As well as producing our own guide to Your personal brand, we asked Charlie Wagstaff, Managing Director for Criticaleye, The Network of Leaders, to explain how and why you should be looking at your personal brand in the current climate.

Brands

Avoiding exposure to brands, and the values and messages behind them, is near nigh impossible. As soon as we get up in the morning, we use a certain make of toothpaste, or eat a particular cereal, items which, because of clever marketing and branding, exude a number of messages about our preferences and the lifestyle that we aspire to. Directly or indirectly, the association between the products, and the brand values that they contain, will have influenced our choice in using them.

What experiences, skills and beliefs do you have that make you who you are?

In the business world, we can see for ourselves how strong brands aid the recognition and success of an organisation. They engage us emotionally with stories and messages that we either relate or aspire to. Either way we want to buy in and be part of that brand. Apple is a good example; an exciting and innovative company at the forefront of design and technology which consumers want to be seen with. What we don’t see is how meticulously organisations with strong brands shape and develop their brand name, ensuring that everything they do feeds back into the core values and perceptions people have about their products or services.

So, with this in mind, the question we should all be asking, and especially in the current climate, is how can we tap into the power of the brand? How can we step back, look at our own skills and personality traits and present them in the same way as a premium brand product? In a recruitment market where we need to stand out from the crowd, how can we take the ‘Apple approach’ with our own profile?

Personal brand

To begin the process of personal branding, you need to identify your key personality traits. What experiences, skills and beliefs do you have that make you who you are?

There are a few fundamental questions you need to ask yourself:

• What aspects of my life or career set me apart from my peers?
• What are my unique selling points as an individual?
• What am I passionate about and how can I harness that energy and represent it positively to an external audience?

It is not unusual that by completing this analysis, you’ll find that you are in a role for which you are not entirely suited.  In many cases though, it is an externally imposed event, such as redundancy, which forces us to take stock and undertake a radical review.  While these shocks can be difficult and inconvenient, they enable us to redirect our careers and reassess our priorities, both of which contribute to understanding our personal brand.

When you’ve identified what your key qualities are, it is time to start developing them. It’s important at this stage to adopt a marketing approach. Keep in mind that there are likely to be many others with similar skills and experiences so focus on building messages around the core qualities that define your personal brand. From the list of experiences and skills already identified, draw out around five overarching personal qualities or values. Underneath these core values, list related experiences, personal and professional, to add substance to the key messages of your brand.

It can be a difficult process, but to develop a personal brand you need to step outside yourself, take a holistic view of your career, and indeed personal life, to date. Essentially, you need to view yourself as a product.

Understand achievements

On reaching a point in your career where you are leading teams, or even an organisation, identifying the successes which are most significant to you can be difficult. One way of categorising your achievements, both personal and professional, is to view them as ‘Gold’, ‘Silver’ and ‘Bronze’ medals. Like last year’s returned UK Olympic athletes who wear their medals as recognition of their skill and endeavour, you should carry your successes around with you, and use them as basis for your personal brand.

Again, this takes us back to the core values, or characteristics, identified during the process of developing the personal brand. The ‘Gold Medal’ achievements will be intrinsic to the type of person you are and should, therefore, be right at the core of your personal brand. It is important to keep these accomplishments front of mind at all times if you are going to build a strong brand identity. ‘Silver’ and ‘Bronze Medal’ achievements will also have played a role in forming the skills and passions which contribute to your personal brand, but these may be smaller, less significant incidents.

To help you identify your core qualities and achievements, try answering these questions:

• What distinguishes me from my colleagues/peers?
• When am I most productive and in what environment?
• Am I at my best when leading or being part of a team?
• What are my motivation drivers?
• Am I a conformist or do I prefer to challenge?
• Where do I want to be in ten years time and what skills do I need to get me there?

It is crucial that you regularly revisit your achievements and keep your “medal collection” up to date. Clearly, as careers progress you will build upon your successes and these should strengthen your personal brand. It is a good exercise to step back and reassess your major achievements at least once a year, so that the brand reflects recent successes, especially if these support your core values.

Developing and evolving personal brands

Personal branding is not just about success in the present. In the current climate, it is not enough to simply understand your achievements and hope this will be enough to secure future success. The next step in the branding process is to identify what you want to achieve in the future and take action in promoting and evolving your brand to achieve these ambitions. In other words, knowing where you want to be in ten years time has a crucial role to play in defining what your personal brand will look like now.

step back and reassess your major achievements at least once a year

In an environment which is set to become even more competitive as the recession takes hold, you need to actively push your personal brand if you want to be successful in the long-term. When times are tough, it is easy to get bogged down in the short-term as a survival mentality sets in. And while it is, of course, necessary to maintain focus during the crisis, like any economic cycle, there will, eventually, be an upturn. Ensure you are ready to capitalise on the personal and career opportunities this will bring and having a strong personal brand in place will help you do this.

For individual success, make sure you are able to define and communicate your achievements effectively and tell a story that is real and practical. Take action now, so that you are building a strong and sustainable brand in the long term.

Download a copy of the guide here Your personal brand: making yourself atractive to employers

(A version of this article first appeared in Connections, May 2009)

The Rising Stars in Financial Markets Awards recognise the up and coming stars of Operations, and brings them to the industry’s attention. It’s all about acknowledging hard work on the road to the top. It’s about recognising and rewarding talent within the industry – the future stars.

Inga, 28, originally from Latvia, has been with Bank of New York Mellon for only two years, but her determination, intelligence, calmness under pressure and a great sense of teamwork made her shine in the judges’ eyes.

According to her manager, Suzanne Lane, Inga’s success was no surprise and well deserved. “I’ve rarely seen anyone approach their work as Inga does,” she told Connections. “She has a genuine desire to be the best she and constantly strives to ensure client satisfaction. It has been a tough past nine months for our CDO business, but Inga has faced every challenge resolving complicated problems during unsociable hours to ensure deadlines are met, our clients are satisfied and our brand reputation is upheld – and all while operating in a foreign country and second language. Her future is bright: Inga will be a leader in the marketplace in the years to come.”

Inga’s response to the award announcement was genuinely modest: “I was completely shocked to win, but very excited. I was at the ceremony with the rest of the team and it was fantastic to see my colleagues happy for me. We are all really supportive of each other, and that has helped me learn so much in the role since I came to London from Sweden where I worked for SEB. I’m looking forward to progressing with the Bank, and I’m sure this award will help my future career.”

And if you want to understand more about the jobs markets in banking and financial services,  about employers’ hiring plans and what skills are in most demand, email genevieve.brading@badenochandclark.com and request your copy of the key findings of our latest Workplace Study.

But while it should be a time when work takes a back seat, for most people the opposite is true. Downing tools can mean early morning starts, late nights and plenty of stress, as you try to cram three weeks work into one. Or if you’re covering for people at work, suddenly you’ve got double the work load.

So how can you stop this vicious summer cycle? Employment expert, John Lees author of Take Control of Your Career, published by McGraw-Hill, offers some top tips!

When you’re going on holiday…

Get organised

It’s important not to do your handover at the last minute. The worst type of co-worker will leave in a tremendous flurry, leaving a trail of unexplained projects behind.

Be realistic

Sometimes working long hours before you go away gives you the peace of mind you need to be able to switch off. But there has to come a point when you have to draw a line in the sand.

The most important principle is honesty. Ask yourself: ‘How much realistically can I actually get done?’ And to others say, ‘These are the things I’ve left, which you may have to deal with’.

Even if you haven’t made a tremendously good job of clearing your work or dealing with problems, be honest about it.

Handover notes

Prioritise with colleagues what needs to be done when you’re away and what things can wait until you return.

People need to be directed. It may be obvious to you but others won’t know the background story.

Take responsibility

When you are leaving the office behind, it’s tempting to think things are no longer your problem. But that attitude will reflect badly on you, your team and organisation.

And if you are covering for colleagues’ holidays…

Plan ahead

If you know you’re going to be covering for somebody don’t wait until the last minute before asking for their handover list.

A couple of days beforehand ask, ‘What am I going to have to do? What do I need to worry about? What are the things which can wait and what are the things I need to deal with’.

Don’t let the person leaving say, ‘I’ll tell you on Friday afternoon’. This won’t work. It’ll be too late in the process and people will start to panic. A good trick is to make yourself ‘unavailable’ on Friday afternoon so your colleague has to think ahead!

Don’t blame others

Don’t criticise your colleagues. It’s very easy to say, ‘I can’t deal with this work because of poor handover notes’, but it’s far better to find a resolution, and prove yourself.

Speak out

During times of pressure, don’t suffer in silence. If you are over-worked, have a serious conversation with your boss.

Explain that you have made a list of priorities and this means letting certain projects go. Don’t be negative, simply straight-forward.
Buy Take Control of Your Career, by John Lees and published by McGraw-Hill from Amazon

See your career as a journey

Have a clear idea of where it is you want to get to.  Without this clarity of purpose, it is all too easy to get blown off course and end up somewhere completely different! Work out some milestones – these might be skills based, salary based or responsibility based. Just make sure they aren’t job titles.   Keep an open mind on the precise route you take and accept that there may well be several routes to get there. It’s all about building on your skills and experiences along the way that will be valued by employers.

Identify what motivates you

Work feels less like work when you enjoy it, so make sure you choose well. Find out what interests you; does it suit your lifestyle? Are you able to do things that you are naturally good at as well as challenging yourself with new things too? What topics are you passionate about? The more you get these things right, the less likely you are to fall out of love with your job.

Identify which competencies are needed to progress

Once you’ve established what interstes and motivatesd you, the next step is to get your skills and competencies to match your chosen path. Identify the qualities required to succeed in your chosen career at the next level. Then, be honest with yourself: are you good at these already or does your focus need to be on improving or acquiring these capabilities?

Qualifications vs experience

Some roles do require specific qualfications, but whilest emplolyers are attractedto well-qualified people, they are even more attracet to those who demonstrate a commitment to being experts in their field. A qualifiaction may get your foot inthe door but it isn’t your guaranteer of a bright career. Nothing beats your hands on experience and track record.

Did it happen for them?

At interview, promises are made but you’ll want them to be rooted in reality. Ask for real life examples of how and where they’ve supported employees to reach career milestones.  Use this to weigh up the liklihood of supporting your longer term aspirations. After all, you’ll be wanting to agree a clear development plan  with your new boss…

Put your plan in context

Market conditions will always have an impact on how quickly and to what extent you fulfil your ambitions. Whilst your clear focus nd drive is imnportnat, you do need a healthyu dose of realism too. Remain flexible and open-minded, and remind yourself of the many routes to your destination.

Consider all options

With your end goal in sight – keep your options open all the time. Keep abreast of what opportunities exist within your organisation and outside it. Far from making you into  a job- hopper,  our research shows that having a healthy awareness of your options actually stops you feeling trapped and therefore gives a greater sense of security.

How mobile do you need to be?

Your career goals may require you to gain experience in different markets domestically and worldwide and international exposure is certainly becoming more desirable. Investigate your options and make sure your commitments fit in with your lifestyle. Is it a relocation you are after, a secondment or regular travel away from home? Talk to your boss about you can get the exposure you need.

Know your employer’s expectations

If you want to get ahead, it helps to have the support of your manager so they can help you. Discuss your aspirations with them. Get to know what they expect of you. Even more importantly, seek regular feedback, advice and guidance from them. A good maanger is best placed to help you achieve your career aims.

Review your plans; chart your progress

Make sure that the plans you made, the goals set and milestones noted are not forgotten. Each review and appraisal should make direct reference to them. Make time to assess your progress and reset your course if necessary, remembering that there is more than one route to your destination.

Download the full guide here

Career dreams are one thing; practical reality is often another.

It used to be that once you decided on a career, you stayed in that career until you retired.
Not so anymore. The notion of lifetime employment has been replaced with lifetime employability. This means that you can’t rely on your employers to maintain your employment. You alone are responsible for your career progression and development.

Career management and planning in this environment is a challenge. So that you remain satisfied and fulfilled by the work you are doing, you need to adjust your career development activities accordingly.

“Find a job you like, and you add five days to every week.”
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Career development is no longer only about gaining the skills and knowledge you need to move up within one company. Career development today is about achieving flexibility and continuously evaluating and developing your skills in order to remain employable and fulfilled over the long term, regardless of who you are working for, and what industry you are working in.

Work plays such a significant role in our lives. In our quest to be happy and productive, having a strong sense of job satisfaction is important. When you are dissatisfied with your job, this tends to have an influence on your overall outlook on life. While you may not be in the career of your dreams right now, it is still your responsibility to make sure that what you are doing is satisfying to you.

By knowing the key elements that go into job satisfaction, you can choose to take control and make the changes you need to feel really satisfied and motivated by what you do.

Getting started

The heart of job satisfaction is in your attitude and expectations; it’s more about how you approach your job than the actual duties you perform. Whether you work in an office, on the farm, a production line, or on the football pitch, the secret is to understand the key ingredients of your unique recipe for job satisfaction.

Identify Your Satisfaction Triggers

There are three basic approaches to work: is it a job, a career, or a passion? Depending on which type of work you are in right now, the things that give you satisfaction will vary.

• If you work at a JOB, the compensation aspects of the position will probably hold more appeal than anything else, and have the greatest impact on whether you stay or go.
• If you work at a CAREER, you are looking for promotions and career development opportunities. Your overall satisfaction is typically linked with your status, power, or position.
• If you work at a PASSION, the work itself is the factor that determines your satisfaction, regardless of money, prestige, or control.

Inevitably, these are generalisations, and you will probably find that you get satisfaction from more than one approach to work. Being aware of the type of work you are doing, and the things you need for job satisfaction, will help you to identify and adjust your satisfaction expectations accordingly.

Building Job Satisfaction

Once you have identified the blend of compensation, status, and intrinsic enjoyment that need to be present in your work for you to feel satisfied, you then need to work on some of our seven ‘ingredients’ for a satisfying job. These ingredients are:

• Self-awareness
• Challenge
• Variety
• Positive attitude
• Knowing your options
• Balanced lifestyle
• A sense of purpose

Self-Awareness

The first step in the search for job satisfaction is to know yourself. If you’re to be happy and successful, you need to understand your strengths and weaknesses. This will help you identify what types of role will allow you to build on those strengths, and minimize those weaknesses.
It is difficult to feel satisfied with something you aren’t very good at, so rather than spend time beating yourself up about it, take a long hard look at the things at which you excel, and try to find a position that uses some of those skills too.

Another important component of self-awareness is to have a good understanding of your personality traits and your preferred style of working. Work out what you value and what motivates you in your career, and also what you do not value, and what de-motivates you.
By increasing your self-awareness, you can work towards the ideal blend of compensation, status, and intrinsic reward that suits you, and that you can realistically achieve. Knowing this will help you to set appropriate goals, and manage your own expectations.

Challenge

Some days you may deny it, but we all thrive on interesting challenges. Does this mean your job has to be the head of engineering at NASA? No, different things challenge different people at different times. You just need to figure out what you can do to make sure you don’t allow yourself to go stale at work.
Even if the job itself is not all that challenging, you can make it challenging. Some great ideas here include:

• Set performance standards for yourself – aim to beat your previous record, or set up a friendly competition among co-workers.
• Teach others your skills – nothing is more challenging, or rewarding, than passing your skills and knowledge on to others.
• Ask for new responsibilities – these will give you opportunities to stretch yourself.
• Start or take on a project that uses skills you would like to use, or want to improve.
• Commit to professional development – take courses, read books or trade magazines and attend seminars. However you do it, keep your skills fresh and current.

Variety

Closely related to the need for challenge is the need to minimise boredom. Boredom is a common culprit when it comes to job dissatisfaction. When your mind is bored you lack interest and enthusiasm and even a well-matched job becomes dissatisfying. Some common methods to alleviate boredom at work include:

• Cross train and learn new skills.
• Ask to be moved to a new assignment or department requiring the same skills.
• Volunteer to take on new tasks.
• Get involved with committee work.
• Go on an extended leave, or take a sabbatical.

But remember, every job has elements or tasks in it that are boring – even your chief exec! You can only do your job well if you do these these things well too. It helps to understand the context in which these less interesting tasks are required – understanding why they are important can definitely help.

Positive Attitude

Attitude plays a huge role in how you perceive your job and your life in general. If you are depressed, angry or frustrated, you’re much less likely to be satisfied with anything. Making a change to a positive attitude is a complex process that requires a lot of work and a strong commitment. However, over time, you can turn your internal dialogues around and start to see most events in your life as positive and worthwhile. Here are some tips:

• Stop negative thoughts from entering your brain.
• Reframe your thoughts to the positive.
• Put the events of the day in the correct context.
• Don’t dwell on setbacks.
• Commit to viewing obstacles as challenges.
• Accept that mistakes are simply opportunities to learn.
• Become an optimist – optimists generate energy which achieves results.

Know Your Options

When you feel trapped, you can start to get anxious. At first you wonder what else is out there for you. This progresses to the point where you become convinced that anything other than the job you’re doing has got to be more satisfying. To combat this, continuously scan your environment for opportunities. When you feel you have options, you have more control. When you make a positive choice to stay with a job, that job has much more appeal than if you feel forced to stay because you feel you have no alternative.

• Keep a list of your accomplishments.
• Update your CV on a regular basis.
• Keep up to date on employment trends.
• Adopt an ‘I’m keeping my options open’ approach.

Maintain a Balanced Lifestyle

You’ll have heard many times that you need to keep your life and work in balance. When you focus too much on one at the expense of the other you risk putting your whole system in distress. When work takes over your life, it is easy to resent it and lose your sense of perspective: Suddenly everything about your life is clouded with negativity.

Find a Sense of Purpose

Last, but certainly not least (for many people) is the need to find a sense of purpose in the things you do. Even if you have a boring job, it helps a lot if you can see the real benefit you’re providing for people.
Even the most mundane job usually has purpose if you dig deep enough. And if it doesn’t, should you be wasting your life doing it?

First and foremost

Stay in the know. It’s easy to give up when you feel deflated, but it’s important not to sit on your laurels. Ensure you never miss out on a job and that you know about new opportunities as soon as they arise by staying pro-active. Commit regular time in your diary to job-hunting if need be.

Second

Maintain momentum. Feel good about your progress by contributing to it a little every single day. Taking small steps each day, such as making a phone call or sending an email, will keep your job search fresh and active.

Third

Make your own luck – Networking is an incredibly underrated yet effective way of uncovering vital job opportunities. Make a list of all the people you know and approach them for career advice. Not only could you be surprised, you’ll also strengthen your friendships.

Fourth

Be prepared – Have the confidence to attend an interview at any moment: ensure that you’re always interview-ready by staying on top of your washing, ironing, shoe repairs and such.

Fifth

Build on feedback – You’re not obliged to accept all the feedback you receive. The important thing is to recognise what is valid, and to act on it. Feedback is the breakfast of champions, so don’t get disheartened: listen to it, internalise it and develop from it.

Sixth

Believe in yourself – If your confidence takes a knock, ask your best friends or closest colleagues to tell you what they think your greatest strengths are. You’ll soon be glowing with self-belief again!

Seventh

Look to the future – There’s no point getting frustrated or angry by the negatives of a job you are about to leave. Instead, put them behind you and start focusing on all the fantastic positives that your next role will bring.

Eighth

Choose your feelings. Use the basics of Neuro-Linguistic Programming to put you in ‘the zone’. Imagine yourself back in a situation where you felt on top of the world. At the same time make a unique gesture or say something distinct. Repeat this to create an association between the emotion and the gesture or saying, so that next time you feel low you can use this trigger to pick yourself up again.

Ninth

Rally a support network – Surround yourself with positive people who will help to keep you upbeat too. Optimistic friends who have gone through similar experiences will be a blessing.

And finally…

Our tenth top tip for remaining motivated in your search – Feel great – Take good care of your physical health and your mental health will follow. Achieve the feel good factor by keeping your energy levels high. Yes, that means plenty of exercise, lots of water, loads of fruit and veg, and oodles of sleep from now on!

Experience

Your experience and exposure to specific types of work can be just as important as the practical experience you build up. It’s vital to manage your career to gain as much exposure in particular fields that interest you, especially if your long-term ambitions demand such experience. Being skilful in what you do and having a demonstrable track record is the most important quality.

Qualifications

Some roles demand specific qualifications, but all things being equal you need to work on your education as a differentiator. If you were not a first time passer, or the Business School you attended was not high ranking then focus on other areas of your education. Enrolling in personal development courses that are relevant to your task and make a difference to how you are perceived or how you execute your role can have just as much impact on your value to your current employer or indeed, future employers. Training people is an expensive business, factoring in the absence from the workplace as well as the course fees themselves. Employers are attracted to well-trained business people and those that have bothered to make a concerted effort to become real experts in their fields.

Performance

Any hiring, pay and promotion decisions are primarily based on individual performance. Meeting targets, motivating a team, making good on development plans, being positive, loyal, being reliable and determined to succeed is what being a classic high performer is about. Your calibre is tangible and obvious to most that come into contact with you, whether an interviewer or your current employer. Working on your performance is the first thing you should do to boost your value to an organisation. Sounds pretty obvious, but how many of us really do it? Studies indicate that most of us work at just 40% of our potential. Now that’s food for thought.

Perception

How you are viewed by your colleagues and managers can have a bearing on your value to an employer. If the perception is that you are no better than average then it will be hard for your manager to justify a higher value of you, even if the reality is that you have over-performed. Visibility and exposure to the decision makers is key. Know who the stakeholders in your future are and work on the image they have of you.

Responsibility

The number of people reporting into you is an indicator of your status in the organisation and the value it places on you. If this dynamic should change drastically, or the scope of your role grow suddenly, it is reasonable to think that your net value to the organisation has increased. Clearly seeking out positions of responsibility to increase your value to you employer is only a viable tactic if you are comfortable that you are fulfilling expectations in your current role.

Geography

Location can have a huge impact on your ability to fulfil your career ambitions, not to mention your salary. We all know about London weighting but there is an ever changing hierarchy amongst British towns, which our consultants are best placed to advise you on. But there may be other costs to moving to or from the city around work-life balance that people will have to consider on a personal basis.

Industry

It may be that your skills are transferable to numerous industries and that you could switch seamlessly tomorrow into a more fulfilling role whilst performing the same function. But increasingly commercial awareness within an industry is key to success when there’s a lot of competition in the market. Wielding deep industry expertise can put you at the top of a short list. Becoming an expert is a sure-fire way to improve your worth.

Economic climate

There’s no escaping the importance of the general state of the economy. It affects us all. Your value as an employee can increase in times of economic hardship should you be managing the firm’s last remaining multi-year contract or it may highlight you as nothing more than a superfluous overhead. It’s a factor which pervades all that we do in business and is never far from our minds, but one intrinsic to our current worth.

So – in summary of all these things. Here’s the rundown of what to take into account when assessing your employability.

1. Your Experience
2. Your Qualifications
3. Your past performance
4. Peoples’ perception of you
5. The responsibility you hold
6. Your geographical location
7. Your professional location (industry)
8. The economic climate

Take all of these into account and we believe you’re onto a winning formula for boosting your chances at survival in the current market.

Good Luck!

However, the key thing to remember is how you deal with the mistake that can help compensate for any disasters – especially in the workplace.

Whether you missed a meeting, forgot to send out a memo or made a bigger mistake that will cost your company money, the way you respond is all important.

Shrugging your shoulders and hoping the mistake will go unnoticed will get you nowhere. Acknowledging the mistake and trying to recuperate from it is far more useful in the short and longer terms.

The whole Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross debacle was made worse by the fact that neither seemed to apologise with any real sincerity when the storm first broke. Perhaps their sanctions would have been less harsh had they been a bit sorrier.

Business psychologist Michael Guttridge says it’s best to be upfront when you’ve made a blunder at work.

“The best thing you can do is own up to the mistake, apologise and promise to put it right,” he says.
“However don’t overdo the apology or personalise it. Offer to rectify the problem.”

Gutteridge says it’s also essential not to be too hard on yourself. Continuing to harp on about the error makes the whole thing more of a problem – the best thing to do is learn your lesson and move on.

Things can be more difficult when you find yourself in a situation that’s not entirely of your making.

“If someone leads you up the garden path wrongly try not to dwell on the fact it wasn’t your fault,” Gutteridge says. “Move away from the blame culture and work on what you can do to prevent getting caught up in a mistake at work again.”

Here are our top tips for dealing with work mishaps

• Admit Your Mistake: Tell your boss about your mistake immediately. It will look worse if someone else discovers it.
• Make A Recovery Plan: You must have a plan for correcting your mistake. Tell your boss how long it will take to implement your plan and if there are any costs involved.
• Don’t Blame Anyone Else: Pointing the finger won’t help anyone. Encourage those who may share responsibility to follow your lead in confessing to your boss
• Don’t Beat Yourself Up: There’s a big difference between admitting your mistake and beating yourself up about it. Take responsibility but don’t berate yourself, especially in public.
• Fix It In Your Own Time: Use your lunch hour, come into work early or stay late to do the necessary work.

Taking personal responsibility for our development is not as simple as deciding the training courses in which to participate; it is so much more.

Perhaps the first step to determining our development requirements and making our development effective, is to determine some career goals. We should not set one career goal but several and these are best couched not in positions, but in the elements that you would like to have in a role.

For example, rather than being locked into a goal of being Global Dictator, your goals might be: to be able to exert great influence, to work at a strategic level, to lead large teams, to help shape the future. If we are stuck pursuing a position we may close ourselves off to exciting opportunities that come our way and it may end up in great disappointment should we not achieve that position.

What types of development opportunities are open to us?

They may include:

• formal qualifications
• training courses (both attending and presenting)
• work shadowing
• job assignments
• networking (formal and informal)
• reading (magazines/journals, books, web articles)
• writing articles
• seminars (both attending and presenting)
• discussions with people in the types of roles you aspire to
• coaching (as coach and coachee)
• mentoring (as mentor and mentee)
• conferences (both attending and presenting)
• keeping a reflective journal

Where might these opportunities exist?

Opportunities exist both within the organisations for which we work as well as outside the organisations for which we work.

Development opportunities within organisations.

In good organisations you will have access to a comprehensive range of learning and development (L&D) options. However, rather than just be told what activities to participate in, you should seek opportunities that support your career goals. These will include focussing on technical and non-technical (so-called soft skills) opportunities. Once again, these opportunities are far more than just the training programs on offer. Always seek opportunities such as those in the list above. Remember, although you are an employee in an organisation and undertaking tasks for the benefit of the organisation, you are still in control of the attainment of your career goals.

Development opportunities outside organisations.

In your career you may have periods of ‘between contracts.’ It is important at these times to maintain a focus on your development. Even when you are in employment, external opportunities should be explored. You may join an association and/or a formal network in your field; you may subscribe to journals, whether paper-based or web-based, a number of which are free; you may attend business breakfasts, not necessarily for the topic being spoken of but for the opportunity to meet people and network.

Remember

• You are responsible for your career, just as you are responsible for your life. If you are prepared to listen and to ask questions, I have always found people willing to give of their experience.
• Determine your career goals
• Regularly reflect upon your goals and if you need to modify them as you gain more experience, and how you might achieve them
• Think broadly about types of development opportunities – they exist every day
• Think broadly about where you might find those opportunities
• Be proactive. The world is full of people prepared to sit back and expect everything to come to them. Look around you and you will see them
• Don’t become obsessed with your goals. You do have a life. Becoming obsessed risks not being able to recognise opportunities that present themselves.

This article has been submitted by one of our readers.

Mark Beale, L&D Consultant

Redundancy can occur for various reasons – new technology might make your job unnecessary, the company you work for could be closing down or merging, or simply there’s a need to cut costs.

Whatever the reason, you should be fairly treated by your employer and you may even be entitled to a redundancy payment, depending on how long you have been with the company.

Talk to your HR department, the Citizens Advice Bureau or even an employment law expert to find out your rights. Your employer may provide free careers guidance, or funding for further training.

The main thing to realise is that redundancy is not the end of the world. In fact, life coach Jessica McGregor Johnson says being made redundant can open the door to a whole new life.

“Moving out of a viable job is a hard decision to make but when it is made for you, you have the chance to assess how you really want to spend your time on earth,” she says.

“Do you love what you do? If the answer is ‘No’ you have been given a huge opportunity to make what could be the most important change in your life, so grab it with both hands.

being made redundant can open the door to a whole new life

“Look at your skills – the ones you like using not the ones you don’t – your interests and the values that are important to you in the context of your work. These could be enjoyment, having integrity, excitement, being challenged, being able to spend more time with your family, anything – and allow yourself to dream.”

If you struggle to come up with a new direction, McGregor Johnson suggests visiting a careers advisor, career change website or life coach.

“It saddens me that there are people out there who don’t enjoy their work, are pining for something else but believing they can’t achieve it and think work isn’t supposed to be enjoyable anyway. So if you did lose your job you may have gained the chance – perhaps cushioned by a redundancy package – to really make a life that makes your heart sing!”

For more advice on changing career and transforming life after redundancy go to www.careershifters.org.

McGregor Johnson offers a free introductory life coaching session to those wanting to make a change. Go to www.jessicamcgregorjohnson.com.