The countdown to the second Career Thought Leaders’ Conference (CTL) has started – within less than 48 hours I will be boarding a plane from Newcastle via London Heathrow to Baltimore. You might think that’s a lot of effort, a big expense and not really necessary, considering that there are UK based careers conferences I could attend instead. Admittedly, the first time I attended a US conference (CTL 2010), it did feel slightly extravagant (my accountant certainly thought so!). But it did not take me long to realise what a wonderful experience and wise investment it was.

Here are six reasons why I am returning to Baltimore for the second time:

1. Relationship building: In a virtual world it is easy to forge relationships over distance. It still amazes me how well you get to know colleagues from across the world through social media or by participating in group training courses over the phone – especially if you get together week after week. But nothing beats meeting people face to face – there is just a different quality about it. During our CCMC and CJSS classes we all kept saying: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have a reunion in Baltimore? And now, at least some of us get the chance!
2. Serving international clients: Many of our clients are highly mobile professionals. They are keen to seek out new opportunities, often outside their home countries.  They expect you to be knowledgeable about international career management practices. As an example: I just helped an Indian client who I met during a workshop in The Netherlands land a job in the US. I doubt I could have done this without my ongoing interest in international career management topics and an appreciation of how things work in other countries. What I learnt at CTL 2010 paid off very quickly.
3. Staying ahead of the game: Our industry and practices are changing at such a fast pace. A lot of the new technologies and tools come from the US – whether it’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or specific online career management tools such as WinTheView, JibberJobber and others. What happens in the US now is likely to come to the UK and Continental Europe in a short while – all the more reason to check out what innovations you have in stock!
4. Inspiration: The UK careers industry is going through the greatest shake up in recent history. After years of expansion, we suddenly see a sharp contraction, with thousands of careers advisors losing their (state) jobs, the outplacement industry under severe pressure to lower their fees or do more with less, and private clients hesitant to spend money. Here, the mood in the careers sector is very subdued. In contrast, the US careers industry looks mature yet vibrant, innovative and energetic (at least from a distance). The buzz at CTL alone will help me get back into the spirit of possibility, optimism and decisive action.
5. Preparation: International conferences can be a bigger investment than attending regional or national ones (okay, this might be different in the US as travel distances are so vast even if you attend a national conference). But because I invest more, I also plan and prepare more. That can only be a good thing!
6. Sense of adventure: I love going to conferences, wherever they are, but conferences abroad are extra special. The foreign location adds to the excitement and all the new impressions will be food for the soul for the next twelve months. My two “must see attractions” in Baltimore this year are: The American Visionary Art Museum and a return to the National Aquarium, both conveniently located on the Inner Harbour.

Ruth Winden

Before we get together at the Career Thought Leaders Conference in Baltimore in mid March, there is another important date for our diaries: the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on 8 March.

Visit the official website, and you will see the buzz and excitement growing by the minute – more and more events are being added as you read this post.  All the world over, thousands of festivities will take place to remember, honour and celebrate women’s economic, political and social achievements.

In the UK alone, there are currently 365 events listed – from grassroots events, business clothes swops for unemployed women, to women entrepreneur conferences and the Global “Join Women on the Bridge” event.

Annie Lennox – lead singer of Eurhythmics, solo artist, political campaigner, and an admired and cherished role model by many women baby boomers like me – will open the London event by leading the walk across the Millennium Bridge.

The centenary in 2011 will be a very special day – also in the light of the political developments in the Middle East and Northern Africa. And although so much has been achieved, so much still needs to be done. As women in the western world, we might have gained the right to work – but we are still a long way off equal pay for equal work, and a fairer representation on company boards.

To me the day is also a wonderful reminder of the importance of our work as career professionals. Client by client, we make a positive contribution to the workplace, whether it is helping mothers return to work after a career break, coaching executives to break through the glass ceiling or supporting new women business start-ups. (And yes, I am not negating all the important work we do with male clients, but it is International Women’s Day after all).

The centenary also made me realise how important it is to keep sowing the seeds: as a rebellious teenager and student of history, I devoured books by Mary Wollstonecraft, Clara Zetkin, Rosa Luxemburg and Emmeline Pankhurst. To this day I have kept my collection of women suffragists posters and postcards. So when my 13 year old son told me that he was now studying British women suffragists at school, and that somehow all these women’s names and faces had looked incredibly familiar, I couldn’t help but smile: “Happy 100th International Women’s Day!”

Ruth Winden

Technological advances have opened up so many new ways of learning about careers. Gone are the days when reams and reams of careers information in black and white print was all we had at our disposal. Of course, there is a need for in-depth factual careers information – once we have managed to engage people in exploring careers in the first place.

The UK FutureTrack study from 2009 showed that almost two thirds of second year university students had not visited their careers services – despite all the effort Higher Education institutions have put into enticing students to make use of campus employment services. Almost 66% – a percentage that is staggeringly high, especially in the light of current unemployment (or underemployment) levels amongst university graduates. Survey results like these make me wonder how we can make careers information more accessible and appealing to a generation of young people who have grown up in the internet age. 

I came across a number of websites which try new ways of sharing information about career topics. Some approaches are more novel than others, but altogether they provide interesting insights into how to engage (young) people in thinking about their future:

Mind maps

The WISE (“Women into Science and Engineering”) campaign uses pictorial mind maps to raise awareness of the breadth of career options in STEM subjects amongst young women. If you like visuals or mind maps, you are bound to find these beautiful illustrations of career options in engineering, physics, mobile technology and the natural world intriguing (and then hopefully go on to explore these options further). It is easy to see why these mind maps appear under the “fun stuff”!
WISE pictorial mindmaps

Stories  

The “I could” project has grown to an impressive collection of more than 1000 short films and articles – “starring” real life professionals (and some celebrities) and the career choices they made. The video stories give fascinating insights into what people do in a plethora of careers, from athlete, senior marketing manager or vice dean. The story tellers reveal candidly what they find interesting in their jobs, what they find challenging or boring, how they made career decisions and why, what mistakes they made in their careers etc. The video clips are filmed and edited by professionals, but not censored. Therefore, the site has a reputation of showing authentic and “real” careers information. A Youth Board, consisting of 16-25 year olds, works closely with the “I could” project to ensure this careers site remains useful and appealing to young people: Icould project
(Full disclosure: Icould.com is linked to a previous employer of mine in the 1990s: CRAC – The Careers Research & Advisory Centre).

Another site that uses video stories to inform and engage its audience is the “If We Can You Can” project. It is a regional campaign in the North East of England to raise awareness of entrepreneurship as a career choice. The aim is to connect budding entrepreneurs and established business owners and showcase role models of successful entrepreneurs. Again, video clips and stories feature strongly on this site, together with access to in-depth knowledge, resources and an online mentor matching process to link up experienced business people with novices If We Can You Can

For the video clips, click on http://www.ifwecanyoucan.tv/

What novel internet based methods have you come across that help young people find careers information?

Ruth Winden

“Fantastic careers programme – but we can’t justify running another one in the current economic climate.”

The UK is facing the biggest public spending cuts since World War II, imposed by the newly formed British Coalition Government.  The extent of the cuts is breathtaking, and everyone will be affected in one way or other: public sector workers, suppliers, contractors, and of course the general public.

So what can you do as a career professional whose contracts are dependent on public sector funding? Here are a few strategies that we have discussed in our UK networks of career professionals:

1.     Renegotiate your services

If there is no money left to run tried and tested career programmes, suggest more cost-effective alternatives. For instance, instead of 1:1 career consultations, could you introduce a group coaching programme? If you run workshops for 20 people, could you increase numbers to 25 to achieve a lower cost per person? If your clients consider you a valued resource, they’d rather come to a practical solution than give up your programmes altogether. The challenges are obvious: a) how far do you compromise before the quality suffers, and b) how do you get clients to understand that the results might be different?  

2.     Repackage your services

Career development is out – outplacement support is in. That’s the overall message from public sector clients. They have a huge challenge on their hands in justifying any expenditure. You can repackage a career transition programme one of two ways: If your programme will help people move into new jobs before the organisation has to make them redundant, you’re saving the organisation money and that’s an easier internal sell. Or, you could provide an outplacement support programme for those affected workers.

3.     Become an associate

For some of us, work has dried up completely. Consider becoming an associate of a larger careers firm. Yes, you won’t earn as much as before, but it will provide some steady income and still leave time to find new markets for your own work.  

4.     Collaborate with other independent consultants

With the major public sector reorganisations ahead, there will still be large career and outplacement contracts out for tender. As individual career professionals, we often don’t qualify as suppliers because we don’t have the required delivery capacity. Collaborate with other independent consultants and find out how you can tender together. You will have to create a new company, a separate entity from your individual practices. It will take some work and someone will need to drive the process, but it could be a viable alternative. 

5.     Increase the number of private sector clients

Can you grow your client base of commercial organisations? Apparently, the “War for Talent” has started again in professions such as accountancy, HR, IT and the engineering and technical sectors http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/7929183/War-for-talent-resumes-as-salaries-climb.html. And talent management programmes are resurfacing. If you have experience in these areas, you should be able to identify new income streams.

What wisdom can you share that will help UK career consultants keep their businesses going?  Please comment below.

Ruth Winden

Ilana Levitt’s and Donna Sweidan’s blog post this week about “Working the Mommy Track” struck a chord with me. As a working mother and “trailing spouse” with three relocations within Europe under my belt, I am pretty familiar with the challenges of combining career and parenthood. And so are many of my female professional clients, those who rightfully “want it all” – a fulfilling career AND the chance to be around for their children as they grow up.  

Many working mothers want to return to work after maternity leave or after an extended career break, but on a part-time basis. Unfortunately, most part-time jobs aren’t in line with their previous professional achievements and roles. So they are often forced to choose between undesirable part-time work, self-employment or full-time employment that takes them away from their family.

Thankfully, a few years ago, a number of enterprising women in the UK decided to put a stop to all that. They were convinced that there must be employers who can clearly see the benefits of employing highly educated, motivated and loyal staff on more flexible terms, such as job sharing.  

A key argument was that if employer and working parent can find a mutually beneficial arrangement, both sides will gain. The working parent finds that happy medium between job satisfaction, attractive benefits and the chance to spend time with their children. Most would think twice before giving up on such an arrangement. For the employer, that means less need for costly recruitment and training.

So these enterprising working mothers made it their mission to find interesting, challenging, appropriately paid part-time positions in the UK for working mothers (and fathers) – and their success has been inspiring! If you or your clients want to find out more about these types of opportunities, check out the websites listed below:

www.womenlikeus.org.uk

www.mumandworking.co.uk

www.jobs4mothers.com

www.motheratwork.co.uk

But there is one caveat: so far, most initiatives and job opportunities are based in London and the South East. My hope is that over time, these initiatives will expand across the UK. Surely, there must be employers in other parts of the country who want to reap the benefits of employing highly educated and motivated professionals?

In my next blog post, I will write about how the emergency budget decisions of the new Conservative/Liberal Coalition Government are likely to affect job prospects in Great Britain.

Ruth Winden

Imagine …

… you have been working for the same company for 20 years. You have made the most of the opportunities presented to you, mastered challenging projects and achieved steady progression. You enjoy your growing responsibilities and the perks that go with it. You are convinced that you have managed your career well.

And then, one day, it happens. You are told that you will be made redundant. Your job is gone.

After the initial shock, disbelief and anger, you meet with a career coach to discuss your options. The first thing you hear is that the most promising way of finding your next job is through networking. “Networking? Me? I don’t have any networks! I’ve been with the same company for two decades – how am I supposed to have any networks?”

Since the start of the UK recession, I have heard this response many times from my clients. They literally cannot see and feel how they are linked to others. However much I promote the idea and outline the benefits of networking, they’ll stick with the overused, ineffective job search methods like trawling Internet job sites for hours and hours.

I need to challenge their view that the length of service with one single employer can only be a disadvantage (i.e., limited and fewer contacts). To help my clients overcome this sense of hopelessness and increase their chances of identifying new opportunities, I know they need to see some results. And quickly.

To shift their thinking, I work with them to identify the networks that they have developed over time, not despite working for one employer, but because of it. And help them appreciate that the quality of these long-time contacts can be powerful, even if there are fewer of them.

Finding the networking riches in long-term employment

First, we classify the different categories of people they have met and worked with through their entire time with their organisation. These are the six categories we start with:

1. Internal departments & functions worked in and with

2. Internal (cross-functional) projects & specific  initiatives

3. Internal & external customers/clients/service users/…

4. Internal/external suppliers

5. Professional development activities & internal and  external training courses

6. Previous colleagues

Next, we draw a networking map with a section for each category. Then, we work in reverse chronological order, filling in all of the names. Seeing their networks evolve in front of their eyes like this seems to make all the difference. In black and white, their networking possibilities just seem more real.

Moving on, we use different coloured highlighters to identify their strongest personal working relationships (e.g., orange is for the “warmest” contacts they feel most comfortable reaching out to). This is where they will start.

Once they can see that there is a way forward, and they start to get positive responses, we expand their network maps with other obvious categories, from professional associations to university alumni and personal contacts.

We also pay attention to the colleagues who have left the organisation in previous years, in the hope that they have settled into new positions elsewhere. Getting back in touch with these contacts is not nearly as challenging as my clients fear  – thanks to the various online networks such as LinkedIn, People 123, etc.

In one instance, a client who had worked for the same employer for 28 years told me that news of his redundancy had spread like wildfire amongst previous colleagues who had lost their jobs. They all had the same message for him: We know what it’s like to rebuild your career. But we’ve come out of it the other way, and so can you! Get in touch and we’ll introduce you to our new networks!

Ruth Winden

In my last blog post, I shared resources about the UK Labour Market and Employment Information; Occupational Information and Professional Membership Organisations. All in the hope that you’d gain a better understanding of the British job market.

In this second part of “Back to Basics”, let’s look at other aspects of accessing the British Job Market: UK newspapers and magazines, job boards, and recruiters.

1. Newspapers and Magazines – local, regional and national ones – still play a distinct role in advertising vacancies in the UK (at least for the time being) – despite the recession and the growing importance of social media for finding job openings. If you are not familiar with the media landscape in Britain, www.mediauk.com is a fabulous tool. Here you’ll find the right publications, whether it’s in a specific location or a professional field.  Not sure which newspapers cover Manchester, Edinburgh or London? Or which magazines cater for senior managers and executives? Simply search the alphabetical directories for newspapers or magazines (by city, region or keywords such as “management”), click on the web links and go straight to the relevant online job postings of the respective newspapers/magazines.

2. Job Boards – I have spent hours trying to find the “ultimate” free online UK directory of Job Boards. To no avail! I start to think one single comprehensive source of job boards doesn’t exist, or at least there is none that’s comparable to the in-depth AIRS directory in the US. (And if you know where to find THE UK online job board listing, please share the link with us!).

Here are two user-friendly directories to begin your UK job board search: UK Recruiter Community http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/jobboards/executive.htm; and the accompanying website to Online Recruitment Magazine http://www.onrec.com/directory/recruitment/.

And do make sure you save online job search time by using aggregate boards. Aggregate boards scour a wide range of job boards based on the keywords you use as your job search criteria. If you have used aggregate boards in the US, here are the UK equivalent sites: www.indeed.co.uk; www.simplyhired.co.uk; www.jobrapido.co.uk

3. Recruitment Agencies – with more than 135,000 UK based recruiters and candidate researchers, the choice of recruiters can be overwhelming.

A good starting point is the UK member directory of the REC (The Recruitment and Employment Confederation), http://www.rec.uk.com/, where you can search for sector-specific recruiters across the UK, but also in specific locations. Handy are also the “local labour market intelligence reports” across all UK regions, plus regional contacts, resources and labour market trends http://www.rec.uk.com/regions-sectors/regions.

A website site that has caught my attention is www.hirescores.com – an online community for job seekers, employers and recruiters alike. The site gives candidates the opportunity to provide 360 feedback about their recruitment experience. It sounds like a triple WIN: Recruiters and employers get the chance to get candid feedback on the recruitment process (and make changes accordingly); job seekers can access the rankings of recruitment agencies and make an informed choice about whom to approach for their job search.  At least that’s the idea – it will be interesting to see how this site develops over time …

4. Headhunters – As a comprehensive resource, I recommend the title Headhunters and How to Use Them – A Guide for Organisations and Individuals, by Nancy Garrison Jenn, published by The Economist / Profile Books (ISBN - 13: 978-1-86197-734-2). Just bear in mind that with the publication date being 2005, some of the names and contact details will have changed by now. A quick online search or visit to LinkedIn should do the trick.

I trust that by providing some of the basic information about accessing the British job market, you have at least a few resources now to get the ball rolling. And I am well aware that there are other job market topics that I have not covered yet, such as my favourite – networking.

Is there a subject you are particularly interested in? Why don’t you drop me an email? I’ll then get the chance to answer your specific questions in future blog posts.

Greetings from the UK, and “Happy Job Hunting”!

Ruth Winden

If you want to get a better understanding of the British job market but don’t know where to begin, here are my recommendations on how to get off to a great start:

1. General Labour Market and Employment Information:

With 135 000 members, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD, is the largest and most influential association for human resource professionals in the UK. Even as a non-member, you will find vast amounts of well-researched information on their website www.cipd.co.uk.

Look out for factsheets, reports and pod casts on topics ranging from employee relations to salary surveys, from employment law to career management, from unemployment figures to recruitment and talent management practices.

2. Occupational Information:

In the US, many of you will be using O-Net for occupational information. In the UK, we career professionals tend to refer to “the UK’s official graduate careers website” www.prospects.ac.uk. Don’t let the focus on graduate careers deter you – the site provides up to date and detailed information on career fields, employment sectors and occupational profiles relevant to professionals at many different stages of their careers.

The wide range of “occupational profiles” and “sector overviews” will be a good starting point if (a) You need to familiarise yourself with the technical terms used for your profession in the UK; (b) You want to learn more about specific types of jobs and the way they are performed in the UK (the occupational profiles cover job descriptions, employment prospects, working conditions, training and entry requirements, career development and career progression, professional membership associations and sources of job openings).

3. Professional Membership Organisations:

Professional associations offer a wealth of careers information, professional development opportunities and rich networks you can tap into. Yet in my view, they are far too often ignored by professionals as an information and job search tool.

How can you find out whether there is a relevant professional association for you in the UK? (a) Visit your own association’s website to check for links within its global network – in many cases associations collaborate on international projects or have affiliate systems in place. For instance, via the American Chemical Society (ACS) you will be able to identify the UK based Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC); (b) Check out the listings of the UK Trade Association Forum www.taforum.org; (c) Use a search engine – you are bound to uncover useful connections with UK professionals, however small or large your professional niche may be.

In part II, I will share information about UK based job boards, recruitment agencies and professional online networks.

Until then!

Winston Churchill’s famous quote that “Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language” still holds true today – also for our careers industry. When I talk with my American colleagues about CVs or résumés, or we discuss our latest mentoring projects, I quickly realise that we may be speaking the same language, but actually, we do mean very different things.

When Wendy asked me to come on board of this blog to provide a British perspective on careers and jobs, I couldn’t wait to get started. But then I found myself wondering – what would you Americans want to learn about the UK? Let’s face it: the truth is that we in the UK tend to look towards you in the US for inspiration!

Especially over the last few years, us Brits have realised we’d better watch out for innovations and technological breakthroughs that arrive from the other side of the Atlantic, whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, or writing achievement-driven CVs for a Blackberry. At times, it’s hard to keep up with the relentless pace and the growing list of things we are now supposed to be doing as savvy job seekers or  highly trained career professionals. So it takes us a little while to catch up with you, let alone implement the myriad of tools and technologies you develop. For example, many of us in Britain thought that Twitter would never be big in this country, let alone become an accepted job search tool. It just didn’t seem a good fit with our culture. But hey, how wrong could we be?

In the UK, we do things differently. We have our own traditions, beliefs and practices, and we also have HR regulations set by the European Union to comply with. That explains why, for instance, many years after the launch of LinkedIn, we suddenly have fundamental debates about the best practice of using LinkedIn in the workplace, and the legal implications for both employees and employers. And, we work to identify what job seekers and recruiters need to watch out for when it comes to visual CVs and video blogging, due to our strict anti-discrimination laws.

So I hope that sharing our debates and best practices in the UK will be of interest to you in the US – whether you are a professional in the careers community or an active job seeker wanting to move over here. But I also want my blog posts to be highly practical: I want to give you lots of resources, tools and tips, so you’ll know how to navigate a successful job search and career in Britain.

I look forward to sharing the practical and the topical with you – all about jobs and careers in the UK. Wouldn’t it be great if all of us in the careers community developed a common language?

Until next time, 

Ruth