Author: bs6102

By Adrianne Harris, Broadly Speaking

I sometimes hear stories when people are looking for a job that they send off their resume and cover letter to over 60 or more vacancies, but don’t hear back from the various companies. There might be a number of reasons for this, maybe you didn’t tailor your resume (essential in the Australian labor market), or write a cover letter that matched your skills and experience to the job being applied for (a cover letter introduces your resume and invites me to read your longer resume). Perhaps the online tool that does the initial screening of the resume thought you didn’t include enough key words (applicant tracking systems are notoriously tricky to get past).

I then often take phone calls asking me to assess if someone would be suitable for an advertised position, as they believe they are a good fit, but just arent getting invited to the interview.  I see the positive in all of my clients, and believe that they can translate their skills and experience to nearly any position. By combining employability skills, such as team work, communication, organisation and time management with the technical knowledge required I believe that everyone can demonstrate their fit in their written application documents. So my response is often “go for it”.

However. I’m not the one advertising the vacancy.

In my experience, the number one reason that you often don’t get to an interview can be explained when I ask the question “did you ring the contact person to find out a bit more information so you could tailor your application?” More often than not, the response is “no, I didn’t ring the company” or “I couldn’t find any contact details”.

Why do I ask if you’ve rung the contact person?

• They are doing the hiring and will be one of the people assessing your skills and knowledge and your suitability for the position
• They can tell you if they need someone highly experienced to hit the ground running, or are interested in developing the right person into the role
• They can tell you why the position is vacant, for example if it’s being advertised as part of a process and someone is already in the role, or if it’s a new position, or someone has moved on
• They will be able to tell you more information about what sort of person they are looking for and what is most important to them in terms of skills and knowledge
• They can give you the vibe of the organisation and you can start your assessment to determine if the role is a good fit for you
  Once you have the information you can then tailor your documentation so that it matches the position being applied for, you can make it easy for the hiring team to see you are a fit for the job. You can highlight the relevant skills, experiences and achievements to make it easy to assess your suitability.

  It’s also the start of building rapport and commencing a business conversation with the potential new team or manager. If you have spoken to the contact person, your documents are often read a little closer by the team, as they have a relationship with you (as opposed to candidates who have not rung to introduce themselves) and often become more engaged when they recognise your name on the application. “Excellent, Jane sent in an application, we had a good chat on the phone and she could be a great fit”

  An employer will notice that you have gone to the effort to tailor your documents to suit the position and the conversation you had. It’s also very noticeable to an employer if you are sending generic resumes to a lot of companies and not tailoring them. Sure, you can just fire off the resume and see how you go, you may be lucky enough to have applied when no one else tailored their documents or rang for more information, but in reality, that is not likely. Switched on candidates know the secret to creating an application that gets you to the next stage, is to get the inside information from the contact officer and match your documents and examples used to their expectations and requirements.

  And if you decide after speaking to the contact officer not to apply, that is also a good outcome. Why waste hours of your time pulling together an application when you are not even close to the company’s expectations or what they are looking for?

  What if there is no contact person listed?

  Sometimes on job websites there are positions that seem to have no contact person or even list the name of the company. These are sometimes promoted with the opportunity to “click to apply now”.  However before you fire off an untailored resume, based on a 600 word advertisement, ask yourself:

• How genuine is the vacancy, is it genuine or a recruiter trying to farm resumes and contact details to expand a database to boot their business opportunities?
• What organisation is happy to take random applications without offering support to potential applicants, or being available to answer questions about the organisation or opportunity?
• How can you tailor your application to the opportunity if you can’t get additional information on the name of the company, the role, the level the expectations?When applying for positions, a strategic approach to developing your documentation is critical, and the contact person is one of the people that can help you analyse your fit for the role and the essential information to include in your resume, cover letter and selection criteria documentation.C

  ontact me to find out more about creating your personalised job search strategy.
  

Adrianne Harris, Broadly Speaking

I note each year that the fashions around resume change, this is in part in response to employer and recruiters ideas of what they need to help them assess applicants and determine who to invite to interview, and in part driven by innovative resume writers and switched on applicants.

If you haven’t updated your resume in a while, you might be surprised with some modern resume elements. You don’t need to include all of the fashions, however it’s useful to remember the resume is to help you get to the interview, so your documents should look like they were created in 2018, and not in 1997, 2007 or even 2012.

Content Trends
The trend for 2017 which I don’t see changing in the first half of 2018 is to still have both a “Professional Profile” and a “Key Skills” section at the start of your document. The profile tells me about you and your experience and what you can bring to the role in a neat paragraph.

e.g. A qualified accountant, with over ten years  of experience managing reporting and compliance functions across small to medium sized enterprises within the public and commercial  sectors…..

The key skills list tells me the main 6 – 8 skills you can bring to the position (which should align to the role you are applying for, and mirror the language used in the job ad – this is known as using keywords, and is critical if your application is reviewed by a recruitment system rather than a person). For example:

• profit/loss analysis and reporting
• risk identification and development of mitigation strategies
• Monitoring multimillion dollar budgets

I am seeing the “Education” section move around a resume. For some roles where the education, training or certifications are a critical component of the role, then they are placed after the key skills section. This allows a recruiter to see at a glance, that you have the right qualifications as required. For other roles, I am seeing this section move towards the end of the resume.

There is no change from the focus on achievements when describing your work experience, and no change in being specific. We can all turn up and provide great customer service, but when “provide customer service to external stakeholders” is listed as a responsibility, it doesn’t tell me much, and doesn’t tell me how effective you were in your role. If you work with customers, tell me how many, and what you do to help them.

 E.g., provided information for over 20 products to over 100 external clients per week via telephone and email.

 

Formatting Trends
The trends in resume formatting has not changed that much over the years, the length of a resume is getting shorter (think 2 – 3 pages), and are much more tailored to each role you are applying for.  A couple of years ago a five page resume was pretty standard.  Even when I edit CEO resumes, the aim is to convey the relevant information in 3 pages or less. Many State and Federal Government positions are now asking for a 2 page resume, and some teaching positions only need a one page resume. It’s important to read the applicant pack for any position you apply for, as I am seeing a lot more ads identify the length of the resume to be included. If you fail this part of the applicant test, by not adhering to the length limit, you may not be invited to interview (especially if a key criteria is “an eye for detail”).

Can I use tables or text boxes in my resume?
No, the recommendation is to still not use tables or text boxes, they can make applicant tracking systems unable to pick out the information in a table or text box.

Should I put my name and contact information in a header or footer?
No, again, applicant tracking systems do not always pick up this information.

The key fashion for 2018 is to keep it simple, keep it clean, keep it relevant to the role you are applying for and assume your document will be read on a mobile device. Keeping formatting simple, easy to read, with lots of white space is still the key to a winning resume.

Contact me to discuss how you can review your resume and ensure it meets the expectations of employers and recruiters in 2018. And like all good fashion, keep our eye on the upcoming trends and stay ahead of the pack!

 

 

 

Photo and article by Adrianne Harris, Broadly Speaking

Great sportspeople know how a coach helps them achieve their goals, they don’t try and do it on their own, they take advice from a range of experts to help them get in to shape and the right mind set to win. Like a sports coach, there are three key ways a career coach can help you:

1. Clarify and set the vision you have for the future
   Sports people have a clear goal. They don’t want to just win, they want to win something very specific, be it a gold medal at the next Olympics, a World Cup in eight years time, or perhaps just getting the right time to qualify for the next round. When searching for a job it can be easy to apply for as many jobs as you can find, which often leads to little. Having a clear picture of the job you want, and the steps to get there, you can use your time and energy more efficiently, as each step you take supports you moving towards your goal. An athlete sometimes decides not to compete in a particular competition or pulls out mid way. Why would they do that after training so hard? Perhaps it’s because they are reminded of the end goal and are not distracted by competing just for competing’s sake. They take a strategic view to competition and participate where it will assist them achieve their long term goal.

A career coach can help you create a job search strategy and the steps you will need to take to achieve your goal.

 

2. Show you how to visualise the future and the steps you need to complete to get there
   If you watch a football player about to kick a goal you will see they stop for a moment, they appear frozen, unable to move. What they are doing is spending a moment visualising the ball going between the posts and what they need to do to make the kick perfect. Sometimes you will see them put their arm up as they visualise the ball going through the air. You might occasionally hear a player yelling “win it”. They aren’t referring to the entire game, but to that particular move or phase of play. They have broken the game down into small manageable bite sized pieces and focus on winning each step of the way.

A career coach will help you articulate and clarify exactly the opportunity you are after and get you the right frame of mind to achieve, they will help you visualise the steps required and help you focus on success at each step of the process.

 

3. Get you in shape for the big day by rehearsing and reviewing your game day strategy
   Training is an integral component for both amateur and professional sports people. You don’t get to be picked for an Australian team based on your interest in the role. You have to spend years practicing, perfecting your skills and practicing again til you get it right. Athletes spend more time training than they actually do competing. They focus on both mind and body and getting both working together. Something to think about when career planning.

“Practice doesn’t make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.”
– Vince Lombardi, American Football

A career coach will set a practice schedule and break down what you need to do to get ready for the interview. They will help you research, gather information, plan your approach and set practice exercises that will give you new skills and build on your existing strengths. They will help you manage your nerves and get your brain into gear to speak and present professionally.

A career coach can increase your chance of success
Don’t waste your time applying for hundreds of jobs, randomly sending off resumes to online databases. Contact Adrianne today to arrange a career coaching session and set your career and job search strategy. Doing this before you put pen to paper to create an application will save you precious time and energy and improve your chances of landing an interview.

For more information, or to make an appointment, contact Broadly Speaking.

 

Article by Adrianne Harris

Work place change and redundancy can be incredibly stressful and life changing events, it can be an overwhelming time when finishing up in a job or transitioning to a new role. This article introduces five tips that can help during this time.

1. Celebrate you Achievements

 A great place to start is to review what you have achieved in your role. When you have been made redundant or your workplace is changing, it is easy to feel as though your contributions are not valued. However this is not the case and you should reflect on the activities you’ve done and the outcomes. Brainstorm a list of things you have done. Start with an action verb list which can prompt your thinking. This list will become a list that you can pick and choose form when tailoring your resume or writing cover letters and selection criteria documents.

More information on capturing your achievements can be found in the article Capturing your Achievements.

 

2. Qualifications, training and professional memberships

Check the currency of your qualifications, training and memberships – are they current and up to date?  Some professional qualifications change and you need to upgrade to remain current. Some examples of this include VET courses like the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. It may have been a while since you have studied and think “how will I afford it?”, if that’s the case, you might like to check out the new way of funding TAFE and University courses. There are many courses nowadays to choose from, from a full degree or Masters Program to short courses including graduate certificates that only take a year or so to complete.

More information can be found in the booklet VET Student Loans.

 

3. Your Network

Review your network and connections. If you’ve ignored your networking, now is a good time to reconnect. Write to your network and let them know what has happened and that you are seeking new opportunities. Your network can’t help you if they don’t know you are looking for a new job or new opportunities. Your network includes your potential referees. Even if you don’t think that you will immediately seek a new job, it’s a good idea to stay in touch with some potential referees. This makes it much easier than trying to locate people later. This is particularly important when there are a number of redundancies in your unit and people are leaving the organisation.

You can read more about nurturing your network in this article.

 

4. Your public profile

If you are thinking of applying for opportunities outside of your current organisation, it’s worth reviewing your public profiles and social media. Many employers will check you out on social media, with or without your consent, so if you would rather keep your private details private, it is a good idea to review your privacy settings and what someone you don’t know can see about you on the web including on things like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp among others. Also make sure you review the professional image you are projecting on LinkedIn including your photo – how up to date is it and how relevant is it to the future work you are looking for? Ensure all information is accurate and matches the information contained within your resume – employers often check both so they need to contain the same information (and this includes dates!).

A word of warning: I am seeing trends in overseas and some Australian recruitment organisations to request you to make your social media accounts public, or accept friend requests from them. My suggestion is to keep it professional and don’t feel pressured to share your details. Politely declining is better than an employer making unfounded assumptions on you based on what your share on social media.

More information about social media research on potential employees can be found here.

 

5. Get some Help

Often employers will provide some kind of employee assistance program, outplacement support, training or coaching to help you through the transition. You should take advantage of all the support you are offered during this time, not only does it help with your stress levels, it also pays to get help from professionals to support you through the change and working with often short deadlines. Sometimes talking to a career coach can help get you through the stages of change and transitioning to a new workplace, role, career or other opportunity.

Contact Adrianne Harris today to talk more.

Article and photo (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London) by Adrianne Harris.

Actors tend to get in their own way a lot, as you will find in your life. A lot of times you will do things that will screw up your auditioning process. I loved auditioning but I was very bad at it for a long period of time. And part of it was because every time I went into an audition, I thought “God, I hope these guys like me” or “God, I hope I don’t screw this up”. And the truth is, having now sat on the other side of that couch, the producers and the director and the writers, they all go “God, I hope this person is the saviour, I hope this person does it right!” (George Clooney, Audition Advice)

Actors tend to prepare well for any audition they are going to, they memorise pieces to recite, they reflect on their stage presence and they consider the impact they will make. A job interview is a performance of sorts, an audition to see if you would be suitable to take a full time starring role in their company, or if you are perhaps suited better for a different role with another agency. You are in the spotlight and the interviewers want to hear what you have to say and how you will say it. They are keen to see you perform professionally and well. They expect you will have thought about the interview, practiced a bit and be ready to show yourself off when your name is called.  Not really that different to preparing for and attending an acting or singing audition. A manager is a director of sorts and they want to see that they can work with you to bring out your best performance.

Wade Bradford shared some tips for preparing for an audition in a recent blog:

1. Read the audition notice carefully
2. Be professional
3. Dress appropriately
4. Perfect your monologue
5. Get to know the play
6. Don’t apologise

Looking at these points it’s easy to translate them into tips for preparing for an interview:

1. Read your interview notice carefully – does it contain the address, time, names of the interviewers, what other details (like assessments to be done as part of the interview process) are contained within the note? Now go back and read the job ad, the position description and your application documents. Familiarise yourself again with the role. Get yourself into the shoes of the character you will be playing and begin to see yourself in the job.
2. Be professional – always speak in the positive, don’t whinge, use formal language and act like you have the job.
3. Dress appropriately – dress as if you have the job, but if the people in the job wear jeans and t-shirts, or a uniform, then dress up a little, but you don’t need to go the full suit and tie. Match your performance in the interview with the image the company projects to the world.
4. Perfect your opening and closing statements. You should have a nicely prepared 1 – 3 minute monologue summarising your skills and experience and why you are the best person for the job. Use this monologue on response to the question “why should we employ you” or “do you have anything else to add”? Practice, practice and practice some more. Use a voice coach or an interview coach to practice with until you are confident in it’s delivery.
5. Get to know the organisation – review your documents again, read the company website, do some research about the role, the organisation, it’s history, vision, anything you can find to learn about the job, the company and where it is positioned.
6. Don’t apologise – if you don’t have the experience asked for in an interview, or you don’t know the answer – stay in the positive, turn the question around to one you can answer, focus on your transferable skills and how you would use those to fill in any knowledge or skills gap.

As you can see, the tips that an aspiring actor would use to prepare for an interview are the same as those that a job seeker would use. However, it is suprising the number of people I talk to that have never considered this approach.

Don’t forget though, that once you pass the audition (the interview) you’ve got the job and will need to be ready to perform from day one, opening day nerves are the same for new employees as they are for actors – it’s a nerve wracking experience for all.

Contact Adrianne Harris to discuss your interview (or audition) strategy.

Article and photo by Adrianne Harris, Broadly Speaking

Why should you volunteer for your professional association when you already work many hours each week, keep up to date by reading relevant information and participate in online forums and groups? Why should you bother to give away your services and skills for free to a bunch of people that ask you to pay a membership fee every year?

These are good questions to ask yourself before you volunteer to assist your professional association. It’s easy to pay your fees, add the relevant initials to your signature and appear to be a fully engaged professional. However, it’s harder to engage with your association in a way that will assist your career and help you grow and find the right job. Volunteering is one way of actively getting involved.

There are a few great reasons for choosing to volunteer for your professional association:

• You may not get the chance to use certain skills that you have in your current job, you can keep these skills current and continue to develop them by volunteering to assist where you know these skills are needed or you will have a chance to develop those skills
• You might want to build a professional reputation outside of your organisation. This can help with getting new jobs or building your network. Think strategically about what sort of professional reputation you want and then volunteer for the activities and committees that will help grow that reputation. Are you wanting to be a leader, a team player, a coach, a trainer, an industry expert, a master networker? Find opportunities that match that aim – speak at a conference, chair a committee, write a review paper, write a guest blog, there are many possibilities to position yourself in your industry.
• You can try things out – if you haven’t done a particular activity (for example managing a project, speaking in front of a group, writing content) then you can have a go through your association. It often comes with less risk than if you were doing it for the first time in your paid job and you often have support for the association in order for you to succeed. You generally won’t be performance reviewed on your participation and your confidence can grow knowing you are learning in a safe space surrounded by supportive colleagues in the industry.

You might volunteer to:

• Help organise an event
• Help organise a conference (part of a team or as a convenor)
• Attend an event and strategically network by assisting the organisers
• Give a talk, presentation or workshop
• Chair a committee
• Take minutes of committee meetings
• Organise meetings and key note speakers
• Write articles for your association magazine
• Mentor a younger member
• Take part in a mentoring scheme yourself

As you can see, those are just a few suggestions to get you started thinking about why you should be involved. To avoid burnout and resentment towards your association, consider strategically what you want to get out of the engagement, then you can say “yes” to the opportunities that will excite you and help further your career and you can say “no” to activities that are just a drain on your time and energy.

How do I know which Professional Association is right for me?
It might surprise you to learn that there are more than 100 relevant associations in Australia. Some of them are listed here. The other ways to find out which association is right for you is to ask other in the industry and to read some job ads where sometimes these details are listed. Memberships are generally available for different levels, from student to experienced practitioner and usually have different levels of benefits depending on their structure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Article and Photo by Adrianne Harris, Broadly Speaking

A veggie garden  changes through the seasons, with some fruits and vegetables being more abundant or available. Other times our garden lies fallow, resting and waiting for the next crop to be planted. We add compost, fertiliser, weed it and make sure there are no pests harming our garden. Sometimes we protect our garden from bats and birds at other times we are happy to give away the fruits of our labour and to share the bounty with others.

Your professional network is a bit like a vegetable garden, an interconnected web where all parts support each other to provide a fruitful harvest.

Just like when we fertilise our garden to help it grow, so to should we nurture our professional network to ensure it continues to grow healthily and into the future. Reciprocity, abundance and giving without exception are some of the hallmarks of a healthy garden and a healthy network.

So how do you do it without feeling like you are just piling a whole lot of manure on your garden!

1. Make sure you know your network – who’s in it, what are their contact details, what notes have you made about your conversations or common ground?
2. Make time to “touch base” with people you want to get to know better and those you want to keep in touch with. Make notes in your diary, database, notebook. Use tools to help you stay on track here. Make notes as to how you interact with people, so you mostly use email, social media, coffee catch ups, phone calls?
3. Think about what you can share with them that might be of interest to them – remember networking is a two way street and you should give as much as you get from your relationship
4. Before you make contact with someone, reflect on the nature of your relationship and what you want to achieve from the interaction, this keeps you to the point, stops you rambling, and allows the person to understand how they can help you.

Before the year gets away from you, make sure you have reviewed your network and have made a plan to nurture and grow your network this year.

Contact Broadly Speaking to discuss your networking strategy and to arrange a coaching session to help build and nurture your network.

Article and photo by Adrianne Harris

We’ve all been to inspiring talks that have opened with passion or been centred on a topic we are interested in. They start full of energy, movement and colour but by the time they finish, they’ve run out of the energy and look like they can’t wait for the speech to end. Sometimes I really only notice it’s finished due to some mild applause for the speaker or the audience leaving the venue, my mind having wandered off previously missed the end of the talk and it all just seemed a bit lack lustre.

Finishing a presentation strongly is as important as the start of the talk. There’s nothing better to take away an expert’s power and authority than to finish a talk with “thanks for listening” or “that’s all”. I’m always reminded of a child giving their first talk at school and being thankful for the opportunity. However, if I’m listening to an industry expert, I don’t expect them to thank me for the opportunity to talk to me, I should be thanking them for sharing their information and knowledge.

Sometimes new presenters that I am coaching will say to me “but the audience won’t know I’m finished”. To them I say, “Oh they will know”. They will know because you’ve gone over time and delayed them from going to their next event (they are the ones that keep checking their watches) and you keep saying “I’ve gone over time, but I’m nearly finished”. They will know because you are rambling and filling in time on what was an otherwise well-structured talk. They’ll know because you keep saying “we only have time for one question”. They will know because you are skipping the last ten PowerPoint slides to get to the “thank you” slide at the end.

None of those are good ways of concluding a talk and none of them leave a lasting impression of a dynamic and energetic presenter.

So how do you finish a talk? Instead of saying “thank you” or putting “THE END” on the last slide (don’t laugh I’ve been to presentations where this is the last thing I see in their presentation). Two other things you can do to finish strongly are:

• Summarise what you’ve told them (“today we have looked at the four successful pillars of marketing online”)
• Call them to action – leave them with a challenge, a question or next steps

Don’t say thank you – finish with a powerful statement – and then just stop talking. That’s it, just stop talking. Really, just stop talking. Look around at your audience and then walk off the stage. The applause and accolades will follow. You don’t need to tell the audience “it’s now time to clap” or acknowledge your contribution your body language and strong finish will do that just fine.

The End.

Just kidding, contact Adrianne Harris to discuss your presentation strategy or to schedule a presentation feedback session.

 

 

Article and photos by Adrianne Harris

There are just so many bad tips out there designed to make you feel better when preparing to give a talk. One of the worst tips that was ever given to me (and I suspect a lot of people heard this in the 80’s) was, when preparing to speak to a group of people was to picture them naked! What?! I never understood how this was supposed to help me calm my nerves or see that I was just talking to regular people just like me. Really, there’s nothing scarier when preparing for a talk than visualising your audience sans relevant articles of clothing! And no I can’t get that image out of my mind thank you 1986.

Another truly terrible tip is to start your talk with a joke! I have no idea how telling a joke (often badly) helps excite your audience and engages them with what you are about to say. Starting a speech with a joke can be a complete turn off, and indicates to me that you are stuck in the past and haven’t really thought about how to update your presentation style for the new millennium. Or it just that I am a terrible joke teller? Maybe this works for comedians, but not so sure about other professions.

A much better approach to planning to give a presentation or speech, is to spend some time thinking about who will be in the audience and to write down as much as you know about them. You should also write a list of things you don’t know about them and how you are going to find out the information you need.

 

Some of the things you can ask yourself to picture your audience include:

• How old are they – will the audience be a spread of ages, or clustered around one age group? This may influence the language, the phrases, words, images, jokes, references and stories you use in your presentation. Bam to a younger person is not a household cleaner.
• What do they already know about this topic – this saves you time going over old ground, or repeating basic information that is already known. Perhaps your audience knows little about the topic, in which case you should spend some time with the basics.
• How technical is their knowledge – can you talk in jargon and buzzwords that people will relate to, or do you risk alienating your audience if you use a lot of unfamiliar or uncomfortable language? This point relates to the first two and your language should change based on their knowledge of the topic.
• What do they need to know – what absolutely must be included in your presentation – what must they walk away understanding, knowing or doing?
• What would be nice to know – this information can be included if you have time. You may speak a bit faster in front of the group and have a few minutes left at the end, you might like to include some additional information. This should not be critical information, but instead should add value to what you have just presented.
• Will there be time for questions, or is audience participation during the presentation encouraged or not – how will you manage those – will you answer questions as you go along, will you anticipate questions and incorporate the answers into your presentation or will you take limited questions at the end? Questions need to be handled as professionally as your presentation or you risk losing your audience and any credibility you had.

How do you find out these answers?

1. Ask the organiser – they should have a pretty good handle on who will be in attendance, see if they can give you a detailed picture of the potential audience – are there any previous event reports, pictures or other media to give you an idea of what the audience will look like?
2. Do some web research – what does the company web page tell you about your potential audience and their knowledge?
3. Ask your audience – informally as you arrive and meet people or formally at the start of the talk (not recommended for presenters with little experience as you may need to make modifications to your presentation on the run)

Through a realistic visualisation of your audience you will start to see yourself on the stage talking to this group of people presenting material carefully matched to your aims and their needs. By tailoring your presentation to meet the experience and expectations of your audience you can minimise your nerves and deliver a stand out speech.

Contact Broadly Speaking to discuss your presentation analysis and design.

Article by Adrianne Harris, Broadly Speaking

Now that you are relaxed and refreshed from an end of year break, it’s time to start thinking about what you would like to achieve in 2017. Take a moment to reflect on your career and professional development and what you need to do this year.

Some questions to ask yourself, do I need to:

• Do a course this year to keep my knowledge up to date?
• Do a course to gain formal qualifications?
• Keep up to date with changes and trends in certain industries?
• Expand my knowledge of a subject through professional reading?
• Join a professional association to meet new people and hear from experts?
• Go to a conference?
• Go to a talk or seminar?
• Watch some online videos by subject experts?

You might need to do one or more of these things, or something entirely different,

What else can you do to help expand and develop your professional knowledge, reputation or opportunities? Brainstorm your list of potential activities then select the most appropriate things to do this year, be realistic – you won’t have time to do everything and nothing is more stressful than overloading yourself and feeling overwhelmed. For example, attending three conferences this year may sound fun but the price may outweigh the benefits and you might be better placed to pick the most strategic one to attend and then connect through local networks for deeper connections.

Once you have your list, you need to plan and dedicate time to the activities. By giving priority in your calendar to your career development activities at the beginning of the year, it’s easier to stay on track and not have to find time in an increasingly busy schedule to squeeze them in. By committing to your development on your calendar, you are taking a proactive approach to your career. So actually put some dates and times in when you will complete your professional reading, go to an event or watch some online content.

Apart from using your diary to manage your learning, writing down your goals in a career journal is a great way of holding yourself accountable and understand the details of what you need to do. You should make sure you include:

1. What the goal is – be as detailed as possible
2. What key steps you need to take to achieve the goal
3. When these key steps need to be completed by
4. What support or resources do you need (time, money, family or work support)
5. How will you know you have achieved the goal – what does success look like to you?

Another option is to talk to a career coach about your learning. Sometimes working with a professional to develop your learning plan can save time and money. Contact Adrianne to discuss your options further. You might also like to take a look at the Career Journals available in the Career Shop to help you plan your career development.