANNOT or WILL NOT go under any
circumstances. For instance, those things that
we say we wouldn’t do even if someone offers
us a million pounds! Everyone has these, no
matter what they say. Knowing what they are
will help you to gauge how far you’re willing
to go into unknown territory.


Comfort zones
Boundary

Unfamiliar
territory

Comfort
zone

No man’s
land

Personal Mission Statement
Having analysed your primary and sub primary skills, your achievements and values,
and your comfort zones and boundaries, it’s time to draft a Personal Mission
Statement. Having a Personal Mission Statement will provide you with a “context”
within which you can assess future career and job opportunities.

This statement will encapsulate

what you want, or want to achieve, out of life
what your values are
what you are able and willing to offer
how far you are willing to go to get what you want

Here are a few examples to get you started:

I want to live my life serving others - in the community, within my family and my
circle of friends - by offering support, advice, a listening ear, in order to make a
positive difference to those around me.

I want the challenge and stimulus of a changing environment, where creativity is
encouraged and a degree of risk provides excitement, and a sense of real
achievement.

I want to achieve a real work/life balance, where I ensure my own well-being and
respect the well-being of those around me. I will bring a sense of honesty and
integrity and high standards to my relationships with others and will challenge myself
to push the boundaries of my capabilities and encourage others to do the same.


My Personal Mission Statement

Personal advert
Have you ever been to a party and someone asks you what you do for a living? Did
you find it difficult to describe what you do succinctly and in an interesting way?
Well let’s try and draft a statement that tells someone about you.

This “personal advert” needs to contain the following facts:

who you are
what your key strengths are
what your primary skills are
how you are able to apply them to your current job or role
how a recent achievement has made you feel
what you want to do next.

Write it out several times until it reads smoothly and then LEARN IT BY HEART!
The more you practice it the easier it will become. It’s worth remembering that first
impressions are powerful and last only seconds, so keep it short and to the point.
Practice saying it in front of a mirror so you have some idea how the way you move
your head and your eyes affects your delivery. This will be particularly important
when you are invited to attend a job interview.


My personal advert

5. Taking a look around you
Changes in work patterns and careers
In the past organisations used to be ordered in hierarchies or vertical structures,
where jobs had very specific responsibilities within limited areas. Careers were
well defined with clear progression paths. Workers didn’t have to like their job,
just to do it. Managers told you what to do, and if you did it well, you could
expect a job for life.

Now organisations have flatter structures. Employees usually work as part of a
team, but are expected to carry out multiple tasks. Career moves within an
organisation tend to be diagonal or horizontal and workers are expected to show
their value to the organisation. Today’s managers support and empower workers
rather than tell them exactly how to do their jobs. In most cases though,
employees are left to manage their own careers. In fact nowadays, most people
can expect to have more than one change of career during their working life.

But what will happen to work and careers in the 21st Century? How do we expect
things to develop? Well, continuing globalisation and greater technological
change will play a big part in the future of employment. More importance will be
placed on interpersonal relationships within companies as their span continents
and cultures. Increasingly, jobs will require creativity and independence, as more
importance is placed on achievement of goals and objectives across disparate
locations. With the rising cost of education, more people will have to enter
employment earlier as a means of funding their education, and with people living
longer, employees are likely to have to work well beyond what is the normal
retirement age now. Outsourcing certain activities that are non-core is likely to
continue, particularly if there is a real financial benefit for doing so. Many people
working for an organisation could find themselves dispersed and having to
manage their own work patterns, perhaps working from home. There is likely to
be a rise in those opting for self-employment and as customer expectations rise,
along with competition, much more importance will be placed on achieving,
managing and exceeding customer expectations.


How that change affects us
Remember what we heard earlier about the
importance of the psychological contract?
Employers today expect more from us in
terms of our commitment to the culture
of the company and to respond rapidly to
its ever-evolving needs. In exchange for
that they provide us with personal develop-
ment training that equips us with the skills to
reach our full potential. It’s not necessarily
that we have to work harder, but SMARTER.
Take every opportunity you can to invest in
your own personal development. This will
broaden your skills base and make you more
marketable. As we learned earlier, most skills are transferable from one
employer to another.

Developing a personal network
Managing your career will, at times, be a frustrating process. Things won’t
always work to plan within the timescales you set yourself. So it’s important
to anticipate this before hand by preparing for yourself a personal support
network. Think of this like a safety net that is there to support you if you fall.
There will be times along the way when your confidence will feel a little
battered and bruised. Your personal network is there to help you to bounce
back and keep the momentum going. Not only does it do that but it also
provides you with a whole host of contacts you would not have had if you had
gone it alone.

So who should we include in our personal
network? Well there are the MOVERS and
SHAKERS. These are the people with
whom you may have had contact in your
previous or current work, and with whom
you have kept in touch and who know the
market sector you are targeting. They are
people who are at the leading edge and
who know which direction the market is
going. They are influential and respected
in their field of expertise. If you find it
difficult to identify such contacts directly, then you can establish a contact
through someone else, e.g. “a friend of a friend”. The second group are the
SMOOTHERS and SOOTHERS. These people may be nearer to home and
are more personal or intimate friends that provide empathy and support when
you need it most. You are not in competition with them and they give
generously of their time and support without expecting recompense.

There are, however, some golden rules to bear in mind in your relationship
with your personal network. Always treat your Movers and Shakers with


professional courtesy and respect. Never offload your personal feelings on
them, as this is unprofessional and may be regarded by them as a sign of
weakness. Always ask for the minimum of help and advice so that it gives
them a chance to offer more if they wish to. Try to reciprocate
whenever an opportunity presents itself.
Remember the people they “name drop” and
ask them if they would mind if you contacted
them yourself. Always keep them informed
of your progress and be honest; it doesn’t pay
to exaggerate your progress. Avoid over
familiarity. But remember to ask for their
advice. A good place to start is by asking
them to look through your CV and suggest
improvements. Whenever you meet up with them, try to arrange face-to-face
meetings as much as possible, and have a clear strategy in your head for what
you want to get out of the meeting by making a list of the questions you want
to ask. If you have asked for a specific time slot, then remember to stick to it
doggedly, even if you both appear to be in no rush to end the meeting. That
way the person will know you stick to your word and are more likely to be
able to fit you in for a further discussion in the future. Always thank them at
the end of the meeting and try to send a follow-on thank you email or letter
afterwards. This will make them feel valued and encourage them to continue
to support you.

Your Smoothers and Soothers don’t need to know
all the ins and outs of your career management.
They are there to provide you with friendship,
care and empathy when you need it most. Their
relationship to you is unconditional, which
means they don’t expect to be rewarded.
However, all of us, even if we don’t expect
it, appreciate being thanked and spoiled from
time to time. So the odd box of chocolates,
flowers or invitation to dinner will be ample
reward. Never underestimate the role of the
Smoothers and Soothers. Remember what we
heard about first impressions. People make their
minds up about us in the first few seconds, so the Smoothers and Soothers are
the ones who will help us maintain our equilibrium and sense of humour.
Feeling confident, alert and in control shows in our eyes, so these people are
enormously important to us in this respect. Seek their advice about the
practical issues such as what we should wear when we meet our Movers and
Shakers, or we attend a job interview and what hairstyle suits us most.
Looking good helps us to feel good and if we feel good then we are likely to
perform more effectively.

So, let’s make a list of the people we intend to approach to be part of our
personal network.


Movers and Shakers Smoothers and Soothers

6. Getting ready to move forward with a self-marketing plan
Market research
You have spent a good deal of time now analysing your skills, strengths,
achievements and values and you have a pretty good idea what you have to
offer a prospective employer. Now you have to consider how you can present
yourself to the marketplace. In order to do this effectively, you have to begin
to see the issue from an entirely different perspective.
For instance, imagine that you are selling your house,
what sort of things would you start by doing? Well,
you would want to provide the “wow” factor, e.g.
emphasising the really unique selling points for all
to see. The advertising material would describe
these in great detail and you would make sure that
each of them really looked good so that when
prospective buyers came to view they wouldn’t be
disappointed. You would give your house “kerb”
appeal so that it looked good at a distance. You
would accentuate a feeling of warmth and light
throughout the house, with flowers in vases and a fresh appealing fragrance in
the background. Basically, you would exaggerate the plus points so that the
rather more negative points do not appear to be important. Well that’s exactly
what you have to do to promote yourself.


Next you have to decide exactly which marketplace is appropriate for you. Are
you happy to remain in the employment sector you’re in at the moment or
would you like to change? Are you happy with the kind of job you have now
or would you like to explore an entirely different job? Perhaps you are even
contemplating self-employment or even voluntary work! Completing the grid
below will help you to target the right market for you.

Yes No
Similar job in a similar industry

Similar job in a different industry

Different job in the same industry

Different job in a different industry

Self-employment

Voluntary work

Next you need to ask yourself a series of questions:

What would your ideal job be?

…………………………………………………………………………………..
What would be the worse job you could have?

………………………………………………………………………………….
How big an organisation would you like to work for?

…………………………………………………………………………………
What kind of boss would you prefer?

…………………………………………………………………………………
What challenges would you like to tackle in the workplace?

…………………………………………………………………………………
Thinking about the above, what would be the things that would stand in your
way achieving it?

………………………………………………………………………………


Now try to piece all the information above together and identify TWO
possible career/job options.

Option One

Option Two

For each of the options above you should carry out a SWOT analysis. A
SWOT analysis looks at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats the career/job option could provide.

Option Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

One

Two

This exercise will give you an idea how closely your current skills, experience,
qualifications and interests match the option you have chosen and if you have
a real gap in your skill sets that needs to be remedied before you can advance
any further in that direction. You might like to bounce some of these ideas off


someone else before going any further and make the necessary changes to the
information above. Your local Further Education College may have a Career
Advisor who can help you identify what courses exist to help you bridge the
skills/qualifications gap.

At the end of this stage you should have a very good idea what areas of
interest you have, the industry in which you would like to work and a specific
career or job in mind.

Self-employment
Having completed this process you may be of the view that you would like to
work for yourself. If that’s the case then you should seek professional advice
about setting up a business. Your local Business Centre will provide you with
very useful advice. You can search for the nearest one to you on the Internet.

Nature of the job market
There are a number of ways you can approach the marketplace. Here are just
some of them:

Adverts in newspapers, local and national
Adverts in trade magazines
Adverts on the internet
Adverts in Job Centres
Adverts in shop windows

All of the above falls into the category of the OPEN marketplace. These
career/job opportunities are there for everyone to see. But this is not the
whole picture. Did you know that at least 60% of all job vacancies are not
advertised in the OPEN marketplace? These vacancies exist and need filling,
but the process for filling them occurs through a more CLOSED system of
networks, such as recruitment agencies, or basically people in the know.
Remember the old adage “It’s not what you know, but who you know”? Well
that it still alive and well……………

Let’s take these markets individually and examine how to approach each of
them.

Open Marketplace
This is relatively easy to break into once you have identified which
newspapers or magazines are relevant to the sector you want to work in. Look
through your local business directory and find out what organisations exist in
your area that might offer you opportunities similar to the ones you are
seeking. Go on the internet and search for these organisations, which usually
have reasonable websites that may well outline the vacancies that exist
currently. A trip to your local Job Centre will provide you with a contact who
will search for vacancies in the area of work you are targeting or will keep
your name on file in case something comes up at a later date. During your visit
to the local shops keep your eyes open for job advertisements in shop


windows. If you identify a job opportunity that interests you, then ask for
more details so you have a clearer idea exactly what they’re looking for. Once
you have that, you need to compare it with the skills, strengths, achievements
and values you identified earlier.

The following grid will help you to do this:

Skills and competencies Is there a If Yes
they require match with High Medium Low
your own
Yes/No

Once you have completed the above and have identified a number of key
matches with your own abilities and interests, you need to prepare your CV
and covering letter. (We will cover preparing your CV and covering letter in
more detail a little later on.) Remember to refer directly in your CV to the
particular skills and competencies that exactly match your own. These need to
appear both in your covering letter, AND in a prominent place at the
beginning of your CV. Where there is a medium match, these skills and
competencies should appear in the body of the CV only, and where there is a
low match then you should include them merely under your employment
history at the end of the CV.

Before you send off your CV, there are a few guiding principles to bear in
mind.


Never send a CV without a covering letter. Prospective employers get
really annoyed with this, as it appears you haven’t taken sufficient time
and effort to make contact with them in a professional manner

Make sure you identify a specific person to send your application to
and remember to include any reference number. Employers run a
number of advertisements simultaneously, so you will need to point to
a specific vacancy

Unless particularly asked for details of your current salary, don’t give
it, as this may weaken your negotiating position later on if they offer
you the job.

Closed marketplace
Let’s look at two specific aspects of the Closed Marketplace; Recruitment
Agencies and Networks. Basically, there are three types of activities
undertaken by recruitment agencies:

They act as brokers bringing prospective employees to employers
seeking matching skills and competencies

They act as agents for organisations carrying out all their
recruitment activities, from advertising to short listing, but often do
not take part in the actual interviewing stage

They headhunt staff from one employer and try to tempt them to
move to a competitor.

Whichever role they carry out, it’s worth
noting that they may have hundreds of
clients on their books at any one time,
so the responsibility for keeping your
details uppermost in their minds is down
to you. Contact them every few days and
make notes of the progress made. Their
commission for carrying out this role
comes from the new employer and is
usually based on a percentage of the
starting salary for the first year.

Remember your personal network contacts? Well filling vacancies through
networking works in a similar way. People recommend other people for
vacancies that exist. So start with the people on your personal network and
ask them the following:

Do they know the names of people who make decisions on
recruitment matters for companies that you are interested in?


Ask them to keep their eyes and ears open for information on
career/job vacancies in the organisations in which you are
interested

Do they know of any companies that may be interested in the skills
and competencies you have that you haven’t heard of?

Are they able to make any introductions on your behalf, and if so,
would they put in a good word for you?

Would they read your CV and give you any advice on improving it
and making it more effective for the organisations you are
targeting?

Are they able to recommend a particular recruitment agency?

You will find that the people on your personal
network will have different ways of helping
you. Putting them into pigeonholes according
to their interactions with you will enable you
to target which one to contact at particular
stages of your career management process.

Please complete the boxes below by entering
the name of the person on your personal
network that fits the bill better than anyone
else. Having boxes that you cannot fill will
show you where your personal network is in need of updating.

A member of your fan Can give you honest Will challenge you
club - ex client or feedback
customer

Will stimulate you Influential person who Mentor who can act as
with creative ideas might be able to both a Mover and
introduce you to an Shaker & a Smoother
organisation or broker a and Soother
deal


An important part of managing your career is to keep in touch with your
personal network contacts REGULARLY and keep a note of your
meetings with them, such as when you last met, what the agreed outcomes
were and when you next intend to meet. Producing a simple spreadsheet as
at Figure 1 will enable you to do this.

Figure 1.

Contact When last met Items discussed Outcomes Next meeting


Preparing a CV
A curriculum vitae or CV for short is an important document that you will use
over and over again as you manage your career development. It’s a record of
your qualifications, skills and interests and your complete employment history
to date. It’s a tool, which if used properly, can draw comparisons between
what you have to offer a prospective employer and what the prospective
employer is looking for. Keeping your CV up to date is really important, as
much of what is of importance to the skills sets we develop can easily be
forgotten with the passage of time. It’s good to record all forms of technical
and personal development training and the dates these were carried out. That
way a prospective employer can gauge whether or not your skills are up to
date.

Although CVs can be constructed in different ways, all must contain some
basic information such as:

Personal and contact information
Education and Qualifications
Employment History
Skills relevant to the job you are applying for
Interests
References

It’s worth remembering that employers see many hundreds of CVs, so you
need to develop one that is clear, concise and deals with the most important
issues early on. Employers don’t have time to read every word on the CV.
Therefore, keeping your CV to two sides of an A4 is advisable. Try to draw as
many similarities as possible between your skills, experience and interests to
the job you’re applying for. Always sound positive, without exaggerating or
being untruthful.

Identifying the right people to provide references is really important. Your
current employer is a certainty, but you can request that they only be contacted
if you are successful at interview. That way it will not jeopardise your current
job if it turns out that you are unsuccessful. You will be asked to suggest
someone who can provide a character reference. Try to identify someone who
knows you well, and who knows what your responsibilities have been in the
past, particularly your successes. Someone will a degree of gravitas in their
own field would be ideal!

You can obtain help constructing your CV by searching the Internet for sites
that offer free services.

Covering letter
Always send a CV to a prospective employer or recruitment agency with a
covering letter. This will create a good impression and should encourage them
to want to read your CV. Here are some tips as to what the covering letter
should contain:

Use plain white paper and only one side of an A4 sheet


Use a clear type font, such as Arial
Try to contain the letter to three main paragraphs
Always use black ink, as many letters and CVs have
to be photocopied
Use confident and positive language without exaggeration
Address it to a named individual within the organisation
Never use a template letter that you’ve used before for another employer,
as each one should be tailored specifically for each application
Don’t repeat everything in your CV.

Here at Figure 2 is an example of a covering letter:

Employer/Agency Details Your contact details
(Name, address, telephone
& mobile numbers and
email address)
Date

Dear

TITLE IN BOLD TEXT – INCLUDING REFERENCE NUMBER

Paragraph One
Explain why you’re writing, what you’re applying for, why you’re interested
in the position and why their company interests you. (It’s good to research
their website before hand.)

Paragraph Two
Tell them what you can offer them and why they should consider you for the
role. Include a summarisation of your experience, skills and qualifications and
a brief example of work you have carried out in the past that is similar the job
they’re advertising.

Paragraph Three
Refer to your enclosed CV and ask to be considered for interview. Thank the
reader for their time and attention and that you look forward to hearing from
them shortly.

Closing
Yours sincerely

DON’T FORGET TO ENCLOSE A COPY OF YOUR CV!


Preparing for interview
If you are fortunate enough to be successful
through the first sift, you may be asked to
go through selection testing before being
called for interview. Some selection
testing involves exercises to gauge your
cognitive skills and the completion of
personality questionnaires. Whichever
it is always take your time and answer
honestly, without second-guessing what
they want to hear.

If you are called for interview, then it may take various forms. Interviews
nowadays are mainly one to one in a fairly relaxed atmosphere. Sometimes the
company may ask you to have more than one of these one to one meetings.

If the company is more traditional, then you could be faced with an interview
panel of 2 or 3 people. Always be clear about where the interview is taking
place and arrive in plenty of time. Look smart and alert, as first impressions
are really important. Listen carefully to the questions you are being asked and
answer clearly. Try to maintain eye contact, including all the members of the
panel in your answers. If you don’t know the answer to the question then say
so. Don’t waffle! Never discuss confidential information about your current
employer with them.

The interview is designed to test your
knowledge, observe your behaviour and
give you a chance to demonstrate how
you can think on your feet. If you have
been asked, or intend to use, a presentation,
then ring the company beforehand to check
on the technology that will be available to
you in the interview room. Take paper
copies of your presentation with you just
in case the technology breaks down. This
will show them that you are well prepared
for anything! Finally, try to enjoy the experience. The panel want you to do
your best; otherwise they are wasting their time.


Preparing for contract negotiations
As we mentioned previously your current salary has no real bearing on the
new offer you are likely to get, so avoid being drawn into disclosing it at the
interview. If you are asked then you should state that the range of
responsibilities in this new job is quite different from your present role, which
makes drawing a comparison of salaries rather pointless.

Also it’s worth remembering that the recruitment
process itself is a very costly business for
companies and so if they see you as the preferred
candidate then entering into salary negotiations
with you is worth it. But you can only push them
so far. Always try to see it from their point
of view as well as your own.

In order to be as prepared as possible for the
negotiation process you need to take some
First Steps:

Find out what range of salaries the company offers, or what generally
the market rate is for the type of job you are applying for

At the interview ask the company about what benefits it can offer its
employees, such as amount of holiday entitlement, health care,
bonuses, training opportunities etc

When you have this information think carefully about the lowest salary
you think you could accept from them: this is your bottom line.

Then you have to wait until such time as you get an offer from them,
either in writing or verbally.

Next Steps

When you get the formal offer, always acknowledge it in writing

Evaluate the offer in terms of what your gross salary and net salary is
likely to be

In addition calculate what the fringe benefits are likely to be worth to
you

Compare the offer with your original career objective/goal; does it
match?

If you feel the offer falls short then produce a counter offer, but explain
fully the reasons behind your request, and remember to make it
realistic

Finally accept or decline the offer in writing.


Preparing a reason for leaving statement
Once you have been offered, and officially accepted, a new job you should
provide your present employer with a letter explaining your reason for leaving.
You will need to include formal notice of your intention to termination your
employment contract, but also to explain why you wish to leave. Keep it short
and factual, trying to be positive and avoiding any negative statements. It’s
also helpful to rehearse a brief statement for your close colleagues and friends
to explain why you’re leaving.

7. Making a success of your new job
Settling in – understanding how change affects us
Remember what we discussed earlier about comfort zones? You have moved
out of your comfort zone and will be feeling a
little insecure in your new environment.
Remember to reward yourself for your
achievement and celebrate. This in turn
will make you feel good and confident.
Make every effort to get to know your
new environment, including your new
colleagues. This stage can’t be rushed,
so take your time. Some of your colleagues
will respond very readily to your appointment,
others may be more sceptical; so be sensitive.

Early successes – winning confidence and staying positive
The first few weeks and months in your new role will require a lot of learning
and listening. Take notes where the detail is important, but never lose sight of
the big picture. The more senior you are, the more important the bigger picture
is. Try to draw any associations with experiences you have had in your
previous roles, as some of the ideas you put into action there might work
again, but refrain from always pointing out “We did it this way in my previous
job……” Your colleagues will soon get very tired of this phrase and wish you
had stayed where you were! Make sure you clearly understand every aspect of
your job description and aim at achieving at least one of your objectives
within the first couple of months. This will boost your confidence, and provide
evidence to your new employer that you can indeed deliver on your targets.
You may be subject to an initial probationary period, if so, achieving one or
more of your objectives during that period will go towards providing evidence
in support of your contract being confirmed.

Staying ahead – anticipating and adapting
Avoid complacency at all costs. Early successes can lead to a false sense of
security. You must always maintain the momentum. If you are not moving
forward then you are slipping back. Try to identify who the MOVERS and
SHAKERS are in the organisation and show them how interested you are in
helping to make the company successful too. They are more likely to know of
an likely changes in company direction, so you would be fore-armed and able


to plan well ahead. This will encourage your staff to have confidence in you if
you appear to be prepared.

Keeping in touch with your personal network
Just because you have successfully moved into a new job doesn’t mean that
you should sever all links with the people on your personal network. Your
experience could be useful to them and you should reciprocate and thank them
for their efforts to help you. Also it is very useful to keep your finger on the
pulse and know what’s happening generally in the marketplace, particularly in
your market sector.

Managing your career is a challenge, but an equally rewarding process. If you
try to stay ahead, keep your skills set up to date and embrace change with a
positive attitude, then you will achieve your career goals.

Good luck!


Other modules in the series include:

Having a positive and confident self image

Learning to relax

Enjoying a complete work/life balance

Organising your time more effectively

Motivating yourself to achieve everything!


Achieving Your Career Goals

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