Careershifters blog

We recently announced the winners of the prize draw of our recent survey and we got this lovely email from one of the winners, Natasha, that we just couldn't resist sharing with you:

"Thank you so much for the lovely champagne! I received it today & am very grateful, I've had a horrible 2 weeks and the champagne was a very nice gift."

Well done to all our other winners and thank you again to our coaches who kindly donated prizes. You know who you are!

Credit-crunch blues making you think of sharpening up your CV? Or fancy something to hone the mind, spark a new interest, or build on an old one? If you don't want to wait until next September, it's worth thinking of applying to one of the many January- or February-start courses now on offer round the country – take your pick from full, part-time or even home study.

Read the full article in the Independent online here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/further/new-year-new-you-put-your-green-fingers-to-work-1060714.html

It's something that you've asked for and it's something that we've long wanted to include in the site... and now it's here.

Check into our brand new Resources section.

Whether you're looking for a coach to help you navigate your career change journey, psychometric tests to better understand yourself, information on retraining courses, help with starting your own busines, assistance with writing your CV, or pointers on how to take time out from your career, we've started to pull together the people we believe are the best in the business in these areas.

Our aim? To create the most comprehensive list of recommended people, organisations and suppliers that can help you further in your successful career change.

And, to help us do that, we'd love to hear your suggestions on who we should include. Let us know here and let us know too what you think of the new section!

Around 20 per cent of UK workers feel they chose the wrong career path, while another quarter are unsure about their choice of occupation, an international survey has found.

The report by multi-national recruitment specialist Kelly Services questioned 115,000 people in 33 different countries about their education and career, OnRec reports.

In the UK, 44 per cent feel their school education did not adequately prepare them for the working world, putting the country 20th overall with Malaysia. Workers in India were found to have the highest levels of academic satisfaction, with 69 per cent saying their schooling had given them good career foundations.

Furthermore, 47 per cent of UK workers said they now wished they had studied something completely different in their post-16 education, while 67 per cent believe they should have continued their education.

"Many people in the workforce do not believe that their education properly prepared them for working life and quite a few a have regrets about the direction that their job has taken them," said Kelly Services managing director Chris Moore.

Options for people looking to change their career or gain new qualifications include online training courses and distance learning.

In the Sunday Times on the 2nd November, Iain Dey interviewed the credit-crunched high-flyers who are trying a new tack and starting new careers as teachers and gardeners

Below is the introduction to the article. Click on the link below to read the full piece.

Credit crunch brings career changes

In his career as a hedge fund manager Ed Venables apologised all too often to his wife, Kate, for missing important family occasions. But the 33-year-old had a very different excuse for disappearing on the day their second child came home from hospital. He had to attend a job interview - to become a teacher.

Venables is one of thousands of City professionals who are taking up other careers because of the destruction wrought by the credit crunch. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has warned that 62,000 financial jobs will be axed in London this year and next. City recruiters say they see a new humbleness in the former “masters of the universe” as they scour the shrinking job market.

Many are using the down-turn - and their redundancy cheques - as an opportunity to set up businesses or chase an alternative career. They are opting for work ranging from cake-making to plant-selling, from fine art to supplying kitchen equipment in Kenya.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5062778.ece

We’ve just launched our 2008 survey, which is designed to help us provide YOU, our users, with an even better service to accelerate your successful career change.

The survey should take you no longer than 10 minutes to complete and, to say a big thank you, we’re offering everyone who takes part the chance to win an iPod Nano, a magnum of champagne, or one of more than 10 other prizes.

To be eligible to win, you will need to complete the questionnaire by 10pm on Wednesday 29th October.

Click here to complete the survey now!

Our ever-favourite advocate of a lazy (or more effortless) way to career success, Fred Gratzon, has just released a new 5-minute video, which is well worth watching.

He obviously had a lot of fun making it, but at its heart, the message of the video is spot on - and has everything to do with what finding your ideal career is all about.

You can read an extract of Fred's brilliant Lazy Way to Success book, in our Features section.

John Lees, a career transition coach we respect enormously (and a contributor to our 25 Top Tips to Kick-Start Your Career Change), has recently published a list of 10 tips to help anyone survive and thrive in more difficult economic times.

They are:

1. Look at what's working, rather than what isn't. Which parts of your job are still effective even in difficult times?

2. Find leverage. Concentrate your efforts on projects which are seen to be fireproof, or ways of protecting your income stream.

3. Find a fast-track mentor - an informal arrangement with someone more senior than you who can help you decode your organisation while it's going through tough times.

4. Don't ask for a pay rise just because everyone else is reacting to rising costs. Demonstrate your value - not your cost.

5. Go way, way beyond your job description in value-adding ways. Career progression, ultimately, is not a question of what you do, but how far you are seen to be doing the things that matter.

6. At the same time, work smarter not harder on tasks which your organisation recognises as things that make a difference.

7. Stay on winning teams. This is the time to negotiate a move away from a dead-end role, or a part of the organisation which is seen as under-performing or peripheral.

8. Stay in touch with changes in your sector, and don't stop networking - both for industry knowledge and for insider tips on the hidden job market.

9. Don't adopt cynicism of the marketplace. Not all organisations and markets are in decline - don't miss opportunities by seeing your glass as constantly half-empty - adopt a glass half-full mentality.

10. Stock your lifeboat before jumping ship: understand what you are really looking for rather than passively reacting to advertised or headhunted opportunities. Well-informed job seekers find great jobs in tough times.

The fifth edition of John's book, How to Get a Job You Love, will be published in October this year.

We now have a Careershifters Twitter feed. Follow us here, or take a peek at the right hand column on this blog.

The FT have just posted a video of Herminia Ibarra, a professor at INSEAD business school in France, talking on how professionals can make a mid-career switch.

Here's a summary of what she says, which we think is first-rate advice for anyone going through a career change:

The bad news first:

• Changing careers mid-career takes a long time: 3 years on average
• The process is non-linear: chaotic, messy, often unpleasant

The core principles in a career shift:

• Action beats introspection
• You have to figure out 1. what you want to do, 2. how to be a credible entrant

Three themes for a successful reinvention:

1. Get involved in side activities
2. Expand your network outside your usual circles
3. Work on your story for the benefit of yourself and gatekeepers to potential new careers
   

Her closing remark: "You don't have to have it all figured out before you make a move. It's much more helpful to take an experimental approach."