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Change and uncertainty

What’s your career insurance?

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It is vital in uncertain times to have career ‘insurance’ – a plan ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ for your career. 

Do you?

Not having an insurance policy for your career is like driving a car in winter with only one headlight, a 10 year old map, a nearly empty tank of petrol with no spare petrol can in the boot and with one wing mirror hanging off.

You wouldn’t, would you?

Why then, do most people do the equivalent with their career?

You only have to look at what has happened during the coronavirus period to see the danger of how fast a sector can change.

So – what’s your career plan ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’? 

Reasons for neglecting this vital area include:

·        Fear: Of feeling regret and disappointment

·        Time poor: Let other’s needs take precedence

·        Overwhelm: Don’t know where to start

·        Empty toolbox: Don’t have the tools and frameworks

·        Short termism: Focus on the here and now

·        Life stage: Feel no point with other life priorities

·        Habit: Fell into a career and leave it to chance

·        Resigned: Don’t feel deserve anything better/different

·        Unaware: Never done any personal development

·        Blinkered: In the dark about the fast changing world of work 

Do you relate to any of these? What additional factors would you add?

Inspiring quote

“The best way to create the future is to invent it.” Alan Kay.

Self-reflective question:

What 1 action can I take straight away that would most help my future career security & prospects?”  

7 tips for your career reassurance

1.  Support: enlist an experienced career coach

2.  Headspace: book a career retreat/away day

3.  Think: replace mindless time frittering e.g. FaceBook

4.  Focus: write your ideal role/career description & plan ‘A’, ‘B’ & ‘C’

5.  Habit: make ‘dead’ time fruitful e.g. a commute to create options

6.  Prioritise: ring fence a monthly time slot & budget

7.  Informed: look inwards (self-awareness) & outwards (trends)

What tips would you add?

Get in touch https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/portfolio/connect/

2020 skills self-assessment

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Thinking outside the box

In a fast changing world, different skills are needed compared with the past. These are the top 10 skills needed for 2020.

1. Complex problem solving
2. Critical thinking
3. Creativity
4. People management
5. Coordinating with others
6. Emotional intelligence
7. Judgement and decision making
8. Service orientation
9. Negotiation
10. Cognitive flexibility

Source: Future of jobs report, World Economic Forum 11 January 2016

According to the Future of jobs report by the World Economic Forum, more than a third of the desired core skills sets of most occupations will be compromised of skills that are not yet considered crucial to the job today.

How would you rate your competency on each of these 10 skills out of 100%?

What are your learning objectives?

S.M.A.R.T. Learning and development objectives

1

2

3

How can we support you?

Get in touch:

Contact us

Find out your network’s view of your skills – download our free report:
Free Energise report

The unwelcome guest

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uncertainty-paradox-and-business-strategy

I had an unwelcome guest over Christmas. In fact they were never invited.

The guest was fear. It visits me every year around this time, the ‘in-between zone’ between the festive season fading and the business world waking from its slumber.

It paralysed me for over 5 minutes; I could feel it camping in my body.

The negative self-talk started: “What if everyone ‘sits on the fence’ until after the general election – that’s over 5 MONTHS?!!” “What if lack of business confidence means no decisions are made?” “How will I deal with the fast pace of increased competition and technology?”

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Panic set in.

I noticed myself doing a displacement activity to sooth myself.

Luckily mine is very productive and inexpensive rather than doing drugs or shopping – I started filing business cards A-Z!

That made me chuckle. And then the fear started to shift and the positive thoughts moved the negative ones to one side out of view. I picture cheerleaders carrying pom poms – not sure why!

‘Rachel – you have been self-employed for over 17 years. Most small businesses fail in the first 1-2 years.’

‘Rachel, you are in the 1% of the population who embraces risk and change, imagine how other people feel? Focus on them, you can help them.’

‘Rachel you have a portfolio career, look at trends, have many useful skills and are resilient.’

The unwelcome guest left.

There is no question we live in uncertain and disruptive times. So what is the best way to manage fear?

10 tips to manage fear

1. Observe/sit with the fear until it shifts
2. Adopt/imagine a sense of curiosity about the future
3. Believe that you will work it out and it will be a positive learning and growing experience
4. Create a focused personal career vision, mission, strategy and plan
5. Remind yourself of what you have to offer
6. Understand yourself
7. Keep taking action to move forwards, one action at a time
8. Put aside 10% of your salary for retraining, coaching and/or a financial cushion
9. Invest in your personal & professional development and marketability
10. Define a focused sustainable niche for success

What tips would you add?

Useful resources to manage fear

• You
• Me
• Susan Jeffers books ‘Feel the fear and do it anyway’ & ‘Embracing uncertainty.’

What next?

Here are 4 actions – why not choose 1:

Download our free report:
http://careerstrategies.co.uk/changingcareersreport/

Put ‘Energise career coaching gift voucher’ on your gift list for this year.

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

Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/talentliberator

PS If you are ‘sitting on the fence’, here’s a thought. If you start coaching or our career e course now, you will be ready to move forward by the general election result. Ready? What have you got to lose, except 5 months of inaction and a sore arse? Get in touch. E mail me rachel@liberateyourtalent.com

How career resilient are you?

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Man running on water

How career resilient are you and how important is it?

I went to an interesting seminar last week about career resilience. I came away feeling confident that I am, which is good to know doing the work I do!

So what creates career resilience? Does it depend on having a laid back disposition, high levels of the ‘happy hormone’ serotonin or something else?

The quick answer is resilience is learnt. What creates career resilience is keeping an eye on trends that may/will affect your job/career, being aware of your strengths, skills and character and what you have to offer – the value of your ‘currency’, making useful connections, both insights and people, listening to and taking note of the needs of your customers/target audience and aligning yourself with what is needed/will be needed.

A lot of this is about marketing – where I started my career in the 1980’s. The definition of marketing can be adapted to your career – “anticipating and satisfying customer needs profitably.” A ‘win win’ for employee and employer or customer/client and supplier.

What also increases resilience is having a clear sense of purpose and support to achieve your potential. ‘Super resilience’ is achieved my managing your thoughts, what some call ‘the monkey mind’, hence the growth in mindfulness plus reframing knockbacks into constructive learnings.

Future blogs will focus on each of these factors.

For now, give yourself a quick career resilience audit:

Resilience audit:

Ask yourself these questions:

How well do I know my skills and strengths and where they are useful?
Who champions me in my career?
What is my purpose?
What would increase my sense of resilience in my career?
How do emerging trends affect my career prospects?
What’s my contingency plan?
What are the positive learnings from my knockbacks at work?
If you had a personal Board, who would you appoint?

Tips

Have a career strategy
Define your purpose
Get a coach or mentor to support you
Invest 10% of your salary/revenue in improving your marketability – up-skill/qualification
Spend 1 hour a week keeping up to date with general and specific trends unique to your role
Spend 1 hour a week supporting and developing your network
Develop your self-awareness

For more useful insights, follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/talentliberator

What change do you seek at work?

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Market Opportunities sign

I have been creating some new ‘inspiring client examples’ this week, having had the time over the break to reflect on last year.

Changing your career can feel daunting and hearing about the successful transitions of other people can help make it feel possible.

One of my favourite inspiring quotes is by Alan Kay: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”  Career change in times of uncertainty can feel scary, but doing nothing changes nothing. And too much analysis = paralysis!

Here are some clients we have worked with – they inspire us so much and we learn a lot from them.

Choose the one(s) that you most relate to:

Escaping from the law:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs193/1102862873131/archive/1112027555089.html

Transitioning from the public to private sector:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs193/1102862873131/archive/1112056859585.html

Wanting to get off the hamster wheel

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1106787631164.html

Child friendly work

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs042/1102862873131/archive/1106786138068.html

Work with meaning and purpose

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

What would be the headline for your desired career transition this year?  Why not get in touch and tell us about your dream/goal? Click on this link:

http://careerstrategies.co.uk/careercoaching/what-next/

For useful insights, tips and more inspiring examples of career change,  follow us on Twitter @talentliberator

What’s Your ‘Plan B’?

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If you got made redundant tomorrow, what would you do? I’m not trying to be a miserable kill-joy, it’s something worth thinking about so you are not caught ‘on the hop’.  Keeping your CV up to date is one thing. Key wording your profile and being active on Linkedin groups to raise your profile another. 

Many people stick their head in the sand and pretend change isn’t happening and then get slapped around the face by it. Painful. By thinking what your options and having an escape route now, it can make you feel good. Isn’t it better to be prepared and have a cunning plan up your sleeve? To quote a quote; forewarned is forearmed?

Taking the first step now could mean you are ahead, even if change speeds up. Taking time to evaluate your work could also mean you enjoy your current job more too.

Here are 2 free resources to help you:

For 5 free tips, view this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b8CFaOq6GY

For a free career change report with 2 exercises, click on this link:

http://www.careerstrategies.co.uk/

 

What Is Fair At Work?

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What is fair at work and who decides? I predict that fairness is going to be a burning topic this year and it will feel like the City are walking on hot coals at times. It has always been a topic bubbling under the surface but the volcano is about to erupt.  Recruitment is growing in the financial sector, which is great news.  

Fairness is and will be a source of strikes, discussion and argument. Companies need to give good rewards to attract the best talent, but bonuses in the city enrage people losing their jobs. Is it fair that teachers and nurses get paid low wages when their role is so important to the health and prosperity of our country? No. What is ‘enough’ and who is responsible for deciding?

 Is it fair that companies fund working women having time off to have kids? Is it fair that women get penalised with higher unemployment by doing the majority of child care, creating the perception that they are less reliable then men, because they are the ones who pick up the pieces when the kids are ill? Who decides how to carve up the cake? Like food in the world, there is enough money to go around, it is just unequally distributed,   

Answers and thoughts on a postcard, by carrier pigeon or the modern way a blog post to ….  

Are you following us on Twitter yet? talentliberator is our Twitter name.

Career Change Dreams Up In Smoke?

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Suffering from that ‘going back to work feeling’? Reality after the festive season reminds many people of going back to school at the start of a new term. A feeling of dread; shining those shoes; buying a new fluffy pencil case; the who got the best Christmas gift parade, but mainly the sinking feeling.

Life can be so superspeed at work that it feels like being on a giant human hamster wheel. The break spits you off the corporate rat race so you catch up yourself before you go completely bonkers and think about what you really want. Mulled wine fuelled dreams of career change, when back at work, often crumble faster than a digestive biscuit.

If this is you, here are some free resources to keep your resolve with your career change full even if your bank account feels empty: 

5 free tips you can do while in employment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b8CFaOq6GY

Free report ‘Pain free career change’

http://www.careerstrategies.co.uk/

Energise ‘Career strategies’, ‘Self promotion’ bulletins and more  

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

Hope they are useful. Happy new year!

Rachel

Do You Find Career Change Daunting?

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Career Change Feel Daunting?Career change can feel really daunting, can’t it. Like a ladder, taking it one step at a time is wise.

Download our free report “Pain free career change” and you can make career change safe. Take the first step now and click on this link to download your free report http://www.careerstrategies.co.uk/

How Subjective Is Subjectivity?

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You know all the snow this week? Well they keep on saying, “Do not travel unless absolutely necessary.” I know they mean life or death/emergencies, mothers just about to give birth etc, so why don’t they say so? After all ‘necessary’ is so subjective. You can imagine some of the responses as the police and AA/RAC dig people’s cars out of snowdrifts:

“I was gagging for a cup of tea officer, but had run of milk”. “It was my first date with someone hot, I simply could not postpone.” “I had an interview for my dream job – there is no way I could miss it.”  People’s behaviour is linked to their values – what is important to them – and their beliefs. I tell you one thing I believe – Mother Nature is the boss – she always wins!

How do you know when a career change is absolutely necessary? Some of my clients have taken 10 years to contact me about helping them create their new career after they have struggled on alone. I had a client this week who I helped achieve something she had wanted for 20 years. She was ecstatic and I was too – for her.  If you dread coming to work in the morning, if you look ahead into the future and don’t feel excited at the prospect, if you find yourself low in energy or often ill, these are signals that you are resisting change.  As a first step, download our free 30 page report “Pain free career change.”

http://www.careerstrategies.co.uk/