How to kick start your career!
With the festive period now over, and a new year already started, this could be the perfect opportunity for you to reflect on your career and consider a new one. If you are bored, unmotivated or unhappy at work, now could be the right time to do something about it. What’s more, if you don’t find your work meaningful and rewarding, it’s hard to generate the effort and enthusiasm needed to advance in your job or career.
Here’s our top tips on how to kick start your career in 2017:-
• Research and identify a direction that’s right for you. Look at what you enjoy doing, what you are good at and where your key skills lie. You will have picked up many key skills through your career and most of them will be transferrable to a new role – even if you are considering a total career change. Focus on your strengths and what motivates you the most if you want your job change to be successful.
• Make sure your CV is up to date and customised to each job you apply for. Put yourself in the shoes of each recruiter and make sure you’ve emphasised the parts they will be most interested in or which appear on the job description. Keep your CV brief, professional and understandable – don’t use jargon or waffle too much as you will put people off.
• Make sure your online presence is professional. Be careful what you are posting on social networking sites and don’t put anything that might get you into trouble or that you might regret! Remember a potential new boss might be reading. It might be worthwhile changing your privacy settings so that casual viewers only see a limited profile. Get a sensible & professional email address and have a professional signature on your email account that details your contact number. This will be the email account that you can use to apply for jobs, network, etc.
• Consider learning some new skills or refreshing some old ones. This doesn’t have to be academic courses – time management, communication skills and sales training are all good things to have on your CV!
• Network network network. Most business is referred via word of mouth – this can include jobs. Let your friends and family know what you are looking for. Get in touch with ex-colleagues or old college friends and ask people to put their feelers out for you – it can’t hurt and could help kick-start your next career phase.