Insight

The current economic situation is a cause for serious concern for all of us. While our other article in this month’s newsletter conveys a sense of cautious optimism. The fact remains that some of us may have to face career challenges.  In some circumstances we may even have to face a career transition. Our definition of a Career Transition is “a movement or passage of one’s career as a result of some fundamental push or trigger point such as retrenchment, restructuring, re-engineering or a desire to adopt a new skill or to move to a new environment.” 

At the point where the career transition is triggered, people generally go through a series of emotions, at all stages of this transition one must find a way to manage these emotions either through personal support from family and friends or through professional counseling or all of the above. The important thing is that a person has to move through a series of positive steps to revive or rediscover ones career based on three principles;

-          Know Yourself

-          Know Your Landscape

-          Market Yourself in the Context of the Landscape 

Knowing yourself, this situation is an opportunity for you to really get to know yourself again. Think about your values, understand your career personality (on-line tools are available at websites that offer psychometric testing such as DISC). Take a look at your core skills and be able to articulate this. Understand clearly what gives you a competitive advantage over others in your chosen field. Study the market and ask yourself if your current skills match what the market needs and if not execute a plan to acquire those skills. Lastly, something you should do on a regular basis, have a serious review of your financial situation and take what measures you can to alleviate this if necessary. 

Knowing your landscape involves doing research on the industry you are in and understanding the trends. Find out where the opportunities are and which are the technology, product, services and companies that will thrive in the current market. 

Finally, prepare yourself with the tools to effectively market yourself. Read up on how to build your resume to properly (see our July’s newsletter) convey your strengths and track record on achievements. Brush up on interview techniques and network, network, network……