| Career Development And Change Advice Blog |
| Career Advice, Job Search, Redundancy and Career Change |
A fifty seven year old man came to see me. He had come to this country as a young man, a refugee from war in his homeland. His immediate need when arriving in the UK was to earn money to send home and he got himself the first job that he could, a fairly menial job which paid relatively well given what he was used to, but which did not stretch or challenge him in any way. (more…)
The streets of London were packed this week with commuters walking to, and then from, work because the tubes were on strike, the buses were packed and the roads gridlocked. It was hard not to reflect on the commitment that each one was showing to their job, it would have been so much easier for them to have just stayed at home; they almost certainly had colleagues who did. We can be very self deprecating in this country about our work ethic and our media dwell on our ‘broken society’ self image; but the evidence over the last couple of days flies in the face of that. (more…)
Yesterday’s announcement of a thousand job losses at the Daily Mail group, is the latest siren waren in the demise of regional newspapers. The decline has been accelerating for years and the industry is surely past the point of no return. But journalism remains a highly popular career choice, amongst both graduates and older career changers who enjoy and would like to write. And a stint on a regional newspaper was always the way to begin a journalism career. So if they disappear altogether, what will be the routes into the profession? (more…)
‘Not every good businessman is a good presenter’ was how the MC concluded the corporate fund raising event that Career Energy attended last night. It had been a carousel of small businessmen (I mean men, no women brought their companies along) who were piching to a group of investors for funds. As career professionals we often advise clients on how to start a business, and we thought that the event would be instructive for us. It was. (more…)
The caller was a structural engineer. She had been out of work for two months. ‘I need to make a career change’ she told me. ‘Why? Because you don’t enjoy your career?’ ‘No,’ she replied ‘Because I need to get a new job quickly.’
What is the connection between these two statements? 1. Redundancies are on the increase, unemployment is forecast to rise and 2009 threatens to be a year in which many people have time on their hands, wishing they had something to do. 2. The fractures in our society remain, the UK has a long way to go before it can say it has addressed the social and environmental issues that confront it.
It is that time of year again. “I can’t face going back to work, I really am going to do something about it this time”. You know the feeling, you might actually be one of those whose new year resolution will be to make a career change, to find a career path you really enjoy. Or will the economic climate hold you back? (more…)
I met a doctor yesterday. A doctor in trouble. A doctor seeking career advice. He is a well respected heart surgeon, has carried out hundreds, perhaps thousands of operations in his career. And now one has gone wrong. He is being hauled before his professional disciplinary body, and the tabloids are sniffing around. He is thinking of changing his career.
So Prince Charles is 60. And he hasn’t even started the career he always thought he would have. OK, he has carved out a pretty good role for himself over the last thirty years, but his big career change is still to come. And people of forty tell me they are too old to change! (more…)