No, this isn't an eyeball-catching headline to get you to click. There is a strong train of thought that says that if you spend your career solely focused on salary, you'll lose out in the long run.
Times are hard and your salary pays the monthly bills. But if that's your primary job criteria, there’s a good chance that you'll never get ahead of the game and you'll be living hand to mouth your entire life.
Then there’ll be the nagging feeling that so many people are doing better than you. I'm not saying money doesn't matter. The goal here is to achieve financial success, enjoy the process, and feel good about the result.
However, when it comes to your career, you need to look at the big picture. If your focus is too myopic or narrow, you won't achieve big things. A higher salary doesn't trump working at a company with greater opportunity for promotion to the next level. Does it?
This isn’t made up, it’s serious stuff culled from a number of professionals who have been giving career advice that works in the real working world. With that in mind, let’s look at the issues.
10 Things More Important Than Your Salary
1. Your goals. Yogi Berra said, "If you don't know where you're going, you may not get there." He was right. You need to have goals and a plan. You can (and should) revise them anytime, but you need to have them and focus on them. If you're smart, opportunistic, adaptable, and work hard, you'll achieve great things ... including financial success.
2. Loving what you do. Steve Jobs commented "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle."
3. The company you work for. There is one common secret to career success that’s mentioned by many. Think of every company as a possible spaceship to the moon. You've got to get on the ship, but if the ship can't get you there, what's the point? Work for a winning company where you'll have room to advance or an entrepreneurial company where you can wear lots of hats. You have choices. Exercise them.
4. How opportunistic you are. Given the choice between skill at negotiating a fat package and being adept at creating your own opportunities and making your own luck, most would choose the latter.
5. How hard you work. These days it's more popular to talk about working smart than working hard. You need to do both. Success does not come without hard work. You need to be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve your goals.
6. Your attitude. If you believe that you earn everything you get, are willing to work your socks off to get that promotion, and have a can-do attitude no matter what's thrown at you, then that promotion is yours, guaranteed.
7. Making an impact on the business. Business is about business, and the closer you get to making a real impact on the business, the more valuable you'll be to the company, the more opportunities for growth and advancement you'll have, and the more money you'll make.
8. Opportunity to get out and network. If you're locked away behind a desk after day, your opportunities are limited. But a job where you can get out into the industry and network and shake the right hands is like gold to a young up-and-comer. In terms of future opportunity, it's worth far more than a fat paycheque.
9. Equity ownership. In my experience, your salary pays the mortgage and bills and they have a funny way of rising to meet your salary. Equity, on the other hand, is a potential windfall that, by definition, you absolutely cannot count on until it's liquid. It also adds an element of diversity to your income since it's based on the whole company's performance, not just yours.
10. Pay for performance. Salary is only part of the compensation picture. If you're aggressive and believe in yourself, you can benefit more from a healthy, well-structured, and somewhat open-ended bonus plan where your goals are clear and achievable and you can knock them out of the park.
It is our belief that if you focus on these 10 things instead of purely on your salary, you'll do far better in the long run. Especially financially.
One final thought. If you're challenged, gratified, engaged, like your boss, have better benefits, flexible conditions, etc., you'll be happier and perform better in the long run. That goes without saying, doesn’t it?
As ever, thoughts and comments are welcome. http://www.chestertongray.com
Friday 9 December 2011
Wednesday 9 November 2011
How to leave the office at 5pm
Over the twenty odd years that I’ve been in (allegedly gainful) employment the culture of hours worked has changed markedly. The 80’s with its booming yuppie years accelerated the acceptance, or should that be expectation, that you were in before the first light of dawn and if at all possible were the last person to leave at night. In many cases changing the mindset of management has been part and parcel of changing a business’s culture and through some very high profile law suits and heart attacks the business world finally realised that the work life balance of its employees was an integral part of its success or failure.
Talking to the number of candidates that we do it is plain that every morning they set a goal to leave the office in time to spend the evening hanging out with their family and friends. And every evening around 5 or 6pm, they look at the pile of work that’s still outstanding and realise it's not happening. Again!
But before you settle for another late night of takeaway’s and furious family members, think about this: many people actually do manage to have both fulfilling careers and fulfilling home lives. What do they know? From all of our interviews I've realised that these successful people adopt a few key tactics for shutting down their pc at the end of the day and leaving the office:
1. Realise you can leave before everything's done. In our rapid-fire age, email, requests for assistance, calls and meetings can fill all available space. If you aim to go home with a zero inbox, you will almost certainly never go home. Work will always be there and will take whatever time you give it. So give it less time. We all have a point of diminishing returns.
2. Split your hours. Leaving the office at 5pm doesn't mean you need to be done for the night. Try going home, spending time with your family or pursuing other personal projects, and then if you must work from home, fire up your laptop later in the evening for another hour or two. You'll probably be refreshed enough to solve problems that would have taken you until 8:30 if you'd stayed put.
3. Do a 4pm triage. If the to-do list for the day that you created first thing has been too ambitious, you'll probably realise, by mid-afternoon, that it can't all happen by 5pm. So at 4pm, go through and rank the most important tasks. If you knew that the electricity was going to go off in your office at 5pm, rendering more work impossible, what would you do before then? Do those things. Then stop. Pick up the to-do list again when you do your evening session or better still, the next morning. Who knows, maybe some of the problems will have solved themselves in the night!
If you have some better thoughts and ideas on how to ensure that you’re not stuck in the office until midnight, the team at Chesterton Gray is always keen to hear from you.
Talking to the number of candidates that we do it is plain that every morning they set a goal to leave the office in time to spend the evening hanging out with their family and friends. And every evening around 5 or 6pm, they look at the pile of work that’s still outstanding and realise it's not happening. Again!
But before you settle for another late night of takeaway’s and furious family members, think about this: many people actually do manage to have both fulfilling careers and fulfilling home lives. What do they know? From all of our interviews I've realised that these successful people adopt a few key tactics for shutting down their pc at the end of the day and leaving the office:
1. Realise you can leave before everything's done. In our rapid-fire age, email, requests for assistance, calls and meetings can fill all available space. If you aim to go home with a zero inbox, you will almost certainly never go home. Work will always be there and will take whatever time you give it. So give it less time. We all have a point of diminishing returns.
2. Split your hours. Leaving the office at 5pm doesn't mean you need to be done for the night. Try going home, spending time with your family or pursuing other personal projects, and then if you must work from home, fire up your laptop later in the evening for another hour or two. You'll probably be refreshed enough to solve problems that would have taken you until 8:30 if you'd stayed put.
3. Do a 4pm triage. If the to-do list for the day that you created first thing has been too ambitious, you'll probably realise, by mid-afternoon, that it can't all happen by 5pm. So at 4pm, go through and rank the most important tasks. If you knew that the electricity was going to go off in your office at 5pm, rendering more work impossible, what would you do before then? Do those things. Then stop. Pick up the to-do list again when you do your evening session or better still, the next morning. Who knows, maybe some of the problems will have solved themselves in the night!
If you have some better thoughts and ideas on how to ensure that you’re not stuck in the office until midnight, the team at Chesterton Gray is always keen to hear from you.
Wednesday 19 October 2011
Want to be a great communicator? Use plain English
For most professional people there comes a point in their lives when, sooner or later, their boss will take them aside and advise them that at the next meeting or business conference they’ll be making a presentation on....
After all, you can’t get very far in your career without learning to present. Well, the same is true of speaking and writing.
And if you work with and listen to enough successful executives and other business leaders, you’ll find that, with rare exception, they use plain English and cut to the chase. Think of Sir John Harvey-Jones as a classic example. That means no jargon, no beating around the bush, no padding and no flowery or big words.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, here’s the catch. For some odd reason, most people seem to have great difficulty being direct when they communicate.
When I first started working in sales I’d just come from working in a warehouse I couldn’t write or speak to save my own life. The first time I had to make a presentation, I was so terrified by my lack of experience that I nearly did a runner. The only thing that saved me was I was only given twenty minutes notice over lunch and my boss never left my side.
But, I worked for a big company and saw a number of very good practiced speakers who made it look easy and that’s where I learned two things:
1) Ditch all the flowery composition and big words they taught us in school, and
2) Get your message across as crisply, as clearly, and in as few words as possible.
Now I appreciate that that’s easy to say but harder to do. So here are 10 tips to help you succeed in business by learning to speak and write in plain English:
1. Be direct with your point or position. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Don’t over-think or over-complicate it.
2. People will remember the first and last thing you say or write. Long rambling laundry lists are worthless.
3. Communicate economically, as if you have to pay for every word. Your audience is actually paying with their precious time and share of mind.
4. Words come from your mouth and fingers, but wisdom and inspiration come from inside you. Dig deep.
5. People are more likely to remember things you tell with stories and humour.
6. When you fumble around, it usually means you’re trying to come up with some way to spin what you want to say.
7. People connect more with genuine feelings than intelligent logic. People may learn from ideas but by and large they follow people.
8. It’s a proven fact that people do business with those they feel comfortable with and trust. They judge that, in a large part, on how you speak and write.
9. Communication is bidirectional, not a one-sided data-dump. Remember, you give a little to get a little.
10. Don’t over-rehearse or over-edit. Where to draw the line comes with time and experience. Anyone who has ever had to be best man/woman can tell you all about that one!
So now hopefully you are a little more prepared for that next occasion when your boss taps you on the shoulder and asks you to be their key note speaker.
As ever, comments, thoughts and suggestions are welcomed by the team at www.chestertongray.com
After all, you can’t get very far in your career without learning to present. Well, the same is true of speaking and writing.
And if you work with and listen to enough successful executives and other business leaders, you’ll find that, with rare exception, they use plain English and cut to the chase. Think of Sir John Harvey-Jones as a classic example. That means no jargon, no beating around the bush, no padding and no flowery or big words.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, here’s the catch. For some odd reason, most people seem to have great difficulty being direct when they communicate.
When I first started working in sales I’d just come from working in a warehouse I couldn’t write or speak to save my own life. The first time I had to make a presentation, I was so terrified by my lack of experience that I nearly did a runner. The only thing that saved me was I was only given twenty minutes notice over lunch and my boss never left my side.
But, I worked for a big company and saw a number of very good practiced speakers who made it look easy and that’s where I learned two things:
1) Ditch all the flowery composition and big words they taught us in school, and
2) Get your message across as crisply, as clearly, and in as few words as possible.
Now I appreciate that that’s easy to say but harder to do. So here are 10 tips to help you succeed in business by learning to speak and write in plain English:
1. Be direct with your point or position. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Don’t over-think or over-complicate it.
2. People will remember the first and last thing you say or write. Long rambling laundry lists are worthless.
3. Communicate economically, as if you have to pay for every word. Your audience is actually paying with their precious time and share of mind.
4. Words come from your mouth and fingers, but wisdom and inspiration come from inside you. Dig deep.
5. People are more likely to remember things you tell with stories and humour.
6. When you fumble around, it usually means you’re trying to come up with some way to spin what you want to say.
7. People connect more with genuine feelings than intelligent logic. People may learn from ideas but by and large they follow people.
8. It’s a proven fact that people do business with those they feel comfortable with and trust. They judge that, in a large part, on how you speak and write.
9. Communication is bidirectional, not a one-sided data-dump. Remember, you give a little to get a little.
10. Don’t over-rehearse or over-edit. Where to draw the line comes with time and experience. Anyone who has ever had to be best man/woman can tell you all about that one!
So now hopefully you are a little more prepared for that next occasion when your boss taps you on the shoulder and asks you to be their key note speaker.
As ever, comments, thoughts and suggestions are welcomed by the team at www.chestertongray.com
Friday 7 October 2011
5 Things you should never say in a job interview
Sometimes it feels as though I’m stuck in Groundhog Day where everyday, or an event, is a repeat of a previous one. Earlier this week I overheard a colleague having to explain a few basic interviews techniques to a candidate who has changed jobs several times before but who plainly felt the need for guidance and reassurance.
We all know that job interviews are never easy and they’re especially stressful when opportunities are so few and far between, as they are at the moment with the European economy going through its travails.
When you have at last secured an interview, the single most important thing you can do is prepare and practice, by doing both a run-through with a savvy friend, and then doing a self-review. This practice should help settle your nerves and help you work on weaknesses. So, on the back of some surreptitious eavesdropping here are 5 things never to say to the line or recruiting manager:
1. Something they’ve heard a million times before
Some people just love interviewing others and spurring them to be creative and compelling in their answers. Others ask the same dull questions they’ve been asking for years. Whether your interviewer is inspiring or barely conscious, you’ll need to come up with new answers to what are likely old questions. Never be cliché. For instance, don’t tell the interviewer you are a people person. Prepare and practice your talking points prior, and you’ll be less likely to rely on stock answers.
2. A request for any kind of concessions
You can’t do overtime because your children’s day care finishes at 5. You’d like to work from home part-time because you have a new puppy. You need an ergonomically-sound mouse and phone set-up. You’re not so into working on weekends, holidays, or your birthday. Especially in a first interview, you want them to want you — badly. Once they do, you can then ask for what you want, which includes specific questions about salary, benefits, or holiday time.
3. Anything that shows you’re over or under ambitious
Inevitably you will be asked the question “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” A question which can make certain candidates answer too honestly (”I have no idea!”) or show their true colours (”Hopefully, in your job…haha…”). Helping you find your true passion isn’t really their problem, and the fact that you want to advance ASAP can also raise concerns that you’ll jump ship quickly.
4. Anything negative
You probably know better than to criticise your former boss. But you should be positive throughout the interview process. Don’t be negative about anything including your previous office, your old company’s personnel policies, traffic on the way to the interview, or the weather. That said, there are certain times to be constructively critical of your former corporation as well as the company with which you’re interviewing. The key is constructive input. What can you do to improve their situation with your skills and experience, instead of merely mocking it?
5. That you have no weaknesses
Yes, the question “What is your biggest weakness?” is incredibly annoying, boring, and irritating (see “Something they’ve heard a million times before,” above). But asserting that you are a perfect human being isn’t the answer either. That way you certainly won’t come across as credible if you say that you have no weaknesses. Ideally you should talk about a real weakness that is not central to the position that you are seeking and show how you have overcome that weakness. This will help the employer see you as a three-dimensional potential employee, instead of as a two-dimensional resume.
I truly don’t believe that any of the above is ground breaking news to the majority of job seekers, but equally it never does any harm to refresh one’s knowledge before you find yourself in the one interview situation that you didn’t want to be in.
As ever, thoughts and input more than welcome.
www.chestertongray.com
We all know that job interviews are never easy and they’re especially stressful when opportunities are so few and far between, as they are at the moment with the European economy going through its travails.
When you have at last secured an interview, the single most important thing you can do is prepare and practice, by doing both a run-through with a savvy friend, and then doing a self-review. This practice should help settle your nerves and help you work on weaknesses. So, on the back of some surreptitious eavesdropping here are 5 things never to say to the line or recruiting manager:
1. Something they’ve heard a million times before
Some people just love interviewing others and spurring them to be creative and compelling in their answers. Others ask the same dull questions they’ve been asking for years. Whether your interviewer is inspiring or barely conscious, you’ll need to come up with new answers to what are likely old questions. Never be cliché. For instance, don’t tell the interviewer you are a people person. Prepare and practice your talking points prior, and you’ll be less likely to rely on stock answers.
2. A request for any kind of concessions
You can’t do overtime because your children’s day care finishes at 5. You’d like to work from home part-time because you have a new puppy. You need an ergonomically-sound mouse and phone set-up. You’re not so into working on weekends, holidays, or your birthday. Especially in a first interview, you want them to want you — badly. Once they do, you can then ask for what you want, which includes specific questions about salary, benefits, or holiday time.
3. Anything that shows you’re over or under ambitious
Inevitably you will be asked the question “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” A question which can make certain candidates answer too honestly (”I have no idea!”) or show their true colours (”Hopefully, in your job…haha…”). Helping you find your true passion isn’t really their problem, and the fact that you want to advance ASAP can also raise concerns that you’ll jump ship quickly.
4. Anything negative
You probably know better than to criticise your former boss. But you should be positive throughout the interview process. Don’t be negative about anything including your previous office, your old company’s personnel policies, traffic on the way to the interview, or the weather. That said, there are certain times to be constructively critical of your former corporation as well as the company with which you’re interviewing. The key is constructive input. What can you do to improve their situation with your skills and experience, instead of merely mocking it?
5. That you have no weaknesses
Yes, the question “What is your biggest weakness?” is incredibly annoying, boring, and irritating (see “Something they’ve heard a million times before,” above). But asserting that you are a perfect human being isn’t the answer either. That way you certainly won’t come across as credible if you say that you have no weaknesses. Ideally you should talk about a real weakness that is not central to the position that you are seeking and show how you have overcome that weakness. This will help the employer see you as a three-dimensional potential employee, instead of as a two-dimensional resume.
I truly don’t believe that any of the above is ground breaking news to the majority of job seekers, but equally it never does any harm to refresh one’s knowledge before you find yourself in the one interview situation that you didn’t want to be in.
As ever, thoughts and input more than welcome.
www.chestertongray.com
Friday 23 September 2011
How to Relieve Boredom at Work
We all have boring, tedious tasks. Some of us have to sit behind a desk doing the same thing all day long. It can drive you crazy. And some of us, for whatever reason, can’t cope with boredom at all. I think that I’m one of those people.
After I left school I had a number of temp jobs and one of my first jobs was working in a factory that made old fashioned electric fires. I took a strip of metal from by my left hip, put it in a machine that punched half a dozen holes in it and then placed it in a pile by my right hip. That was it. All day long. Nothing else.
I couldn’t stand it. Bored out of my wits I got into all kinds of trouble trying to make people laugh, singing songs very badly, amongst many sins. After a week I left before I became institutionalised.
So I gravitated toward a career in recruitment which meant a bit of travel to meetings with candidates and with clients, from engineering to sales to marketing and now back again and I jumped from company to company. Anything at the time to stop me sitting at a desk 24/7.
A few conversations with colleagues later and we’ve compiled a short list of things, apart from playing games, which should help you relieve boredom at work.
• Know yourself. If you love what you do, you’ll be successful at it. Unfortunately, the opposite is just as true. If you’re not the kind of person who can stand a straight desk job or boring tasks, don’t do that for a living. You’ll be miserable and not very good at it.
• Travel. Most people hate work travel so those jobs aren’t as hard to get as you might think. But if you travel 10/20 % of the time you can strike a balance between relieving boredom and living in a constant state of chaos.
• Take your job to the next level. I know it’s a cliché, but if you think out of the box, you might actually be able to turn your mundane job into something more exciting. Set lofty goals for yourself that nobody would think are possible. It’s doable. Just don’t make crazy commitments you can’t deliver on.
• Get into sales and marketing. Most sales and marketing jobs involve quite a bit of travel, getting out and about, team meetings, customer interaction, that sort of thing. Never a dull moment. Outside sales, product marketing, communications, PR, project management, they’re all good.
• Work in a busy retail environment. Believe it or not, some people actually like talking to strangers, helping people find things, and working on their feet all day. And if it’s a product area you’re passionate about, all the better. If you love shoes, get into the shoe business.
• Do not start your own Internet-based business. That’s the real dark side of being an Internet entrepreneur. You’re tied to your computer, 24×7. If you love that sort of thing, more power to you. But if you’re not, forget it.
• Take long breaks. Don’t laugh. If your job permits flexible work hours or if your company values you and your work, you can probably get away with taking plenty of long breaks. You can even work longer hours to make up for it. Go out to lunch, work out, run, and take walks, whatever it takes.
• Climb the corporate ladder. That’s right; very few executive management jobs are boring. How can you be bored when you’re under all that pressure to perform? Seriously, some people live for that type of existence. Many then burn out. But still … good times.
And, if you’ve got a tip for relieving boredom at work or an exciting career that most people wouldn’t think of, please please tell me so that I can pass it on.
www.chestertongray.com
After I left school I had a number of temp jobs and one of my first jobs was working in a factory that made old fashioned electric fires. I took a strip of metal from by my left hip, put it in a machine that punched half a dozen holes in it and then placed it in a pile by my right hip. That was it. All day long. Nothing else.
I couldn’t stand it. Bored out of my wits I got into all kinds of trouble trying to make people laugh, singing songs very badly, amongst many sins. After a week I left before I became institutionalised.
So I gravitated toward a career in recruitment which meant a bit of travel to meetings with candidates and with clients, from engineering to sales to marketing and now back again and I jumped from company to company. Anything at the time to stop me sitting at a desk 24/7.
A few conversations with colleagues later and we’ve compiled a short list of things, apart from playing games, which should help you relieve boredom at work.
• Know yourself. If you love what you do, you’ll be successful at it. Unfortunately, the opposite is just as true. If you’re not the kind of person who can stand a straight desk job or boring tasks, don’t do that for a living. You’ll be miserable and not very good at it.
• Travel. Most people hate work travel so those jobs aren’t as hard to get as you might think. But if you travel 10/20 % of the time you can strike a balance between relieving boredom and living in a constant state of chaos.
• Take your job to the next level. I know it’s a cliché, but if you think out of the box, you might actually be able to turn your mundane job into something more exciting. Set lofty goals for yourself that nobody would think are possible. It’s doable. Just don’t make crazy commitments you can’t deliver on.
• Get into sales and marketing. Most sales and marketing jobs involve quite a bit of travel, getting out and about, team meetings, customer interaction, that sort of thing. Never a dull moment. Outside sales, product marketing, communications, PR, project management, they’re all good.
• Work in a busy retail environment. Believe it or not, some people actually like talking to strangers, helping people find things, and working on their feet all day. And if it’s a product area you’re passionate about, all the better. If you love shoes, get into the shoe business.
• Do not start your own Internet-based business. That’s the real dark side of being an Internet entrepreneur. You’re tied to your computer, 24×7. If you love that sort of thing, more power to you. But if you’re not, forget it.
• Take long breaks. Don’t laugh. If your job permits flexible work hours or if your company values you and your work, you can probably get away with taking plenty of long breaks. You can even work longer hours to make up for it. Go out to lunch, work out, run, and take walks, whatever it takes.
• Climb the corporate ladder. That’s right; very few executive management jobs are boring. How can you be bored when you’re under all that pressure to perform? Seriously, some people live for that type of existence. Many then burn out. But still … good times.
And, if you’ve got a tip for relieving boredom at work or an exciting career that most people wouldn’t think of, please please tell me so that I can pass it on.
www.chestertongray.com
Wednesday 31 August 2011
4 Reasons your CV will be replaced by your online profile in the future
The last few years has seen the rise and rise of social and business networking sites. Putting aside for one moment Facebook, there is a plethora of business sites that you might have been advised to look at. If I’ve lost you already and you weren’t aware of these sites (really?) then here is a very small list, in no particular order of preference, to start with: LinkedIn; Viadeo; Xing; Plaxo; BraveNewTalent. So, the real question is; how important is your online presence in your career these days? I would suggest that it is more important than you might think.
A number of “expert” surveys on both sides of the Atlantic are predicting that CV’s will fall by the wayside while your online presence takes over your career. Here are a few reasons taken from these surveys as to why they believe this will happen:
Today’s job hunting strategies are mostly online. Gone are the days of looking in the newspaper or applying in-person for job openings. Consider how reduced are the broad sheets Sunday appointment pages compared to a few years ago. Today’s job seekers are spending most of their time and effort networking online, searching company websites, and participating in web communities — and that will only increase in the next few years.
Everyone needs to be ready for a job transition at all times. Now that the days of landing a “traditional” job with stability, benefits, and tenure are gone, candidates need to be ready for a transition at any time. Maintaining an online profile on professional networking sites is more logical than creating a new CV every few months, because it allows for immediate changes and is visible to your entire network.
A recent article in Forbes commented: “By building your online presence, employers can find you and thus you have more opportunities. If you don’t have an online presence, you won’t appear to be relevant and you will be passed over for more savvy applicants that have visibility. You need to be creative in your job search by developing your own product, eBook, viral video, or personal advertisement. Finally, you need to treat your life as one giant networking event, and meet as many people in your field as you can.”
Entrepreneurship is becoming the choice profession for many job candidates. The state of a number of the European economies has seen a rise in redundancies and with little opportunity for some job seekers; many have resorted to setting up their own business or to freelancing opportunities to support themselves. In order to be successful in their new venture, they are realising the importance of a strong online presence and network in order to make their new business successful.
CV’s don’t convey passion or personality. With today’s technology, a job seeker can do a better job at selling themselves through a professional portfolio website or networking profile than a traditional CV. An employer has the opportunity to get to know that candidate in more depth through these online tools than a traditional recruitment process.
There is a natural proviso that goes along with any online presence that hasn’t changed from a traditional CV and that is how you present yourself, what you say about yourself and any images that you choose to post. Whilst I’m sure that you will all maintain the utmost professionalism on the business networking sites, my colleagues and I have seen far too many candidate profiles and pictures on sites such as Facebook that would embarrass their parents and should definitely never ever see the light of day.
If you would like to talk with any of us about creating an online presence and the networking sites then please don’t hesitate to do so at www.chestertongray.com
A number of “expert” surveys on both sides of the Atlantic are predicting that CV’s will fall by the wayside while your online presence takes over your career. Here are a few reasons taken from these surveys as to why they believe this will happen:
Today’s job hunting strategies are mostly online. Gone are the days of looking in the newspaper or applying in-person for job openings. Consider how reduced are the broad sheets Sunday appointment pages compared to a few years ago. Today’s job seekers are spending most of their time and effort networking online, searching company websites, and participating in web communities — and that will only increase in the next few years.
Everyone needs to be ready for a job transition at all times. Now that the days of landing a “traditional” job with stability, benefits, and tenure are gone, candidates need to be ready for a transition at any time. Maintaining an online profile on professional networking sites is more logical than creating a new CV every few months, because it allows for immediate changes and is visible to your entire network.
A recent article in Forbes commented: “By building your online presence, employers can find you and thus you have more opportunities. If you don’t have an online presence, you won’t appear to be relevant and you will be passed over for more savvy applicants that have visibility. You need to be creative in your job search by developing your own product, eBook, viral video, or personal advertisement. Finally, you need to treat your life as one giant networking event, and meet as many people in your field as you can.”
Entrepreneurship is becoming the choice profession for many job candidates. The state of a number of the European economies has seen a rise in redundancies and with little opportunity for some job seekers; many have resorted to setting up their own business or to freelancing opportunities to support themselves. In order to be successful in their new venture, they are realising the importance of a strong online presence and network in order to make their new business successful.
CV’s don’t convey passion or personality. With today’s technology, a job seeker can do a better job at selling themselves through a professional portfolio website or networking profile than a traditional CV. An employer has the opportunity to get to know that candidate in more depth through these online tools than a traditional recruitment process.
There is a natural proviso that goes along with any online presence that hasn’t changed from a traditional CV and that is how you present yourself, what you say about yourself and any images that you choose to post. Whilst I’m sure that you will all maintain the utmost professionalism on the business networking sites, my colleagues and I have seen far too many candidate profiles and pictures on sites such as Facebook that would embarrass their parents and should definitely never ever see the light of day.
If you would like to talk with any of us about creating an online presence and the networking sites then please don’t hesitate to do so at www.chestertongray.com
Monday 22 August 2011
Networking Advice for People Who Hate Networking
I’ve been to a pretty diverse selection of networking events, from breakfast meetings to one held (only) in the corridors between offices and I know from a number of these that a lot of people dread networking events. Too often, they end up standing in a corner, chatting aimlessly with people they already know.
It seems to me that I receive an email invitation to yet another one almost every day. So are they a waste of your time? Yes if you don’t utilise them properly. No, if you’re strategic in your approach, you can actually gain new contacts, and even clients, from networking.
I don’t believe that there are many groundbreaking tips that that haven’t been mentioned by one expert or another, but here are five tips that I’ve collated for people who hate networking:
1. Make people come to you. There’s automatically a power imbalance when you approach someone and say, “I really wanted to meet you.” So why not turn the tables? Take a leadership role in your business or your organisation (Chamber of Commerce, trade association, women’s business network). That way, you wield the power because you dole out invitations to speakers - and everyone always wants to meet the person in charge.
2. Set a numerical goal. Rather than chat to the same old people as you did at the last networking meeting, vow that you’ll talk to at least three people you don’t know. That concrete goal will remind you of the point of attending – to meet some new contacts – and it will help push you out of your comfort zone, so you don’t spend most of the night chatting with old friends.
3. Get their card. I know that some people measure their networking success by the number of business cards they give out. But the fact is no one is going to keep your card safely tucked away until the need arises. You’re lucky if it actually makes it past the bin that evening. You simply can’t rely on other people to remember you, or even email you their contact info, regardless of whether they promise to do so. You need to collect their card - because only you can be counted on to retain their contact information.
4. Follow up. This is where many or even most people blow it. Despite a great initial conversation, they never take any steps to keep in touch, and so a year later the person no longer remembers them. Make it a point during your conversation to identify something that you both have in common that will allow you to keep a relationship alive, even as a casual one. Maybe it’s a shared music or sport passion, or perhaps a business challenge and you promise to send them an article that you read about how to solve it. However you do it, make sure to stay in touch.
5. Be realistic. There are really very few people who leave a networking event with a new contract in hand. Initially that shouldn’t be your goal, because a relationship developed that quickly is quite often shallow and easy to break. Your aim should be to meet interesting people whom you can get to know and then - eventually - turn into good, long-term clients.
And that starts with making the effort to introduce yourself - and of course stay in touch.
It seems to me that I receive an email invitation to yet another one almost every day. So are they a waste of your time? Yes if you don’t utilise them properly. No, if you’re strategic in your approach, you can actually gain new contacts, and even clients, from networking.
I don’t believe that there are many groundbreaking tips that that haven’t been mentioned by one expert or another, but here are five tips that I’ve collated for people who hate networking:
1. Make people come to you. There’s automatically a power imbalance when you approach someone and say, “I really wanted to meet you.” So why not turn the tables? Take a leadership role in your business or your organisation (Chamber of Commerce, trade association, women’s business network). That way, you wield the power because you dole out invitations to speakers - and everyone always wants to meet the person in charge.
2. Set a numerical goal. Rather than chat to the same old people as you did at the last networking meeting, vow that you’ll talk to at least three people you don’t know. That concrete goal will remind you of the point of attending – to meet some new contacts – and it will help push you out of your comfort zone, so you don’t spend most of the night chatting with old friends.
3. Get their card. I know that some people measure their networking success by the number of business cards they give out. But the fact is no one is going to keep your card safely tucked away until the need arises. You’re lucky if it actually makes it past the bin that evening. You simply can’t rely on other people to remember you, or even email you their contact info, regardless of whether they promise to do so. You need to collect their card - because only you can be counted on to retain their contact information.
4. Follow up. This is where many or even most people blow it. Despite a great initial conversation, they never take any steps to keep in touch, and so a year later the person no longer remembers them. Make it a point during your conversation to identify something that you both have in common that will allow you to keep a relationship alive, even as a casual one. Maybe it’s a shared music or sport passion, or perhaps a business challenge and you promise to send them an article that you read about how to solve it. However you do it, make sure to stay in touch.
5. Be realistic. There are really very few people who leave a networking event with a new contract in hand. Initially that shouldn’t be your goal, because a relationship developed that quickly is quite often shallow and easy to break. Your aim should be to meet interesting people whom you can get to know and then - eventually - turn into good, long-term clients.
And that starts with making the effort to introduce yourself - and of course stay in touch.
Wednesday 3 August 2011
What the successful people do before breakfast.
Some weeks ago when I was eating a bowl of cereal and flicking between the news channels I saw a (brief) snippet of an interview about city high flyers getting into the office before the rest of the world wakes and I wondered if their time really was that much more effective than anyone else’s.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that mornings are a mad-cap time in many households. Everyone’s so focused on getting out the door that you can easily lose track of just how much time is passing. A little bit of web research has shown that there appears to be a gap of roughly 90 minutes or more between when people wake up and when they start the commute or school run. That would be fine if the time was used intentionally, but I suspect that far too often it isn’t.
The most productive people, however, realise that 90 minutes, 120 minutes or more is a long time to lose track of on a busy weekday. Add that time up over a week and we are talking about a significant chunk of a day lost. If you feel like you don’t have time for personal priorities later in the day, why not try using your mornings? Streamline breakfast, personal care and your children’s routines. I canvassed a few friends and colleagues for thoughts and these were the four most common suggestions with what to do with 30-60 minutes of morning time:
1. Play, read, or talk with your children. Mornings can be great quality time, especially if you have little kids who go to bed before or soon after you get home at night, but wake up at the crack of dawn. Set an alarm on your watch, put away the iPhone, and spend a relaxed half an hour reading stories or doing projects with them.
2. Exercise. You shower in the morning anyway, so why not get sweaty first? Trade off mornings with your partner on who goes out and runs and who stays home with the kids. Or, if your kids are older (or you don’t have any) work out together and make it a very healthy morning date. As a runner I know that I prefer to run before the heat of the day and certainly feel more up for the day if I do so.
3. Indulge your creative side. Lots of people would like to resurrect a creative hobby like painting, photography, scrapbooking, writing, even practicing an instrument. What if you went to bed a little earlier three times a week? Skip that last TV show or those last emails and get up a little earlier the next morning to put in some time at you’re your hobby before the day runs away from you.
4. Think. There are endless professional business consultants out there who will tell you that strategic thinking time is incredibly important for seizing control of our lives. Spend 30 minutes in the morning pondering what you want to do with your time. You could also use this time to pray or read a different business magazine, to meditate or write a journal or a blog!
All of these will help you start the day in a much better place than if everyone’s running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
If you do decide to adopt any of these, then why not drop me an email and let me know your thoughts? www.chestertongray.com
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that mornings are a mad-cap time in many households. Everyone’s so focused on getting out the door that you can easily lose track of just how much time is passing. A little bit of web research has shown that there appears to be a gap of roughly 90 minutes or more between when people wake up and when they start the commute or school run. That would be fine if the time was used intentionally, but I suspect that far too often it isn’t.
The most productive people, however, realise that 90 minutes, 120 minutes or more is a long time to lose track of on a busy weekday. Add that time up over a week and we are talking about a significant chunk of a day lost. If you feel like you don’t have time for personal priorities later in the day, why not try using your mornings? Streamline breakfast, personal care and your children’s routines. I canvassed a few friends and colleagues for thoughts and these were the four most common suggestions with what to do with 30-60 minutes of morning time:
1. Play, read, or talk with your children. Mornings can be great quality time, especially if you have little kids who go to bed before or soon after you get home at night, but wake up at the crack of dawn. Set an alarm on your watch, put away the iPhone, and spend a relaxed half an hour reading stories or doing projects with them.
2. Exercise. You shower in the morning anyway, so why not get sweaty first? Trade off mornings with your partner on who goes out and runs and who stays home with the kids. Or, if your kids are older (or you don’t have any) work out together and make it a very healthy morning date. As a runner I know that I prefer to run before the heat of the day and certainly feel more up for the day if I do so.
3. Indulge your creative side. Lots of people would like to resurrect a creative hobby like painting, photography, scrapbooking, writing, even practicing an instrument. What if you went to bed a little earlier three times a week? Skip that last TV show or those last emails and get up a little earlier the next morning to put in some time at you’re your hobby before the day runs away from you.
4. Think. There are endless professional business consultants out there who will tell you that strategic thinking time is incredibly important for seizing control of our lives. Spend 30 minutes in the morning pondering what you want to do with your time. You could also use this time to pray or read a different business magazine, to meditate or write a journal or a blog!
All of these will help you start the day in a much better place than if everyone’s running around like chickens with their heads cut off.
If you do decide to adopt any of these, then why not drop me an email and let me know your thoughts? www.chestertongray.com
Wednesday 27 July 2011
How burnt out are you??
Here we are in the middle of the last week in July, the schools have broken up, the sun is temporarily shining and across Europe our counterparts will be shutting up shop and decamping to their holiday homes. In Britain we don’t have that culture but in my world August is a dead month as the decision makers tend to have children and to use this time to take also go away.
Everyone that I seem to speak with mentions how much they are looking forward to the break and blames fatigue as one of the reasons that they’re in the state that they are.
Whether it’s due to the lingering recession, job insecurity, increased workload or other factors entirely, fatigue or job burnout is on the rise around the world.
Neither symptom is simply about being bored or disenchanted with your work. Instead it appears to be the result of prolonged work stress and is characterised by exhaustion, cynicism, a lower sense of accomplishment and severely reduced productivity. It is a widely accepted fact that burnout can also lead to increases in stress hormones, heart disease, and mental health issues like depression. There are plenty of studies on the web about the condition which have found that there are generally three types of burnout: frenetic, under-challenged, and worn-out.
In a recent study in the journal BMC Psychiatry, researchers identified the factors which can contribute to each type of burnout and suggested possible “cures.”
Frenetic burnout
• You work increasingly harder to the point of exhaustion and border on being a workaholic.
• The more hours you work, the more at risk you are of burnout.
• You are extremely involved and ambitious, and overload yourself to fulfil the demands of your job.
• You feel guilt about the idea of not achieving your ambitious goals and are often driven by this guilt.
• The Fix: Work on understanding the cause of your excessive ambition and your guilt, while reducing your personal involvement in work to satisfy personal needs.
Under-challenged burnout
• You have little to motivate you at work, and have to cope with monotonous and unstimulating conditions.
• This type of burnout is more common in men than women and in fields like administration and service personnel.
• You feel indifferent and bored and don’t experience any personal development in your job.
• You feel cynical, because you’ve lost interest in their work.
• The fix: Understand the disenchantment caused by feeling trapped in a job that bores you. Look for ways to renew your interest in your personal development at work.
Worn-out burnout
• You have been in the same organisation for many years – the more you’re there, the greater your risk, but being in one place more than four years can trigger it.
• You give up when faced with stress or lack of gratification.
• You don’t have any control over the results of your work and no recognition, which leads you to neglect your responsibilities.
• You have a somewhat passive coping style and may become less productive, which can lead to feelings of guilt.
• This type of burnout can be buffered if you have a college degree, a stable relationship and children.
• The Fix: Work through your feelings of despair and your passive coping style, and seek out a social support network at work to help you become more motivated.
The summer holiday always acts as a catalyst for individuals to get away from those stresses and strains and to re-evaluate what they want from their career and work life balance. We inevitably see an increase in assignments in the post summer holiday, matched by candidates who are more eager to discuss opportunities than they might have been earlier in the year.
If you’re away over the next few weeks, then I’ll take this opportunity to wish you a happy and relaxing holiday and hope that you return ready to face the autumn with renewed vigour.
However, if you are one of those who has re-evaluated their career options whilst lying on a beach somewhere, then please feel free to contact one of the Directors at http://www.chestertongray.com
Everyone that I seem to speak with mentions how much they are looking forward to the break and blames fatigue as one of the reasons that they’re in the state that they are.
Whether it’s due to the lingering recession, job insecurity, increased workload or other factors entirely, fatigue or job burnout is on the rise around the world.
Neither symptom is simply about being bored or disenchanted with your work. Instead it appears to be the result of prolonged work stress and is characterised by exhaustion, cynicism, a lower sense of accomplishment and severely reduced productivity. It is a widely accepted fact that burnout can also lead to increases in stress hormones, heart disease, and mental health issues like depression. There are plenty of studies on the web about the condition which have found that there are generally three types of burnout: frenetic, under-challenged, and worn-out.
In a recent study in the journal BMC Psychiatry, researchers identified the factors which can contribute to each type of burnout and suggested possible “cures.”
Frenetic burnout
• You work increasingly harder to the point of exhaustion and border on being a workaholic.
• The more hours you work, the more at risk you are of burnout.
• You are extremely involved and ambitious, and overload yourself to fulfil the demands of your job.
• You feel guilt about the idea of not achieving your ambitious goals and are often driven by this guilt.
• The Fix: Work on understanding the cause of your excessive ambition and your guilt, while reducing your personal involvement in work to satisfy personal needs.
Under-challenged burnout
• You have little to motivate you at work, and have to cope with monotonous and unstimulating conditions.
• This type of burnout is more common in men than women and in fields like administration and service personnel.
• You feel indifferent and bored and don’t experience any personal development in your job.
• You feel cynical, because you’ve lost interest in their work.
• The fix: Understand the disenchantment caused by feeling trapped in a job that bores you. Look for ways to renew your interest in your personal development at work.
Worn-out burnout
• You have been in the same organisation for many years – the more you’re there, the greater your risk, but being in one place more than four years can trigger it.
• You give up when faced with stress or lack of gratification.
• You don’t have any control over the results of your work and no recognition, which leads you to neglect your responsibilities.
• You have a somewhat passive coping style and may become less productive, which can lead to feelings of guilt.
• This type of burnout can be buffered if you have a college degree, a stable relationship and children.
• The Fix: Work through your feelings of despair and your passive coping style, and seek out a social support network at work to help you become more motivated.
The summer holiday always acts as a catalyst for individuals to get away from those stresses and strains and to re-evaluate what they want from their career and work life balance. We inevitably see an increase in assignments in the post summer holiday, matched by candidates who are more eager to discuss opportunities than they might have been earlier in the year.
If you’re away over the next few weeks, then I’ll take this opportunity to wish you a happy and relaxing holiday and hope that you return ready to face the autumn with renewed vigour.
However, if you are one of those who has re-evaluated their career options whilst lying on a beach somewhere, then please feel free to contact one of the Directors at http://www.chestertongray.com
Wednesday 20 July 2011
Should I resign?
Most of the time when we meet candidates it is for a specific assignment that we have approached them about, rather than for a “chat” and yet although the majority would ostensibly claim that they are happy in their roles we are surprisingly frequently asked this question. After a little probing it tends to transpire that in fact they’re not very happy in their current job because it doesn't seem like there is much opportunity for movement or promotion at the company.
Whatever you do don't start clearing your desk just yet – at least not before you've fully evaluated your current situation. You should determine if the problem is really with the job and the company or whether there's something else at play such as your energy level or dissatisfaction with other areas of your life.
Changing companies or roles may not be enough to make you happy. There are a number of important questions you'll want to ask yourself. For example: Have you explored all of your options at the company? Have you taken the time to fully evaluate your development and career path with your manager? Could there be other non-work areas affecting your level of engagement and fulfilment? What do you like and not like about your current situation? What do you want in your career moving forward?
Even if you already know the answers to these questions and still feel like you're ready for a move, there's no need to rush. Start by contacting people in your various networks to explore what opportunities exist and consider making a strategic move. If you want to explore another kind of work, it may be wise to stay put for a time while you evaluate your next steps.
It is equally important to evaluate what you can offer a new company. Take a hard look at your “brand”, professional reputation and any other qualities and skills you bring to the job. If you can, forget for a moment that you are a company employee and instead picture yourself as a "business-of-one,” Businesses who decide to 'fire' a client that gives them the majority of their income must make sure they have a strong brand or reputation they can market, know their ideal target audience and the best way to reach them, and be certain there is enough of a demand for their services.
Now you should identify at least 25 companies where you would want to work and ensure that they employ people with your types of skills. Then you should try to network with individuals who have been hired at these companies to see if they can shed some light on what is valued by the organisation and the best way to get considered for a position. Networking often leads to learning about 'unpublished' jobs. If you can't or are unwilling to do these steps, then you're not ready to move on. Over the years most of us here have seen too many people jump out of a bad job and into a worse one.
Naturally we would very seldom advise any candidate to resign without having a new role to go to, unless there were significant mitigating circumstances.
If you would like to chat over your career options then please feel free to contact one of the team at www.chestertongray.com
Whatever you do don't start clearing your desk just yet – at least not before you've fully evaluated your current situation. You should determine if the problem is really with the job and the company or whether there's something else at play such as your energy level or dissatisfaction with other areas of your life.
Changing companies or roles may not be enough to make you happy. There are a number of important questions you'll want to ask yourself. For example: Have you explored all of your options at the company? Have you taken the time to fully evaluate your development and career path with your manager? Could there be other non-work areas affecting your level of engagement and fulfilment? What do you like and not like about your current situation? What do you want in your career moving forward?
Even if you already know the answers to these questions and still feel like you're ready for a move, there's no need to rush. Start by contacting people in your various networks to explore what opportunities exist and consider making a strategic move. If you want to explore another kind of work, it may be wise to stay put for a time while you evaluate your next steps.
It is equally important to evaluate what you can offer a new company. Take a hard look at your “brand”, professional reputation and any other qualities and skills you bring to the job. If you can, forget for a moment that you are a company employee and instead picture yourself as a "business-of-one,” Businesses who decide to 'fire' a client that gives them the majority of their income must make sure they have a strong brand or reputation they can market, know their ideal target audience and the best way to reach them, and be certain there is enough of a demand for their services.
Now you should identify at least 25 companies where you would want to work and ensure that they employ people with your types of skills. Then you should try to network with individuals who have been hired at these companies to see if they can shed some light on what is valued by the organisation and the best way to get considered for a position. Networking often leads to learning about 'unpublished' jobs. If you can't or are unwilling to do these steps, then you're not ready to move on. Over the years most of us here have seen too many people jump out of a bad job and into a worse one.
Naturally we would very seldom advise any candidate to resign without having a new role to go to, unless there were significant mitigating circumstances.
If you would like to chat over your career options then please feel free to contact one of the team at www.chestertongray.com
Thursday 30 June 2011
Write a Covering Letter that Gets Noticed
The subject of this blog isn’t new and it follows on from my last one about how to speed up your job search. And what I’m about to say has been said many times before, but as ever it all bears repeating. Most of our team who sift through covering letters all agree that far too many are just boring, vague or ineffective. Those go straight into the bin.
So what does a covering letter need to get noticed? Here are 8 tips from the team:
1. Sell yourself. A covering letter is a sales pitch. All of us who believe in something important are selling – be it a proposition, an idea, or maybe ourselves. This, by the way, doesn’t mean you steal credit–just that you emphasise your achievements.
2. Demonstrate interest in the job. Sounds obvious doesn’t it? But so many people don’t bother to do homework on either the company or the role for which they are applying. Reference something about what you have learned in your covering letter. This is where you can tailor the needs of the company/role to the expertise that you offer.
3. Address it to the right person! Every day we receive covering letters addressed to the wrong person and even to people who don’t work for our firm. The letter has been cut & pasted from one to someone else in a different firm. Sloppy and insulting.
4. Be declarative. A good covering letter is a page. Get to the point quickly, telling us what you’ve accomplished. “This is what I have accomplished…”
5. Omit the conditional. Avoid statements such as, “As conditions warranted..,” or “Given the circumstances…” Conditionals detract from the power of your message. Drop them.
6. Avoid the passive voice. Using the passive voice makes you sound like a bystander. Instead of “Our effort was led by me,” write, “I led our effort.” Remember, you are the initiator.
7. Proof it. Take it from us: don’t click send until you have a trusted friend or your spouse read your letter several times to check for clarity – did you mean to say that? — and typos – Oops!
8. Be humble. This is a caveat to the first item on this list. You are pitching yourself but remember that as a leader you achieve good results through the efforts of others. It is always good to mention how you work well with and through others.
Good luck and good letter writing. Your next job may depend upon it… but of course you already know that. If you would like to discuss how to write a CV or covering letter, please feel free to contact one of the team at www.chestertongray.com
So what does a covering letter need to get noticed? Here are 8 tips from the team:
1. Sell yourself. A covering letter is a sales pitch. All of us who believe in something important are selling – be it a proposition, an idea, or maybe ourselves. This, by the way, doesn’t mean you steal credit–just that you emphasise your achievements.
2. Demonstrate interest in the job. Sounds obvious doesn’t it? But so many people don’t bother to do homework on either the company or the role for which they are applying. Reference something about what you have learned in your covering letter. This is where you can tailor the needs of the company/role to the expertise that you offer.
3. Address it to the right person! Every day we receive covering letters addressed to the wrong person and even to people who don’t work for our firm. The letter has been cut & pasted from one to someone else in a different firm. Sloppy and insulting.
4. Be declarative. A good covering letter is a page. Get to the point quickly, telling us what you’ve accomplished. “This is what I have accomplished…”
5. Omit the conditional. Avoid statements such as, “As conditions warranted..,” or “Given the circumstances…” Conditionals detract from the power of your message. Drop them.
6. Avoid the passive voice. Using the passive voice makes you sound like a bystander. Instead of “Our effort was led by me,” write, “I led our effort.” Remember, you are the initiator.
7. Proof it. Take it from us: don’t click send until you have a trusted friend or your spouse read your letter several times to check for clarity – did you mean to say that? — and typos – Oops!
8. Be humble. This is a caveat to the first item on this list. You are pitching yourself but remember that as a leader you achieve good results through the efforts of others. It is always good to mention how you work well with and through others.
Good luck and good letter writing. Your next job may depend upon it… but of course you already know that. If you would like to discuss how to write a CV or covering letter, please feel free to contact one of the team at www.chestertongray.com
Tuesday 21 June 2011
7 Ways to Speed Up Your Job Search
I’ve been in recruitment now for more years than I care to remember and try not to admit to, and I never cease to be surprised by how many times my colleagues and I are still asked many of the same questions that we were asked fifteen or more years ago. Sure, technology has moved many of the processes on and has eased the application process but there are still many of the same issues that candidates face.
So, not only is the job search often frustrating, but it also becomes intensely time consuming. Many candidates who are out of work end up looking for several months before an interview opportunity finally materialises.
How can you speed up the process and land your ideal job in less time? Here are a few ways that my colleagues and I believe that candidates can speed up their job search:
• Use trusted job search engines and networking sites. Looking for opportunities via job aggregators can lead you to postings by the actual company and not a third party. You can also sign up for alerts so you don’t miss any important opportunities. Many networking sites work the same way—someone who works for the company (or knows someone who does) often posts the job opportunity in a group or on a message board.
• Start blogging regularly. Creating and maintaining a blog helps to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. It’s also a great way to increase your visibility and broaden your network.
• Increase your visibility online and offline. There are many things you can be doing to increase your visibility. Blogging, mentioned above, is a prime example. You should also consider attending networking events, conferences, association meetings, Twitter chats, workshops, and webinars. All of these can help you gain more skills and knowledge about your field while meeting people who may be able to help boost your job search.
• Talk with a career coach. A lot of people are unsure of how to properly go about job searching—and it’s no surprise, as many of us were never formally taught how to job search. A career coach can help you navigate the world of the job hunt and give you tips and advice on how to market yourself properly. If you’re unsure of what makes you unique among the other candidates, they can help you identify that as well. We have many close links with coaches who have helped candidates reappraise themselves and move from a trough of inactivity to a successful interview. Talking of which….
• Be well prepared for your interview. In this tough job market, one of the worst things you can do to yourself is get an interview and show up unprepared. You need to know how you’ll answer the traditional interview questions and what experiences you want to highlight for the hiring manager in your answers. You also need to know as much as possible about the company, its culture, and how you’ll fit into it all.
• Volunteer your time at a local non-profit organisation. Volunteering is a great way to fill gaps in your resume, gain valuable skills, and meet new people. It’s also fulfilling to be using your skills to help a local community group and a great way to keep busy while job hunting.
• Optimise your CV and online profiles. Keywords are an essential part of the job search today. Recruiters like us and hiring managers are looking for a specific candidate and often find that person through searching several keywords or key phrases. These are often shared in the job description—so make sure that your online profiles and resume align with the job you’re applying for.
Keep your CV short, that’s ideally three pages or less, and pertinent. Despite the many articles out there on how to write a CV we still receive many that are well over ten pages and I’m afraid that most are dropped straight into the on-line re-cycle bin because we receive over 250 CV’s a week and simply don’t have time to read that much information and do the rest of our assignment tasks!
If you apply these basic principles when you are looking for a new job, then you will significantly improve your prospects. We can offer further tips and guidance to candidates on their job search so please feel free to call me or my colleagues for an informal discussion.
So, not only is the job search often frustrating, but it also becomes intensely time consuming. Many candidates who are out of work end up looking for several months before an interview opportunity finally materialises.
How can you speed up the process and land your ideal job in less time? Here are a few ways that my colleagues and I believe that candidates can speed up their job search:
• Use trusted job search engines and networking sites. Looking for opportunities via job aggregators can lead you to postings by the actual company and not a third party. You can also sign up for alerts so you don’t miss any important opportunities. Many networking sites work the same way—someone who works for the company (or knows someone who does) often posts the job opportunity in a group or on a message board.
• Start blogging regularly. Creating and maintaining a blog helps to position yourself as a thought leader in your industry. It’s also a great way to increase your visibility and broaden your network.
• Increase your visibility online and offline. There are many things you can be doing to increase your visibility. Blogging, mentioned above, is a prime example. You should also consider attending networking events, conferences, association meetings, Twitter chats, workshops, and webinars. All of these can help you gain more skills and knowledge about your field while meeting people who may be able to help boost your job search.
• Talk with a career coach. A lot of people are unsure of how to properly go about job searching—and it’s no surprise, as many of us were never formally taught how to job search. A career coach can help you navigate the world of the job hunt and give you tips and advice on how to market yourself properly. If you’re unsure of what makes you unique among the other candidates, they can help you identify that as well. We have many close links with coaches who have helped candidates reappraise themselves and move from a trough of inactivity to a successful interview. Talking of which….
• Be well prepared for your interview. In this tough job market, one of the worst things you can do to yourself is get an interview and show up unprepared. You need to know how you’ll answer the traditional interview questions and what experiences you want to highlight for the hiring manager in your answers. You also need to know as much as possible about the company, its culture, and how you’ll fit into it all.
• Volunteer your time at a local non-profit organisation. Volunteering is a great way to fill gaps in your resume, gain valuable skills, and meet new people. It’s also fulfilling to be using your skills to help a local community group and a great way to keep busy while job hunting.
• Optimise your CV and online profiles. Keywords are an essential part of the job search today. Recruiters like us and hiring managers are looking for a specific candidate and often find that person through searching several keywords or key phrases. These are often shared in the job description—so make sure that your online profiles and resume align with the job you’re applying for.
Keep your CV short, that’s ideally three pages or less, and pertinent. Despite the many articles out there on how to write a CV we still receive many that are well over ten pages and I’m afraid that most are dropped straight into the on-line re-cycle bin because we receive over 250 CV’s a week and simply don’t have time to read that much information and do the rest of our assignment tasks!
If you apply these basic principles when you are looking for a new job, then you will significantly improve your prospects. We can offer further tips and guidance to candidates on their job search so please feel free to call me or my colleagues for an informal discussion.
Thursday 9 June 2011
The Easiest Way to Get a Raise and Promotion
If, for some reason, you need any urging to become more aggressive about your career and financial future, a recent study from Accenture should provide it. The study was designed to figure out how satisfied men and women are at their jobs, and what they plan to do about it. But buried within the results are some eye-opening statistics about who gets a pay rise or promotion–and why.
Accenture surveyed 3,400 professionals at medium and large-sized companies in 29 countries. Some 500 of those people were in the U.S. Respondents were split evenly between men and women and between three age groups: Generation Y, Generation X, and Baby Boomers.
According to the survey, only 43% of people are satisfied with their jobs. Why are the rest so glum? The leading reason, cited by 45 percent of people overall but by 52 percent of those in Generation Y, is that they’re underpaid. That’s not completely shocking, given that the survey also found that in the U.S., only 44% of women and 48% of men say they have ever asked for or negotiated a pay increase.
What happens when people do ask for a rise? In the overwhelming majority of cases, people who ask for a rise are at least thrown a bone. And in a significant number of cases, employees who do ask for a pay rise actually get more money than they were expecting.
Here’s how it breaks down:
• Some 25% of people said they got more money than they were expecting
• An additional 38% said they got the rise that they were expecting
• 17% got more money, but not as much as they were hoping for
• 5% did not get a rise, but they did get some other type of incentive
• Only 15% got nothing
To summarise that: Of those who asked for a raise, 85% at least got something. Some 63% got at least as much as they asked for.
So why don’t more people ask?
Another big reason people said they were dissatisfied with their jobs was lack of opportunity for growth, mentioned by 34% of people. (Another 25% said they were tired or burned out, which should be its own wake-up call to employers.)
Yet only 28% of U.S. women say they have ever asked for a promotion and only 39% of men have asked either. Of course, there are cases where employees badger for a well-deserved promotion for years and never get anything. But perhaps more often, people who believe they are underappreciated or stuck in their jobs should just ask for the job they want.
According to the report, here’s what happened to those who did ask for a promotion:
• 17% got a new role, and it was a better one than they’d hoped to land
• 42% got the role they asked for.
In other words, 59% of people who asked for a promotion got one. Things didn’t go badly for the other 41%, either:
• 10% got a new role, but not the one they asked for, and not one that was a clear promotion
• 10% of the time, nothing happened.
• 5% of those who asked for a promotion got new responsibilities instead. Even that’s not so bad. While it may sound like these people just got more work dumped on them, among U.S. survey respondents, 47% of people said that taking on new responsibilities had helped move their career forward.
I think that it would be an interesting comparison if Accenture carried out the same survey in the UK and whether the percentages would be similar.
When we interview candidates one of the things that we are always looking for is whether their motive is simply to get a job offer and then go back to their own company and to use it as a bargaining tool, so if you look at it from our perspective it would make our life easier if candidates took the initiative and asked for a promotion or a pay rise.
Fortunately we have very rarely been through the offer as a bargaining tool scenario, but if you’ve never asked for a promotion or a rise, why not?
Accenture surveyed 3,400 professionals at medium and large-sized companies in 29 countries. Some 500 of those people were in the U.S. Respondents were split evenly between men and women and between three age groups: Generation Y, Generation X, and Baby Boomers.
According to the survey, only 43% of people are satisfied with their jobs. Why are the rest so glum? The leading reason, cited by 45 percent of people overall but by 52 percent of those in Generation Y, is that they’re underpaid. That’s not completely shocking, given that the survey also found that in the U.S., only 44% of women and 48% of men say they have ever asked for or negotiated a pay increase.
What happens when people do ask for a rise? In the overwhelming majority of cases, people who ask for a rise are at least thrown a bone. And in a significant number of cases, employees who do ask for a pay rise actually get more money than they were expecting.
Here’s how it breaks down:
• Some 25% of people said they got more money than they were expecting
• An additional 38% said they got the rise that they were expecting
• 17% got more money, but not as much as they were hoping for
• 5% did not get a rise, but they did get some other type of incentive
• Only 15% got nothing
To summarise that: Of those who asked for a raise, 85% at least got something. Some 63% got at least as much as they asked for.
So why don’t more people ask?
Another big reason people said they were dissatisfied with their jobs was lack of opportunity for growth, mentioned by 34% of people. (Another 25% said they were tired or burned out, which should be its own wake-up call to employers.)
Yet only 28% of U.S. women say they have ever asked for a promotion and only 39% of men have asked either. Of course, there are cases where employees badger for a well-deserved promotion for years and never get anything. But perhaps more often, people who believe they are underappreciated or stuck in their jobs should just ask for the job they want.
According to the report, here’s what happened to those who did ask for a promotion:
• 17% got a new role, and it was a better one than they’d hoped to land
• 42% got the role they asked for.
In other words, 59% of people who asked for a promotion got one. Things didn’t go badly for the other 41%, either:
• 10% got a new role, but not the one they asked for, and not one that was a clear promotion
• 10% of the time, nothing happened.
• 5% of those who asked for a promotion got new responsibilities instead. Even that’s not so bad. While it may sound like these people just got more work dumped on them, among U.S. survey respondents, 47% of people said that taking on new responsibilities had helped move their career forward.
I think that it would be an interesting comparison if Accenture carried out the same survey in the UK and whether the percentages would be similar.
When we interview candidates one of the things that we are always looking for is whether their motive is simply to get a job offer and then go back to their own company and to use it as a bargaining tool, so if you look at it from our perspective it would make our life easier if candidates took the initiative and asked for a promotion or a pay rise.
Fortunately we have very rarely been through the offer as a bargaining tool scenario, but if you’ve never asked for a promotion or a rise, why not?
Thursday 19 May 2011
What to do if you are fired.
At some point in there lives, almost everyone faces career reversals, and some of the most famous and successful business leaders have been fired. I’m sure that there were good reasons why it happened from the company’s perspective, and whether you thought that it was the right decision wasn’t going to change their decision; life is not always fair. Your success after a career reversal depends on your resilience and what you do after losing your job. It’s happened to me and I was devastated when it did, but I learnt a few things from it.
Forget about Shame
It’s natural to feel embarrassed when you get fired, and to withdraw and not tell people what happened. Bad move. First of all, if you don’t tell your version of what happened, others probably will – and seldom to your benefit. Second, if you feel ashamed, you are unlikely to present yourself to others with much confidence, and this absence of confidence will make landing your next position more difficult. And third, it will affect your “social influence.” People look to others to figure out how to interpret and react to ambiguous social situations. If you’re embarrassed, that feeling will emanate from you either in your voice, your language or your behaviour. People will suspect that if you’re ashamed, maybe you have something to be ashamed about, in which case they might not offer you the support that you need.
Tell Your Story
On the other hand, openly telling others what happened conveys that it is not such a big deal and that rather than being ashamed, it is the boss and organisation that fired you that maybe ought to feel badly. By admitting what happened, you can ask for help and convey that you’re going to be successful again. Others will rally to your side because people love to associate with success and they particularly enjoy associating with successful people who have surmounted adversity.
Not everyone who is fired will land a good job instantaneously. But your chances of bouncing back quickly are greatly enhanced by conveying to others that the loss of your position was the company’s mistake, not yours, and emotionally relieving yourself of guilt and shame so you can strategically and confidently go about continuing to build your career.
I was given this advice when it happened to me many many years ago and it is difficult advice to follow, but in many instances, will lead to a much better result and more importantly a boost to your own self confidence.
Forget about Shame
It’s natural to feel embarrassed when you get fired, and to withdraw and not tell people what happened. Bad move. First of all, if you don’t tell your version of what happened, others probably will – and seldom to your benefit. Second, if you feel ashamed, you are unlikely to present yourself to others with much confidence, and this absence of confidence will make landing your next position more difficult. And third, it will affect your “social influence.” People look to others to figure out how to interpret and react to ambiguous social situations. If you’re embarrassed, that feeling will emanate from you either in your voice, your language or your behaviour. People will suspect that if you’re ashamed, maybe you have something to be ashamed about, in which case they might not offer you the support that you need.
Tell Your Story
On the other hand, openly telling others what happened conveys that it is not such a big deal and that rather than being ashamed, it is the boss and organisation that fired you that maybe ought to feel badly. By admitting what happened, you can ask for help and convey that you’re going to be successful again. Others will rally to your side because people love to associate with success and they particularly enjoy associating with successful people who have surmounted adversity.
Not everyone who is fired will land a good job instantaneously. But your chances of bouncing back quickly are greatly enhanced by conveying to others that the loss of your position was the company’s mistake, not yours, and emotionally relieving yourself of guilt and shame so you can strategically and confidently go about continuing to build your career.
I was given this advice when it happened to me many many years ago and it is difficult advice to follow, but in many instances, will lead to a much better result and more importantly a boost to your own self confidence.
Thursday 12 May 2011
Multitasking
It’s a never ending paper trail, when a report or study comes out, somebody at a reputable publication picks it up, and the next thing you know, generalisations that were never intended by the researchers are plastered all over the internet.
That’s exactly what’s happened recently with multitasking.
Just check out some of these headlines: How and Why to Stop Multitasking, The Myth of Multitasking, The Backlash Against Multitasking, How to Kick the Multitasking Addiction, Multitasking Produces an Illusion of Competence … these are real and are everywhere!
The problem is that most of that “multitasking is evil” stuff is more or less irrelevant. Yes, you’ll perform better giving one thing your undivided attention. Sure, if you text or email during a meeting, you’ll miss some things.
The truth is that, when you define multitasking in the way virtually all professionals, managers, business leaders, and executives do it, and look at its overall effectiveness for a management system or organization as a whole - instead of at the task level - you find that it’s indeed critical to management effectiveness. It’s a no-brainer.
So, to unravel the quagmire of misconceptions, misinformation, and confusion and set the record straight, here are a few alternative thoughts:
• Yes, single task performance deteriorates when you’re distracted. People perform better doing one task at a time. Anybody who thinks that’s an epiphany shouldn’t be responsible for anything let alone managing others.
• Interrupting what you’re doing to constantly check email isn’t multitasking, it’s distraction, plain and simple. Employees or managers who call that multitasking are just trying to make themselves look better in spite of their complete lack of discipline and inability to focus.
• There is no such thing as doing more than one thing simultaneously. It can’t happen in the physical world. Nobody can do it. Not even computers. There are laws of physics that frown upon that sort of thing.
• In the real management world, the only definition of multitasking that matters is the concept of switching between tasks or interrupting one task in favour of another. It’s how we prioritise functions and tasks in real-time. It’s necessary and critical to the performance of any management or organisational system.
• Indeed, on a task by task basis, multitasking is not a benefit. And yes, it is more stressful than not multitasking. That said, it’s a daily part of business life. Things happen. Priorities change. Something crops up that is more important than what you’re working on. The task at hand will suffer, but your overall management effectiveness will benefit. Real-time flexibility - interruption and prioritisation - is critical in management systems.
• Information or communication overload and multitasking are two completely different things. McKinsey wrote a report about information overload that says, “Always-on, multitasking work environments are killing productivity, dampening creativity, and making us unhappy.” The problem is that, by lumping communication overload - a bad thing - in with management multitasking - a good thing - McKinsey is confusing people.
• If you email or text while you’re in a meeting, you can’t possibly be paying attention. Things have to be repeated and that wastes everybody’s time.
• Likewise, when you’re meeting one-on-one or in a small group, you should give them your undivided attention. Not only is that more efficient for everyone, it’s called treating people with respect.
The truth of the matter is that Doctors, chefs, engineers, project managers, marketers, salespeople, line managers, executives, small business owners - anyone with decision-making, managing, or leadership in their job description needs to multitask. It comes with the territory. It’s part of business and management life. Don’t confuse it with single-task performance, communication overload, or distraction and lack of concentration.
That’s exactly what’s happened recently with multitasking.
Just check out some of these headlines: How and Why to Stop Multitasking, The Myth of Multitasking, The Backlash Against Multitasking, How to Kick the Multitasking Addiction, Multitasking Produces an Illusion of Competence … these are real and are everywhere!
The problem is that most of that “multitasking is evil” stuff is more or less irrelevant. Yes, you’ll perform better giving one thing your undivided attention. Sure, if you text or email during a meeting, you’ll miss some things.
The truth is that, when you define multitasking in the way virtually all professionals, managers, business leaders, and executives do it, and look at its overall effectiveness for a management system or organization as a whole - instead of at the task level - you find that it’s indeed critical to management effectiveness. It’s a no-brainer.
So, to unravel the quagmire of misconceptions, misinformation, and confusion and set the record straight, here are a few alternative thoughts:
• Yes, single task performance deteriorates when you’re distracted. People perform better doing one task at a time. Anybody who thinks that’s an epiphany shouldn’t be responsible for anything let alone managing others.
• Interrupting what you’re doing to constantly check email isn’t multitasking, it’s distraction, plain and simple. Employees or managers who call that multitasking are just trying to make themselves look better in spite of their complete lack of discipline and inability to focus.
• There is no such thing as doing more than one thing simultaneously. It can’t happen in the physical world. Nobody can do it. Not even computers. There are laws of physics that frown upon that sort of thing.
• In the real management world, the only definition of multitasking that matters is the concept of switching between tasks or interrupting one task in favour of another. It’s how we prioritise functions and tasks in real-time. It’s necessary and critical to the performance of any management or organisational system.
• Indeed, on a task by task basis, multitasking is not a benefit. And yes, it is more stressful than not multitasking. That said, it’s a daily part of business life. Things happen. Priorities change. Something crops up that is more important than what you’re working on. The task at hand will suffer, but your overall management effectiveness will benefit. Real-time flexibility - interruption and prioritisation - is critical in management systems.
• Information or communication overload and multitasking are two completely different things. McKinsey wrote a report about information overload that says, “Always-on, multitasking work environments are killing productivity, dampening creativity, and making us unhappy.” The problem is that, by lumping communication overload - a bad thing - in with management multitasking - a good thing - McKinsey is confusing people.
• If you email or text while you’re in a meeting, you can’t possibly be paying attention. Things have to be repeated and that wastes everybody’s time.
• Likewise, when you’re meeting one-on-one or in a small group, you should give them your undivided attention. Not only is that more efficient for everyone, it’s called treating people with respect.
The truth of the matter is that Doctors, chefs, engineers, project managers, marketers, salespeople, line managers, executives, small business owners - anyone with decision-making, managing, or leadership in their job description needs to multitask. It comes with the territory. It’s part of business and management life. Don’t confuse it with single-task performance, communication overload, or distraction and lack of concentration.
Thursday 28 April 2011
Why the Boss can steal paper clips, but you shouldn’t!
It always seems as though your boss spends a lot of time on email, and you know it’s not all work-related. Instead, they’re planning the kids’ birthday parties or booking the next holiday. Maybe you should try to get more of that sort of stuff done during the day, too. After all, we’re all working longer hours, and we all need a break now and then. Right?
Well, whether or not you should book that flight from your desk depends upon how high up you are within your company, according to new research from Instead. They created a variety of hypothetical situations in which someone had behaved badly, and then asked people how strongly the wrongdoers should be punished.
The results? Unless you’re pretty high up the food chain at your company, wait until you get home to book your holiday. There is a little justice in the world, though: If your boss really screws up, there’s a good chance he or she will be judged a lot more harshly than someone at a lower level would be.
Dave versus DaveThe researchers presented the test subjects with two hypothetical people. One was David Rogers, “a well-regarded senior executive with a long track record of good performance.” He was “the head of the sales department and in charge of over 100 employees,” with “great authority to make independent decisions.”
The other hypothetical person, also named David Rogers, was more of a worker bee: “a not well-known staff assistant with little track record,” who “work[ed] in the sales department [and had] no formal authority over other employees.” He was described as having “very little authority to make independent decisions.”
The test subjects were then presented with a list of possible infractions, ranging in severity from using company stamps for personal mail to verbally abusing a co-worker, and then asked how strongly each “Dave” should be sanctioned. These are the highlights of the findings:
The lower-level employee is punished much more severely for minor infractions; such as a using company stamps to mail personal letters, making personal calls and doing personal email on company time, and accepting small gifts.
The big-shot was punished more severely for more serious infractions, such as withholding important work-related information from colleagues, verbally abusing a co-worker, or taking large kickbacks.
There is more likely to be a disparity in the punishment if the offence is against the corporation versus against an individual employee. The study found people were more likely to get similar punishments, regardless of status, if the offence primarily affected an individual, such as telling a racist joke or sexually harassing a co-worker. The bigger differences in punishment were seen when the offence was something more corporate in nature, such as repeatedly being late to meetings or taking large kickbacks.
Is it fair that execs get to take liberties while everyone else has to toe the line? Or that they get punished more severely when they make big mistakes?
It’s one of those us & them arguments that will be debated endlessly over the years and I’d hazard a guess that your, and my, perception might well change as we rise up (or possibly down!) the corporate ladder.
Well, whether or not you should book that flight from your desk depends upon how high up you are within your company, according to new research from Instead. They created a variety of hypothetical situations in which someone had behaved badly, and then asked people how strongly the wrongdoers should be punished.
The results? Unless you’re pretty high up the food chain at your company, wait until you get home to book your holiday. There is a little justice in the world, though: If your boss really screws up, there’s a good chance he or she will be judged a lot more harshly than someone at a lower level would be.
Dave versus DaveThe researchers presented the test subjects with two hypothetical people. One was David Rogers, “a well-regarded senior executive with a long track record of good performance.” He was “the head of the sales department and in charge of over 100 employees,” with “great authority to make independent decisions.”
The other hypothetical person, also named David Rogers, was more of a worker bee: “a not well-known staff assistant with little track record,” who “work[ed] in the sales department [and had] no formal authority over other employees.” He was described as having “very little authority to make independent decisions.”
The test subjects were then presented with a list of possible infractions, ranging in severity from using company stamps for personal mail to verbally abusing a co-worker, and then asked how strongly each “Dave” should be sanctioned. These are the highlights of the findings:
The lower-level employee is punished much more severely for minor infractions; such as a using company stamps to mail personal letters, making personal calls and doing personal email on company time, and accepting small gifts.
The big-shot was punished more severely for more serious infractions, such as withholding important work-related information from colleagues, verbally abusing a co-worker, or taking large kickbacks.
There is more likely to be a disparity in the punishment if the offence is against the corporation versus against an individual employee. The study found people were more likely to get similar punishments, regardless of status, if the offence primarily affected an individual, such as telling a racist joke or sexually harassing a co-worker. The bigger differences in punishment were seen when the offence was something more corporate in nature, such as repeatedly being late to meetings or taking large kickbacks.
Is it fair that execs get to take liberties while everyone else has to toe the line? Or that they get punished more severely when they make big mistakes?
It’s one of those us & them arguments that will be debated endlessly over the years and I’d hazard a guess that your, and my, perception might well change as we rise up (or possibly down!) the corporate ladder.
Thursday 7 April 2011
The things that make you go aaarrggghh!!
There are a thousand and one hurdles in business, most of which at one time or another make you want to retreat to a quiet (sound proofed) corner and scream in frustration!
I was approached earlier in the year by a client to recruit an important role for one of their global business streams which needed some specific difficult to find skills, without which the candidate would be out of their depth. The global Head Office in the States had been looking internally for a year for this person and given up, finally tasking EMEA to find this mystical candidate.
Which is where I come in!
Three weeks after being briefed I had a shortlist of five candidates from three countries, all of whom had proven track records and reputations in their field. My client and his boss started to put some diary dates together for the five candidates to be either interviewed in person or by video conference: at which point the States announced that they had transferred one of their spare Project Mangers across on a contract so that he could learn on the job!
Yup, it’s the things that make you go aaarrggghh!!
Wednesday 5 January 2011
What’s in a name?
The eagle eyed amongst you who have struggled into work after the Christmas and New Year holiday period will have noticed that whilst this blog retains some of the traits that we’ve all come to know and love, there has been one significant change.
Yup, we’ve changed the company name. Which begs the question, why?
After eleven years as the UK partner of InterSearch we made the decision in December that it was time for a change. The boss and I have spent several weeks’ soul searching and scratching our heads whilst debating the pro’s and con’s of the change before setting up the new name, which we believe has a certain ring to it and reflects our beliefs in the way search should be delivered.
We’re not alone in leaving InterSearch, as a number of other countries have also terminated their membership and gone their separate ways. The team here remains unchanged and has proved over the last twelve months that it has the capability to successfully deliver global searches based purely on its own abilities.
Far from looking back with any form of regret, we are looking forward to a New Year with considerable hope and expectation. The vagaries of the global economy in 2011 will ensure that the year will be a challenging one, but one that with the right people in place yours and our businesses will be well positioned to take advantage of the market as it recovers.
If you’d like to discuss the name change or how we can work with you in 2011 then don’t hesitate to contact us at www.chestertongray.com
Yup, we’ve changed the company name. Which begs the question, why?
After eleven years as the UK partner of InterSearch we made the decision in December that it was time for a change. The boss and I have spent several weeks’ soul searching and scratching our heads whilst debating the pro’s and con’s of the change before setting up the new name, which we believe has a certain ring to it and reflects our beliefs in the way search should be delivered.
We’re not alone in leaving InterSearch, as a number of other countries have also terminated their membership and gone their separate ways. The team here remains unchanged and has proved over the last twelve months that it has the capability to successfully deliver global searches based purely on its own abilities.
Far from looking back with any form of regret, we are looking forward to a New Year with considerable hope and expectation. The vagaries of the global economy in 2011 will ensure that the year will be a challenging one, but one that with the right people in place yours and our businesses will be well positioned to take advantage of the market as it recovers.
If you’d like to discuss the name change or how we can work with you in 2011 then don’t hesitate to contact us at www.chestertongray.com
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