How Do I Define My Career Management Strategy?

Not sure where to begin?

Daunted?

Dis-illusioned?

Our new motivational video might help you follow the road to your new career management strategy.

Thinking About #Job Hunting in 2014?

Seeking a new career challenge in 2014? Look no further - we can help with all your career management strategies:

• Invest in a new professionally written CV.
• Get specialist help with your job applications.
• Receive an impartial view of your skill set.
• Prepare for interview.
• Stuck in a rut? Not sure which career path to follow? A career mentoring session might be of help.

                          Sit Back, Grab A Coffee, Let The Experts Take The Strain

                                        www.onestopcareershop.co.uk

Is your new year's resolution for 2014 to get a new job or maybe to invest in your career?

#Coaching Part 2 How Do You Make It Happen?

Coaching is a great way to accelerate learning and development in the workplace and also in our personal lives.

Invest Some Time in Coaching - Be The Best You Can Be

 Having explored what coaching is and some different coaching styles: 

• how do you start

• how do you just make it happen?

My advice would be via some coaching models. Pick one you think will work best and give it a go in a real life work (or non work) example.

One of the most commonly used simple and effective coaching models is the GROW model, which is detailed below:

 

 I        Issue – What is the issue?

·         What is important to you right now?

·         What is your most important priority?

G        Goal – What are you trying to achieve?

·         Where do you want to be in x time?

·         What outcome are you looking for in this situation?

R         Reality – Where are you now in relation to your goal?

·         What have you tried so far, what has and hasn’t worked?

·         What is preventing you right now from achieving your outcome?

O         Options – What could you do?

·         If time, money and resource were no object what could you try?

·         What else could you try that could help you?

W        Will – What specific action will you take next?

·         What specifically could you do next time and when?

·         How confident do you feel that this will help you achieve your outcome?

Using GROW think of the coaching exercise like a journey:

• where do you want to go (on holiday)
• where are you now (in a busy office!)
• what do you need to do to make it happen (sort out the logistics)
• how do you get there (...well that's all in the planning bit)

A good way of thinking about the GROW Model is to think about how you'd plan a journey. First, you decide where you are going (the goal), and establish where you currently are (your current reality).
You then explore various routes (the options) to your destination. In the final step, establishing the will, you ensure that you're committed to making the journey, and are prepared for the obstacles that you could meet on the way.

Tip:
In its traditional application, the GROW Model assumes that the coach is not an expert in the "client's" situation. This means that the coach must act as a facilitator, helping the client select the best options, and not offering advice or direction.

When leaders coach their team members, or act as mentors to them, this may or may not apply. On one hand, it's more powerful for people to draw conclusions for themselves, rather than having these conclusions thrust upon them. On the other hand, as a team leader, you'll often have expert knowledge to offer. Also, it's your job to guide team members to make decisions that are best for your organization.

- See more at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_89.htm#sthash.yn6kBm4F.dpuf

They key is to ask the right questions, ensuring they are open questions and and use active listening skills. Take time to listen and digest what is being said. Don't feel you have to be talking all the time. Think PUSH & PULL and pull the information from the other person, rather than feeling under pressure to come up with all the answers yourself.

You don't need to be a people manager to use this technique. If you have regular meeting with your people manager or team leader you could suggest that you both try this technique to help drive your personal development.


An example of using the GROW model in practice:

You manage a large team of mixed capability. One of your team members Iam Capable requests a career development discussion with you. He is worried about the lack of career progression and thinks he has to move teams to achieve the stretch and challenge he seeks.

• I - You discuss with Iam Capable the issue that is bothering him - he feels there is a lack of opportunities
• G - The goal is for him to feel motivated, not seek a new role and to provide him with stretch and challenge 
• R - you were completely unaware of how Iam Capable felt - now that you know you can do something about it
• O - you establish a development plan for Iam Capable enabling him to take on new stretching pieces of work and gain the recognition he is seeking
• W - you agree to sit down in 3 months and review his progress against the plan. You are on hand for 1-1's to provide any support he needs with his new responsibilities.

Why not give it a go and see how you get on?

#Coaching Part 1 - What Type Of #Coach Are You?

Coaching  is an invaluable tool in developing teams and high performance in the workplace.  There is no right or wrong style. The key thing as a people manager is to actively develop your teams, by whatever means works best.

Accelerate Your Growth Through Coaching

Following on from our recent blog posts on self assessment and coaching versus mentoring I thought it would be helpful to explore some different coaching styles.    

• Are you an accomplished coach? If so, what type of coaching style do you adopt? Do you flex this style according to the individual?
• Do you want to gain coaching skills and experience? What style do you aspire to?

Coaching Styles:

Key Influencer – a dominant figure who leads by example and who inspires others. This coaching style is typical of someone with influence, persona and charisma.

Visionary – this can be the most frustrating of coaching styles for recipients. The coach sees the big picture and enthusiastically talks about their vision - to them it is all crystal clear! However often the result is that recipients lack specific direction, as they have failed to understand the vision or keep up with the pace. This style is most effective when the vision is communicated, but time is taken to check team or individual understanding.

Hands On – common in the workplace, coaching on how to actually complete the specifics of a task e.g. step by step.

Hands Off – sometimes called “coaching on the run” e.g. telling someone where to find the information but then leaving them to figure it out themselves. A hands off coach is happy to help, after the individual or team has first tried the task themselves.

 

Formal and Structured – more “tell” in nature commonly used when there is little time to get the message across or in safety situations e.g. police, military.

Relaxed and Informal - being available when support and guidance is required. The coach understands individual or team strengths and plays an active role and ownership remains with the individual.

Collaborative – an group or team come together to support each other and set goals. Individuals feel "obliged" to follow through and deliver for the sake of the group so as not to lose credibility.

Following soon some coaching models that you might find helpful in developing others

How to Start Formulating Your #Career Strategy

Part 2 of our series on career management. 

  
We have been exploring what is career management, with a view to helping individuals devise their own career management strategies.

Previously we identified the elements of career management as:

The First Step Is To Define The Elements Of Your Career Strategy

 The Next Steps:

In the spirit of owning and shaping your personal career strategy it is necessary to do some preparation work up front. This helps to ensure that you get the most effective career management strategy possible. Give some thought to the first things you will need in order to begin to define your career strategy. I would suggest the following:

• Interests
• Values
• Goals
• Drivers
• Vision/Career Direction 

Break Down The Components of Your Career Strategy

Below are some ideas to get you started, it is not an exhaustive list. Do ask yourself the questions and answer them honestly - you may surprise yourself by getting different answers than you expected!


Interests:

• Does the content of any job need to be aligned to your own interests?
• Are you already interested in a particular sector/industry?
• Will the job/career you are considering allow you to follow/continue to follow your own interests?

Values:

• What is important to you in general - what makes you tick?
• What values are you seeking in an employer?
• When considering an employer is a particular brand or market position important?
• Is being able to make a difference important to you?
• Do you need to feel valued through pay and benefits?
• Do you value family and work-life balance? Is flexible working essential?

Goals:

• What is important to you right now?
• What is your most important priority?
• Where do you want to be in x time?
• What outcome are you seeking in this situation?

Drivers:

• Do you need autonomy?
• Are you a decision maker?
• Are you motivated by recognition for having specialist expertise?
• Do you want to be a people manager?
• Are you highly creative?
• Are you highly competitive and thrive on a challenge?

Vision/Career Direction:

• Are you ambitious? What career progression do you want or need?
• Do you want to work towards a management or more senior management position?
• What size company do you want to work for?
• Are you risk taker or do you seek job security?
• What about geographic location?
• What personal/career development do you want or need?
• Do you see yourself swapping careers at any point?
• Do you want to run your own business?

Still unsure about a career strategy? How about discussing some of the above with friends and family? They know us so well, so are often great at helping shape some ideas. 

Hopefully that's given you a few ideas for a starting point. In Part 3 we will be discussing skills, experience and growth and the role they have to play in a personal career strategy.

Good luck with developing your personal career strategy. If you require any help and advice we can be contacted at Help With Formulating a Career Strategy

What Is The Right Job For You?

We are exploring career strategy and career management at the moment but before you can do that that you really need to think about your career goals and direction. This is a topic we will be exploring shortly, as it is the first step in defining your personal career strategy.  

Once you have done that you will be able to define what is the right job for you I liked this article on Finding the Right Jobs from @AfterRedundancy, which includes some good advice.

Facebook - recruitment friend or foe?

Facebook - friend or foe?

Photo Credit: Rosaura Ochoa

#recruitment friend or foe? I also found this today from @AfterRedundancy which is a good fit with our earlier posts on the use of social media in job searching "10 Ways to get Fired For Facebook"

Using Social Media As A Career Tool

Social media can be a great career management tool - but exercise caution!

Photo credit: Rosaura Ochoa

Social media is a valuable tool for any career management strategy. If used wisely it can be used to:

• showcase your work and achievements
• reflect your personal style
• research a prospective employer and their brand
• build your personal network
• keep in touch with valuable contacts

However always remember that social media is a public forum. That might sound obvious but, depending on your privacy settings, whatever you post (both positive and negative) is available for public scrutiny. That means that prospective employers can also research you.

As a recruiter I can vouch for the fact that social media profiles are often reviewed in the recruitment process. Even though you are not bad mouthing anybody - are you portraying the image you want to show prospective employers? I guess its a question of checking out the privacy settings or consider the pics you post after a Saturday night out!  

What personal brand do you want to display?

Photo credit: Mediocre 2010

Enough of all that......now back to the positives of social media

In this post we are going to focus on Pinterest. 

Pinterest can be a great fun career management tool

Photo credit: mkhmarketing

I loved this article by Alison Doyle at about.com which sums up how Pinterest can be used effectively in managing your career. As a visual person I love Pinterest and so have created some boards which you might find helpful:

• CV Useful Hints & Tips
• Things to Consider Prior to Interview

 We will consider other forms of social media in subsequent posts.