Employability Skills

1. Employability Skills Session 10 Developing your Career

2. Let’s start with a quote • ‘When the wind blows our working lives are • shaped by many forces. What matters is • how we react to them’ • Dr Peter Hawkins who wrote the employability skills book: The Art of Building Windmills said: • ‘Some people build walls to resist the opportunities which come their way’. • ‘Others build windmills taking control and turning those opportunities to their own advantage’. • This quote lies at the heart of how employability skills can be developed and underlines how the world of work is changing all the time. We have to be aware of and respond to these changes and work them to our advantage in order to remain employable rather than simply in employment.

3. External forces • Awarenessof what is happening around you - look at what might be a good move for you. • What is happening in society at the moment, in organisations, and industries? • What will happen in the future? – you will find the Exercise 10 years on helpful in getting you to think about this. Also use the Employability resources in session number 3 to help you find out about possible future labour market trends. • You can also keep up to date with the constantly changing labour market by reading business articles in newspapers, professional body journals and websites.

4. Changing opportunities • New options are open to you – due to changes in entry requirements and the creation of new careers. • You may now possess the skills, experience and knowledge you didn’t have at the start of your course which could open up more opportunities to you. • In order to keep developing your career you need to keep asking yourself some searching questions throughout your career…………………

5. Do I like my career? Do I feel valued? Am I motivated? Is my career progressing as I’d like it to do? Do I want to change my career?

6. Think about yourself – where am I now? • Start with doing some reflection • What have you learned about yourself from this employability skills development package in terms of your: • Skills • Motivations • Experience • Knowledge • Careers ideas • What type of organisation might suit you?

7. My short, medium and long term goals • Reflect on what you have learned from session number 9: Careers Action Planning and consider the following: • Have you identified short and medium term goals ? • Now think longer term – perhaps 10 years on….. • Have you thought about how you would like to see your career developing in the future?

8. My short, medium and long term goals • Do you know where your career could lead to? • Use Prospects ‘Types of jobs’ to access the job descriptions. • Go on professional body websites to find out about career development opportunities. • Interview three people doing the career you want to do – find out how the jobs are changing, where there are growth opportunities, the way in, and what you can expect. See the Windmills online website: www.windmillsonline.co.uk/interactive • Section 2 ‘Exploring possibilities/the memory game’ to help you construct the questions for your informational interviews.

9. How do I reach my goals? • Self-promotion – involves researching jobs and employers to understand their requirements and then seeing how well you match them. • How good is your CV/resume? How effective is your interview technique? Remember, the Student Affairs and Employability Service can help you with these. • Negotiation – you may be offered the job but are not happy with all the elements - this is when you have to negotiate exactly what you want and be prepared to meet the employer half-way.

10. Getting there • This requires taking action, which also requires making decisions and drawing up an Action Plan. You will find session number 9 ‘Careers Action Planning‘ will help you to get started. • Some of the steps you’ve drawn up in your Action Plan will involve risk taking. You may be rejected from your job applications or try something and not enjoy it. • The important thing to remember is that you can learn from every experience you have in your life – negative and positive. • Keep your motivation up, expect some failures and disappointments and move on to take the next step to reach your goals.

11. Creating my picture • You’ve investigated where your career can lead in the short, medium and long term. • Now you need to consider the bigger picture where you want your life as a whole to go. The Golden Ticket exercise will help you to do this. • Most of us are too busy to step back and question the quality of life we’re leading. • If you are restless or unhappy it is often because the balance of your life is wrong. • Most people put parts of their lives into quite separate boxes which Dr Peter Hawkins in his Windmills programme describes as Working, Learning, Playing and Giving to others. In the past peoples lives followed the fairly set pattern of Learning at school – lifetime at work – retirement, and a split between playing and giving.

12. Creating my picture • Now though, dramatic technological, social change and globalisation have transformed the world of work, creating many more opportunities for people to lead more interesting and rewarding lives. • Traditional roles are starting to change because work patterns constantly change. • Now it is possible to overlap the elements (Working, Learning, Playing and Giving to others)with each other in order to achieve that important balance in your life. • Try the Exercise Getting the Balance Right in the accompanying Word document to find out if you’ve got the balance right at the moment in your life.

13. Work-life balance • A recent UK survey by Universum was published in Summer 2008 Gradjobs magazine, www.gradjobs.co.uk • It reported that: • ‘Time is more valuable than money wherever you stand on the career ladder… flexible working hours are ranked as the most attractive perk that an employer could offer’ • And • ‘They(people) want interesting work, the opportunity to progress, to work with interesting people and a good work-life balance.’ Work Life

14. Review and development • Think strategically about your career looking at where your chosen career might go in the long term, how it fits with your overall desire for a work-life balance. • In the early stages of your career you may be happy to work till late every day – but how will you feel if you have a family or other commitments? • Consider also the concept of lifelong learning. This may be the last thing on your mind at the moment. But, if you want your career to progress and to remain employable you may need to consider updating your skills and knowledge through further study and training. This may be possible to achieve while you are working by taking flexible study courses (study after work). • Now you have considered your situation and made improvements we now return to the start of this session – Where am I now?, moving on to your life and career goals and soon as you apply this technique to the development of your career.

15. Review and development • By now you’ll be aware just how complex the whole process of managing your career is. • It involves adapting to the changing world around you, taking responsibility for your own career and personal development, • and managing how your working life interacts with your learning throughout all stages of your life. • Remember, this is a continuous, lifelong process. • The exercise Me Plc, in the accompanying word document to this session, helps you to carry out a performance audit of how good you are at managing your career and finding areas you need to develop.