Category Archives for "Career change"

Is your LinkedIn Profile up to scratch?

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change , Career development , Networking , Small Business

If your career or aspirations can in any way be described as “professional”, then you need to be on LinkedIn. And if you are on LinkedIn, your profile needs to represent you effectively.

LinkedIn is THE professional social network

Unlike other social media networks, LinkedIn is purely professional. And it’s huge, over 20 million people in the UK alone are on LinkedIn. You can use it to share what you do, and to build up credibility with endorsements and recommendations for your work.Continue reading

Find out what your dream job is REALLY like

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change , Career development , Networking

Starting a new career or business can feel like a shot in the dark. But there is a technique which can greatly increase your chance of success.

As part of a magazine feature, I met with professional photographer Sean Malyon to have my picture taken. Sean is very easy to talk to, and the hour spent being snapped among autumn leaves flew past.

We talked about career paths and Sean told me he is sometimes contacted for advice by aspiring portrait photographers. Many of them focus on the technical side of photography such as lighting. They want tips to help grow their expertise in this area.

But in reality, the portrait photography business is all about people. If you are not comfortable relating to different types of people and putting them at their ease quickly, then you are unlikely to be commercially successful.

Do your research

This example demonstrates the importance of doing your research when choosing or changing careers. It’s easy to build up an idea in your mind about a particular line of work, but you may find the reality is far removed from what you imagine. And the best way to get a true picture of a line of work is to talk to people already doing the job.

The process of deliberately speaking with an existing professional about their career path and working life is known as “informational interviewing”,

Dos and Don’ts of an informational interview

Do some initial research before seeking out people to interview. Do you believe a career within a specific profession or sector could be a real possibility for you? And have you discovered enough background information to prepare well for the conversation? You will get the best value from someone’s precious time by hearing about their personal experience. How did they get to be where they are? What are the most important skills and qualities needed for success? What challenges and drawbacks have they experienced? What are the downsides to the job? What advice can they give you?

Don’t try and use an informational interview to pitch for a job. The purpose is to discover more about a line of work and if it might suit you. It can help you figure out career paths, and to identify ways into an industry or section. Sometimes a conversation may result in job leads or opportunities, but don’t expect this and certainly don’t push for it. At the end of the conversation, ask your interviewee if they can suggest anyone else you could speak to. Getting different viewpoints is invaluable.

Find people to interview

The first port of call is your existing network. Work out the type of people you need to speak to and reach out through friends, former colleagues and contacts for a friendly introduction. Don’t do this too soon, you don’t want to waste your best contacts by rushing in before you’ve done your research. But nor should you be shy about approaching contacts. Explain briefly what are looking to do, and ask if they know anyone who might be able to help. They can always say ‘no”, and that’s fine – not every request will get a positive response.

You can also approach people “cold” by writing a friendly email, explaining your situation, or by picking up the phone. Twitter and Linked In are good places to find relevant people. You might ask for a specified amount of time, perhaps 20 minutes. If you don’t hear back, you could consider sending a polite follow up email (but not more than one!)

If you are receiving a warm introduction via someone you know then you might ask for a face to face interview. My tip from being on the receiving end of requests for a interview is that if you’re approaching someone cold, ask for a telephone conversation. In all honesty, I’m unlikely to want to take time for a face to face meeting with a stranger. But I have been happy in the past to spend a few minutes speaking on the phone.

Follow up

Do follow up with a thank you message. Don’t send your CV unless you’ve been asked for it – nobody wants to receive an unsolicited CV.

Know when to act

Investing time in research will make it far more likely that you make the right career choice, based on reality not fantasy. And when you go in with your eyes open you are much more likely to be successful. There comes a time however when you need to take action. You can only know for sure that a job is right for you once you start doing it.

Photo credits: Sean Malyon

Manage transitions in your work and life

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change , Motivation

Making a big career or life change can be tough. And we all have to face changes in our lives. You may want to move to a new job or start a business. You may face redundancy or retirement. You may need to move home, start a family, or return to work after a break.

An approach which can help you manage change comes from the work of William Bridges. Bridges describes the difference between the external change, and the internal process of transition.

“Change is not the same as transition. Change is situational: the new site, the new boss, the new team roles, the new policy. Transition is the psychological process people go through to come to terms with the new situation. Change is external, transition is internal.”
William Bridges “Managing Transitions”

Of course, the two don’t always dovetail neatly. Often the external change happens before you’ve had time to make the internal transition. That’s when you can feel stressed, overwhelmed, confused or fearful. In this state, it can be hard to make important decisions about your future.

Understanding the three stages of transition can help you through this process.

Ending

An aspect of change is that something is being left behind. It is important to acknowledge what is being lost. Even when you want the change to happen, it is valuable to recognise that something is finishing. It allows completion.

Imagine you’re returning to work after time at home with your children. You may be keen to start using your professional skills again, but also need to acknowledge the loss of time with family.

Or you may have been promoted to a management role. This is a positive change. But you may miss being part of your former team, with plenty of camaraderie and fewer responsibilities.

It can be particularly hard when the change is not of your making. If you’re made redundant from a job you enjoy, there is a clearly a loss. It is important to be able to “mourn” that in a sense, before you’re ready to move on. The moving on process can take some time, or it can happen quite quickly. Sometimes the recognition of the ending is all that is needed to free up energy to move forward.

Neutral Zone

This is an in-between stage. You’ve accepted that something is ending, but are not sure about or committed to what comes next. When you recognize that feelings of confusion, uncertainty and even fear are part of this, you can see that they will not last forever.  And there are positive aspects to this phase if you allow them in.

You have choices; choices over how to react to the change, and choices about what to do next. You may find it helpful to re-frame your feelings of uncertainty. You can choose to see them as part of a process of research and ideas generation for creating your next steps. This can be a creative time.

Again, we may pass through the neutral zone quickly. Or it we may have to live in this stage for a while. This is particularly so with a big life change such as moving to a new town.

Mark was struggling with imposed retirement. He needed to go through the process of acknowledging his feelings about the loss of status and routine. In the neutral zone, he started to think about positive ways to spend retirement. He became involved in an active voluntary group fundraising for his community, and also volunteered to mentor younger people in his former line of work.

Beginning

There is a difference between the start of something new, and the beginning. In Bridges model, the beginning is where we have come through the neutral zone and are psychologically ready to commit to the new reality. And it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the new.

If we have gone consciously through the previous two stages, then we may start to feel the excitement and promise of the beginning.

So for example, we can start a new job with our focus on enjoying and making the most of it, whether or not we would rather have stayed in our previous one.

Isabel had to make some difficult decisions about returning to work after having her daughter.  She didn’t want to go back to the long hours and demands of her corporate job. So she researched her options. Her company didn’t want her to return part-time, and she found that local part-time jobs weren’t a good match for her skills.  So she set up as an independent consultant in her field. She acknowledged the loss of income and job security through her decision. This allowed her to move on and focus on the increased freedom in managing her time and workload, and the excitement of being her own boss.

Like all models, this one is a simplification, and in real life there is an overlap between the three phases. The value comes in recognising where you are in the process. Trying to rush through a stage is counter-productive, and so is dwelling longer than you need in any one phase. You can assess your journey through the transition by noticing the shift in your thoughts and feelings as one stage moves into the next.

Help with managing change – an invitation

Would you like some expert support to help you work through a change or decision in your life? Coaching can be really helpful at times of change, and my style is warm and supportive. Please email me if you would like to book a complimentary consultation.

 

 

Schedule yourself some free time

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change , Productivity

What is your approach to writing something for publication, or to meet a deadline? Do you plan and complete the piece of writing well in advance? Or do you tend to wait until the deadline is almost upon you, to prompt you into writing?

I confess to the latter. When I started this blog in June 2014 I made a commitment to publish at least one post a month. And I have kept to this for over a year. But sometimes, it was only at the end of the month that the blog was actually written and published. The month-end deadline galvanised me into action!

This time I am writing this blog in July, to be published in August. This is so that I can prioritise time with my family over the summer school holidays.

In theory, this is one of the joys of self-employment: to have more freedom to schedule our time as we see fit. In practice, it’s easy to let work creep into our precious family and leisure time. It can be hard to resist temptation to check our email, or social media accounts. But most of the time, it would do our businesses no harm to take some time away from the screen.

Here are three of my favourite tools, to help you with scheduling. And they are all easy to get to grips with.

Mailchimp and other mailing systems allow you to set up and schedule emails to go out at a time to suit you. This is a brilliant tool and one that I use a lot for group emails. But be careful if you plan an email campaign in advance. You need to be sure you are around to deal in a timely manner with any responses or queries that arise from it.

Buffer is my favourite scheduling tool for Twitter. It’s easy to use, and allows you to stagger publication of tweets, or to plan and schedule tweets in advance. You might still like to check your notifications now and again so that you can respond to any replies or re-tweets. And my advice is not to over-schedule. I tend to switch off now from tweeters who just churn out stuff day and day out without engaging. Social media is much more rewarding if you use it to be social, not just to broadcast your own stuff.

Pocket.  This tool is your friend if you have a tendency to find interesting articles on the internet, and then get distracted from what you’re supposed to be doing. Install the bookmarklet on your browser, or set it up on your phone. You can quickly bookmark articles for later reading, at a time that suits you. Pocket does one thing, and does it well.

What tools do you use to manage your online life? Please share below (that’s if you’re not too busy having a holiday – and if so, good for you!)

How to find your perfect niche

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change , Career development , Small Business

Do you earn your living as an expert in your field? You may offer professional services or advice. Perhaps you’re a consultant, trainer or coach. If so, one of the most valuable thing that you can do to grow your career or business, is to commit to a niche.

People often resist choosing a niche because they think it might be limiting. But you can’t be everything to everybody. If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you may have heard this message before from a marketing perspective. And it’s also true when it comes to finding satisfying work.

Your niche is where your expertise and your purpose come together. It’s where your unique set of knowledge, skills and interests interacts with the needs of others. Here are a few questions to help you identify this sweet spot.

What difference do you want to make?

Ultimately the value of your work is in the difference you make to others. The beneficiaries of your work may be other people, it may be animals, it may be the environment. Finding something you care about will give you satisfaction at the end of your working day, and your working life.

Who are you best placed to help?

Your starting point is where you are now. What does your background and experience bring to the table? What networks and contacts do you already have? And if you want to make a break with the past, then you can look ahead to find the answer to this question. What areas interest you? Where are you prepared to put in the work needed to learn new things and make new contacts?

Who do you most enjoy working with?

Do you enjoy being with young people, older people, animals, creative people, entrepreneurial people… the list goes on. What values and ideals does your perfect client or customer hold? Who have you most enjoyed working with in the past? The people we work with are often the single biggest contributors to our happiness at work

And when you do find your niche it just feels right. It’s often something that ties together your unique mix of interests, skills and experience from various stages in your working life.

And yes, you can have more than one niche. In my coaching business,  I use my experience and skills to help mid-life career changers to work out what they want to do. I have always been fascinated by career paths, and why people do what they do. When I discovered this coaching niche, it immediately felt right. It doesn’t feel restrictive at all.

I also run a training business with a colleague. Our main niche is helping people who manage volunteers to gain skills and qualifications. I came into this field partly through my own experience of volunteering and managing volunteers in a community theatre. And it also draws on my professional background working in the voluntary sector.

Niches can be quite different. For example a part time accountant who helps sole traders with their book-keeping, and also sells quirky jewellery at craft fairs. Or niches can relate to each other. My niches are both around helping people develop their careers – but in different ways. And in last month’s blog, artist Rhian John describes how her painting and graphic design are complementary. A good niche is neither so narrow that you become blinkered, or so wide that any meaningful level of expertise is impossible.

Need some help with finding your niche? This is the type of enquiry I can help with, so please have a look my free consultation offer.

I’ve always wanted to paint, but…

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change , Creativity , Motivation

Is there an interest, calling or career that you’ve always wanted to explore or rediscover? Maybe a path not taken or a childhood interest neglected? Rhian John’s experience is one of an early passion for painting, revived in mid-life, and which has become a successful business.

Taking the sensible career option

Rhian loved art at school, but like many people, she took what seemed a “sensible” route into the world of work. She took a graphic design degree, and spent 25 years as a graphic designer before picking up a paintbrush again.

That was in 2014 and since then Rhian has attracted a growing interest in her paintings, with almost 8,000 Facebook followers and a recent exhibition at the Theatre Royal in Winchester.

Meeting Rhian at her lovely light and art-filled home near Winchester, she told me that she and her sister were both artistic as children.

After school she took an Art Foundation course, but didn’t think pursuing her love of Fine Art was a sensible career move. So she took a design degree and worked in graphic design for 25 years. “I wouldn’t have known then where to even start to market myself as a painter.”

The love of art never left her, “ I can’t walk past a gallery without going in to see what people do.” But it was only when her son did his A Level art, that Rhian reached a turning point.

Heeding a call

Watching her son, Rhian felt she couldn’t hold back any more, she felt an incredibly strong urge to get the paints out: “It truly just happened. I literally saw my son paint and said “I can’t stand it any more, I’ve got to paint”.

“March 2014 was the first time I picked up my paintbrush. I didn’t know if my paintings were any good, but I put a couple up on Facebook and people bought them. I think if you can do something, you sort of assume everyone is able to do it.”

She started off by digging out a photograph that she’d taken at Hillier Gardens, near Romsey, and painting from that. Initially she worked with acrylics on paper and then moved on as her confidence grew:  “I remember the first time I bought a canvas. I felt very grown up.”

Overcoming fear of failure

The reason why it took Rhian so long to start painting again is one that many of us will relate to. As she explains: “The fear of “what if I can’t do it any more” is part of why I didn’t do it properly. There’s always that fear – if you don’t give it a go, then you haven’t failed. And it’s such a silly reason. As with anything, you improve as you go along.”

Different forms of creativity

Rhian still runs her graphic design company. As she works from home, this offers the flexibility to run the two businesses side by side. And one effect of starting to paint is that she is now enjoying her design work more.

Juggling two business may sound daunting, but Rhian has found that she actually manages her time better now, so she can fit it all in. At the end of the day at her computer, she feels that if she can complete the job then that will free her up to paint the next day. “If I’m nearly at the end of a design job it spurs me on.”

Both design and painting are creative, but in a different way. Design is computer based and there are logical reasons why you would choose certain colours for certain brand values, whereas painting is a very personal thing: “from the heart”

Rhian’s uplifting paintings of nature, flowers and animals are bursting with vibrant shades. “I do just love colour. I take a lot of photographs. I love being outside, love the beach, flowers, colour. I paint what I like. I didn’t do it to make money, but I’ve been incredibly fortunate.”

“Just do it”

Rhian receives many messages from people saying “I’d love to start painting again, but…” And her response: ” I would say “I was you. You don’t have to do it as a career.  But just do it!”

“It doesn’t matter what you produce. Art and craft is a great outlet for creativity, and relieves stress. Because you’re concentrating, other things go out of your head.”

So what next? “I don’t want to put massive pressure on myself.  What has happened in the last year has been absolutely fantastic. I will go with the flow, see where it takes me.”

Rhian is participating in Hampshire Open Studios at the end of August. And you can view and buy her paintings and prints online at www.rhianjohn.com

Have you rediscovered a passion in mid-life? If so please share your story in the comments box below, I’d love to hear from you.

Can you enjoy the process of career transition?

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change , Career development , Motivation

In his book “A Life at Work”,  Thomas Moore uses the metaphor of alchemy as a way of describing our search for our life’s work. He talks about the value inherent in the process of finding and deepening our sense of what we are here to do. As the alchemists strove to transform base metal into gold, our search for a life’s work transforms our personal history and experiences into something unique and meaningful.

Sometimes it seems as though what is happening in our working lives is “base metal”: day-to-day frustrations, lack of progress, lack of focus. And yet if we are willing to trust that things will work out, and able to find value in the stuff of our lives, then we will find glimmers of gold emerging.

And finding a way to enjoy the process will in itself bring a sense of meaning. In every career, there will be successes and setbacks along the way. But there is almost never an end-point at which we can say “yes I’ve made it!”; life is always unfolding.

We are now into a General Election campaign in the UK. Standing for parliament is a situation where there seems to be a very clear end point and winner. But the process of standing for election can be valuable in itself. Whether or not you win, you have the opportunity to stand up for something and to state your case. If you win, a new learning path will begin as soon as the celebration is over, and if you lose you will undoubtedly learn from the experience. I stood some years ago for a local council election and although not a winner, I learned a huge amount about myself, including the realisation that this wasn’t the right path for me at that point in my life.

Whatever our career ambitions, there are aspects that are beyond our control. If we only focus on end results, we lose what is more important: the value of the journey through this, our one life.

If your career feels wrong for you, then change it, but don’t put your life on hold while you do it. The more you can focus on what you do enjoy right now, in your current life and work, the more positive energy that will release to help you make changes. And when you are willing to make changes on the inside, that’s when transformation can happen on the outside too.

What valuable lessons have your learned along your career path? Please share in the comments below.

Is this you?

Serious about making a change? Interested in some in-depth, expert support with career transition?

Find out how I can help HERE.

 

 

 

4 questions to help you reflect on and celebrate your work

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change , Career development , Motivation

This time of year is one for reflection and celebration. It offers a natural pause point, and is a good time to reflect on your career and review the past year.

It’s natural to think about the future and to set goals as we go forward into the new year. But before we forge ahead with goal setting, it is valuable to take time to appreciate and learn from what has gone before.

Appreciative questions

In reflecting on this year, you might like to ask yourself these questions:

What am I grateful for in my work?

What achievements would I like to celebrate?

What have I learned this year?

What would I like to take forward into 2015?

These questions provide a positive base for assessing where you are now, and from which to move forward. The next step is to think about what you would like to be different next year, and what goals you would like to set yourself for the coming twelve months.

I’d love to hear your answers to one or more of these questions, please share in the comments box below.

Sharing success

In thinking about my year, I feel grateful to have discovered a coaching niche where I both find the work itself incredibly interesting, and which has a positive impact on the lives of my wonderful clients, along with opportunities to celebrate their success.

This lovely email arrived on my last full working day of the year. One of my career coaching clients had just been offered a fantastic new job, and wrote…

“I’m massively excited about the role and think it offers me a chance to really develop my experience in a number of areas, while also just being genuinely exciting in and of itself! …without your help and support I don’t think I would have been able to identify so clearly what the right kind of next step would be for me at this point in my career, or even that the time was right to move on. I also just love the poetry of having had the interview the day after my last coaching session!”

Joy in work

There is joy to be found when we discover the work that is right for us, and which feels both interesting and worthwhile.

I wish you joy, success and fulfilment at work.

A strong way to find your ideal career

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change , Career development , Motivation

What are you good at? I mean REALLY good at?

An awareness of your strengths will help you to find or develop the right career path for you.

What are strengths

Strengths are ways of being and behaving that come easily to you, that tend to energise you, and that you enjoy. According to some theorists, strengths are a combination of your talents and skills.

Talents are innate. You will probably have displayed them from an early age, in different contexts.

Skills are learned competencies. They are things that you can do; that you have practiced and become good at, to a greater or lesser degree.

The power point is where the two overlap. As we go through life we develop a range of specialist and transferable skills that help us in our working lives, and allow us to take on increasingly challenging roles. But it is when we develop skills in our areas of natural strength that we can really shine. The right job or career for you is one where you can draw on your strengths most of the time. Not only will this make your working life more enjoyable, but will offer you greater potential for excellence and advancement.

So for example your skill-set might include research skills and writing skills, but what really energises you is when you combine this with a talent for engaging with others. As a result, a real strength might be working collaboratively to come up with creative ideas and concepts and then pull these together into a strategic plan.

How to identify your strengths

You might not always recognise your natural strengths as such, because they come so naturally to you. For example, do you find it easy to understanding how other people are feeling and to imagine yourself in their shoes? Do you thrive on taking charge of a situation and align others with the direction that you want to take. Are you naturally energised by competition and the chance to “win”? Do you find it easy to build and maintain deep relationships?

To identify your strengths, start by asking yourself some of the following questions:

• What activities make me feel energised?
• How do I naturally behave when I’m under pressure?
• What have I always yearned to do?
• What makes me feel good?

And ask others that you know, personally or professionally, to give their views too.

Your strengths and your career

When you honour your innate talents, and add in the life experience, knowledge and learned skills that make you unique, finding the right career path becomes a lot easier.

If you would like to find out more, the book StrengthsFinder 2.0 describes a robust strengths model based on extensive research from the Gallop organisation. And the book includes an access code for an online diagnostic, to identify your top 5 strengths.

And if you would value some impartial support with finding your career path, find out how  I can help.

Image courtesy of Colleen McMahon/Flickr

How to expand your career options

By Felicity Dwyer | Career change

Are you limiting your career choices because you don’t really know what kind of jobs are out there?

“Teacher”, “Waitress” or “Working at the Co-op”. These are currently my primary-school daughter’s top job choices, based mainly on the working people she comes across in her day-to-day life. Her awareness of different careers will I trust expand greatly before she leaves school and makes her way in the world of work.

I wonder how many of us unwittingly limit our career choices to jobs that we already know about? Is there a job just out of sight, that could you perfect for you, if only you knew about it?

If you know you want to make a change, but don’t yet feel you have your perfect job in focus, it’s time to do some research. Here are some ideas for expanding your options:

• Allow yourself to get curious about careers. Ask yourself, what does an auditor, or a pharmacist, or a graphic designer do each day? Approach people in your existing networks or via a social networking site like Twitter to ask if they could tell you about what they do. Ask people you meet socially about their jobs – what does the work really involve, what do they like about it, what are the drawbacks?
• Explore job sites to see the type of jobs being advertised across a range of different sectors. Large sites with lots of different jobs include Monster for general jobs, or Prospectus for not for profit jobs. For me, moving from the private to the charity sector suddenly opened up a lot of interesting opportunities that I hadn’t even been aware of. For example, roles with the title Development Officer, that involved all kinds of interesting work to develop and manage initiatives and projects.
• Have a look through newspaper ads, not necessarily for jobs you are qualified to do now, but ones you might like to do in future. Or take a look at the Job Sectors section of the graduate careers site www.prospects.ac.uk. Even if you are not a graduate, you might find some great ideas here.
• A Google search for “unusual jobs” throws up some interesting links and resources. The jobs themselves may or may not appeal, but could get you thinking a little differently.

If you currently feel stuck in our career, give these exercises a go to see if they help you to expand your career options. They might even be the first step towards a positive career change.

A professional career coach can help you to find a new direction and make a positive change. Find out how I can help you