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Where Do I Start?
An exclusive E-course from Clare Jaques and Phillippa Stowey |
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Welcome to the "Where Do I Start?" E-course.
It's important that you either bookmark this page, so you can return to it whenever you want. It can't be reached from elsewhere in the site.
You can return as often as you like, to read the course sections and complete the exercises.
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Table Of Contents |
Introduction
Where do I start?
What's My Job-Hunting Style?
Why the way you approach job hunting has such an impact on your success.
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
Do you really want to leave? From the frying pan into the fire?
What Motivates Me About My Work?
The key to finding a job you'll enjoy.
How To Spot The Job I Want
How to read between the lines of the job advert.
Deciding Whether To Apply
How to save yourself months of wasted applications
The Job Looks Great - What's The Catch?
Don't get caught out by clever marketing in the job advert!
Mum's The Word - Top Tips For Keeping Job-Hunting Secret
Top tips for keeping your job-hunting a secret.
Common Job-Hunting Worries
Don't let them sabotage your chances of success.
And Finally...
What's next?
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Introduction |
Where do I start?
You’ve made the decision to look for a new job.
Maybe you’ve just had enough – something’s happened that was the final straw and you have to leave. Maybe you’ve been “assisted” in leaving – it happens. Or maybe you’ve seen a job ad that intrigues you enough to drag yourself out of your working routine and take some action.
So what’s the first step?
Well, you could jump right in, send off a CV that you sat up till 2 a.m. scribbling and hope for the best.
That’s what most people do.
That’s why most people end up either chasing job after job, but without success, or working in a role they eventually realise they didn’t really want.
Research shows that hardly any of us are actually doing our “dream job”. Few of us are even realistically aiming towards it.
Most of us end up doing a job that we enjoy for the first few months and then drop into the comfort zone of liking it just enough to get by, but not hating it enough to move.
Is that what you really want?
Ok, so maybe a “dream job” isn’t realistic in your eyes. But surely you deserve to be doing a job that’s as close to your dreams as possible?
Maybe it’ll take you a couple of moves to get the experience and training you need. But if you don’t start planning and working towards it now, you’ll retire and realise you missed your target.
The aim of Where Do I Start? is to offer you a challenge and an opportunity:
Find out what really motivates you about your work and move closer to your dream job.
Why bother?
- Recruiters like to employ people who are genuine and enthusiastic.
If you know what you want to do, this shines through in your application and job interview. We’ll show you how.
- If you’re selective about the jobs you apply for, you have more time:
To do your homework and prepare thoroughly. This dramatically increases your chances of getting the job offer you want.
- If you know what you want, you’re much more likely to get it.
Otherwise you’re like a ship with no course, relying on chance and good luck to take you to your destination.
- By knowing what motivates you, you can spot that in a job advert.
Then you can focus your applications on roles you know you’ll enjoy, rather than wasting time on blanket applications for jobs that, deep-down, you know you’ll end up hating.
- Few candidates bother to go “back to basics” and think about what they want.
This really shows in job interviews and applications. Think about it: “why do you want to work here?” and “where do you see yourself in 5-10 years’ time?” are typical interview questions. Don’t you want to be able to give compelling answers? Knowing what you want gives you a huge advantage.
- Sometimes we realise we don’t really want to leave our current job…
... we just want to change it. And, if that’s possible, it can save a lot of time and effort.
- Isn’t life too short to waste it on jobs that aren’t really you?
Wouldn’t you rather be doing a job you enjoy with a company that you like working for? Would you like to avoid a CV full of jobs you only did for a short time, because they weren’t right for you?
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Next: What's My Job-Hunting Style?
Why your attitude has such an impact on your success. |
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