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What impact GCSE grades?

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A clutch of new GCSE certificate holding 16 year olds appear on the market today, perhaps heading to do ‘A’ levels, get a job,  do an apprenticeship, or remain a NEET.  But what are their prospects?

The following facts are from Cedefop.

80 million people in the EU have a low level of skill.

Young people 15-24 are projected to experience only moderate increases in high level qualification. Low skill can affect confidence and lead to social exclusion.

There is a decline of 7 million jobs between 2010 and 2020 for those with no or few qualifications.

The EU target for lifelong learning for 25-64 years old is 15%. In 2008 it was only 9.5%, a large shortfall.

Between 2010 and 2020, the number of jobs for those with low/no formal qualifications declines rapidly by 12 million.

More people looking for fewer jobs means that employers have the pick of the crop and future jobs also require more skills and knowledge than jobs have required in the past.

The message is clear. Skill up. Now.

Without this the wealth polarisation and chasm between the ‘haves’ and ‘have not’s’ will get wider.

For more Energise insights and tips on careers, self promotion and smart living and working, click on this link below:

http://www.liberateyourtalent.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=106

Career choices – what is a safe bet?

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‘A’ level results are out today. For young people and their parents, that is one milestone out of the way in an uncertain world. But when it comes to career choices, what is a safe bet these days?

Part of our job is to look at emerging careers, skills of the future, work trends and what employers need/want. If you are going to choose a career, or change career, you want to minimise the risk and make a considered choice, right?

So that means you need a clear strategy and plan rather than simply falling into it by chance.

Here are 8 sound career choices to consider:

  1. Managing information: Content and information is growing exponentially and we need people and tools to manage it or our heads will explode from overload
  2. Digital: We are in the digital age so a good bet as a career choice. It is definitely going to grow not shrink.
  3. Health: We have an aging population and mental illness is on the increase, so lots of opportunities here.
  4. Managing risk: Since some countries and companies have not done this enough, it will swing the other way and we will probably end up doing it too much.
  5. Stress management: Stress is on the increase so any professions that help people to manage it are good options.
  6. Time management: Jobs that help people to save time will grow e.g. a virtual PA for small businesses.
  7. Customer service: Ultimately with the whole world able to compete in many markets, what make you better than your competitors are how you care for your customers.
  8. Creativity & innovation: Humans have been around for a long time now and so it is harder to be original but we need smart creative innovative thinking to solve business and the world’s problems, so get your thinking caps on.

So 8 good options re safe bet career choices, whether you are embarking on your career or wanting a career change.

If one career route is not for you, then a portfolio career could be the answer – a career with many strands.  Click on this link to read more:

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/article/3899124/what-is-portfolio-working-and-why-is-it-growing-/

Career change fear?

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Career change can feel like a big step at the best of times, and especially in a downturn. Career change fear is normal. So why does it feel so daunting? Here are 15 reasons:

  1. The outcome is unknown
  2. The job market is uncertain
  3. The world of work is changing fast
  4. Change makes many people feel uncomfortable
  5. Career change often affects other people
  6. Familiarity is comfy
  7. It can lead to moving home or a change of school which is a big upheaval
  8. It is a lot to think about when you are already busy
  9. You have to deal with the fears/views of other people
  10. You don’t know that you are making the right decision
  11. People often feel bad because they cannot crack it by themselves
  12. It is hard to see your own skills
  13. It’s a big change which affects many things
  14. The news is full of doom and gloom
  15. New employment can change your employment rights re redundancy which affects your perception of security

Taking time to plan, evaluate the options, getting expert support and having a plan A, B and C helps career change fear. Our Energise bulletins have lots of tips to help you on your journey – click on this link to read Energise Career strategies, Self-Promotion and Smart living and working bulletins.

http://www.liberateyourtalent.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=106

What’s your competitive advantage?

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In times of high unemployment, frozen or restricted recruitment and a high degree of competition, you need to have a strong competitive advantage to be chosen.

Here are 14 tips to help you stand out from the masses and be chosen now and in the future:

1) Skill-up. Invest in your skills – take responsibility for developing yourself and keep your skills up to date. Skills have a shorter shelf life than in the past and you need more skills than before to be chosen.

2) Connect: Create, build and keep in touch with your network. Support them and they will support you.

3) Be visible. The world is increasingly going on-line. Social media is key for visibility – embrace it.

4) Unique brand. Be clear about what makes you unique; your life and work experiences, skills and qualities combined are a unique combination. Who are they useful for? Be targeted.

5) Be pragmatic.  It is great to have an ideal, but have a plan A, B and C in challenging times.

6) Set goals. Have a clear SMART goal for where you want to be and break it into small steps for a busy world.

7) Be proactive. Make your success happen by asking for introductions, sharing ideas, developing thought leadership.

8) Be strategic in approach. Look at market trends, skill shortages, new careers to stay one step ahead. Have a vision and a plan to get there.

9) Review. Everything is changing fast, the whole world are now your competitors, technology is replacing many jobs.  Keep up with the changes – don’t get left behind.

10) Be confident: in who you are and what you have to offer – this can make a huge difference to success.

11) Be creative. How can you overcome employer objections e.g. ‘not an exact fit’, ‘expensive vs. younger candidates’ and get experience of a new area without having a job?

12) Be smart. Get support. We would love to help,

13) Be targeted: Don’t scatter your efforts and dilute the potential results. Do your research and go for a ‘bull’s eye’.

14) Be responsible: Take responsibility for your career and development, don’t leave it to someone else.

Recommended reading: Lynda Gratton “The Shift” and Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn) “The start up of you”.

 

Are you at the end of your tether?

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We are finding stress on the up with people at work, and with the heat and pressure of uncertainty, it can be wise to make a move elsewhere.

There are many reasons for changing career for something better; here is a compilation from the various people we have worked with.

  1. Redundancy
  2. Early retirement
  3. Need to fund retirement
  4. Dislike of politics
  5. No career progression prospects
  6. Fed up of doing more for less
  7. Desire for variety
  8. Partner moves job/location
  9. Shrinking prospects
  10. Sacked
  11. Hunger for broader/more diverse role
  12. Boss staying put so prospects blocked
  13. Kid on the way – need more money
  14. Young family – need a pay rise to support
  15. Increased competition
  16. Fancy a change
  17. Desire to focus work on what enjoy
  18. Want to line own pockets from effort put in
  19. Changing values over time
  20. Need more money
  21. Want more satisfaction from work
  22. Burning ambition to have own business
  23. Feel bored
  24. A merger
  25. Divorce
  26. Partner made redundant – need the money
  27. A big birthday – catalyst for change
  28. A change of boss
  29. Your role changes without you having a say
  30. You need/want more flexible work
  31. Having kids – need more flexibility
  32. Company moves their office base too far away from your home e.g. BBC
  33. You see someone making a successful career change so think that you can too
  34. Someone dies who you are close to and it makes you revaluate
  35. You inherit some money which gives you choice
  36. Your children leave home freeing you up

Which can you relate to? If you are at a career crossroads or know someone who is, our Energise bulletins provide free insights and tips to help you when changing career:

http://www.liberateyourtalent.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=106

What do our clients think?

http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/energise-client-testimonials/

Copywriter to rocket scientist?

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A change in career can be a step or a leap. I was pondering how dramatic the career changes of my clients have been. They have been really varied – here are 3.

From design management to explore cheese holidays in France:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1106787631322.html

From advertising to charity:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1106786590378.html

From market research to face workouts:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1108092201346.html

What is the most radical change in career you have heard about? Do share it.

If you are pondering a change in career, our bulletins are full of insights and tips:

Previous bulletins:

http://www.liberateyourtalent.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=106

Opt in to receive future bulletins:

http://visitor.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?m=1102862873131&p=oi

We especially LOVE helping people change career who do not fit in a box, who need to reposition themselves and who know they want something different but don’t know what.

Follow us on Twitter: talentliberator

Asking your clients for referrals Part 2

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Here is the second of 2 parts of a blog sharing tips on asking your clients for referrals. What tips would you add?

  1. Do a feedback questionnaire at the end of each project including prompting for referrals
  2. Choose your moment – when your client is especially happy with the work you are doing is a great time to ask
  3. Nurture your clients e.g. send them useful articles so that your request is part of regular communication, not out of the blue
  4. Have a clear niche, personal brand and verbal business card – this helps your clients to feel clear and articulate what you do and why you are good on your behalf
  5. Use LinkedIn – it is a great and efficient way to see who your clients know and ask them to introduce you quickly and easily
  6. Make time once a month to analyse the source of your work and plan the next month
  7. Thank your clients for referrals – e.g. send them a card or buy them lunch
  8. Get yourself into a resourceful state before picking up the phone – name how you want to feel e.g. confident and access a memory when you had this resource
  9. Picture a successful outcome, a proven technique used in sport
  10. Ask the advice of someone who is skilled at getting more work through existing clients for tips – this could also remind them to ask their clients for referrals for you too.

Which tips do you think are the most important ones? What would you say are the top 3 from this post, part 2 and

part 1?:

http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/help-marketing-feels-like-a-maze/

If you found this blog useful: here is a useful related blog post: “How do I market what I do? 10 tips”: http://liberateyourtalent.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/how-do-i-market-what-i-do-10-tips/

Have you read our Energise bulletin “What’s in it for them?” http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1104411157334.html

To opt in to receive future Energise bulletins, click on this link: http://visitor.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?m=1102862873131&p=oi

If you have any suggestions for useful topics, do share your ideas by posting a comment. Thanks!

Help! Marketing feels like a maze!

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Modern marketing is like a maze and it needs to be worked out, or you go around in circles!

Getting more work from current clients is a lovely way to get work. It gives you an inner glow. Referrals make sense, for established businesses and especially for new start ups.

Referrals are a great way part of marketing and they cost nothing. Yet when most new or established business owners are asked what they do to guarantee that they receive a steady stream of referrals, they are hard pressed to give an answer. What is your view on this aspect of marketing?

Asking your clients for referrals or ‘referral marketing’ is the most powerful, cost effective and targeted business development you can do. The single most important factor is that you must first expect referrals. If you are not receiving referrals from every one of your clients, then consider implementing this one simple piece of business development from today. Here are 10 tips:

10 tips to ask for referrals with ease

1. Think of your clients as a friend who you have not seen for a while. This attitude will ensure your body language is always positive, warm, friendly and trusting.

2. Ask your clients open questions to help you to understand them, their needs and build rapport. E.g. How’s life? How’s work?

3. When you speak with your clients, pick up nuggets of information about their professional and personal lives that will create opportunities for you and your colleagues

4. Keep notes on your clients; their partner’s name, interests, where and when they are going on holiday, attitude to topical topics e.g. the Olympics etc. so that you have continuity when you get in touch and a link from last time you spoke

5. Identify any limiting beliefs you have about asking for referrals e.g. ‘it is pushy’ or ‘if I was any good they would offer to’ and shift them

6. Plan a regular slot in your diary and specific location to do this task

7. Craft your own way of asking for referrals that feels comfortable e.g. via e mail

8. Remember that if you have done a good job, your clients will feel positively predisposed to help you

9. Make it easy for your clients to refer to you, be specific in what client and what kind of project/brief you are focusing on

10. Offer to craft an introductory e mail to save your client time introducing you

What would your tips be from your own experience? Any examples of when you overcame any fears and got a fantastic bit of business simply from asking for a referral?

Getting more business from current clients makes sense, even more so in a downturn.

Next week – 10 more tips to get referrals with ease.

If you found this useful, have a read of our Energise bulletins:

http://www.liberateyourtalent.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79&Itemid=106

and opt in to get more free advice.

 

What Will You Do When You Grow Up?

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Train Driver? Ski instructor?

One of our clients has landed their dream job!

Like many people, they fell into their career by accident. Most people never do anything about it.

Career change is not always radical. Finding a new boss or company that matches your values can make a BIG difference.

This sign quoting Steve Jobs sums it up. Isn’t life too short?

Is your career constipated? Read this:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1104344499290.html

How passionate are you about your career? Read this:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1103660821089.html

To receive future Energise bulletins, click on this link:

http://visitor.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?m=1102862873131&p=oi

For work and career trends and quotes to inspire you, follow us on Twitter @talentliberator

What work trends will affect your future?

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Hello – how are you?

Blimey, modern life is full-on! Everything is changing so fast and it will get faster.

We have been reading lots of research about career success, employability, future skills and careers and the changing world of work so we can add even more value to our clients through these changing times.  This blog shares some of these insights.

Here are 12 significant trends people need to be aware of and take action about

  1. More specialised mastery needed – serial mastery
  2. Connectivity, collaboration and networks central
  3. World is increasingly virtual
  4. Increasingly complex working and business environment
  5. Accelerated change
  6. Continuously growing competition and fragmentation
  7. Skills have a shorter shelf life
  8. Peace, quiet and reflection time under threat
  9. Growth in innovation and creativity and solutions from diverse networks
  10. Working for companies more flexible and looser
  11. Need to create a trusted brand – make it authentic, create reputation and manage it
  12. Evolving positioning key – ‘morph and slide’

Source – Lynda Grafton “The Shift – the future of work is already here.”

We love trends and hope you found this potted summary useful.

How will these trends affect you?

What actions can you take now to stay one step ahead?

Portfolio careers is one trend on the up – read our career guide for The Telegraph – click here:

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/article/3899124/what-is-portfolio-working-and-why-is-it-growing-/

Download our free skills report:

http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/