Posts Tagged ‘career change’

Small businesses are on the increase, despite the recession.  Figures from the Office of National Statistics show there were 3.7million small business in 1999 and this had grown to 4.8million in 2009. Of these, the vast majority are solo business owners.

It seems that greater numbers of people are deciding that working for themselves may be a better option. Now there could be many reasons why individuals are deciding to take the risk of setting up in business for themselves.

But is working for yourself that much riskier these days than working for a large organisation?

Given the current economic situation, jobs are no longer secure and redundancy is common place. Job security is much reduced. Even roles within the public sector which had previously seemed a safe bet are now being cut.

However, this is not just due to the recession. Many firms have been undertaking cost saving exercises before the recession started in order to keep abreast of the competition. Pressure to make profits ranks higher than any social concerns about looking after employees.

Loyalty also seems a thing of the past, on both sides of the fence. Once, many organisations offered a job for life, but no longer. Employers want the best people around and won’t carry anyone that is not performing. Likewise, expectations from employees about their developmental career path is high, especially with the younger generation and if they cannot see clear opportunities they will soon move on.

Also, many of the financial benefits associated with employment such as bonuses and pension provisions are being eroded.  The investment risk within pensions is now transferring from employer to employee as we are seeing the demise of final salary schemes.

With increasing pressure to work longer hours as well as the factors referred to above, many are deciding that there is less of a benefit to work for someone else. The gains in time and flexibility over lifestyle management, often outweighs the risk of any reduced income which is likely, especially in the early years of a start up. Furthermore, being free to make the decisions about their work life gives them a greater sense of comfort and security then being at the mercy of someone else’s decisions.

We may now be witnessing a much longer term trend of freelance and self-employed working too, allowing individuals to maintain control over their work life and sub-contract back to larger organisations. The advantage for an employer is scalability of numbers depending on demand without high costs of redundancy and subsequent employment. For individuals it means that they can find more than one organisation to work for so that they are not totally dependent on one employer and, if work ceases, they can still have some form of income.

Clearly, this will be a slow transition and only time will tell if this is a trend or merely a reaction to the current economic climate. However, here is no doubting that more and more people are deciding that the risk of working for themselves is certainly not as great as it used to be.

How many times have you asked a child this question?

Do you remember your answer when you were young?

Are you doing the thing you always dreamt of as a child?

Many of us have passions and interests as a child which we suppress and lose site of as we get older. More responsibility and more learning seems to knock the sense of fun and opportunity from within. Instead we do what is expected of us – expected by our parents, friends, society and ourselves.

We spend years in a profession doing a job that we seem to be happy with and may even be very successful at it. Eventually however, we get to that point when we say “Is this what it’s all about? Is this what I really want from life? Where did all the fun go?”

But take a look around you at some of the most successful people around. Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey. Will they ever retire?

Not likely!                 Why?

Because they love what they do. They get up each morning and look forward to the day ahead. The issues they face are seen as challenges to overcome rather than obstacles in their way. They are constantly learning and get excited about trying new things. The world is a fun and exciting place. It’s a child’s playground!

Are you doing a job that you love?

1. Remember that your CV/resume is a marketing tool. Therefore you want a summary of your most relevant skills in the top third of the first page. This summary should be both in terms of technical skills i.e. can you do the job; and in terms of the softer intangible skills i.e. will you do the job and will you fit in to this team/organisation.

2. A CV is to get you the interview. The interview is where you can convince them you are the right person for the job, so emphasize the tangible, technical skills first as this is your ability to do the job. Remember that recruiters will only spend a few moments – 20-30 seconds on your CV, so you need to convince them quickly. Make it easy for them!

3. If you are staying within your current field of work then write your CV in a chronological order of experience, as it is likely that your most recent role is the most relevant and it will show how you have progressed.
If you are changing careers or are applying for a position which requires you to demonstrate a range of skills, then opt for the skills based or functional CV format. Here you should focus on all your relevant skills, experience and achievements first. Then include relevant qualifications and finish with an employment history so that the recruiter can still see all the jobs you have had.

4. Don’t turn your CV into a tome. Two to two and a half pages maximum. The recruiter will be looking at dozens of CV’s – they want the relevant information to stand out to them, and if they like what they see, they will scan the rest of the document for more information. This means the CV must be in a simple, clear format using bullet points for ease of reading.

5. Re -read the document through before sending it to anyone. Avoid jargon unless it is commonly used within the industry, check for spelling and grammar. If there are mistakes, an employer will think that you are not conscientious or have little attention to detail. These may be exactly the skills they are looking for.

Our careers help to define us. When we first meet someone we often ask: what do we do? Our job gives us a sense of status, which is why it can have a devastating effect if we are made redundant.

However, it can be a positive time, offering the option to review where we are and more importantly where we want to go. It could be:

• the chance to spend more time with our family
• a great time to consider choices
• the ideal time to start up your own business

Taking time out.
Why not take the opportunity to enjoy life a little. Spend more time with your family and friends, take a long holiday and explore places you’ve always wanted to visit, or learn a new skill – there are a lot of training incentives around right now.

New beginnings.
You could take the time to reflect upon what you really want to do. We often drift into a career because it was our best subject at school, or because our parents guided us into a particular direction or maybe it was because this job seemed interesting at the time and you just stuck with it. As we go through life our priorities, passions and values change and so might the ideal job!

Entrepreneurial spirit.
Always wanted to work for yourself? With the demise of the “job for life” and security that used to come from working for an organisation, more of us are seeking ways to start up our own businesses. Many of the current successful businesses started out in the previous recession. So yes it may be difficult times right now but with the right product or service it could be a great time to flourish.

As Napoleon Hill stated “Opportunity often shows up as misfortune or temporary defeat”.

So stay positive, look at all of your options rather than just continuing with what you have always done and see if the time is right to change direction.