A lot can and has been written about career decisionmaking. In the UK, one of the most helpful resources is the Windmills Careers Coach. Now part of a bigger lifestyle coaching facility, it takes you through a labyrinth of interactive material to help you focus in detail on your key career decisionmaking issues.
And yet the basic structure of the career decisionmaking process is actually quite simple. The process itself can be complex but the structure is easy. In careers jargon, it all relates to your 'career focus'. In layman's terms, it means there are just three key career decisionmaking situations that you can face:
1) I haven't got a clue what I want to do
In careers speak you are 'unfocussed' or have 'no focus'. In many ways this is a very good place to be, since a lot of people grasp hurriedly at a supposed career choice only to repent at leisure and return to the square one of complete indecision, often at considerable financial and emotional cost.
Unfocussed people either admit straight out that they have no idea what they want to do, or can only make vague statements about kinds of jobs they might or might not like. They may mention a job title but with no substantial knowledge of what is entailed.
They need to start finding out more about themselves, in particular their interests, values and motivation so they can start to match their preferences to opportunities. We call this 'self knowledge'. Career interest guides, of which there are several available free, are likely to help you realise their preferences and will list some possible job titles to look into.
2) I am trying to decide between a range of different careers
In the jargon, you have 'moderate focus'. People with 'moderate focus' can name a number of different jobs that might fit their interest profile and have some knowledge of what they are about, but they need to decide what to concentrate on before they move on to actually applying.
They need to look more closely into their possible job choices by finding out as much information as possible about them. They need to use the readily available sources of careers information, and talk to people who are in the know about the careers that attract them. It may help to construct a list of 'pros' and 'cons' for each job, or a grid showing how far each job might match up to your hitlist of requirements. Or it may just be that the information gives you a better intuitive grasp for the right decision.
3) I have a clear idea of what I want to do
Then you have what we call 'precise focus' and can move on to concentrate on searching for jobs and applying for them. This isn't the end of the story as methods of finding and applying for jobs vary considerably. You often need to research them as carefully as you do information about careers, if not more so. Finding and applying for teaching posts will be different from becoming a goldsmith.
Incidentally, applying for just one particular career isn't necessarily ideal. A shortlist of three or so careers incorporating a fallback or two, or possibly even a 'longshot' you don't really expect to get (but why not try your luck?) will give you a bigger but still manageable target to aim at.
Shouldn't I apply for 'any job'?
This is a common reaction amongst many applicants who fear that they do not have the skills to compete successfully when there is a shortage of jobs. On discussion, most will admit that there are jobs they would rather not do.
The trouble is that trying for 'any job' tends to decrease your chances of success because you don't get the inside knowledge about particular jobs that will help you succeed. You can't for example answer questions like "Why do you want this job?". You'll also end up mainly applying for advertised jobs (i.e. the minority) because you haven't learned the hidden tricks of getting into any particular job.
Career decisionmaking is not an exact science but success is more likely if you treat it like one. There will always be surprises and contradictions. Career plans are not for life and can change - but stick to the idea of having a plan.
Colin Taylor is a careers adviser and freelance writer who has been publishing careers and employment related material for over five years. Find out more about him at http://www.coltext.com
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Thursday, 15 January 2009
Do I sense a careers website coming on?
After some soul searching I have decided to start dabbling with Affiliate Programmes on www.coltext.com The move was at least partly conceived as a cunning move to milk the site for a bit of recurring income in my old age - rather a longshot as www.coltext.com currently enjoys very low traffic volumes. But I can afford to wait a while...
Anyway, I've ended up with two pages of affiliate links which you can see at www.coltext.com/links.htm for writing and www.coltext.com/careers.htm for careers links. They were all on the links.htm page but it was getting a bit overcrowded with all the careers links squashed down the bottom. So I decided on two separate pages.
The interesting thing about this process was how many of the links I did not even know about until I actually went looking affiliate programmes to link to. I did not for example know that there was a site you could use to get fixed up with a literary agent, or one that sells an interactive tuition programme on job interview skills. So it's quite pleasing that I might have dug up a few things that have some potential to be useful as well as paying for the parachute jump I'll probably end up planning for my ninetieth birthday.
But it's apparent that the careers page now sits isolated, begging for relevant content. Having the writers' links on a separate page isn't ideal as they would score more highly on the main page, but at least they are rattling up a few non-paying clicks through to their targets from the many would-be writers in the world. Whereas the careers links are doing next to zilch.
They might do better if they were spread out amongst a site of pages offering basic careers advice and information. And so I find myself wondering if I should write this site, interestingly with some reluctance. Perhaps it's just too near what I do at work anyway. It wouldn't be hard. Some of the material I've provided here would provide a very handy starting point. The next one's probably going to be a very cut down guide to career decisionmaking.
Watch this space...
Anyway, I've ended up with two pages of affiliate links which you can see at www.coltext.com/links.htm for writing and www.coltext.com/careers.htm for careers links. They were all on the links.htm page but it was getting a bit overcrowded with all the careers links squashed down the bottom. So I decided on two separate pages.
The interesting thing about this process was how many of the links I did not even know about until I actually went looking affiliate programmes to link to. I did not for example know that there was a site you could use to get fixed up with a literary agent, or one that sells an interactive tuition programme on job interview skills. So it's quite pleasing that I might have dug up a few things that have some potential to be useful as well as paying for the parachute jump I'll probably end up planning for my ninetieth birthday.
But it's apparent that the careers page now sits isolated, begging for relevant content. Having the writers' links on a separate page isn't ideal as they would score more highly on the main page, but at least they are rattling up a few non-paying clicks through to their targets from the many would-be writers in the world. Whereas the careers links are doing next to zilch.
They might do better if they were spread out amongst a site of pages offering basic careers advice and information. And so I find myself wondering if I should write this site, interestingly with some reluctance. Perhaps it's just too near what I do at work anyway. It wouldn't be hard. Some of the material I've provided here would provide a very handy starting point. The next one's probably going to be a very cut down guide to career decisionmaking.
Watch this space...
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Gimme, gimme good feedback...
Giving good feedback is a vital skill in any job that involves dealing with people to any significant extent - in other words the vast majority of jobs that exist in the modern world. In my job I mainly use it to help people improve their performance in mock interview situations. It is just as valid in reviewing any situation where a measure of skill is required of someone, be it giving presentations, running meetings or projects, advising others or commercial or technical functions.
But many people do not have a clue how to give good feedback. You realise this if you observe them trying to do it from scratch. Most will launch straight into a speech of variable length on their own perceptions of the other person's performance. Often what they offer is unbalanced. So some tend to pick endless faults, leaving the other person feeling depressed. Others tend to duck all the issues or offer an unrealistically rosy account of what happened, which can leave the other person no wiser and possibly feeling sheepish to have 'got off' too lightly.
Yet giving honest, constructive feedback is possibly one of the easiest and most helpful interpersonal skills you can ever hope to learn. Here's how to do it, step by step, with commentary:-
1) Whilst observing the person's performance, note down everything you think went well and everything that could have gone better.
2) Before starting the feedback, take some time to review what you have written and decide on two or three positive and negative points you will feed back to the person.
Two things are important about this stage:
This point is absolutely vital. Research has shown that people gain most from feedback that reinforces their own perceptions. If you try this approach, you will be surprised how often the other person takes most of the words right out of your mouth. It also makes it far easier for you if you can start off by agreeing with them before moving on to less certain territory, and more likely that you will take them with you when you do.
4) Having made sure the person covers both the positive and not so positive points (and not everyone does so at first) ask if they are ready to hear what your thoughts were.
A nicety perhaps, but it does give the person a chance to opt into the process or say if there is anything else that is important to them.
5) Building first on what the other person has said, start off by relaying the positive points you observed.
6) Then move on to the points for improvement, again building on what they have said. Make sure you cover all the points you decided to feed back.
7) Return to re-emphasise the positive points in the performance before wishing them well next time they try the task.
In steps 5 - 7, the idea is to build a 'sandwich' structure of positive - negative - positive which leaves the person feeling safe, but confident enough to experiment with changes in the future.
Approached in this manner, feedback situations hold no terrors for either participant and are a major factor in improving performance in any organisation.
Colin Taylor is a careers adviser and freelance writer who has been publishing careers and employment related material for over five years. Find out more about him at http://www.coltext.com
But many people do not have a clue how to give good feedback. You realise this if you observe them trying to do it from scratch. Most will launch straight into a speech of variable length on their own perceptions of the other person's performance. Often what they offer is unbalanced. So some tend to pick endless faults, leaving the other person feeling depressed. Others tend to duck all the issues or offer an unrealistically rosy account of what happened, which can leave the other person no wiser and possibly feeling sheepish to have 'got off' too lightly.
Yet giving honest, constructive feedback is possibly one of the easiest and most helpful interpersonal skills you can ever hope to learn. Here's how to do it, step by step, with commentary:-
1) Whilst observing the person's performance, note down everything you think went well and everything that could have gone better.
2) Before starting the feedback, take some time to review what you have written and decide on two or three positive and negative points you will feed back to the person.
Two things are important about this stage:
- There is no such thing as totally perfect or totally hopeless performance. There are always things that could be improved and always things that were achieved, however small. So you must have some points on either side of the balance sheet.
- Too much feedback has been shown to be overwhelming and is likely to be as worthless as no feedback at all. This is why it is vital to cut it down to the key points. Life is a learning process, but only so much can be learned at any one time ('bite-size chunks').
This point is absolutely vital. Research has shown that people gain most from feedback that reinforces their own perceptions. If you try this approach, you will be surprised how often the other person takes most of the words right out of your mouth. It also makes it far easier for you if you can start off by agreeing with them before moving on to less certain territory, and more likely that you will take them with you when you do.
4) Having made sure the person covers both the positive and not so positive points (and not everyone does so at first) ask if they are ready to hear what your thoughts were.
A nicety perhaps, but it does give the person a chance to opt into the process or say if there is anything else that is important to them.
5) Building first on what the other person has said, start off by relaying the positive points you observed.
6) Then move on to the points for improvement, again building on what they have said. Make sure you cover all the points you decided to feed back.
7) Return to re-emphasise the positive points in the performance before wishing them well next time they try the task.
In steps 5 - 7, the idea is to build a 'sandwich' structure of positive - negative - positive which leaves the person feeling safe, but confident enough to experiment with changes in the future.
Approached in this manner, feedback situations hold no terrors for either participant and are a major factor in improving performance in any organisation.
Colin Taylor is a careers adviser and freelance writer who has been publishing careers and employment related material for over five years. Find out more about him at http://www.coltext.com
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