Every wondered how people get hired for that perfect job or gain that enviable promotion or set up that successful business? It all seems so huge and unattainable right? Well let’s break things down a little and take it back to basics. There’s no better place to start than our alphabet. In this A – Z I will give you regular tips to help you make the change you want in our careers.
So why the alphabet?
It is the foundation to our language, letters building words and words building sentences. In careers we can see the same, our day to day experiences, can build along with our skills and knowledge to create our career language. The beauty of this career language is whilst we all have common and familiar job stories, at the same time these can be deeply personal and unique. It’s this career language which creates through our experiences, skills and values that together can create what I like to call our “career code”.
Each tip will work to de-code areas of your career, giving you actions to make changes that are right for you. With insider recruitment knowledge, these tips will be realistic, easy to put into practice and will make a difference. So, I guess we start with A and I have 3 ways you can use this easily.
A is for Adapt. Being able to adapt should be a guiding star throughout our careers because we are constantly responding to our personal and work environments. Whilst we cannot control all our work, we can determine how we respond. Those candidates that adapt, shape their career expectations, are open to learning from these recruiting experiences and then make the necessary changes to their behaviour, these are the ones that achieve their career goals. Interestingly, this happens on both side of the interview table with businesses re-evaluating when they hire.
Firstly, be open-minded. Adopt what’s called a growth mindset and this will pay career dividends over and over. It’s OK to be determined in your career choices but be too fixed and you’ll encounter more disappointment, which you will have to overcome and more to the point you could be missing out on unexpected but positive experiences. Sometimes you’re sure you want to resign, walk out the door, but cold being more open-minded lead you to finding new joy in something familiar. Not where you intended to end up but a good result, nonetheless.
Then look to adapt your approach. Heard the apparent Einstein definition of insanity “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting to get a different result”? Sent off dozens of applications with the same CV and wondering why you aren’t shortlisted. Feel familiar? Adapting and tailoring your approach especially when it comes to job searching can create different outcomes. If you’ve only relied on recruitment agencies to secure your next job, think about proactively approaching companies you identify with? Have jobs has always found you? For a change, be open to the networking you never found time for. Brush up these different career seeking skills and book your next event to attend.
Finally, adapt your actions. Laws of probability tell us we may not get the first promotion we go for or get offered the first job we apply for. Adopting an open mind, while you try these new approaches will mean these perceived failures will phase you far less. After each action you give yourself to do make the time to reflect on what and how you did it. Task yourself with recording what you did, how you did it as well as what went well and not so well (don’t be too harsh but be honest). This will help you to adapt what you will put into action next time, starting a new pattern of behaviour that you can apply to many career situations.
Companies always look for individuals who are open-minded. Showing you can adapt from what you describe on your CV or application to how you talk about this in an interview tells an employer you can work with different people, be empathetic and can cope with the change so many businesses face.
Like this but wish to explore more how you can fine tune your “adapt” skill, then get in touch with me here and we can get started on decoding your career through a complimentary call.
