Category: Careers Advice

Good communication is the essential to:

• Increasing your chances of gaining a promotion.
• Helping you effectively get your point across at meetings
• Influencing your mangers decision makings
• Getting on with colleagues and managers

Good communication is essential in all areas of your life, especially at work. If you fail to communicate well, you can often be left behind while others move up the career ladder.

Use Good Communication Skills to Pass Interviews

Effective communicators have the power to influence meetings and conversations, without others realising. Confidence and self belief grows as you learn to communicate to others with greater levels of success.

One of the first lessons to improve your communication skills is to listen to other peoples language, we generally converse using one of the following language patterns:

• Visual,
• Auditory
• Kinaesthetic

Once you can recognise a person’s VAK language pattern, you can use their language to communicate more effectively with them.

Learn which VAK learning style you have?                                                                    

How does this work?

As we hear words, our brain quickly  uses these words to  create images in our mind and the image creates emotions in our body.

If I tell you to think of a dog, you may picture an old pet and this may bring about happy childhood memories that make you feel happy as you begin to reminisce whereas the same instruction for another person may provoke more negative feelings as a memory of a dog attack is recalled.

Depending on our own individual persuasion Visual, Auditory or Kinaesthetic verbal patterns can be used in order to influence and alter the strength of these emotions.

# We all use all 3 types of language (V, A and K) but most people have a persuasion towards one most strongly.

• If you’re Auditory, words such as Sound, Noise, Volume, Tune, Pitch, & phrases such as “..Will help to get your bell ringing.”

• For Visual people words such as Image, Overview, Sketch, Fade, Haze, & phrases such as “..Will help you create better picture.”  

• and for Kinaesthetic words such as Touch, Feeling, Temperature, Cold, Gut Feeling, Weight & phrases such as “..help you have a feel for the situation.”

As an example, if you were to asked someone about a recent holiday they may respond with:

V “It was a Bright idea to get away, the views from the hotel were so picturesque!”

A “I was in tune with the relaxing sound of the sea, it left me absolutely speechless.”

K “It felt good to get away from work and recharge my batteries“ 

Once you have diagnosed a person’s language pattern you can used their VAK language pattern to improve the power of your conversation, by communicating using their language.

Think back to a time when a conversation or meeting did not go well no matter what you said. When it just seemed that no matter how much you explained things the other person just couldn’t seem to understand your point. This can happen when one person communicates using a language pattern with someone, who has a difference preference. By changing your language to match the other persons, you will quickly see better results as the other person quickly grasp what it is you are trying to get across.

Practice makes perfect with this one, first spend time listening to peoples language and then change your language to match theirs and notice the difference it makes with rapport building, influencing and communication. This works well during job interviews, for hints and tips on improving your interview technique, VAK in Interviews and how Your Personality Type can influence your career choice, follow this link: Secrets of Employment.

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When deciding to take an offer of employment the company ethos, values and mission are highly important as these must meet your own values and beliefs; for most the salary is also a high priority.

A Life Coach can help you match a career to your values and beliefs

If you feel the salary does not meet your expectations and this can no longer be negotiated, check the company benefits before turning down an offer of employment.

With many companies the additional benefits they offer can save hundreds of pounds on your personal outgoings giving you an overall higher amount of free money.

Example:

If your earned; a £30,000 Salary and your personal overheads were £12,000 £30,000 – £12,000 = £18,000 (Free Money)

Compared to a Salary of £27,000 minus your Personal Overheads of £6,000; £27,000 – £6,000 = 21,000 A rise of £3000

Example two initially pays less, but if the company benefits bring down your overheads you can be left with a higher overall amount of free money

Write a list of all your personal overheads; Mortgage, Food, Car Insurance, GYM Membership, Life Insurance, Etc and how much each overhead cost you each month.

Now look at the company benefits, what benefits they offer that you already spend money on? Check the company benefits and highlight any savings on your list.

Add up the list of potential savings and see if this makes a significant difference? Then ask yourself has this difference made a big enough difference for you to take the offer of employment?

Below is a list of common company benefits that will often save you hundreds of pounds. Remember each company is different, some companies offer many benefits while offers offer none at all.  

Health insurance – The Company will often pay for your health or life insurance; you need to check the extent of the coverage? Do they cover Dental or glasses, etc?

Pension Plan – How much does the company add to your pension plan?

Insurance – What insurance is offered; Car (this could be a massive yearly saving), Travel, Laptop etc

Car – Do you have yearly access to a company car; check if you can use the car during weekends and holidays

Travel – Does the company pay for Petrol and Travel Fair; check how much per mile. Will this new role save you money on your daily travel?

Child Care/Crèche – Does the company have an onsite crèche or offer subsidized child care  

Gym and Leisure Pass – Does the company GYM offer the same facilities as your GYM?

You may also gain additional income from:

Bonuses – What is the company bonus system, how achievable is their bonus system. Some companies also give away prizes such as holidays.

Stocks – You may be given free company stocks or offered stocks instead of a bonus

Relocation Cost – If required to relocate will the company pay the relocation cost?

Additional:

Training – if you are looking at gaining new qualifications, will the company fund these? If so how much is their training budget per person.

Working Hours – How many hours per month do you work; compare these to your current role.

Overtime – what is the company overtime rate, are you offered guaranteed overtime?

Leave – How much leave can you take, do the company have any rules towards leave. Do you gain additional leave over Christmas?

 Public Holidays – do you have to work public holidays, if so do you gain overtime for these days?

Sick Leave – what are the company policies on sick leave?

You need to be happy with the company benefits and salary before you accept the job offer, when offered a position, be confident enough to ask questions around the company benefits.  

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Industry Expert:

The recent recession has made job hunting more competitive as the amount of applications sent for every advertised job increases. If you’re passionate about your career and the industry you have chosen, you need to become an Industry Expert, having extensive knowledge about your industry, leading companies and the industry jargon employer’s use.

Being an industry expert increases your chance of gaining an offer of employment, during your application and interview process you can highlight your knowledge and expertise to encouraging them to offer you a contract of employment.

We spend over a third of our lives in employment, you need to choose a career you are passionate about, by becoming an industry expert you will quickly realise if this industry is the right career move for you. It is often the employees with the extensive knowledge and passion for the job who gain the most promotions. You will quickly realise that becoming an industry expert is easier then you think.

7 Quick Steps to becoming an Industry Expert:

1. Use A Search Engine: Open a web search engine such as Google and in the search box write “industry name” and “job profile” example “Web Designer Job Profile.” Once you open a Job Profile, go down to the bottom of the page, as you will find links industry websites such as the sector skills council websites. These websites are valuable and record a large amount of information and can be used to research the industry and future job trends.

2. Match Your Skills to Your Career: The job profile will also record the job duties and skills and qualities often needed by employers. Highlight the skills and qualities you already possess and the duties you would enjoy undertaking, if you were employed in this role. If you have highlighted at least 80% of these, you have found an industry that you should excel in, as it already matches your personality.

3. Set up Industry Alerts: Set up Google alerts for “job title” news “job title” industry news and “job tile” industry new contracts. You will start to receive daily news feed, blog articles and website updates on the industry you are interested in applying for.

4. Twitter: Follow “industry” twitters, to receive industry news feeds, industry job adverts and updates. Set up an “industry” list. After a while Industry twitters will search and add to you. Use twellow to search for twitters by industry. Don’t be afraid to ask twitters questions, twitters love to apply to tweets, they feel special that you have picked them.

5. Social Network Sites: The social network sites for businesses is growing, join 3 of these such as Linkedin and read industry forums, discussions and join in asking questions around the industry growth and decline and learn the meaning of industry jargon. Set up your online industry profile-this needs to be professional.

6. Ask Facebook: On facebook search for “friends” under “co-workers” by searching “company name” you can be-friend people working in your industry and then ask them questions or ask them to complete a questionnaire-social networkers are normally keen to respond to this.

7. Network: Attend industry network events, always dress smart and hand out your business card. This is a great chance to update your industry information and meet industry leaders. Many job hunters have gain offers of employment this way.

Use a CV Writing Service to write an Industry Targeted CV

What information do you need to research?

Local Market Information- LMI; is your industry on the increase or decline? If the industry is on the decline you might need to rethink your career ideas or to move to an area which where the industry is on the rise.

Which companies have won new contracts- when applying for employment; you need to apply to the companies that win the contacts as it will be these companies who will be recruiting for staff. It sounds obvious but many job hunters will just apply to anyone, this could cost you time if your applying to a company who are reducing their staff.

Industry jargon-many people fail at interviews, due to the employer talking using industry jargon and the interviewee not understanding the meaning of this.

How the industry is developing- industries are changing at a fast pace, due to the improvements in technology, it is always positive to show the employer you know how the industry has changed from its original origins and how the industry is going to develop in the future.

Research the company- before any interview, research the company as you will often be asked the question “what do you know about our company?” research the company history which is often found on the company website.

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Keeping a Job Log

Do you ever find yourself job searching and you come across a vacancy that you THINK you may have already applied for? Does this sometimes stop you from applying for that vacancy?

Would it be helpful to keep a record of all the vacancies you are interested in and to keep track of the organisations you have applied for both speculatively and from advertised adverts?

Would it be useful to gain feedback from your applications to help improve your chances of gaining offers of employment from future applications?

A Job Log, helps you organise your job searching enquires by listing the jobs you have applied for, from this you can easily keep track of the amount of applications you apply for each week – Does this meet your weekly target?

If you have not been successful a week after each applications closing date or job interview, use your Job Log to follow up each employer to gain feedback.

Add your feedback to the job log as this will show if you have any common patterns from the employers’ feedback. You can use these patterns to improve your employability skills, helping you gain an offer of employment in the future.

Other job hunters find meeting with a Careers Advisor quickly increase their chance of gaining employment, from matching you with career ideas, completing mock interviews and offering in-depth careers advice.

 Example JOB LOG

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How to Plan a Career Change

People change careers for many reasons; losing interest in their current career, finding new interest, redundancy, company down sizing, wanting less or more responsibility,  whatever the reason if you are planning for a career change, you need to know how to plan.

Making a career change, for many is a scary thought by following the steps below you will be able to make a much smoother transition. Often we have been brought up with the belief “you have to choice a career for life” in the past this was true, in more recent times this belief is false, as many people have 2-3 successful careers during their lifetime.

A career change is natural life progression, helping you stay fresh and motivated, as a career coach I would first check why you want a career change? As many people would stay in their current career or organisation if they could male a few minimal changes to their current role. If you know you truly need a career change follow the plan below:

Wants and Don’t Wants: There are probably good reasons why you want a career change, you might want to get away from something negative or you are aiming for something positive.

What do you really like doing when you’re at work, what do you hate doing, what excites you and energize you? What’s your passion? What don’t you like about your job role and position?

Thinking about your current role, write a list under each of the headings below, keep adding to each list until you cant add anything else, then add one more thing, there is always one more, what is yours?

I have provided some real examples from past clients, to help get you started:

• Want and Have: Flexible Hours, Creativity, My Own Caseload, Excellent Pay
• Have and Don’t Want: Long Distance to Travel, Bossy Manager, Constant Interruptions
• Don’t Have and Want: Personal Development Opportunities, Excitement in my Job, Future Prospects
• Don’t Have and Don’t Want: to Travel throughout the UK, Lack of Responsibility

By writing this list, you have now become more aware of your Likes, Dislikes and Wants; ask yourself; Which list did you find easiest to write? Which list did you relate to the most? Which list made you most excited?

Ask yourself, if you could change or delete some of the Have and Don’t Want, would you still want to change career or would you be happy to stay in the same job?

Look at your Have and Don’t Want List, re-word each “away from” statement, example “I don’t want constant interruptions when I’m working” to a “towards” statement, example I want to work in a company that allows you to work without interruption”

You can now move all your new statements from the “Have and Don’t Want” heading to the “Don’t Have and Want”

Choosing a New Career: Now you are more aware of your likes, wants and don’t wants, turn your page over and in a large circle write Personal Strengths.  Start to record your strengths, skills and qualities as a mind map, mind mapping is a great way to get into the “flow” of writing your personal strengths – this is not a time to be shy, remember all the good things others have said about you and add these to the mind map.

If you have an idea of the new career you are looking to enter write this Job Title above “personal strengths” go through each strength one by one asking yourself “do I need this skill or strength in my new career?” circle all the transferable strengths you have that you need for your new career.

You will be surprised by the amount of transferable skills you already possess that are needed for your new career and job position.

If you’re unsure about which career will suit you, a Careers Advisor can help you match your wants and your personal skills and strengths to different careers. When looking at your new career, you need to check that the job specification and company mission matches your Have and Want and Don’t Have and Want list.

Training and Education: Now you know which career or sector you have set as your new career goal, you need to check the job profile or job specification, as you may need to re-train or update your knowledge. Some sectors will offer training on the job, other careers will accept the qualifications you already have, while some sectors will require you to gain new qualifications before applying for the job role.

Experience: You are already aware of your transferrable skills, to gain new skills or to increase your current experience you can volunteer for a position similar to that of your new career goal, this will look positive as part of the job application and it will also give you a better insight to the job role, duties and if this is the right career move for you.

Networking: Your ability to network is one of the key abilities to changing your career; networking will give you inside industry information making you an industry expert and gives you the upper hand on other job hunters, as you gain job leads, careers information, knowledge of the application process and gaining personal contacts.

Gain a Mentor: Finding a Mentor can help you with your careers transition and will often give you a real insight into your new career sector. A mentor will often know industry information such as which organisation has won a new contract, taking on new staff.

Targeted Employability Skills: You need to prepare your CV, Covering Letter, Interview Skills and Application Form, many job hunters fall into the trap of selling the skills needed for their old career – take another look at your transferable skills and new job specification, you need to target yourself to the essential criteria needed for this new career.  

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