Recap: Session #1 Summary: Making a Career Move & Building Your Network, 23rd July 2017

The kick-off call took place Sunday 23 July, 2017. If you were able to join, we hope you enjoyed the discussion. 

Key Points 

Making a career move/Starting your career

• Have a plan in mind
  • What do you want to do?
  • What skills and experience are required to do it?
  • Do you have those skills?
    • No - How do you develop them?
    • Yes - How do you demonstrate them?
• Make sure your LinkedIn is up to date
  • Recruiters and potential employers/customers are using LinkedIn, so you should be too!
    • Use a professional picture
    • Proofread for spelling errors
    • Make sure your profile is clear and concise
  • Demonstrate your capacity to deliver, and quantify where possible - show where and/how you made an impact.
  • Show that you are proactively looking for opportunities in the field that you wish to move into, e.g;
    • If you want to move into Finance, are you attending Finance events?
    • Are you blogging or featuring on Finance-related blogs?
    • Are you taking courses or looking for opportunities to develop your Finance skills?
• Network, network, network!
  • See below for more tips!

Building your network

• Be authentic and self-aware - people can tell when you are insincere or uncomfortable in networking settings
  • If this is you, some strategies may include:
    • Leaving events that become too overwhelming, and asking people for their contact details to continue conversation another time/somewhere less busy
    • Approaching people via email/LinkedIn to ask for advice or the steps they have taken to get to where they are. NB: Do your research - don't write to someone to ask them how they became a CEO if they have a published book that talks all about this for example.
• Be vulnerable - show your human side. People are much more likely to open up to people who aren't afraid to show their vulnerability, e.g;
  • Share a personal story about a something you've experienced that might interest the person/people you are trying to engage
• Learn how to read the room/the group
  • If you love networking and you are an extrovert, that's great! This means you probably don't have a problem approaching people and striking up a conversation. Be mindful of the fact that there may be other like you, who may be even louder. If you find yourself in competition for attention, ask for contact details of the person/people you are trying to speak to, and follow up later.
• Find places where you already have common interests with groups and network there
  • This might be a cookery class, a sport, or a book club
• Use your existing networks
  • Friends
  • Family
  • Colleagues

Discussion

Sometimes I arrive at networking events and everyone is already deep in conversation. How do I find people to speak with?

Arrive early if you can. This means that the room will fill around you, and people with naturally gravitate to you while the room fills up. It also means that you can speak to more people and you're more likely to make a useful connection. 

How do I avoid pointless conversations and networking with no purpose?

Be deliberate in the type of networking you do, and be clear on what you hope to get out of the relationships. Are you looking for advice, a job, new contacts, new friends, a promotion? Think about what you can offer the person as well. How might you be useful to them?

How do I end long conversations at networking events to allow me to meet other people, and not be stuck talking to one person all night? 

"It's been really great speaking with you, and I've really enjoyed the discussion. Do you have a business card, or can I find you on LinkedIn so that we can speak again?"

"Is there anyone else here that you've spoken to, that you can recommend? I want to make the most of this event and meet as many people as possible"

"Have you spoken to many other people? Is there anyone in particular you were hoping to meet?"

"Thank you for a great conversation, it's really nice to meet you. I'd really like to catch the speaker before they leave. I have a few questions I'd like to ask"

How do I network without seeming like a desperate job hunter?

Don't be afraid to let people know why you are at an event. They may know someone/may be able to introduce you to someone who can help or give you more advice. Be tactful, engaging and polite. Show an interest in other people, and try not to talk about yourself for too long.

It is fine to say that you are thinking about making a career move in the next few months and you are looking for opportunities to expand your network and meet new contacts. 

No one talks to me at networking events. It's always so awkward. 

Remember that most people in the room are pretending to be networking pros. They are probably just as nervous as you are. Think about how you might strike up a conversation that puts you both/all at ease. 

Resources

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks For Big Success In Relationships by Leil Lowndes

Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi 

Make Networking Events Less Awkward

Networking Sucks, but you can make it bearable

Boolean: Recruiters use this tool to generate very targeted search strings to find the kinds of candidate CVs and/or prospect biographies desired for the roles they are trying to fill.Watch the video below to understand how recruiters use to search for talent (hires).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euSYpy3K19E

Boolean Bar is used by recruiters who headhunt online - check it out and think about how you might adapt your profile to show up in the best search results.

Regards, 

Peer Mentor Circles

Test Podcast

This is for testing purpose.

Should You LOVE Your Job?

February is traditionally the month of love, so we’re talking about love and work, and how we feel about it.

Do you Love your job?

If your answer is yes, congratulations - you’re in the minority. Take some time to think about what specifically you love about your job; the challenge, your clients, colleagues, the actual work or tasks, exposure, benefits, or maybe it’s just the pay. Whatever it is, you should feel good that you have found something fulfilling that hopefully meets your financial needs. That’s a good use of your time.

If, like most people, your answer is no, then the good new is you’re not alone. But is not loving your job a bad thing?

Does your job have to be your ‘purpose’ or passion?

In my opinion, no. But it should be an enabler. By this, I mean, getting up every day and going to work, to do a job that you don’t love, should be moving you closer to or directly enabling you to do what you do love.

For those who don’t love their day jobs, it’s a means to an end, and should support the pursuit of whatever gives you purpose or makes you feel fulfilled. This might mean the money you earn is saved towards a personal project, passion or venture, or it could mean you’re using the skills and experience you’re getting from your job to prepare you for the next thing you have your mind set on. Perhaps your job helps you keep the lights on at home, so that you can work on the book you’ve been writing for a year each day after work. Perhaps you’re saving enough to start your own business. Perhaps you’re the bottom of the food chain, working with the boss from hell, but you know this bad gig will increase your exposure and get you a better one.

What should your job give you?

Your job should give you the time/money/other resources required to work towards fulfilling your ‘purpose’ or passion. Work for most of us is a transaction. That’s what it boils down to; someone pays you for your time, labour and skills in cash and/or benefits.

At the very least, here are a few things you should get from your job:

1. Money. To live. To pay for housing/accommodation (unless, you don’t need this because, for example, you live at home), food, transportation, etc. Sometimes you just need to make a living. Sometimes a job is just about survival.

2. Skills, development opportunities, and experience

3. Both.

If your job isn’t giving you one, two, or ideally 3, it may be time to re-think your current employment situation. Survival is ok as a short-term plan, but most of us want to do more than survive. I know I do.

Should you HATE your job?

The short and long answer to this is no - you shouldn’t hate your job, and if you do, and it’s at all possible for you to leave, then start planning your exit strategy (we can cover this in another blog post). If leaving isn’t an option just yet, then here are some tips:

• Find joy: identify specific tasks, activities or interactions you genuinely enjoy, figure out what you like about them, and try to spend more time doing them.

• Job-Shadow: observe someone in a position you admire, and see how they approach their work. Make note of what you like, and don’t like, and the behaviours or mindset it might be useful for you to adopt in the workplace.

• Learn something new: pick up a task or responsibility that you think might be useful later, e.g. being the minute-taker in a meeting isn’t exactly fun, but it gives you an opportunity to develop and improve your communication and writing skills - it also teaches you to be accountable for something. There are also thousands of online courses you could take to up-skill yourself, making you more competitive for other jobs out there.

• Talk to someone: A problem shared really is a problem halved. Find someone you trust and talk to them about work - get their perspective and see if they can share any coping mechanisms they have found helpful with you. If all else fails, talk to us!

• Plot your escape: maybe you can’t leave right now, but at some point in the future, that could change, and you need to be ready. Make a list of things you need to do in preparation for your departure, and work your way through that list.

Conclusion

I’ve had roles I’ve loved, and roles I have hated, and the great thing about both, is that they steered me towards the people and things I like. A terrible job makes it easier to identify tasks, activities and work environments that you do not like, and a great job teaches you the opposite. Either way, you are learning, growing, and will become a more intuitive professional if you take the time to reflect on your feelings about your job or business. Even in cases where they might be limited, you do have some choices. You can move, and potentially miss out on something; earn less, or compromise on benefits, job security, proximity to your home, the field or sector, the people you work with, etc. But there’s also the possibility that you could make a career move, and find yourself in a far better position. Experience is a valuable, tradable commodity, as long as you know how to market and sell it. What are you currently doing with yours?

We can’t all love our jobs, unfortunately. Most jobs aren’t lifelong, thankfully. Make a change if you can, if you must, and if you can’t, make a way for yourself that leads you to better working conditions and better quality of life.

You don’t have to love every moment of your career, but you should have a vision of where you want to go, and you should love that!