People always ask me: What’s your plan? What do you see yourself in three, five or even ten years time? What’s your short/long term goal? What do you want to achieve before you reach 30, 40 and/or 50?

Big questions! …but have I told you I have a syndrome called “plan phobia syndrome”? 

No? Well, as the name explains, I will have serious terror/fright when I get questions relating to the word “plan” and/or anything similar to it. And I will go to great lengths to avoid it… Don’t even ask me what I’ll do tomorrow or the next day after, because I don’t have a plan! Experts on such topic would probably be horrified to hear this, but personally I don’t think that’s too much of a problem. Without the restriction of a plan, I find myself with more freedom to manoeuvre, I can also afford to take up some opportunity that I may not have considered.

So, if you are panicking because you haven’t got a big master plan in line for 2012, you are not alone, we’re in the same boat!

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what’s going to happen next. – Gilda Radner, actor

One of my (many) new year’s resolutions is to confront myself a little more honestly and be as self-aware as possible; without totally disappearing inside my head.   I won’t give you the complete list of my personal flaws but I will share one that has an impact in the workplace, hopefully more on me than on my colleagues. I dislike, with a passion, standing up as part of a ‘group presentation’. I sulk, often quite visibly, when I have to do something that involves this.  I’ll deploy subtle but effective avoidance tactics. When actually presenting I can appear to enjoy it, and I hope that I appear reasonably professional…but the truth is I am so, so, so glad when it’s over.

So my resolution for 2012 is to understand better what the triggers are around this for me.  My goal is to reduce ‘visible sulking’ when the prospect of a group presentation arises, by 50% over the next 12 months.  I have made my goal SMART, that is, specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely, so that I don’t over-aspire and risk failure. If I am successful, my goal in 2013 will be to embrace group presentations with joy by 2018…although I might need longer.  Perhaps I’ll have a five-to- ten-year plan (already sounds like a prison sentence) and aim for realistic progress – say 25% – over that time.

So what’s inspired my five minutes of introspection and enlightenment with the prospect of change?  It was a series of short articles on the British Psychological Society website. Some of the world’s leading psychologists share, ‘one nagging thing they still don’t understand about themselves’. I read the articles and felt relief…I am confused but not alone in my confusion and in the best possible company. Find out what some leading psychologists still don’t understand about themselves.

blogspot.com – one nagging thing you still don’t understand about yourself

First year students are getting all excited about starting out at Uni and you are sure going to have a good time. However, before you start, read through the guides explaining what support there is while you study. Also make a note of what you have been doing over the summer and set some goals for what you would like to achieve in addition to your studies in the first year. At Orientation listen out for info on your University Careers Service and make sure you know how to find out about the part-time jobs and where to get help with CV checks.

Middle year students could be in their second, third or fourth years and these are quite crucial times in terms of building the experiences for your CV. You can think about getting involved with volunteering or student support roles. You can update your CV and apply for more subject related part-time jobs. Attending career workshops and going to expos during the year is a really good idea so book the dates in your diary now and use the CareerHub online resources.

Final year students need to ask themselves if they are ready for the graduate recruitment season. If you are not prepared, then get onto researching what opportunities are available and find out the deadline dates. Prepare your CV and attend workshops on the application and interview process. Remember, if you don’t know what to do after graduation, you can talk with a career consultant at Vic Careers.

Start your planning in January as the year does fly by.
Check out these articles: 3 Steps to New Year’s Resolutions for College Students and 8 New Year’s Resolutions for Your Career.

For a long time I didn’t really know how to take long weekends to relax – long weekends were for achieving something big usually something around the house or developing new skills related to my professional development. I once dedicated a long weekend to learning JavaScript and pretty much said to my wife I was going to be in my own little bubble of concentration for the weekend. She was pretty good about it and mostly left me to my own devices. That worked really well actually, I did pick up a new skill which was endlessly useful and it only took a few days.

These days I don’t have that sort of time, I have a little one to look after for one and that alone takes up the majority of my time in the weekends. I still take time to concentrate on my own projects and develop new skills but downtime doing something fun which doesn’t have to be particularly constructive from time to time means that I’m not burnt out for my own projects or during the work week.

What I’m saying is pretty obvious really, it’s about balance and long weekends are a great way to bring things back into balance. That might mean catching up with skills development or catching up with friends – have you been neglecting one of those lately?

I had a chat with a student this week who had been preparing for his interview but he was worried about answering the behavioural/competency based questions. These days these types of questions happen at nearly every formal interview so it is important to get to grips with how to answer them.

Behavioural/competency based interview questions are “designed to probe your previous experiences in order to determine how you might behave in similar situations in the future.”  You will give examples of stories from your past which will be “evaluated for evidence of your intellectual competence, leadership, teamwork, personal skills, adjustment and flexibility, motivation, communication skills, administrative skills, and technical abilities.”

“A thorough answer should describe the Situation, the Tasks with which you were charged, the Action you took, and the Result of your action.”  This STAR model will provide you with important structure to your answers.

This article from The Drexel University in America describes in great detail what the STAR model is and how to use it to prepare for these questions. See here: http://www.drexel.edu/scdc/resources/STAR%20Method.pdf 

What I will add to the above article is to practice your answers! Read as many practice questions and answers as possible and practice them out loud. I’m a big advocate at doing this because the answer always sounds different in your head. If at all possible get someone to listen to your answers. An objective appraisal of how you sound is great feedback. 

If you get asked a question you haven’t practiced or anticipated try not to let it throw you off course. It is perfectly acceptable to take a few moments to think of an answer. If necessary, simply tell your interviewer that you “may need to think about this for a few moments”.  A few seconds of thinking about what you will say is much better than 10 minutes of rambling.  When answering questions you hadn’t anticipated or practiced it can be very easy to let words like “um,” “ya know,” “well,” “like,” “yeah….no” slip into your answer. These are all words we use without thinking but they can indicate uncertainty and a lack of professionalism so be aware of your grammar.

Finally, if you want to see some visual examples of these questions we have some great behavioural/competency based interview DVDs here at Vic Careers that you can come in and view at any stage.

 Quotes taken from The Drexel University Careers website.

Just Merry Christmas! Next!

We live and work in times of huge and it seems relentless change and the biggest driver for that change has of course been technology. Cyber space, and the technologies that have allowed us to exploit and enjoy it for instantaneous written, auditory and visual communication with anyone, anywhere, about anything, at anytime, for work and for entertainment, has quickly made it an essential tool in managing our everyday lives in every conceivable context.  

The physical and organisational infrastructure, hardware and software behind it all and the constant drive for innovations has required new knowledge and new skill sets and led to new jobs that we hadn’t conceived of ten or even five years ago. So people with technology-related skills are in high demand but even for them, the pace of change may seem at times overwhelming and there is increasingly the risk of specialising in technologies that become redundant. 

Of course revolutions driven by ‘new technologies’ which change the way people work, what they can produce and how they live, are nothing new and the industrial revolution which spanned the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries showed us this. But what is new is the rate of change, which is unprecedented. The industrial revolution saw the world quickly divided up into producers and consumers with the producers of goods (and therefore wealth) having huge economic influence. In modern times this is still the case but consumers also have substantial power in changing the economic landscape. We have also seen countries becoming economically co-dependent as they prioritise facilitating business and trading relationships with other nations which then leads to the proliferation of financial and economic systems of incredible complexity and, as we have seen, high risk. Recent economic crises have proven this.

So there have been wonderful opportunities for people with financial, mathematical and statistical qualifications and experience and they will continue to be in demand but perhaps even people with these skills will need to look at recent financial and economic crises, trends and challenges ahead that might be indicated by these and consider whether the demand for their skills might change as a result. 

OK, the world is changing fast, largely driven by technology and new jobs will emerge all the time. Jobs will also continue to disappear for a variety of reasons. In addition, the number of jobs of a particular type, across a particular sector and their physical location will also change, and with the potential to change fast as new technologies and new enterprises rise and wane. We have another dynamic to add to this, an unsettled world landscape in relation to economic power, and one in which a single country, or many, can be impacted either adversely or positively by the economic failure or success of another country on another continent even where there are apparently no direct trade, economic or political ties. These economic consequences are often quite fast. This increasingly requires economic and global awareness at an individual level in order to anticipate, respond to and be resilient to, local, regional and global change that could affect our ability to secure and remain in work.

 So, what can be done to ensure success and longevity in the labour market?

1. Maintain your specialist skill set and good current knowledge of your discipline or field.
2. Regularly review your skill set, identify any weaknesses and take action to address them. Decide whether the action is to up-skill; add a new skill that compliments existing skills and differentiates you from your colleagues; or re-skill.  A careers consultant can be a useful sounding board and provide advice and support.
3. Keep up to date with local and international trends in your field and if possible in related fields. Some work areas that were once considered discipline-specific are becoming cross-disciplinary.
4. Maintain soft-skills such as verbal communication, managing relationships with others and maintaining a profile through networking. 

 http://www.cbsnews.com/8334-505143_162-57343788/will-these-10-jobs-disappear-in-2012/?tag=re1.galleries

When thinking of the minimalist business card the business card scene from American Psycho will forever be emblazoned in my mind. It’s obviously an exaggeration of how little room for creativity there is at the minimalist end of the spectrum and how important minute details are but there’s a bit of truth in there too!

But if the cookie cutter style doesn’t suit you and you want your card to say something unique about you then there’s plenty of scope to show your inventive flair. Take a look and find some inspiration from this article on www.crookedbrains.net:  Creative Business Cards

I quite liked the divorce lawyers’ one, the tear is both symbolic and practical – but most of all professional and memorable.

Can you still have a business card if you are currently sans business?

Sure! A business card doesn’t have to only refer to your current job title, it can represent you for what you are. If you’re an unemployed designer (or whatever) you’re really a designer between jobs and if you’re a one of those then you’re really a designer full-stop. You’ll never know when you’ll be in a conversation with someone who takes an interest and who may even be in a position to make a difference to your career in some way. If they ask you for your card and you can produce one that can do great things for the impression you make or for what some would refer to as your “brand”.

Great! I’m going to forget about my CV and just focus on getting a good business card – so much easier!

I never said. Don’t do that. If you’ve got time to enhance your brand and concentrate on networking once you’ve got those all important CVs and cover letters sorted then by all means do that. Till then… don’t do that, I never said that.

So I need to go and buy some card and a craft knife right?

Well, maybe it’s better to start off letting the experts do the lion’s share of the work. Call around a few local printers so you know what the cost is and any additional requirements or suggestions such as dimensions. Maybe just start off seeing what templates your installed word or image processing software has or can download and then maybe get creative using those as a base. Starting off basic is a good idea because we can often get a kind of design blindness when creating something making incremental changes as we go. It’s like watching your cute kitten grow and not really seeing the change from that cute little cat you had 8 years ago to the ragged eared, bent whiskered, shaggy tailed beast of children’s nightmares that you still love now.

Just don’t get carried away and ask others their opinion Is all I’m saying!

Happy networking and brand building.

A time for reflection, appreciation and celebrations.
Has someone lighted up your life?
Has someone pointed you to the right direction?
Has someone given you a job?
Has someone cleaned up your mess?
Has someone looked after you when you have been unwell?
Has someone cried/laughed with you?
……

but, have they made it to your Christmas list?

Soft skills like communication and interpersonal skills, empathy, organisational skills, team management and leadership, or cultural awareness for example are all valuable in a tough market and it is vital to demonstrate your capabilities in these areas to a potential employer. You may have gained these employability skills through previous work experience, part-time jobs, voluntary roles and even study related projects, so take time to think about what you have learned.

And if you are faced with multiple offers,  how do you chose between the different roles and companies? It can be a tough decision and one that requires doing your research and making an informed and balanced choice. Of course money is an important factor but going for the biggest pay packet shouldn’t be the only deciding factor. Sean Brunner says that most people will have a preference by the time they reach the offer stage but you should also consider career prospects, culture and company fit. He suggests:

• Write a pros and cons list, looking at key areas of importance to you
• Consider the career options 3-5 years on and your career goals
• Check out the company’s performance and future
• Don’t be lured by dollars and perks – it’s often more about the fit
• Don’t keep employers waiting and be open and honest about your situation.

Good luck!