ULTIMATE GUIDE TO

CAREER INTERVENTION

Your one resource to take you through

the steps of considering your career
option & turning your ideas into reality

Courtesy of
 ULTIMATE GUIDE TO
CAREER INTERVENTION

Your one resource to take you through

the steps of considering your career
option & turning your ideas into reality

Courtesy of

Be-a.co.uk &
New Skills Academy
 index

Ultimate Guide to Career Intervention 2

Index 3
Introduction 4
Why Career Intervention May Be Required 7
Lack of Employment Opportunities 10
Working Unsociable Hours 12
Lacking Job Satisfaction 14
Matching Your Career to Your Personality Type 16
Should You Change Careers or Improve Your Qualifications? 19
Are There New Jobs You Could Do Faster Than Changing Careers? 20
How Long Will It Take to Further Your Education? 22
Costs Involved in Further Education Vs Your Expected Salary 24
Identify Your “Transferable Skills” 25
Brainstorming the Job Boards to Compare Supply Vs Demand 30
Using Social Media to Help You Into a New Career 32
A Top 10 List of in Demand and Safe Careers 36
Constructing the Perfect CV 40
Using Power Words to Boost Your CV 44
Crafting Your Covering Letter 45
Prepping for Your Interview 48
Dress to Impress Without Going Overboard 51
Relaxing Your Tone for Professionalism During Your Interview 54
Mastering Your Breathing 57
Keeping Calm and Controlling Your Body Language 58
How to Approach the Salary Topic 60
The Power of the Pause! 63
Further Resources for Your Career 65
 Introduction
INTRODUCTION

Have you ever heard the saying “Life begins at 40”? That’s true to a certain extent, but realistically,
life begins when you decide it’s time for a change.

The age of 40 is used in that saying for a reason. When people turn 40, they’re pretty much at
the halfway point in life. They start to evaluate the things that have happened in the past, and put
things into perspective for the future.

Do you want the rest of your life to be the same as before, or are you looking to raise the bar?

Successful businesses have been created at this turning point in life. Asking the questions that
identify where your true passions are. Finding something you can get real job satisfaction out of.

When you start to consider career questions, and evaluate what you really want to get out of life,
you may have reached that turning point in your life. Striving to reach a point when you don’t go
to bed at night dreading going to work when you wake up.

There’s no joy there. That’s not living.

Let’s take a moment to consider where time goes.

The typical working day is 8 hours long. Then there’s travel time to add to that. A 9 – 5 job will
see you leaving home approximately an hour before you start work, so the working day goes
from 9am to 5pm to being 8am to 6pm.

People are supposed to have 8 hours sleep each night. If you’re up at 7am, to leave at 8am,
arriving at work for a 9am start, then returning at 6pm, to get 8 hours sleep... you have from 6pm
to 11pm to enjoy something.

What can you realistically do in 5 hours?

• Make the dinner

• Maybe watch a couple of soaps on TV

• Get the housework done

• Read a couple of chapters in a book

• Take the dog for a walk

• Then head to bed, ready for the same routine the next morning!

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The thing with being in the wrong career is that it is mentally draining. Not just for yourself, but
it will affect everyone around you. If you’re not happy in your job, it usually shines through when
you come home.

On a working day, people return home physically and emotionally exhausted. The word “fun” has
no place in their lives.

It doesn’t have to stay like that forever though, and this is what this report is here to help you
with. It will take you through the steps that will lead you into the right career path that you will
enjoy.

You know those romantic movies, when the couple are successful business people, coming
home from work, saying “hey honey, how was your day at the office? Oh, oh... you know what
happened today... this is so funny...”

You too can have that sort of happiness in your home, and the key to releasing your full potential
lies within the choice of career you make.

A job is a job. Nothing more. A career however is a roller coaster ride. You have ups, downs and
loop-the-loops to go around.

You can’t experience the thrills of a roller coaster by just watching it ride the tracks. You have to
be on board, riding the rails to experience all the thrills and the nerve-wracking moments, before
you take that plunge.

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 The problem most people face is the lack of inspiration and knowledge of themselves.

• Do you know what drives you in life?

• Do you understand your strengths and weaknesses?

• Do you know the transferable skills you have?

• Do you know who you are?

That’s the key to finding the career path that’s right for you. You need to know you. If you don’t
know yourself, you’ll struggle to find true job satisfaction.

Jobs are more than bringing home pay. When you do a job that you’re thrilled to do, you begin to
realise things about yourself. You’re giving something back to help society. That goes in every
career.

If you’re a cleaner, you’re not just a cleaner. You contribute to people’s health every day and that’s
something to be proud of. So many people put themselves down by saying things like “I’m just a
_____”.

Remove the “just a” from your mind and replace that with “I am a _____”.

That last blank is anything you want to become in life. A scientist, a global investor, or perhaps a
medical secretary.

You can become anything you want to be. We all have the power to shape our own futures. That
power comes from decision making.

Once you make the decision to change your career into something you truly want it to become,
then it’s only a matter of putting the steps in place to help you reach your personal career goals.
That’s what you’re about to take a journey through.

Getting in touch with yourself, understanding what drives you, and ensuring that your next career
choice is one that will offer you job satisfaction.
 

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Why Career Intervention
Introduction
May Be Required

Before jumping right ahead into changing your career, there’s an important issue that needs to
be raised: the question of whether or not a career intervention is necessary.

Let’s cover some of the reasons why you may want to change careers.

• You feel you’ve been in the same job for too long and are stuck in your current position

If this statement resonates with you, then seriously consider the organisation you’re working for.
It may be that the company doesn’t have the capacity to drive your career forward. In this sort
of situation, where you get stuck, bored and lack a challenge, it might be that a company change
may be the better option, rather than a complete career change.

A change of career is more difficult than a change of company.

• You’ve lost interest in your line of work

7
 It happens to the best of us. What we once saw as a joy to be doing for a living becomes
tediously repetitive, and there’s no motivation or desire to do anything in the industry you’re
working in. Manufacturing, for example, is quite prone to this problem.

Starting out, you’re amazed at how creative you are, when you play a vital role in the process of
making something from nothing. Then machines come in and you begin to think that all you’re
going to be doing is operating a machine for the rest of your career.

An interest in your work is needed to feel any satisfaction.

If this statement resonates with you, then a career change is your best option.

• Do you feel undervalued in your current position?

People have this underlying burning desire to feel valued. Without it, working is demoralising.
The more responsibility a person has, the more important they feel. It raises self-confidence and
motivates you to push yourself to the boundaries.

Feeling valued is needed in your career. The more valuable you feel within your job, the more
value you provide.

In this instance, if you are considering a career change for valuation purposes, then you should
consider if it’s the company you’re working with, or an industry wide issue. An industry wide issue
is one typically seen in companies with high staff turnover.

Some call centres and fast food chains can be examples of where there’s a high staff turnover.
When there’s on the job training provided and the positions can be filled with anyone. A lot of jobs
are like that, but it’s the way the employers treat their staff that creates the valuation issue.

If there are no prospects for career advancement, it’s viewed as a dead end job, decreasing moral,
and increasing the amount of people walking out of the door in pursuit of a more rewarding
career choice.

If you are feeling undervalued, then consider your transferable skills, and whether not your
employer is able to meet your needs in terms of valuation. If they’re not able to meet your needs,
are there other companies offering the same service who will provide you with the opportunity to
progress, or is the industry itself tainted?

You will need to do a bit of research into the industry and other companies to establish if it’s your
employer or a problem in the industry in general. If it is your employer, try approaching a different
company; and if it’s a common trait in the industry, then it’s time for some career intervention.

8
• Colleagues

This is probably among the top reasons for people switching jobs. Not getting on with their co-
workers.

Spending most of your day around people you don’t get along with makes for a long day. Most
jobs require teamwork, and when a team gets along, it’s fun. Laughter, some jokes, and some
helping hands go a long way in terms of productivity. A lack of fun and enjoyment does more
than lose a smile. It loses motivation and you end up clock-watching the shift away.

This is something you should give some serious thought to before jumping in and changing
careers: your own ability to work with people.

You have to consider how you view others. Sort of like gauging your own personality. If you view
people in suits as not to be trusted, and only interested in business and making money, and
you aren’t able to see the person behind the suit, then a career as a paralegal isn’t going to be
very satisfying. You’ll have a cynical, negative view of your boss, hot on the pursuit of their next
victim’s wallet.

Similar types of work could be done on the shop floor, where you’re working with the general
public, meeting different people every day, but not having to spend the entire day working with
the same person.

Then there are other people who could perhaps suffer from social anxiety issues. That’s going
to really affect the ability to build relationships in the workplace. In this type of situation, if
you feel awkward around people, then a career change would be advisable, but with careful
consideration on the new working environment you’d have.

Changing careers into becoming a web-designer, writer, consultant or some kind of job you can
do from home, or in a quiet office, where interaction isn’t a major part of your working day, could
be the best career choice for you.

That’s something you should consider about yourself, prior to deciding on a career you’d like to
do. You need to know that you’d be comfortable working in your new position. Without knowing
that, you could find yourself in the same predicament as you are now.

Once you know the problems you’re experiencing in your current line of work, you’ll be better
equipped to know the type of career you’d be suited to.

The start of a career change is to establish if it really is the career that’s a problem for you, or if
it’s the company employing you that’s the issue.

9
 Lack of Employment
Introduction
Opportunities

Prior to changing careers, there’s often the issue of the availability of alternative jobs. If you can’t
find a job in your line of work, then it only makes sense that you’d change to a career where there
are employment opportunities. This is an issue for those who are trained to work in one career
path, who find themselves in the long-term unemployed status. That’s when you’re out of work
for more than 6 months.

A good rule of thumb to gauge the employment opportunities is to look at the temporary job
board websites.

Don’t just search your geographic region. Look at the busy areas, such as London and the
surrounding areas.

Expand your job search to a nationwide one. That will give you an insight into the demand there
is for your current career. It could be that your geographic location that doesn’t have the jobs that
you’re suited to, in which case, you’d need to consider what jobs are available in your region.

You will need to analyse the businesses around your area, and consider the services you could
offer to support local business.

Let’s use an example to demonstrate how effective it is to look at the employability factor for
your career.

Suppose your current trade is working as a welder, and you’re looking for welder jobs. On a
nationwide scale, you could find that there are very few positions available, even on a short-term
contract. You could expand into different fields, such as pipe-fitting, to find there are even fewer
vacancies. The future starts to look bleak when there are very few jobs on the horizon.

To become a welder can take years of training through an apprenticeship program. The reason
welders do the training is because they like the nature of the work. Working with complex
designs, fabricating metals and supporting the construction industry with their architectural
abilities.

With that in mind, there would be other career options that would offer the same sort of benefits
in terms of job satisfaction. Instead of welding, it could be that some further training into
becoming a plumber could be something more suited. That could see a welder transferring their
technical abilities into the plumbing field.

In this sort of scenario, you’d identify your trade opportunities using online job boards. When
you see that there are few job opportunities throughout the UK, then you’ll know it’s not yourself

10
who is struggling to find the work, but rather there aren’t any employment opportunities for your
trade.

There are many careers that used to be high in demand, and over the years, they’ve just
diminished. New technology comes onto the horizon and the jobs start to disappear.

What you have to do is to try to predict the future. Ensure that when you identify your current
line of work has a lack of opportunities, you don’t further your training into a new career path
with the same problem.

You can use the job boards, local papers, and current businesses around you to decipher where
there is a need, and a continuous demand for the services you’ll be offering after you switch
your career.

Taking that career example of a welder further, it would be pretty pointless for a welder
struggling to find work to go on and train in CAD CAM, to become an engineer and assist the
designs of projects, if there aren’t any jobs for CAD CAM engineers near you.

You need to consider the overall employment factor in your career choice if you’re changing
career, due to a lack of employment opportunities.

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 Working
Introduction
Unsociable Hours

In some careers, there’s often an unsociable hours element involved. When you start out, free,
single and happy-go-lucky, the hours aren’t a problem.

As you progress in life, you can find yourself settling down in a steady relationship, then starting
your family. Suddenly, what never used to be a problem becomes an absolute nightmare, juggling
family commitments with shift-work.

It’s not just when your own family comes along though. Some health concerns can occur that
affects your ability to work shift patterns. When working shifts, some people develop sleep
problems, which affects their ability to work.

Things change in life, and this can be a factor for people needing to switch careers.

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When you find yourself struggling with shift rotations, you have two options available to you.
Either discuss things with your employer, to seek a constant shift, without rotation. When that’s
not possible, the only other alternative you have is to switch your career into one that doesn’t
involve shift work.

Consider the hours that you would prefer to work before switching careers. Not everyone is an
early morning type of person, and there are some people who prefer to work the night-shift.

If you find that you’re more of a night owl, then consider the jobs you can do during the night.
That could be security work, bar work or doing something within the manufacturing industry.

There are also going to be some people who feel they neither want to work early mornings, or
through the night. In this type of situation, then you could look at call centre work, either sales-
orientated or customer services.

The call centre industry has regulations on when they can call people, so that places your hours
between being too early and too late. You can have shifts that start at noon, working through
until 8pm.

Those hours can suit some people, whereas for others they’re too unsociable as there’s not
much time in the day to do anything else. Those sorts of hours can lead to people looking to
change their career, so they can have more time in the day to do the things they enjoy.

The hours you’ll be required to work in your chosen career will be a key factor to consider before
switching to a different line of work.

This again requires you to think about yourself: identifying what hours you’d be happy to work.
When you know whether you’re happy to work shifts, or need steady hours, you’ll be able to
narrow down your choice of career into one that suits your personality.

13
 Lacking Job
Introduction
Satisfaction

This is going to be a tough thing to recognise in yourself. You will need to think about what would
give you satisfaction in a job you enjoy doing.

If it’s not the company you work for, not recognising your true potential and not contributing to
your career in terms of supporting further training towards promotion, then what is holding you
back?

The ability to progress in your career is as much your responsibility as it is your employer’s.
When there are qualifications required for certain positions, then you can take distance-learning
courses online, or participate in evening classes, to gain any necessary qualifications to progress
your career.

Any further training should always be updated with the company you’re working for. The more
your employer knows about your abilities, the better they can allocate jobs to you that meet your
criteria, and probably give you more job satisfaction.

Many a person makes the mistake of thinking that if they want to switch careers, they need
to find a new job. You’d actually be surprised at how rewarding employers find it when staff
continue training, gaining qualifications, and letting them know. It goes a long way in assisting
companies to put the right staff in the right jobs, and contributes to lowering the cost of
recruitment.

If you’ve studied towards a business and administration certificate, then updated your details
with the company, your employer will be more inclined to offer you a suitable new position or
promotion, prior to advertising the vacancy for new staff.

You’ll have demonstrated to your employers that you are focused on progression, and that
also makes them aware that they’ve a responsibility to help you help them. It’s a collaboration
between both parties, rather than you always giving and getting nothing back.

However, if you have been studying, and keeping your employers notified, and find that there
are vacancies being filled externally, then you’d need to think about moving companies, to
somewhere that will recognise your qualities. You can do that with the qualifications you’ve
studied towards.

When you don’t want to move company, but want to change your job?

There are those who find that they actually enjoy the work they do, but to continue their career
and progress, it would require switching companies.

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Leaving a job that you’ve been in for a while is a bit of a shock to the system. Some people
describe it as similar to a breakup.

The reason for the breakup scenario is that people can spend over a decade in a job, with
nothing more than hopes of promotion, yet they love the people they work with. The longer you
spend with a company, the more friendships you develop. When you leave a job, you’re leaving
behind the workforce that you’re used to working with. Starting over working with new people,
all over again.

For those who find that they’d like to stay in the same company, but require more responsibility
to have a higher degree of job satisfaction, then you need to work with your employer.

The only way to progress within an organisation is by demonstrating your desire to progress.
You do that by establishing the role you’d like to work in.

• Do you want to supervise?

• Maybe manage the organisation?

• Is there scope for international work?

• Do you want to do something entirely different, that the company could help you with?

Answer these questions and you’ll have an idea if you can progress in the company, or if you
need to start your career all over again with training to become whatever you want to be.

Note though that there are other careers you can do internally, with the assistance of your
employer. Take a manufacturing company as an example. There will be labourers on the shop
floor, who can progress to team leaders, supervisors or factory managers.

There will also be engineering positions to maintain the equipment. Additional departments
could have accounts, payroll clerks, and operational managers.

If you can work with your current employer, to find out if there is opportunity for you to change
your career within the company, it will make things much smoother to transition from one
career to the other.

When that option isn’t there for you though, you will need to identify what you would like to do
and then use any transferable skills you have to make that transition independently and enter a
career that will give you job satisfaction.

15
 Matching Your Career to
Introduction
Your Personality Type

Your personality reflects a huge part of you being happy in the work you do. It’s an area not
everyone pays attention to when they first consider the career they’d like get involved in. It’s only
after you’ve trained, and gained the essential qualifications, that you can find you don’t actually
like your work environment.

Before you decide on going into a particular career, it’s advisable to do your due diligence, prior to
your training.

One way you can do that is by talking to people already in a position that you hope to have in the
future. This will give you an insight into what you’ll be expected to do once you’ve qualified. If you
find out before your training that there are other areas you’ll need to work in, it could save you the
hassle of retraining when you switch your career, and after realising that the job’s not for you.

You’ll find that if a job isn’t for you, it will reflect your own personality.

16
The 5 types of personalities

• A friendly and outgoing personality

If you’re a friendly person, and find it easy to get on with people, then a career that involves
dealing with the public or with a number of different people every day will be appropriate.
Customer services, human resources, and also secretarial work are suitable for those with an
outgoing personality.

• A dominant personality trait

If you have more of a dominant personality then you’ll enjoy making the decisions, as
opposed to be being told what to do. This type of personality will suit business roles, such as
administration and managerial: a career where you’re the leader rather than a follower. This can
suit you in a range of professional careers, such as the legal profession, accountancy, medical
work, or perhaps a career in engineering.

• The introvert personality

If you have an introverted personality, then you’re best suited to working on your own. It doesn’t
mean you aren’t a people person. It just means that you do your best work when you’re left to
your own devices.

This type of personality is suited to research roles and careers in computing, where most of
your work is done independently.

The simplest way to decipher if you have this type of personality is to ask yourself what you
believe the workplace should feel like.

If you feel that work should only be a place of business and not somewhere for socialising to
occur, then you’re probably going to find you have an introvert personality.

• An analytical personality

This type of personality describes those who love to solve problems. If you find yourself
enjoying Sudoku puzzles or experimenting on different scientific studies, perhaps researching
things so you can thoroughly understand things, then you will have an analytical personality.

This type of personality is suited to careers in teaching, where you continually analyse and solve
problems, and teach them to your students.

Other professions where research is required will suit those with an inquisitive mind. That
can be researching properties as a real estate agent, or accountancy work, or perhaps even
becoming a stock broker.

• Team Player

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 This is the opposite of the dominant personality type. As a team player, you’ll enjoy being around
people, but not so much enjoy making any decisions. If you have this type of personality, then
you won’t be suited to managerial positions, where a large part of your work will require you to
make decisions.

When someone who prefers to work as a team progresses into senior roles, what can tend to
happen is the need for approval by others. Both can go hand in hand, but managing people does
require a little bit of dominance so you can be comfortable in the decisions you make.

If you feel that you’re more of a team player type of person, then jobs in marketing where you’ll
deal with people of all walks of life would be more suited to you.

What personality do you have?

By identifying the personality you have, from the list above, you’ll be equipped to understand if
you have what it takes in your career. It could also show you why you’re perhaps not enjoying the
work you do at the moment, leading to you looking for a career change.

By selecting a career appropriate to your personality, you can be sure that when you are in your
new job, you will be much happier than you are at the moment in your current line of work.

Another thing to notice about the personalities is that they can intertwine. An example of that is
an introverted personality, combined with being analytical.

When you feel that you can put yourself into a couple of personality types, then you can mix that
into your career to find one that’s suited to you.

In the case you feel that you are of the introvert personality and analytical, then working for
yourself in a career such as a driving instructor lets you combine the two.

You won’t be working solely alone, but you will be working one on one with students, while using
your analytical side to better teach pupils how to drive.

That’s just one example of mixing personalities with different job roles.

The important thing is to consider your own personality type, then look at what the job roles will
be, and the working environments for the career you’re considering.

When you know about your own type of personality and the working environment, you’ll be able
to make an educated choice of career that will suit your needs.

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Should You Change Careers or
Should You Changens?
Improve Your Qualifications?

When you first start out in any new job, it’s an exciting time. Your brain is more active as you’re
constantly learning the new roles and duties you have to carry out.

The learning curve is what gives you the work experience, and lets you experience the
challenges of your job. Completing each different task for the first time gives you a sense of
accomplishment. It forms part of your job satisfaction.

After doing the same job for several years, you will begin to feel that you can do your job with
your eyes closed. It becomes so repetitive that there’s nothing there for you to learn anymore,
and with that you lose the job satisfaction.

The more you’re continually learning and taking on new challenges in your work, the higher job
satisfaction you can experience.

Therefore, to experience the best job satisfaction, you’ll want to be working with a company that
can let you do various tasks, and not, for example, only sit answering a telephone all day.

Versatility is important.
Career changes aren’t always the answer, as you can use transferable skills within your current
place of work, to seek out new opportunities to learn different aspects of an organisation and
take on more responsibilities.

On other occasions, you might find that for the company you work with, or the industry as a
whole, that you’ve reached a stage where you struggle to find a challenge. This can happen in
careers such as manufacturing, when you become an operational manager. This can be the
peak of your career, where you’d have to gain new qualifications and then capitalise on your
work experience to progress into perhaps director roles, getting more involved in costing, and
operations, rather than managing one department.

If you’re a team leader, then a business qualification can take you to a higher level in your field. If
it’s the work you’re doing that’s lacking job satisfaction, and you want to leave a particular field
of work, then you’ll need to change careers, rather than further study to progress your career.

It’s important to consider all your avenues before you commit to a career change as you will
be starting in a new role from the ground up - essentially going back to a trainee level in a
completely new profession.

Depending on what field you’re moving into, you could find that you’ll be taking a pay cut to
get started in a new line of work. It will give you the challenges you first experienced when you
began your first job, but you’re going to have progression goals in front of you, which will bring
higher salaries as you progress towards your goals.

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 Are There New Jobs You Could Do
Introduction
Faster Than Changing Careers?

This is the type of scenario where you can work with your current employers. If you don’t have a
job at present, then this section won’t apply to you.

For those of you who are in work, consider the different departments and tasks your employer is
in need of.

Just by chatting with colleagues in the canteen can give you a good idea of where the company
needs assistance.

Towards the end of each month, there may be a payroll needing run. That can put a lot of work on
the accounts department. In this case, if that’s something you’re interested in moving into, you
can volunteer your services to get a feel for working in that environment.

It could be that you would only shadow someone during your break to get a feel for the work, or
you could study towards doing the job yourself, and offer those services when you aren’t busy.
The more you can do within a company, the more valuable an employee you’re going to be.

In tough economic times, that can do a tremendous deal for your job security. At the same
time, it can also increase your workload, so you’d need to have strong communication and
organisation skills if you’re going to multi-task with different jobs.

In small offices, a receptionist can find that their employers will prefer SAGE certification, which
avoids bringing in a payroll clerk, and adds to the variety of tasks the secretary does. It can be a
win-win for both employer and employee.

On the other hand, when a secretary has this level of responsibility, they can find that they get
burdened down with too much work.

When you see that happening, then there will be opportunity for you to gain the work experience
by assisting first, and then you could find that you’re promoted without being required to gain any
qualifications. You’d effectively transition from one line of work into the other, by demonstrating
your abilities in the job required.

This isn’t unique to offices. Even in restaurants, if you’re working a part-time job as a kitchen
porter, you can assist further by getting involved with the stock-keeping, perhaps using Microsoft
Excel spreadsheets to catalogue the stock amounts, use-by dates etc.

This can be a tremendous help to a restaurant manager, as they have something to double-
check their original work, and will help you progress from a kitchen porter into another job in the
hospitality sector.

20
Always consider the job you’re doing at the moment and if there’s a gap you can use to switch
into a different job role, gaining relevant experience towards advancing your career.

When employers see that you’re applying yourself to the job, they’ll be more likely to offer further
training to you, so you can gain recognised qualifications to help progress your career.

21
 How Long Will It Take to
Introduction
Further Your Education?

It’s important to know the length of time it will take you to gain the qualifications required for
your career of your choice. You need to know you can comfortably afford to study towards your
accreditation.

Without factoring this into your career choice, you could find yourself studying full-time and
working part-time. The juggling between work and studies for some people can be extremely
stressful, and lead to them failing their exams, and possibly having to re-sit a year in university.
That can add thousands onto the cost of training, and leave you with a hefty amount of student
debt.

Some careers such as hairdressing can be done with short introductory courses, then further
vocational training letting you earn while you learn.

For those with careers in mind that require a lengthy time in education, it’s a good idea to think of
jobs you can do on the way to your end goal.

22
As an example, if you were to have aspirations of becoming an accountant, it is going to take
you a while to become ACCA certified. Another option is to study towards an AAT certificate
and work in the accounts field as an accounts technician. This will let you earn while you’re still
shadowing a certified accountant, which can assist you with your accountancy studies when
you reach that stage.

Going back to the hairdressing career, this could also apply to the health and beauty industry, if
you were planning to become a fully qualified beauty therapist, running your own beauty parlour.
You could start out hairdressing, progressing onto manicure courses, and eventually moving
into study the fields of business, to help you when it comes time to start your own beauty
parlour.

There are very few professions where you go to university, gain your degree and enter directly
into the line of work you intend to do for a living. Most often, when you graduate, you enter into
work at a junior level anyway, so it makes sense to break your studies up and diversify your CV
with time spent working and time spend studying.

It will give your CV a balance between your formal education and your work experience. A
combination of the two is what will help you achieve the job you’ve been striving to reach.

The length of time it will take you to gain whatever qualifications you need will be paramount to
seeing your studies through to full fruition, where you can finally reap the benefits of using them,
when you get into the job of your dreams.

While nothing is impossible, it’s important to be realistic with your expectations. Career planning
is one of the most important things you can do prior to enrolling in any formal education
courses.

23
 Costs Involved in Further
Introduction
Education vs Your Expected Salary

The costs involved when you’re furthering your education can be astronomical, depending on
which type of career you’re going into.

Not every job requires a Master’s Degree and in some cases it’s an expense that can be cut out,
although that’s not always the case.

When you’re considering your chosen career path, try to get an understanding of what you will
earn when you first start in your new job; remembering of course that you’re going to be in a
junior position. Most jobs will have salary ranges, and the junior posts when you first start out will
see you earning the lowest.

An entry-level salary of £17,000 per annum isn’t going to be much if you’ve spent 4 years in
university, accumulating student debt. You need to know if it’s going to be worth the investment.

That will require you to consider how long it’s going to take for you to progress into a higher level
position, when you can eventually earn the top-paying salaries you may have initially expected.

Also try to get an understanding of approximately how much you’re going to need for your higher
education.

When you’re earning above £16,365 (as of April 2013), any student loan balances are repaid at 9%
of your earnings above that figure.

Crunching the numbers, you’d need to take the salary you’d expect to earn and calculate as
follows:

Estimated salary: £30,000 per year

Deductible Allowance: £16,365
Repayable total for the year: £13,635

For the year, you’d be liable to pay 9% on the remaining £13,635, totalling £1,227.15.

With a £30K salary you would have around £102 per month deducted from your pay to repay
your student loans. The more debt you have, the longer you’re going to have this deduction
coming of your pay.

When you factor in that you already have your Tax and National Insurance coming of your pay
before you see a penny of it, then include an additional 9% automatically deductible through your
employer’s payroll, you may start to reconsider your career options.

When you consider what career you want to do, try to keep your costs as low as possible, by
studying towards the minimal level of qualification to start work. The only careers this isn’t
applicable to are those in the medical, legal and similarly highly-skilled professions where the
highest of education is required.
24
Identify Your
Introduction
“Transferable Skills”

Before you approach any formal training, you should establish if it’s absolutely necessary for you
to gain relevant qualifications.

Some employers pay more attention to what you already know, rather than what you’re qualified
to do.

Qualifications aren’t always good for your career, as it is possible to over-qualify yourself, and
leave you struggling to find work. If an employer gets an impression that you’re too valuable for
the position they want to hire you for, they could be put off, thinking they don’t have the potential
to fulfil your ambitions.

This happens as employers don’t like to spend money on recruitment. They want career-focused
people who will stick with their company. That means giving you the opportunity to do what
you’re skilled to do.

25
 If you’re holding a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, with managerial work
experience, you’re hardly likely to stick it out in a secretarial position. You’d eventually get bored
and move on to greener pastures in pursuit of a more challenging job in line with your qualities.
The employer would eventually be left back at square one, looking for a new recruit.

This can be avoided when you know the transferable skills you have that can benefit companies.

Here’s how to identify your transferable skills:

(Write or type this exercise so you can read it back)

1. Analyse your current position, or the work you’re skilled to do

Go right back to the very first job you had. Write down how it was you got that job, and then
where that leads you to.

Progress onto the next job you had, and list the responsibilities that job required. The more you
go through your work history; you’ll begin to notice a pattern develop.

From one job to the next, there will be skills you’ve picked up, which have come through when
you see you’ve had more responsibilities in the next job you took on.

2. Identify the problems that arose

This isn’t specific to your career. It may have been that you took on another job in a different
industry just for the sake of employment. That’s a problem, and gaining that new job will have
been a problem solved. You’ll have taken the dilemma of not being able to find work in your first
career path, and adapted to work in a different environment, which will use some skills from your
previous line of work.

Within your previous job roles, think of the problems you encountered and how you overcame
them.

Did you have to fill in for holiday cover, help at reception during lunch breaks, and juggle your own
work too? That would make you a team player. You help others, you get on with people, and when
you’re burdened down with lots of work, you could be good at delegating work to others to meet
time deadlines.

That sort of situation would give you transferable skills of:

• Ability to delegate

• Work to tight deadlines

• Being a team player

• Deal with pressure well

• Can adapt to different roles when required

26
These are all things that can help you transfer into a new career, and could be more beneficial
than any formal qualification.

3. Your personal qualities

With your list of jobs written out, along with the problems and solutions you’ve had experience
with, the next step is to figure out what personal qualities helped you progress.

If you started out on a work-training scheme and moved into full-time employment, then your
employer must have seen you as hard-working and determined, if they kept you on after your
initial training period.

Likewise, working as a secretary to be doing payroll duties is progression. That would require
motivation to learn new skills. This shows you’re career-driven, striving to be the best you can
be.

4. How did others help?

Not every progression you make in your career is done by you alone. There are often team
members who play a vital role in your success.

Consider the different struggles you had, and how you were able to work with others in any
company you worked for to overcome obstacles.

If you were stuck on something, and unsure what to do... would you turn to the computer
searching for solutions, or were you comfortable to ask the advice of others when needed?

That’s a certain quality in itself as it demonstrates you’re not going to waste time doing a job
you’re unsure about, to have to redo it later.

Nobody is going to know everything, so losing the chip on the shoulder is beneficial to ensure
you’re doing things correct the first time.

It also shows you have the communication skills to speak to people when needs be. The
other thing is how you communicate: do you ask, or do you instruct? This can tie in with your
personality types.

Someone with a dominant personality wouldn’t be the type to do all the work alone. They’d be
good at delegating different tasks to other staff, ensuring everyone is doing their part.

Someone with an introvert personality may be more prone to finish work early, and be working
alone, getting ahead, while others in the workplace struggle to meet their deadlines.

In these situations, would you be the introvert type, doing your work and getting ahead, or would
you be the dominant type, to delegate work to suitable staff, so you could meet the deadlines?
The way you work with people speaks a lot about the work you’re suited to do.

27
 What you enjoy in your spare time

This is extremely important to employers and something that’s often underestimated on CV’s.
The personal biography that goes on your CV does more than let your employer know you have
a social life, or if you’re more of a bookworm type of person.

Your personal qualities transfer out of the workplace too. If you have on your CV that you
enjoy paintballing at the weekend... guess what? You’re used to working in a team, and you’re
competitive.

On the other hand, if you’re into your poetry books, relaxing to classical music, then employers
will have the impression that you’re intellectual. Going back to the personality types, this type of
personality would indicate an analytical person.

This is why it’s absolutely crucial that you have a thorough understanding of who you are, so
you can apply yourself wholeheartedly to a career you’d enjoy doing.

Running through an analysis of yourself gives you a better understanding of your own
capabilities, and will help you identify the right career path for you.

It’s easier to market yourself to employers when you know what your key skills are, than having
to rely on employers to ask you in an interview, when you could end up stumbling.

A thorough understanding of your transferable skills is essential for any career, as it’s these
qualities that will be identified in your interview, leading into your new career path.

Know your career goals with a clear path to get there

When you first started working, what was it you were aspiring to reach? For some people they
may have just been working, with no defined career path. That’s fine if you have done that, as all
you’ve been doing is getting to know what it is you like doing.

Going forward though, now that you’re at the stage of defining a career path you want to follow,
it’s good to have predefined goals that will let you reach your aspirations.

If you want to become a barrister eventually, then a reasonable place to start would be working
as a legal secretary to get your foot in the door.

Of course, to get to that career decision, you would have something that sparked your initial
interest. That could be any type of administration job.

On the other hand, you could have already made a career decision, worked your way up the
career ladder, and then decided you want to change, as it’s no longer giving you job satisfaction.

In this case, you’d already know how you went about progressing your career from before, and
you now have to repeat the process, starting from a junior level and progressing to where you
want to be, in the future.

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Having a clear cut career path and a route to take you where you want to go in the future, shows
employers that you’re goal-orientated and can work towards personal achievements.

There may be some parts of your work history that show this if you’ve already progressed, either
within a company, or into higher paying jobs with more responsibilities.

The ability to plan ahead (forward thinking) is a major attribute to your transferable skills and
will help you tremendously.

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 Brainstorming the Job Boards to
Introduction
Compare Supply vs Demand

Some people know the career path they want to embark on, while for others it’s a journey down
the yellow brick road, not knowing which signpost to follow.

If you don’t know what career you’d like to get move into, then job boards are definitely going to
help you. Not in terms of what they’re designed for though, so hold off on submitting your CV to
every job board online, in hopes of an employer finding you.

The purpose of job boards is to match employers to candidates who could be suitable for the
positions they have. They weren’t intended to help people decide which career they want to take,
but that’s something you can do with them nonetheless.

There are some job boards that list categories of jobs, which will give you an encyclopaedia of
job information.

You can scroll through different industries, and anything that piques your interest, simply jot it
down on a bit of paper, or keep a file on your computer, giving you list of career choices to look
more into.

Note that when you’re browsing the different careers, select the ones where the job actually
interests you. Don’t pay attention to the salary right off the bat. There are plenty of high-flying
careers out there, but if you don’t have the job satisfaction, the money isn’t going to bring you
happiness. Choose your career with a role that ignites something in you.

If you’re creative, and like to work with your hands, then jobs in construction could be something
of interest.

For those who prefer to draw, but find there are no companies looking for an artist, then move
into other careers that would need some sort of drawing. How about landscape design? Maybe
home staging for a real estate company?

Do you see where you’re heading now? You’re thinking outside of the box and taking the things
you’re interested in to match your interests to a career.

Essentially, you’re matching your own interests to companies that will pay you to do the job you
love.

Employers are looking for people who enjoy their work and not just someone who will turn up
and do whatever’s required. When you enjoy your work, it creates a better working environment,
so choose something of interest first, and then compare salaries later, to establish if it’s going to
give you the finances you need to comfortably live on.

30
It might take you a while going through the different categories, but once you have that list
compiled, you’ll no longer be navigating the career scene blindly. You’ll have a starting point to
find out more information on the different jobs available, any training you may require, as well as
career advancement opportunities.

That’s the first thing that you can use job boards for, but more importantly, you can use them for
measuring supply vs demand.

There’s no point in training towards a new career path if there are no jobs requiring your skills.

It’s also helpful to look for the junior entry-level positions that are available, if you’re going to be
doing further education to gain relevant qualifications.

While you’re looking into the jobs that are available, possibly noting down the salaries and
the duties of the different roles in the profession you’re interested in, don’t forget about the
employers.

When you’re sifting through the jobs listed, you can see where the CV’s are to be submitted to,
and the company recruiting for the positions. This is handy information for you, when you start
to get proactive looking to network with others.

When you see the company name, you can then search online in different places to find the staff
that work in the company. Some may be on LinkedIn, others could be on Twitter. The company
website may have their contact information listed too.

When you’re unsure if the career is the right choice for you, you can take notes of some
companies that are recruiting, then get in touch with them just for an informal conversation
about what like it would be like to work in that environment.

Certain people already in these positions could be good prospects for you to network with, so
you can discuss things about the profession and find out what it’s really like to work as a _____
(fill in your job title).

There will be some careers that just don’t seem to have the jobs available. Trade careers in
particular, where people work as independent contractors, or perhaps financial consultants.
Other factors could be that the market just doesn’t have a need for certain services. In which
case, you’d know that if you pursued that career, then you would still struggle to find work.

For those professions where you’d work independently, you’d need to factor in the business
start-up costs in line with your further education, to establish if it’s going to be financially
feasible for you to pursue that line of work.

Where there are jobs being advertised on the job search sites, it’s a good bet that you’re on the
right tracks in terms of training towards qualifications that you can use to find employment.

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 Using Social Media to Help
Introduction
You into a New Career

Increasingly, employers are turning to social media to advertise their job vacancies as they arise.
It’s more cost-effective than traditional advertising in newspapers, and local classifieds. Larger
organisations will also use their social networks to update followers of upcoming events, such as
career days.

There are also a number of employers who will snoop around social sites, to get a real glimpse
into who their potential new recruit really is. If you’re on Facebook and cursing in your posts, then
it’s not going to reflect well on you, and will probably count you out of the running of getting a job
with any employer who sees your daily rants.

You have to be careful with everything you post online as any details you put up will probably
stay there forever. Even deleting your accounts won’t help as others can share your updates at
the click of a button.

Always use caution when posting, and remember that you’re reflecting yourself to potential

32
employers, so make that first impression count.

Let’s go into the three main social networks you can use to help you into a new career.

1. Facebook

Facebook has the power to be any type of site you want it to be. You can have followers full of
old schoolmates, focusing your connections on your past; or you can create an online group of
people you want to connect with in the future.

What would you rather do?

The answer should be simple. Look to the future and develop connections with people in
positions where you want to be.

One of the ways to do this is to actually read your news feed. That’s where you’ll find the most
active career notifications appearing. Each time you log into your account, check the news feed
first. If you’re among the first to discover an opening or an event, you’re going to have a head
start on your competition.

The other thing that happens in Facebook is that you have the power of influence through
your connections. While it’s easy to say you’re actively looking for employment, when you’re
on Facebook, participate in career-focussed group discussions. When employers look at your
personal information, they can see at a glance the connections you have.

Since connections are valuable to any business in terms of their reach online, you may even
find it’s your influence on Facebook which gets you the job. Not that it should be an influence on
who gets hired, but in business things are cut-throat. Any advantage a company can get they
will grab with both hands.

When you’re connecting with groups it’s good to be involved in conversations. Also, if there are
people posting questions that are work-related and relevant to something you’re trying to get
started in, Facebook can be the place to showcase your knowledge.

While you may not be qualified for certain positions, simply posting advice about your work
can be influential in getting into a new career, with your new employer assisting you to gain the
relevant qualifications they’d look for in their candidates.

You can also use career-focussed apps on your Facebook account, such as the Be Known app
from Monster, which lets you separate your career-based usage from your personal use.

There are also some companies who actually use Facebook pages so that staff can interact
with potential job candidates, to get a feel for how they’d perform with co-workers. It can be
used as an informal interview channel where you can even find yourself being invited to an

33
 interview, just through your social media interaction.

2. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the largest career-focussed social network there is. It’s more geared towards a
formal type of recruitment, and is where headhunters go to find the best talent there is for
corporate recruitment. If you’re looking for a high-flying white collar career, such as the legal
field, accountancy or any kind of managerial position, then LinkedIn is the social network to get
yourself on.

You can collaborate with others in your industry, network with organisations that can help your
career, as well as get helpful titbits of advice from others already in the profession you’re trying to
break into.

By networking with people already successful in their career, they can offer inside knowledge on
how you can best put your career on the fast track. You could potentially tap into the key insights
that employers look for in candidates, as well as get instant notifications when companies you’re
interested in have a vacancy needing filled.

The key to using LinkedIn is being active. Not just posting anything and discussing your career.
LinkedIn works differently, as it’s the place to set yourself as an expert. When you post on this
platform, you have to remember it’s business orientated. Keep things on topic to your career and
share relevant industry information.

When potential employers, and headhunters see that you have a complete profile that’s updated
with your latest training and qualifications, and backed up with relevant industry related updates,
you’ll stand out on this network as a real player to be watched in your industry.

Companies want experts on their team, and this is where you can set yourself up as the expert.

3. Twitter

In terms of social media sites to help you switch over careers, Twitter won’t do you much, if any,
good at all if you use it exclusively. It serves a different purpose, because it’s hardly reasonable to
expect to find out much about a person in 140 characters.

Employers can tell a lot from the combination of tweets, provided they are all industry-related.
When your social media efforts start to raise eyebrows, either on Facebook, or LinkedIn,
recruiters will look for your Twitter feed just to ensure that you’re really as professional as your
other interactions make you seem to be.

There’s more benefit to you though when you’re looking to find work with particular companies,
as Twitter lets you learn more about particular businesses, and their culture. Since tweets are so

34
small in length, it’s handy to catch little titbits of things of interest to a firm. That can be used to
your advantage if you get the chance of an interview, as you’ll have an understanding of what
the company believes in and stands for.

You can use the hash tag feature here to retweet industry related information that you find
interesting, so you don’t need to try and choose your words carefully all the time.

The one area you have to be careful with on Twitter is directly contacting hiring managers in
firms. They will have a number of tweets to respond to, so if you don’t hear back straight away,
don’t pester the firm to get a response. It’s like leaving a voicemail on a company’s phone
numerous times. Eventually it gets annoying and you’re completely ignored. Take your time and
be patient.

Before you try the direct approach on Twitter to find work, be sure you’ve taken the time to
present your profile as best as you can.

Use the description field to showcase yourself as the person suited to the profession you’re
looking to go into. Anyone scanning your profiles should tell at a glance, what it is you do for
a living. Even if you aren’t the master you claim to be, you should be using your time online to
advance towards becoming that master of your trade or skill.

The same goes with all your social media accounts. You have to use your page to display what
it is you do, so there’s no guessing when potential employers land on your profile. They should
instantly see they are on the right track, and not second-guessing if they’ve landed on the wrong
page, losing their interest and then moving on.

Social media is there to help you show yourself as a leading example to become the best there
is in your career. Companies want the best people they can get to help their business thrive
during competitive times. The more influential you can be in all your social media accounts, the
more credentials you’ll have to switch careers.

It shows your true motivation and dedication.

35
 A Top 10 List of in Demand
Introduction
and Safe Careers

For those of you who aren’t sure of the career you would like to pursue, then a sensible approach
to career selection would be to train to work in evergreen sectors, where there are always going
to be job opportunities, as well as opportunity for career progression.

The following are a list of 10 careers that you could train towards and enjoy a safe career
where you’ll be in work, and not have to spend time between jobs seeking out employment
opportunities.

1. Accountancy

The accountancy field is always going to be needed to serve every size of business. Not just as
an accountant but all the supporting roles as well. Careers such as a financial advisor, a banker,
a stockbroker, an independent financial consultant. Everyone needs financial assistance at
some point in their lives, whether it’s for personal finances, planning for retirement, or managing
investment portfolios. It is a skilled profession that people need to increase their wealth, as well
as wealth management.

2. Technology

Technology is the new driving force for small businesses to succeed. Whether you train in web
development, graphic design, or JavaScript programming, there’s going to be work available.

As of 2013 statistics in the UK indicate that there’s 1 in 4 businesses operating without a website,
and for those with a website, they aren’t using it for driving sales.

For the foreseeable future, web design and development jobs are going to be in demand, but
as the years the technology will no doubt change, so your safest bet, for those interested in
technology anyway, is to continue your training in development. Technology is constantly
evolving. As time passes, things may move towards website management, installing updates to
maintain websites, rather than the design process.

3. Medical

People are always going to be sick, so any career in the healthcare sector is going to be a safe
choice. You don’t have to spend years studying to become a General Practitioner to have a career
in healthcare.

Anything that relates to people’s health is a safe career. That includes positions in

36
pharmaceuticals, physiotherapy, mental health care, as well as carers for the elderly. You could
also be providing a home support role, or working within nursing home establishments.

4. Dentistry

In the dentistry sector, you can find jobs as a dental hygienist, and a dental technician, so you
don’t have to become a GDC registered dentist to get involved in this career.

5. Driving

Every year there will be more people turning the legal age to obtain their provisional driving
licences. There’s also going to be a number of mature learner drivers who need to learn to drive,
for employment reasons, or perhaps for medical reasons.

As a driving instructor, you can be the person teaching people the rules of the road, but you can
also progress onto teaching other types of driving, such as LGV training, PCV or even teaching
people to ride motorcycles safely.

As your career progresses, you could even move on to become an assessor responsible for
ensuring new drivers meet the test requirements to obtain a pass, or even train new driving
instructors to join the industry.

6. Construction

The construction industry offers a number of opportunities. There are going to be residential
homes being build, some will be older buildings getting torn down to make room for new
developments, while others will in the commercial sector.

Any type of trade will be useful in the construction industry. Architects will be needed to draw up
the initial plans, with builders coming in to lay the foundations, and bricklayers coming to build
homes and commercial premises.

There are also going to be careers in the safety and regulations industry to control the health
and safety for both properties and on-site workers, which could be another career choice for you
to get involved with in the construction sector.

7. Hospitality

What would Valentine’s Day be without being able to be take your special someone out for a
special treat in a top class restaurant? Birthday bashes, Christmas lunches and Anniversary
celebrations, all call for a splendid dish to be served up as a special treat.

Then there are hotels catering to the needs of guests, as well as local restaurants open for
daytime pass-by trading, for those busy days when people just feel the need to splash out and
enjoy being catered to instead of cooking.

Everyone has different reasons for dining out, but we all love something about it. That’s been the

37
 same for decades, and will continue well into the future.

Any type of work in the catering industry, whether it’s as a Chef or a front of house assistant,
you’ll have a stable career in hospitality.

8. Plumbing

A plumber does more than unblocks a toilet. They’re essential for any type of water leak that can
happen day or night. Wintertime especially, when the cold weather kicks in and pipes freeze up,
can see plumbers more in demand than any typical working day.

It’s a round the clock job in the plumbing repair sector.

Other roles can see you work within the construction trade too, fitting new water pipe systems,
kitchen and bathroom fitting, as well as drainage services.

As long as water pipes are around, there’s a demand for plumbers to maintain them, as well as
the heating systems that run off the mains water.

9. Teaching

Teaching doesn’t just apply to schools. There are also college professors, as well as private
tutors. You can even take something that you’re passionate about, such as swimming, playing
tennis, football, basketball or step aerobics, and teach that to others interested in learning. Or
how about Salsa dancing?

Anything that you’re interested in, you can do a bit of research and find out how many others
are interested in learning the same thing. You can tie that back to your social media efforts to
establish if groups already exist where you could fill a gap.

Therefore, besides the normal occupations associated with teaching, such as primary schools,
nursery schools and high schools, you can also teach outside of that, or even teach foreign
students the English Language. That line of work is known as becoming a TEFL worker
(Teaching English as a Foreign Language).

There’s also going to be a requirement for additional support within schools, so you could
even train to become a nursery nurse, classroom assistant, or offer your services as a learning
support assistant.

10. Fitness and Nutrition

People are always going to be interested in keeping themselves in good shape. In the fitness
industry, you could become a personal trainer, or you could train to work specifically with people
suffering from illnesses such as arthritis, back problems or need advice on their dietary plans to
maintain a healthy weight.

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You can find many of these careers are going to be suited to self-employment, but there are also
going to be health clinics, as well as private clinics to assist people in maintaining their physical
health and keeping them looking great.

Any of the types of careers listed above will offer career progression within them, as well as give
you the opportunity to continually keep your skills updated and your services in demand.

If you haven’t got a clear cut career path in mind, then the above should give you some ideas of
something you can do for a real future with continuous employment available.

39
 Constructing
Introduction
the Perfect CV

To put together a perfect CV to land the job you’re after, it’s essential you take the time to do this
right. It will need to be customised to each job you’re applying for. No CV can be universal enough
to fit the needs of each company you apply to work with.

Your CV is your sales pitch to employers to hire you, so make sure you market yourself in the best
way possible.

Formatting and spell checks are your best tools for this.

In terms of formatting, this is how you should lay out your CV before you type any information
into it:

Personal Details
Personal Profile
Career History

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Most recent job title + Employer
Duties
Achievements
Qualifications gained (where appropriate)
Next most recent job
Achievements
Qualifications gained (where appropriate)
Additional Information
Personal interests and information on any job gaps you have.
References

When you are about to write your CV bear in mind it should be done differently for every job
application. You can tailor it to suit each job, so you will need the specifications of the job you’re
applying for so you can customise your pitch to each employer.

Your personal details will remain the same, but if the organisation has a social media presence,
and you have too, then include that in your social media details, for them to reach out to you.

• Name

• Address

• Telephone Number

• Email

• Facebook

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

Next you have your personal profile to fill out, and this again can truly set you apart from others.
Most people put in here things like,

“I’m a highly conscientious worker, reliable and punctual.”

Imagine yourself as a recruiter, having to read that same line repeatedly from the hundreds, if
not thousands of applications to fill one job vacancy. You’d begin to get blinded by it, and look
right past it. It’s the introduction to you, so you need to capture their attention right off the bat
here.

Example of a Personal Profile

“As a career motivated individual, I strive to keep up to date on all the latest news surrounding
sales and marketing. I take great pride in the work I do, and also take time for further studies to
help me become the best there is in my field.

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 It goes without saying that reliability; trust and dedication to my work come as part of my
package. Understanding the importance of work and life balance, I like to settle down in the
evenings with a book from one of my favourite authors, such as Robert Cialdini. The weekends I
shift gear and like to exercise down the gym, and also coach the local football team, where I can
call on my motivational skills to drive the team to score the goals needed to win.”

Looking over that profile, you can see it’s one that’s tailored to a sales and marketing position. It
wouldn’t do much if you were to apply for a position as a retail assistant.

If that were the case, you’d need to capitalise on the job description and make yourself suitable
for the job role, by discussing how much of a people person you are. Your personal profile would
discuss the retail sector, and how you make a positive contribution by always brushing up on
your communication skills.

Part of customer service would need you to be calm when you’re dealing with a difficult
customer, so if you practice meditation in the morning, then that can be a unique quality about
you, to help you succeed with working in customer services.

The aim is to adapt your CV to the job you’re applying for. It’s just as important as adapting
yourself to a new career. You first have to get the job before you can adapt to the career change.
Your CV is the first place to start.

Moving on down your CV layout, you’ll then have your work history section to complete. This is
where you have to refer to your transferable skills and also highlight these in your career history
section. Your layout should help you with this.

Since the CV is going to be formatted so employers can scan quickly through it, each job title
should be in bold type. If they’re looking for a customer services manager, and your CV has a
manager, supervisor or team leader job title right at the start, then you’ve more a chance of
holding their attention.

Next up is to give a description of your job. In this part, you only need a short summary of your
typical roles.

The description will summarise what you did (or currently do) on a daily basis, listing your key
responsibilities too.

After that, fill out what achievements you’ve gained. This doesn’t have to be an academic
achievement. It can also be about you. Learning that you enjoy a certain industry, or thrive
on the additional responsibilities you have, or showing you that you want to achieve more
in a certain line of work. This can read like a personal journey of self-improvement, where
the employer learns about what you like to do, and shows you’re now shooting for career
progression in a field that gives you job satisfaction.

The qualifications area isn’t always going to be applicable. If you required further training to
achieve a qualification for that job, then list that in this area.

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If you haven’t had training from the company, you can also list any relevant qualifications you
gained studying part-time or through distance learning, to assist in your career. Just state on
your CV that as you aim to progress into whatever career you’re interested in, that you were
working in this position, and studying in your spare time.

It shows employers that you are committed to the job and your career. It looks more impressive
when you list this with the job you were doing, than just leaving it until the end, when you list the
qualifications gained and when.

When you list things separately, a recruiter has to solve the jigsaw and figure out that you were
working and studying. You may as well toot your horn, and ensure they know you were juggling
a full-time job with your studies.

The idea is to keep everything at a glance on your CV, making it easy for an employer to see who
you are, and give them everything they need to know as fast as possible.

Once you have that done, it’s then just some additional information about you. This is a
description of your personal interests. To fill this out, you can write in here about your hobbies,
but put an emphasis onto what skills you have from your personal interests that can transfer
into your career.

Paintballing at the weekends, shows you’re a team player. Coaching a football team will indicate
that you’re motivated, and can motivate others. Brain games are indicative of your analytical
abilities.

Whatever you do in your spare time, it can bring certain qualities to your career. It also
humanises your CV and doesn’t make you just all work and no play, which can be damaging to
your health if you are consistently working and not having time to socialise. Both are important
and combine seamlessly from your personal interests and hobbies into your career.

Once you have all those details, then you should finish off with verification sources. The last
section to complete is your references. The first should be your most recent employer. Try
to provide two references for employers to check your suitability for meeting their needs.
Give details on the name of the person they should contact, the position they hold within the
company, and the contact details they need to get in touch with them.

Note that if you’re already in work, and you don’t want to have your current employer contacted,
this isn’t the place for that. That issue should be addressed in your covering letter to each
employer, asking for their discretion in obtaining references to safeguard your current position.

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 Using Power Words
Should You Changens?
to Boost Your CV

Power words can really make your CV stand out, provided you use them effectively. There is a
list of 89 power words provided below, but it’s going to be impossible to use them all.

To use these effectively, it’s best to select one for the beginning of each sentence in your CV, and
use at least three power words in your personal profile.

Instead of listing a job duty as “I collaborated with a team to come up with ideas to assist in
marketing”, you can alter that wording to read:

“I contributed to a team of consultants, generated marketing ideas, which were designed to

assist in the achievement of business goals, and increase sales revenue.”

Can you see the impact power words have on your CV? They turn stale descriptions into
something that captures and holds the attention of the reader, leaving them in no doubt that
you’re a true professional, who they want to hear more from.

Use the power words below to revamp or construct a CV that will work wonders for your career.

Assist Enhance Maximised Redesigned

Able Evaluate Mediated Reorganised
Action Examined Modernised Represented
Analysis Extended Motivated Restructured
Achievement Facilitate Negotiated Revised
Accomplished Formulate Observed Safeguarded
Advanced Fulfilled Obtained Secured
Conduct Forecasted Operated Selected
Consult Generated Organised Specified
Committed Gained Originated Strengthened
Conducted Gathered Oversaw Structured
Contributed Headed Participated Suggested
Coordinated Hosted Performed Superseded
Develop Identified Planned Supervised
Deliver Implemented Prepared Targeted
Design Improved Presented Taught
Denied Improvised Promoted Tested
Diversified Influenced Provided Trained
Devoted Launched Published Upgraded
Distinguished Maintained Pursued Utilised
Encourage Managed Received Validated
Earned Marketed Recommended Valued

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Crafting Your
Introduction
Covering Letter

Your covering letter first needs to go to the appropriate person. That’s the hiring manager of the
company. Bypassing this chain of command could see your mail be identified as unsolicited mail,
and land in the bin, rather than on the desk of the person you need to see it.

Do your research first, and establish if the company has one person in charge of recruitment, and
if possible find out the name of that person. The company secretary will be able to advise you on
where to send in your CV, whether to address it to their HR department or For the Attention of:
Contact Name.

Once you know the person you’re addressing, the next issue your covering letter should address
is the reason why you’re interested in working for the firm.

This isn’t a place to put that you’re interested in switching careers. It’s about why you want to
offer your services to the company you’re approaching. You do that by researching the history of
the company. Telling them why you’re impressed with their business, and how you would like to
be a part of that success in the future.

The personal attention to detail and addressing the passions of each business is what will have a
hiring manager look beyond your covering letter, and into your CV to find out more.

The most important aspect employers want to see in your covering letter is your skills. Present
them in a succinct way that is tailored to their company requirements. Remember, you’re
applying to assist the company with your services - not them to assist you by giving you a job.

The one prevailing question on every recruiter’s mind is: “Why should I hire you?”
Answer that question in your covering letter.

Here’s how to go about addressing that issue.

Start out by addressing them personally by Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms __________. This will personalise your
covering letter to that person. Personalisation is always appreciated and it shows you’ve at least
done some research and you aren’t just canvassing every employer with the same letter.

As you move onto the first paragraph, you need to address the position you’re interested in
within the company. Give the company some information on where their advertising is being
seen. That’s a huge benefit to companies in terms of the costs of recruitment, when they know
which advertising channels are beneficial to them. Just a short summary of this will suffice. For
example:

“Having seen your recent advertisement in the (newspaper, job search site or wherever), I’m
writing to express my interest in applying for your position as a __________, and would be available

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 to start ________.”

Paragraph 2 – Addresses two questions

1) Why this type of work interests you

The first part of your second paragraph is to focus on you. What it is about this line of work
that satisfies you. If you’re a secretary, what it is about the role that you thrive on? Is it the
organisational skills, or being the first point of contact, and feeling like the face of the business?
This is where you put the reason why you’re in the career path you’ve chosen.

2) Why this company interests you

The second element is about the company and where you can sing their praises.

For small organisations, it could be that you’ve looked at their site and feel you’re more suited
to a small family business, than the corporate world. Alternatively, it could be a massive
organisation, where they could help you progress in your career.

Let the company know about what interests you about their business. Identify the successes
they’ve had in the past, and that you want to be a part of their future successes.

Just be sure that you identify what the business actually does to bring in revenue, and tie that
into your interests to offer your services to help them to do that.

The third paragraph will form part of your CV, but in this area, you aren’t copying your skills from
your CV. You’re taking the skills you have from the variety of jobs you’ve had and transferring
them over to your new position.

Let the employers know exactly what skills you have, and tailor them to the job you’re going to
be doing.

For this part, you’ll have the job specifications the company requires, and you’ll hand-pick
the skills from your CV and make them relevant to the position you’re applying for, while
disregarding skills that aren’t appropriate. The purpose of the covering letter is just to bring
everything together into one short and concise summary of the skills you have to fill the position
required. Also tie in the transferable skills you’ve learned from past work experience that will
benefit the new job role too.

That will bring your cover letter to a conclusion, when it’s time to wrap things up. End on a
positive note by listing any dates you aren’t available for an interview, and then thank the person
for their time in reading your application, and then sign off by saying you look forward to hearing
from them soon.

Now for the next part in terms of your writing. This is where some people do excellent work in
their CV and their cover letters, and then 2 words can ruin their credibility instantly.

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You have to finish on the same style as you started.

If you open with Dear hiring manager, you aren’t personalising the cover letter to any particular
person. In this instance, you’d close off with “Yours faithfully” then your signature.

If you address someone personally, using their name, then to continue that personal tone, you’d
close off with “yours sincerely.”

When you don’t know who you’re addressing and then the word “faithfully” translates to
you trusting they’ll do the right thing. There’s no point signing off with “sincerely”, when you
weren’t sincere enough to find out the name of the person. “Faithfully” addresses that and
acknowledges you’re placing the next course of action in the company’s hands, whereas
“sincerely” lets the company know you’re sincere with your application.

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 Prepping for
Introduction
Your Interview

Once you have landed that all important interview, you’re one step closer to landing the job.
However, this is the final step and you have to get through this stage successfully to get the
position you’re after.

That will require you to prepare in advance of the interview. You’ll need to consider everything
from your journey, what you’ll wear to the interview, as well as what you’re going to say when you
get there.

It’s not just about what you say in the interview room though. You have to back up what you say
with your body language. If you’re sitting saying you’re confident in your abilities, and mumbling
your words, then it’s going to tell a different story to employers.

Your dress code is important too. If you go for a job as a cleaner wearing a power suit, then you’ll
probably feel overdressed for the occasion. A simple pair of dress trousers and a casual shirt
could be more suitable.

In terms of what you’re going to say though, you’ll have to consider what it is employers are
looking for in you. They will be asking you questions, so think about the interview from the
perspective of an employer. Put yourself in their shoes and interview yourself first.

What questions would you be asking candidates?

Prepare a list of questions that you could be asked at your interview and prepare answers for
them.

Questions such as:

What makes you feel you’re suitable for this position?

What made you pursue this career?

Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

What qualities do you feel you could bring to our company?

Have your answers prepared for these types of questions but don’t stress over memorising
answers. Just be ready for them, but also be ready for questions you haven’t thought of. You can
brainstorm these when you’re researching the company background.

For every interview you go to, the employer will have spent a great deal of time going through

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your CV and covering letter, as well as every other CV and covering letters from other
candidates. The shortlisted applicants have a great expectation on them to deliver.

Extend the same courtesy to potential employers as they have to give you the opportunity to
present yourself at an interview. Devote your time into learning as much as you can about the
company.

The founding years, the team they have, their past successes and their future goals.

Then factor in those business goals and where your services will help them reach that point.
Show them straight away that you’re going to strive to assist wherever you can. Don’t be
surprised when employers see that you’re knowledgeable about their business, for the questions
such as..

What are we doing now that you feel we could be better at?

This is a question designed to get your optimum input and discover exactly what you’ll bring to
the table. Not every business is perfect and there are always areas that can be improved upon.
If you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of a business, then you’ll be able to come back
to that question with a constructive answer.

That could be that you’ve found their customer service lacking, as customers could be leaving
negative feedback online. Your solution could be that you feel more interaction with customers
could benefit the business. Be sure to mention positives as well as negatives though, for
example: “While customer service seems to lack, there isn’t an issue with the quality of service.
It only appears to be reaching support.”

Employers want their staff to be confident in their work and forthcoming with problem areas
that need to be addressed. Without knowing what’s happening at the forefront of a business,
companies won’t know where to increase their efforts on service improvements. That’s a
quality they look for in staff. The confidence to be forthcoming with feedback and business
suggestions.

In terms of getting ready for the interview and preparing yourself for the questions that could be
put to you, you could look through their social media channels, putting you in touch with some
of the staff currently employed by the firm. This can put you in contact with people who have
already been through the stages that you’re about to embark on.

If you can’t find someone who can offer you advice, or you don’t have a computer, you can use
the local library to research the company online.

Most firms will have information online about their business. There may also be a company
motto they have and strive to adhere to, in which case you should familiarise yourself with those
details.

Being familiar with a company gives employers the knowledge that you’ve already done your
homework and researched into the company background.

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 When you’re equipped with the relevant knowledge about the company, and prepared answers
to anticipated questions, then you’ve the important journey to consider.

It’s good practice to do a trial run to where you have to be, so you know the time involved. It’s
generally good to arrive at an interview 10 minutes earlier than your interview time. It shows
employers you’re punctual.

Another thing you can do is travel to the place of work and get a feel for the company dress
code. This can help you decide on what to wear to your interview.

Your dress code is going to have to be appropriate for the position you’re applying for. A
warehouse assistant job applicant could get away with a smart-casual dress code, but a
warehouse manager on the other hand, will need to be suited and booted to indicate their
professionalism.

Note that there are some outfits that just aren’t suitable to wear for an interview.

Going too under-dressed with waistline miniskirts and bra-like tops isn’t an outfit to wear to an
interview.

Always consider the person who will be interviewing you. They need to feel comfortable talking
to you, as much as you need to comfortable with them. If you have too much on show, it’s going
to be make them feel uncomfortable, in which case, the interview will be rushed through to get
you out the door ASAP.

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Dress to Impress Without
Introduction
Going Overboard

What you wear speaks volumes about your career!

That’s something you should keep in mind, when deciding how to present yourself at an
interview. There are typically three types of dress codes, and your line of work will probably fall
into one of them.

1. Strictly Formal

2. Active Professional

3. Smart Casual

The strictly formal attire

This is the dress code suited to the highly professional careers: solicitors, accountants, officials
in government offices, and managerial types of jobs.

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 In this line of work you have to be of the smartest appearance and wear an outfit that
showcases your professionalism, bringing out your business look.

The dress code needs to be sharp and powerful. That look is done best with power suits. Suits
that are dark in colour and fit snugly to the body.

The look can be personalised for both male and females. Gents can personalise it with a bold,
yet formal business tie. Women can wear pencil skirts (below knee length), with a formal blouse
under the suit jacket.

In terms of accessorising, be careful not to overdo things. Too much bling can take a formal
dress code into the look for an evening out. Wear belts that compliment your outfit, and not
overtake the look. Jewellery should be kept to a minimum too.

For your hair, it’s important that you’re taken seriously. If you’ve had a weekend away at a
Glastonbury festival, with your hair dyed purple, you need to get that back to your natural colour
before an interview to be taken seriously.

The style you wear your hair doesn’t really matter, as long as you’re comfortable with it. The
main thing for formal positions is that you don’t use your looks to get the job, and attempt to
overshadow your skills.

Your skills are what will get you hired and not your appearance. Your appearance only
represents yourself in the business world. Look sharp and polished, as though you’re already
successful in the corporate world, even if you aren’t.

The active professional jobs

Not every job in the world is going to have you in the office all day. If your job requires you
to travel around, such as in the Social Work profession, or perhaps teaching, when you’re
constantly on the go, then pointed shoes, high heels, and tight power suits probably won’t be
your best clothes to represent your career.

For active professional jobs, when you’re on the go, you can showcase that in your interview
apparel. Your best piece of clothing is going to be black trousers. That’s it! A pair of black
trousers can be accessorised with almost any type of clothing.

Men can wear a dress shirt, with an open collar, topping it off with a blazer; or for the ladies, a
simple blouse, in any colour can sharpen the look.

You could also use accessories to dress the look up, such as a necklace to compliment your
blouse.

The Laid Back Look

This type of look is for those types of jobs that are non-qualified roles: typically labouring work,
shop-floor, call centre based and so on.

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Where the company just looks for staff to present themselves smartly, a collar and tie could be
seen as being overly dressed for the position you’re applying for.

The type of dress code for these types of interview settings will call on some common sense.
Tracksuits aren’t appropriate, as it gives off a sense of not really caring about whether or not
you get the position; but on the other hand, wearing a tie could present you as being too smart
for the job you’re applying for.

Your safest dress code in this type of environment is to go with a simple pair of jeans.
Something dark. Dark navy blue jeans, or black.

Try to avoid the washed out looks though as that sort of style is more for out of work wear.
Make sure they’re plain and fit well.

On the top half, you can have tee-shirts, V-necks, sweaters, cardigans or dress shirts. All will look
smart casual, provided they aren’t the kind of t-shirts you’d wear to go skateboarding full of gold,
silver and bling that draws the eye. Keep the colours toned down and neutral.

The great thing with jeans is that you can formalise the look casually, with a simple blazer on
top, or an outerwear cardigan.

Be sure that you wear shoes and not trainers though. The footwear with jeans can take your
look in a completely different direction, taking your look into the sporting look, rather than smart
casual.

A note for those with tattoos

Unless you’re being interviewed for a job in a tattoo parlour, tattoos should not be on show.
Especially in the formal type of interview that’s career orientated.

Tattoos give off the wrong impression and are geared towards your social life, and not for the
workplace.

Wherever tattoos are on your body, keep them covered as much as possible. If you have one
running down your arm, then wear a long sleeved shirt, or a long sleeved top.

If it’s on your neck, you’ll need to wear a collar to cover it up and not an open neck shirt.

A common place that tattoos are on people is around the ankle, or on the wrist. They’re there
but not too visual. If you have those, as small as they may be, still keep them covered. If it’s on
your wrist, then try wearing a thick strapped watch or a bangle.

If it’s on your ankle, then wear a pair of trousers, and not a knee-length skirt.

Present yourself as professionally as possible and don’t give employers an excuse to dismiss
your professionalism to your career.

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 Introduction
Relaxing Your Tone for
Professionalism During Your Interview

Nervousness is a natural part of a job interview, but it’s not exclusive to you. Your interviewer
will also be nervous as this is their first time meeting you. They will have a rough idea of what
to expect from you, from reading your covering letter and CV, but they won’t know who you
are until they meet you. Employers experience nervousness prior to interviewing too. It’s that
unexpectedness that you never know who is going to walk through the door until you get there.

With that in mind, you have to conduct your tone from the get go, to set a relaxed environment
where you and the interviewer can relax and discuss things about the job.

You do this by:

Developing a rapport

This is the first stage of the interview. You need to set the environment for a topical conversation.
Whether it’s formal with a panel of interviewers or a one-to-one interview, you first need to
develop a rapport.

There is a sort of unspoken rule that can really help you out when you need to develop a rapport
almost instantaneously. The rule is to mirror the person you’re trying to communicate with.

When you think of your friends, and how you have rapport with them, there will be certain styles
of communication that are similar to your own. People like to see their personal traits in others,
as it gives them a sense of belonging. However, when you’re in an interview, meeting someone
for the first time, you’ve no idea how that person communicates.

This is where you have to use your powers of observation.

When you first meet your interviewer, you won’t be straight into the nitty gritty of business talk.
You first establish some common ground.

Just think of your interviewer’s office as being their daytime home. You’ve been invited over
for an informal chat. When you go to someone’s home for the first time, they make you feel
welcome. You greet with a handshake and some compliments are shared.

This mindset will take you out of the formal business introductions, and into a mindset of
meeting someone on a personal level. Personal rapport is established at this point as you can
personalise your greeting. Look around the office and see how organised it is, perhaps a family
photo, a computer with stacks of paperwork.

These are all telltale signs of how that person works. You can use those aspects of the office, to

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open a conversation, rather than open with what the weather’s like outside. A compliment on
how you love the look of the paperweight on their desk would be a much better way to get your
interviewer leading into the conversation casually.

As they speak, pay attention to their body language. Do they sit forward, tapping their fingers, or
lean back on their chair, with their arms folded?

Folding arms is evidence of them observing you, so you can then alter your body language to
reflect the observation that they’re using. Just be careful you don’t mimic their interactions
directly. You have to do this subtly.

When you’ve opened communication between you both, a good tip is to pay attention to how the
person is speaking. If they speak fast, brief and to the point, then you need to do the same with
your answers. If they’re looking for examples, let them ask for you to give an example but don’t
offer it without being asked. You could find yourself taking up too much of their time, which they
may not have, since there will be other candidates to interview.

Eye contact

This is vitally important to your rapport. You can’t hold someone’s attention while you’re staring
at the floor. Keep your chin up and your eyes focused on the person interviewing you. This lets
them know you’re alert to what’s being discussed and they aren’t boring you. On the note of
feeling bored, the one thing you cannot do is yawn. Eye contact also gives employers knowledge
that you can communicate effectively and hold the attention of the people you speak to. Don’t
underestimate this part of your interview.

Body language

The body language you use is louder than the words you use. If you say you’re confident in
your abilities to perform on the job, then say it with authority. Don’t sit twiddling your thumbs,
or tugging your shirtsleeve, mumbling about how competent you are. You have to speak
with competency and believe every word you use. Without a solid belief in your own abilities,
you won’t be able to convey your qualities effectively to potential employers. Get a firm
understanding of your capabilities then speak about them with confidence in your interview.

Never apologise for inexperience

You may find that there are certain aspects of a job that you aren’t familiar with. That’s nothing
to be apologetic about. So many people will say in an interview that they’re sorry they don’t have
any particular work experience to showcase their abilities to perform a certain task.

Never apologise for being inexperienced. Turn it into one of your positive attributes.
Acknowledge the inexperience but back it up with the benefits to your employer. You’re a fast
learner and fortunately they can mould you to their requirements by showing you the job they
need doing, without having to break bad habits brought from previous employment.

You bring freshness to the workplace and learn as you go.

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 Let the interviewer lead the interview

Lastly, have patience. Your interviewer will have a process in place to streamline the interview,
letting them find out everything they want to know. It’s important you let them lead the interview,
and don’t interrupt them.

They will have a busy day interviewing other candidates and will have other things they need to
do. Give them the respect of being able to conduct the interview without you throwing them into
another area that can be addressed later. Any questions you have, leave them until you’re asked
at the end of your interview.

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Mastering
Introduction
Your Breathing

Breathing is something that drastically impacts on how well you present yourself. If you’re in an
interview, experiencing nervousness, anxiety, and unable to think creatively, then you probably
need to focus on your breathing.

This area is something you need to practice every day, and not only prior to an interview to relax
on demand.

Meeting new people is going to happen throughout your life, in your personal life and your career.
That brings with it an element of anxiety.

What if you didn’t have to experience excessive nervousness?

Well, you don’t because your breathing is how you can control your emotions keep them in check,
and keep your brain functioning well enough to get you through a job interview.

The mechanics of breathing provides relaxation to the body and the mind. That’s how you can
increase your focus during an interview, but you have to do this efficiently and not in a way that’s
obvious to your interviewer.

The simplest way to control your breathing is to inhale through your nose. As you listen to your
interviewer speaking, keep eye contact with them, while at the same time, in those couple of
seconds, take a slow inhalation of air through your nose, keeping your mouth closed.

Once you’ve inhaled for 2 – 3 seconds, then slightly split your lips a tiny bit and slowly exhale the
air you’ve just inhaled.

The time you spend exhaling should be twice as long as that spent inhaling.

• Inhale through your nose for 2 seconds

• Exhale through your mouth for 4 seconds

Do this exercise before and during an interview and you’ll feel your nerves are calmer, and you’ll
be able to focus more and be more assertive with the answers you give to your interviewer.

This simple breathing exercise isn’t exclusive to job interviews, so regularly practising breathing
exercises can help you improve your confidence and focus.

Effective breathing exercises, such as the one described above, can help you

a) Through an interview
b) In your job
c) In your personal life, by reducing anxiety

Arriving at your interview 10 minutes earlier, gives you the valuable time to practice your
breathing, which will calm your nerves in preparation for meeting your interviewer, or perhaps,
your potential new employer.

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 Keeping Calm and Controlling
Introduction
Your Body Language

Keeping calm and controlling your body language are two different things, which make them
difficult for most to do, especially in a formal environment.

However, there are certain postures you can use to indicate your emotions.

The position of your head

By holding your head up, you signal that you’re attentive to what is being said. Eye contact is
essential at this point.

Going forward from there, you also have to use your body language to express you’re really taking
on board what’s being said to you. In other words you’re not just letting the information goes in
one ear and the other. You’re absorbing the conversation.

This is reflected in your body language, and you do it by sitting yourself up straight. Cross your
arms, and place a finger over your mouth, with your thumb pointing downwards, and placed
under your chin.

You’ve probably expressed this type of body language several times in the past. It happens
naturally as your interests are piqued. You start to get your thinking cap on when you’re
interested in what’s being said. Subconsciously, your arms will fold or cross across your lap, and
you’ll find one hand rising towards your mouth with your index finger pointing upwards, covering
your mouth, and your thumb will be under your chin.

This shows that you’re interested and engaged in the conversation, so when you’re being spoken
to during an interview, try to include this body posture to show your enthusiasm for the job.

Sit up straight, cross your arms, and place an index finger to your lips, and your thumb beneath
your chin. This type of body language expresses your interest in the conversation.

Know when to move your arms

You have to make the shift from listening to speaking. When listening, you should try to have the
interested body posture, signalling you’re fully coherent with the discussion. As you transition
from listening to speaking, your body language will shift too.

It’s only natural, but what you need to try to avoid is using your hands too much. Waving your
hands around too much distracts people’s attention. They’ll wind up listening to your body and
not what you’re saying.

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If you have that problem, (often due to nerves), then try intertwining your fingers together, so you
aren’t speaking with your hands, and instead move them from a crossed position, to your lap.

Intertwining your fingers together, and then having your two index fingers touch together is
a sign of confidence. For those who play poker, or have watched the shows on TV, you might
notice this in players when they’re dealt a strong hand. As much as poker players try to conceal
their hands, the body language they use can be a signal that they’re extremely confident in the
hand they have being a winner.

You can use that same type of gesture in your body language during an interview. When you’re
speaking to your interviewer, intertwine your fingers, across your lap. You’ll feel confident in
what you’re saying and your body posture will be one of confidence.

Those are the main two postures you should try using during an interview, alongside your
breathing techniques.

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 How to Approach
Introduction
the Salary Topic

With businesses being competitive and paying more attention than ever to their overheads, there
are many positions advertised that don’t give specifics on salaries. This is when you see jobs
advertised with lines such as:

• Salary range: TBA

• Competitive salary

• Salary dependent on experience

These statements leave the salary open for discussion and the question is then raised during the
interview.

If you’re attending an interview with no idea on what you can expect to be paid, you could do one
of two things. Undervalue your true worth to a company and land a job without the pay you’d
expect to get elsewhere, or on the other hand, you could price yourself out of a job.

You will have to dig around what other companies are paying in your area of work, to get a
ballpark figure on the salary you can expect to be paid.

That said, you don’t have to go right into the salary expectations when you’re asked. There is a
technique that’s extremely beneficial to use in these situations, and that’s known as deflection.

When you’re asked what your salary expectations are, you can simply deflect the question back
at your employer. You have to be careful how you approach this though. Confidence is key, as
without having the confidence it can come across as defensive, or at worst, aggressive.

The subtle way to deflect the salary topic back to your interviewer is to say something like you’re
flexible in terms of the salary you can expect from the position. You understand that you don’t
have all the skills, but at the same time, you have the qualities to provide a valuable service.

The deflecting question you relay back to your interviewer is about value, and there are three
components to address.

Dropping value into your salary discussion

A statement along the lines of:

“As I’d be able to add value to your business through my skills and personal attributes, and also
be valued within your organisation, how would you value the position yourself?”
“Do you have a budget in mind?”

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Then pause!

The pause is going to feel awkward but stick with it and give the employer time to think. Some
people expect this, but more often than not, they’re not expecting the value to be mentioned
three times and won’t be ready with an answer. They’ll be caught off guard, and could throw you
a bone by giving you a figure. That could be higher or lower.

If that figure is lower than your expected salary, you could address that and ask for more, but
most will be uncomfortable with that solution. In that case, you can discuss the opportunity
for performance-based assessments, or financial incentives that could boost your salary, or if
there’s an increase the company offers after a certain amount of service.

The most important thing you can do is keep your tone upbeat and don’t get downhearted when
salary crops up. If it’s lower than you imagined, try negotiating. If the interview has reached the
salary topic, then you’re nearly into a job. If the interviewer didn’t think you’d be suitable, they
wouldn’t ask how much you’re going to cost them to hire you. So stick in there at this point.

Keep your tone positive and look towards how you can increase the salary, and if there’d be
an opportunity to progress into a more financially viable role for you, and if there’s going to be
further training you could do to further your work within the organisation.

You could also find that if you’ve performed extremely well during the interview, that you have a
higher than expected salary package offered to you.

After that pause though, another thing could happen is that the question is deflected back at
you. You can’t deflect every time the question comes at you, so you need to address this if you
find yourself being caught in a deflection trap. Some employers are savvy to the technique,
particularly in graduate type jobs and corporate recruitment.

You have two ways to come back at this point. The first is to be direct and let them know politely
that you’d rather not commit at this stage in the process until you have sufficient time to think
things over.

The second is to just throw a figure out there. If you’re going to put a figure on the table, make it
an educated one, based on research into what your line of work will generally pay in the industry.
Don’t say you’d appreciate a £40,000 salary but would settle for £10,000. Salaries are a serious
topic for businesses and not something employers take lightly. This has to be taken seriously.

When you put your figure to them, be confident in that figure. Know that you’re worth that
amount, and don’t add to your statement that it’s negotiable. That casts doubt on what you
value yourself at.

Provide a ballpark figure of between x amount and y amount.

Then pause!

Give the employer time to consider what they have and let them open the next part of the

61
 conversation. Give them the pressure to decide and don’t make the decision for them. That
can happen when a discussion freezes for too long, that the interviewee interrupts the thinking
process and comes in with a new lowered figure.

Regardless of whether you choose to use the direct or deflect approach to the salary question,
remain upbeat, speak with a smile, and be patient during the long pause that’s sure to arise
and create a sense of awkwardness. During the silence, remind yourself that you wouldn’t be
discussing salaries if you weren’t a serious candidate for the job. That will surely put a smile on
your face and increase your confidence.

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The Power
Introduction
of the Pause!

During the course of your job interview there are going to be times of complete silence. This
isn’t your cue to start rambling to the person interviewing you. The pauses of silence can be
influenced by yourself or the interviewer.

If it’s yourself, then you can control the pausing circumstances. If you’re asked a question and are
unsure of the answer, you can take a moment to think things over. Just a moment though and
not 10 minutes. It’s better to ask for a moment to consider the question, than to answer with filler
words, such as “eh?” Let me think... just a moment?” You’d be better off in those circumstances
just to say the truth:

“Good question. Can you give me a moment to think about that?”

Control your breathing, consider the question and come back with a constructive answer. Just
don’t do it too often.

The other times you can use the power of the pause in an interview is before you state
something you want your employer to remember about you. If you went to night classes to
obtain a certificate that lead to an internal promotion in your career history, that’s when you can
use a pause to emphasize that. For example:

“When I worked with ________, starting out as a kitchen porter, I was interested in progressing
into more responsibilities within the company. Mostly, that earlier job was inspired by the head
chef. [pause] That’s why I rotated shifts with colleagues so I could complete my NVQ 1 in
cookery, starting my career in this profession. [pause] (opportunity for interviewer to respond. If
no response, you can continue with a brief sentence...) I got to this stage in my career from that
initial inspiration as a kitchen porter. [pause]”

The pause time gives you and your interviewer time to consider what’s just been said.

There will be occasions during the interview when it’s the person conducting the interview who
initiates a pause. This could be to take notes on what’s being said during the interview, to assist
them later in selecting the best suited candidate for the job. You’ll have to respect their time as
they are doing their job efficiently by taking notes on what you’re saying during the interview.

Other times, the interviewer could pause while still looking at you, and not take notes. This could
be due to them expecting to hear more. In these situations, just politely ask if they’d like you to
elaborate. Sometimes it may just be something in particular that you’ve said, and they haven’t
fully grasped what you meant, and ask you to elaborate on that specific area.

Pauses during interviews are going to be inevitable but they are also powerful. During your

63
 time speaking about your qualities, qualifications or work experience, a short pause before
important elements can be the influential factor that makes those statements memorable to
your employer. They can increase your opportunities to impress and land the job you’re being
interviewed for.

On the other hand, if your interviewer is taking a pause from talking to write down notes, and
you interrupt them at that point, it could be considered as rude. That could be scribbled in their
notes and rule you out of the running for the job.

Take short pauses during an interview and allow your interviewer to do the same. It’ll let the
interview run smoothly, without unnecessary pressure on yourself or the person conducting the
interview.

The more relaxed you and your interviewer are, the more productive the interview will be.

The more productive your interview, the better your chances of it being successful are.

A successful interview will result in you landing the job of your dreams.

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Further Resources
Introduction
for Your Career

Job Boards

CV Library http://www.cv-library.co.uk
General Job Board with over 60,000 jobs advertised
Jobsite http://www.jobsite.co.uk/
General Job Board with over 40,000 jobs advertised
Indeed http://www.indeed.co.uk/
Job search engine
Total Jobs http://www.totaljobs.com/
General Job Board with over 90,000 jobs advertised
Monster http://www.monster.co.uk/

General Job Board

Fish 4 Jobs http://www.fish4.co.uk/

General Job board with over 17000 jobs listed
JobServe http://www.jobserve.com
General Job board with over 7000 jobs listed
MyJobGroup http://www.myjobgroup.co.uk/

Careers Advice

Be-a http://be-a.co.uk
National Careers Service https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/
Prospects http://www.prospects.ac.uk/
NHS Careers http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/

CV Writing

CV Tips http://www.cvtips.com/
Business Balls http://www.businessballs.com/curriculum.htm
CV Lizard http://www.cvlizard.com

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Courtesy of