Isnt it time you had a strategy for your career - Viewpoint - careers advice blog Viewpoint careers advice blog

Isn’t it time you had a strategy for your career - Viewpoint - careers advice blog The start of a new year is often a time for reflection looking at the year gone by and learning from the successes and failures, taking stock of where things stand, and planning for the year ahead. This is true both in business (perhaps the products we’ll launch, customers we’ll win, or performance we’ll deliver) and in our personal lives (maybe resolutions for getting fit, learning a language, or finding more time for family). Business plans and New Year’s resolutions both get plenty of attention in their separate worlds, but it’s easier to overlook where the two worlds meet, in the form of our careers. Some people don’t have a strategy for their careers at all, content to drift where events take them, or choosing to invest their energy and focus in something outside work; but it’s likely that an even greater number of people think that they’ve got a strategy for their career, but don’t really. They might say something like: “I want to work my way up to being CFO of a FTSE 100 company” â€" but that’s a goal, not a strategy; or “I’m going to train myself to code in Javascript by the end of the year” â€" but that’s a plan, not a strategy. In a career, just as in business, goals and plans are important components of a strategy, but they’re not the whole story â€" a goal says where you’re going, but a strategy talks about how you’ll get there; a plan says what you’re going to do, but a strategy explains why you’re doing it. What is a strategy? Strategy matters to business because it’s the framework for achieving complex and difficult goals in a world of competition and uncertainty, and there are valuable lessons to be had in applying those principles to the equally complex, competitive and uncertain world of developing our careers. Before we learn from business though, we need to be really clear about what strategy is â€" just as many people misuse strategy when they’re thinking about their careers, in business it’s not unusual to see strategy, goals, visions, targets and plans all getting used semi-interchangeably, giving rise to the “Bad Strategy” talked about by Richard Rumelt in his excellent book “Good Strategy, Bad Strategy”. There are many different frameworks for business strategy, but all good business strategy shares certain underlying features: 1. An ultimate goal: To give direction to the strategy, defining success in terms such as shareholder returns, market share / position, or long term commercial sustainability. For example, “become the #1 airline in Europe. 2. Clear insight into context: Based on understanding the current situation and history of both internal factors (company finances, product sales, staff capabilities, etc.) and external factors (competitors, customers, legislation, technology, etc.). For example, “we are a small challenger airline flying out of a country dominated by traditional carriers who have a focus on business travel”, 3. A clear choice of how to succeed: To focus energy and effort around only those actions which will make a difference, and deliver a competitive advantage. This is a meaningful choice to focus on specific product attributes, customer segments, operating models or commercial terms â€" a useful acid test for “meaningful” being that the opposite of the choice doesn’t sound stupid (for example choosing to focus on delivering “the best price/performance ratio” is a choice not to deliver the worst price/performance ratio, and less helpful than a choice between “the best price, with compromise on performance” or “the best performance, but at a price”). Continuing our airline example, the view on how to succeed might be “we will focus on the leisure traveller by offering the lowest possible fares to European destinations, which will be possible because we have the lowest cost base” 4. Plans and actions: Which are consistent and all support the choice of how to succeed. For example “to minimise our cost base we will have maximal seat density, fly from unfashionable airports, operate a single type of aeroplane, discourage checked baggage and not serve any food that could increase cleaning costs or turnaround times”. How can we apply business strategy to our career strategy? So, if that’s business strategy in a nutshell, how can we apply the same framework to thinking about our careers? 1. An ultimate goal: This is a very personal choice, and there are a huge range of possible goals for a career â€" I’m not going to try to guess what is right for you, but here are a few ideas to consider: To reach a specific role / job title To work for a particular company To earn a certain salary To have a particular impact on society at large To leave a particular legacy that will outlive you To avoid compromising a given level of work/life balance throughout a career To attain professional or public recognition 2. Clear insight into context: In career strategy, this is about asking yourself questions and answering them as honestly and objectively as you can. Here are a few questions to start you off, but try to think of (and answer) as many more as you can: Personal (internal) context: What skills and capabilities do I have? What are my strengths and weaknesses? What types of work have most energised me over the last year? How have I grown and developed professionally over the last 5 years? What professional network do I have (mentors, colleagues, contacts)? External context: What are the typical intermediate career steps to get to my goal? Who are the people whose career I’d want to model my own on? What are my strengths and weaknesses compared to people I compete with for promotion or a new job? How are technology trends changing the types of opportunity available to me? How are my potential employers performing in their market? 3. A clear choice of how to succeed: Hopefully, the questions you’ve considered under ‘context’ will already have planted some ideas of what your route to success would be: An action or attribute which everyone who has succeeded at your goal has in common (and which sets them apart from everyone who has tried and failed at the goal) Something that nobody you’re in competition with is doing, but which would be highly valued by an employer of choice A new area of employment which is emerging or growing, which you could get established in before anyone else Remember that a strong career strategy needs to be built around a meaningful choice of how you focus and develop your career. Imagine two interviewees for a job, one who tries to convey that they are the best leader, quickest trouble-shooter, deepest expert and most creative innovator; and then another who focuses purely on positioning themselves as a leader, talking about innovation, leveraging expertise and troubleshooting all from the perspective of leadership. Even if the first candidate genuinely was an all-round superstar, and just as good as a leader, the second is more likely to get the job due to the clarity of their position, and coherence of their examples. 4. Plans and actions: Now that you know what you want to achieve in your career, and what the central focus for your success will be, it is important to translate that high-level concept into concrete actions you can start taking in 2017: What skills do you need to develop? Can you develop them at work, or do you need to learn outside? What is your ideal next career step? Is there scope for promotion at your current employer, or do you need to look elsewhere? Is it realistic to achieve it this year, or if not, how can you begin to take on those responsibilities early? Imagine yourself at the end of the year, talking an interviewer through an example of something you’ve done in 2017 that makes you perfect for your ideal next job. What is that project or performance, how can you ensure you’re involved and able to make that example a reality? What are the barriers you’ll need to overcome? Good luck with your career strategising for the year ahead, and feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn if you want to read future articles which dive deeper into the areas above. Want to progress in your career? Our career progression tips will help you get to where you want to be 2017 â€" The year of your future career The do’s and don’ts of networking to find a job   Not job searched in a long time? 4 ways to overcome your fears Three steps to perfecting your personal brand The hidden ingredient to look for in your next employer How transparent should you be during your job search? Share this blog:

5 Ways to Make Your Resume Stand Out

5 Ways to Make Your Resume Stand Out 5 Ways to Make Your Resume Stand Out 5 Ways to Make Your Resume Stand Out By Catherine Conlan Beast Contributing Writer When youre composing your resume you need to dazzle recruiting supervisors and get chose for a meeting, so you have to do all that you can to guarantee it stands apart from the group. Here are five different ways to make your resume stand apart from the opposition. React Directly to the Job Description Recruiting administrators have explicit thoughts regarding what aptitudes and encounters competitors need to do well in open positions and your resume should reflect the portrayal theyve remembered for their postings or advertisements, says Mark Slack, a lifelong counsel at Resume Genius. In an ocean of dull competitors, the most dazzling resume is the one that appears to coordinate the entirety of their prerequisites, including vital specialized abilities, work encounters, and degrees, confirmations, or licenses, he says. In the event that your past work experience isn't pertinent to the expected set of responsibilities, you should get inventive and outline your present range of abilities as being transferable into another job. Depict Accomplishments, Not Responsibilities Joseph Terach, CEO of Resume Deli, gives the case of a pizza conveyance individual: Its insufficient to state you convey pizzas, on the grounds that that is the thing that youre expected to do. The inquiry is: would you say you are acceptable at it? Or then again, did you convey pizzas late, cold and in a squashed box to an inappropriate location? Rather than disgorging your set of working responsibilities, center around the achievements youve made while satisfying that portrayal. Depict the ways youve exceeded expectations in your calling and have gone well beyond. Evaluate Your Accomplishments Theres no better method to portray your achievements than with cold hard numbers, says Slack. For example: How much item did you sell month to month? What amount of cash did you spare your organization because of your endeavors? What was the size of the spending you overseen? What number of individuals did you prepare or oversee? Putting a number on the work you do gives employing chiefs a thought how you may fit into an association. On the off chance that you can evaluate any of your sets of responsibilities, do as such, he says. It will give the recruiting supervisor a much more clear picture of your aptitudes and capacities, and unquestionably assist you with jumping on the short rundown for a meeting. Utilize the Summary Section for Distinguishing Details In the event that you remember a rundown explanation for your resume, recall it involves the most important spot - up front, Terach says. Such a large number of occupation searchers squander it on self-descriptors, for example, inventive, results-driven and brilliant communicator, he says. Prepare to have your mind blown. In the event that you have to mark yourself a brilliant communicator, at that point youre most likely not one. Rather, drop the generics and utilize the outline segment to give subtleties of your accomplishments. Disregard Irrelevant Information Comprehending what to leave off your resume can be as significant as recognizing what to put on it. You may think its a smart thought to incorporate however much data as could reasonably be expected to cushion a more vulnerable resume, yet this methodology can blowback. Counting insignificant occupations or unessential achievements from applicable employments tells your potential manager that you dont comprehend what theyre searching for, Terach says. Dont make your objective peruser fish through a lot of commotion so as to discover whats extremely critical to her, since she wont. Shell accept that you dont get it, and proceed onward. .

Build Your Personal Brand the NASCAR Way

Construct Your Personal Brand the NASCAR Way Construct Your Personal Brand the NASCAR Way Exercises in close to home marking and advertising from NASCAR.While I was composing my book, The Management 500: A High-Octane Formula for Business Success, I went to my first NASCAR occasion, the 2008 LifeLock.com 400 at the Chicagoland Speedway, in Joliet, Ill. I was there to perceive what the board and vocation exercises I could earn from perhaps the greatest wonder in sports.The race started at 7 p.m., and I crashed into the parking area at 11 a.m.; it was eight hours before the activity was planned to begin. Or then again so I thought. A NASCAR occasion isn't a race; it's an experience.If I had even a little hint about what number of the executives bits of knowledge I would pick up from considering auto hustling, I would have composed this book five years prior. Here are only a couple of things I learned:Add ValueA NASCAR race is far beyond only a vehicle race. It's a Super Bowl level occasion. The race pulled in 75,000 individuals, and I gauge there were in any event 20,000 i ndividuals closely following at 11 a.m. I rehash, this was eight hours before the race began. It's a monster festival, with genuine good old barkers shouting out that they had free proposals inside their tents. It's a goliath show with vocalists and performers in front of an audience throughout the day. It's a huge outside shopping center with more than 100 stalls selling tops, shirts, catches, small scale vehicles, mammoth corn hounds and even lemonade.A NASCAR occasion pulls in each possible brand-name item. I strolled through the biggest Abraham Lincoln historical center I'd at any point been in, and it was on wheels. I even went over a presentation set up with many the biggest and most superb TVs I had ever seen.The race â€" and the association â€" offered some benefit past its product.What is the general idea of the worth you offer and how might you convey that incentive to a business in synergistic manners that can bolster each other?Personalize Your BrandThe most grounded bra nds there were simply the race vehicle drivers. Individuals of any age wore shirts with the countenances and quantities of their preferred drivers. There was many corners of shirts, cups, vehicles and other bring home treats with photos of an individual driver and the quantity of their vehicle on them. I purchased two little reproductions for both of my offspring of the MM's vehicle that Kyle Busch drives and a Toyota Racing T-shirt for myself.On top of all that, the drivers themselves showed up everywhere to meet with fans. These drivers are generously compensated and are doing incredibly exceptional and perilous work for almost three hours during the race. Be that as it may, for a few hours paving the way to the race they are going near and making proper acquaintance with fans.Can you envision a CEO who makes a great many dollars a year heading over to clients for a few hours to chat with them directly before a significant executive gathering? That is basically what these race veh icle drivers do before each race.How would you be able to make your image increasingly close to home for managers and additionally clients?Create an ExperienceThere are 43 drivers who contend at each NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race and there are 36 such races every year everywhere throughout the U.S. This is a voyaging bazaar that is greater than any carnival I had ever seen. And afterward there's simply the race. You haven't encountered uproarious until you've heard a NASCAR race. In the event that you haven't went to a race, at that point watching it on TV doesn't show the speed well either. These vehicles were inside a couple of crawls of one another going at any rate 160 mph and hopping from high to low on the turns in the track.The entire day throbbed with exercises both on and off the track including: marking, advancement, cooperation, system, execution, arranging, critical thinking, winning, managing change, and arrangement. It wasn't only a race; it was a 360-degree experience . I urge you to peruse One Helluva Ride by Liz Clarke, which is about the historical backdrop of NASCAR and furthermore gives ground-breaking considerations on business momentum.Can you or your association take your item and make a convincing encounter around it?Make Your Own Pit RowOne of the features of the day was being permitted to go through 45 minutes strolling here and there pit column a couple of hours before the race began. Pit line houses 43 pit slows down used to supplant tires, refuel vehicles and fix any vehicle issues. The real race vehicles were sitting around 25 feet from pit line itself while I strolled up and down.This was marking paradise. A spot where clients, organizations and hustling groups all met in one spot. It made an unprecedented success win-win circumstance. The dashing groups gave extra an incentive to the clients by letting them see very close where the vehicles went during the race. I saw several photographs being taken where fans would sit with th e group individuals and get their photos taken in the pit slows down. All of those photos the fans took had corporate logos in them. That implied the supporters would be seen a huge number of times when those photos were created and appeared proudly to relatives and companions. These corporate supporters weren't simply covered up on the last page of a pamphlet. They were a piece of the fan collaboration with the dashing groups at the pit stalls.As I observed the entirety of this, few inquiries flew into my psyche. Would you be able to envision proficient baseball or football players letting fans look in their storage spaces a couple of hours before the game and having their photos taken remaining before those storage spaces? Would you be able to envision corporate logos everywhere throughout the storage spaces and the field itself? You may believe that would destroy those games, and you may be correct. Be that as it may, think about the all out expense of setting off to a significan t group ball game or a NFL game. I can't stand to take my better half, Barb, and our kids, Ben and Sarah, to a lot of ballgames. We have this thing called school educational cost to pay for sometime in the not so distant future. The last time I went to a significant class ball game it cost me something like $225 for one night. Yikes.At the NASCAR occasion, the stopping was free, the food was sensible and the ticket costs were not exorbitant.How would you be able to make a pit line in your business? Cause a rundown of the entirety of the sorts of clients you to have. Presently make a rundown of the entirety of the organizations that might want to offer to those clients. Would you be able to make a novel occasion for your clients highlighting your items and administrations? Might you be able to then incorporate different organizations at that occasion as patrons who might endorse the expense of the occasion and advantage from being before your customers?Mind the Caution FlagsDuring th e race there is one event in the opposition that has nothing to do with what's occurring directly before the race vehicle driver. It's known as the alert banner. At the point when garbage arrives on the track or a vehicle gets harmed while dashing, the alert banner is waved and all the drivers need to back off and get behind the pace vehicle. That doesn't appear to be really awful, aside from the lead driver, who needs to back off and let the various vehicles line up directly behind him. The pad out of nowhere evaporates.This same thing occurs in business. You're working superbly and remaining centered. You've gathered enormous speed and you are well past the anticipated pace. Your association is by a long shot the best in the business, and you consistently produce critical, maintainable and beneficial growth.Then out of nowhere the commercial center changes. Right away the entirety of the organizations in your industry moderate route down. A progression of national anecdotes about your industry promptly sends even your most steadfast clients scanning for alternatives.Think of the lodging downturn that happened in 2007 and 2008. Abruptly the best and the most disastrous realtors were packed into an unfathomably close market. The pioneer's lead was no longer what it had been. When there is even a confined episode of distraught bovine ailment, it sends eateries and markets into an impermanent winding, regardless of whether they were route in front of their arrangement or way behind.This is the reason it is so critical to concentrate on improving execution and not exclusively on your relative position contrasted with others at some random second. Because you had an extraordinary or horrendous quarter doesn't mean you're stuck in that position for eternity. Maybe your rival made a major deal directly before the quarter finished, and you made one just after the following quarter began. It would seem that you're path behind when as a general rule you're not.When you r market gets compacted in what capacity will you be set up to win the race before you?I urge you to go to a NASCAR race, however arrive way, route before it starts and let the exercises on the executives absorb.

Tonya Spell - Work It Daily

Tonya Spell - Work It Daily Selection representative Info Name: Tonya Spell Title: Sr. Expert Email: tspell@walker-elliott.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tonyaspell Telephone: 713-482-3750 Organization Info Organization: Walker Elliott Area: Houston, TX Site: www.walker-elliott.com Professions Page: www.walker-elliott.com/applicants/employments/JobSearch/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/organization/walker-elliott Twitter: @walkerelliott Facebook: www.facebook.com/Walker-Elliott-110917205613328/ For Job Candidates Favored Method To Be Contacted By A Candidate: Email Favored Process For Following Up On Application: Shooting an email with a resume is the best initial step and afterward I will get in touch with you to set up a telephone meet. have confidence, I will NEVER send your resume anyplace without you explicit authorization early - for every customer. The exact opposite thing I need to do is available somebody who either wants to work some place for different reasons or has just been introduced. Not effectively looking however need to visit? Fell allowed to call. Things That Impress You In A Candidate: Ability to remember we are here to help and be your accomplice Readiness to take helpful exhort on your resume or potentially profession search An all around considered arrangement/guide with the capacity to verbalize how your past has lead you to where you are today A longing to develop An elegantly composed resume with insights concerning what you did and where (instead of a practical resume giving an outline as it were). Things Candidates Must Include To Be Considered For Job: A resume in a Word connection and the capacity to sit on a 15 brief telephone meet with me to go over his/her experience, specialized capacities, and pay desires history. So, I should have the option to become more acquainted with you as my customers don't employ me to give resumes, yet more to give competitors who are a solid match. Should likewise have the option to pass a historical verification. Things That Will Disqualify A Candidate From Getting Considered: Not talking about their past history and additionally pay desires as well as contemptibility. Can Candidates Apply For Multiple Positions And Not Get Penalized?: Yes Scout's Perspective What do you like to do in your spare time? I am effectively engaged with the Houston Livestock Show Rodeo and an eager avid supporter In a sentence, for what reason do you appreciate working at your conversation? We have colossal kinship and soundness among our group and all work full work areas. In a sentence, how does your organization have a ton of fun all the time? We turn out to be together, we have lunch together month to month, we take trips together and we regularly mess around on Friday together. In a sentence, how might you depict the workers at your organization? The enrolling group at Walker Elliott is included the best profession specialists in the business who are devoted and here for the long stretch. Have you joined our profession development club?Join For Free!

Tonya Spell - Work It Daily

Tonya Spell - Work It Daily Selection representative Info Name: Tonya Spell Title: Sr. Expert Email: tspell@walker-elliott.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/tonyaspell Telephone: 713-482-3750 Organization Info Organization: Walker Elliott Area: Houston, TX Site: www.walker-elliott.com Professions Page: www.walker-elliott.com/applicants/employments/JobSearch/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/organization/walker-elliott Twitter: @walkerelliott Facebook: www.facebook.com/Walker-Elliott-110917205613328/ For Job Candidates Favored Method To Be Contacted By A Candidate: Email Favored Process For Following Up On Application: Shooting an email with a resume is the best initial step and afterward I will get in touch with you to set up a telephone meet. have confidence, I will NEVER send your resume anyplace without you explicit authorization early - for every customer. The exact opposite thing I need to do is available somebody who either wants to work some place for different reasons or has just been introduced. Not effectively looking however need to visit? Fell allowed to call. Things That Impress You In A Candidate: Ability to remember we are here to help and be your accomplice Readiness to take helpful exhort on your resume or potentially profession search An all around considered arrangement/guide with the capacity to verbalize how your past has lead you to where you are today A longing to develop An elegantly composed resume with insights concerning what you did and where (instead of a practical resume giving an outline as it were). Things Candidates Must Include To Be Considered For Job: A resume in a Word connection and the capacity to sit on a 15 brief telephone meet with me to go over his/her experience, specialized capacities, and pay desires history. So, I should have the option to become more acquainted with you as my customers don't employ me to give resumes, yet more to give competitors who are a solid match. Should likewise have the option to pass a historical verification. Things That Will Disqualify A Candidate From Getting Considered: Not talking about their past history and additionally pay desires as well as contemptibility. Can Candidates Apply For Multiple Positions And Not Get Penalized?: Yes Scout's Perspective What do you like to do in your spare time? I am effectively engaged with the Houston Livestock Show Rodeo and an eager avid supporter In a sentence, for what reason do you appreciate working at your conversation? We have colossal kinship and soundness among our group and all work full work areas. In a sentence, how does your organization have a ton of fun all the time? We turn out to be together, we have lunch together month to month, we take trips together and we regularly mess around on Friday together. In a sentence, how might you depict the workers at your organization? The enrolling group at Walker Elliott is included the best profession specialists in the business who are devoted and here for the long stretch. Have you joined our profession development club?Join For Free!