A Continuous Career Life Cycle
Frances Trought, author of Brilliant Employability Skills: How to Stand Out from the Crowd in the Graduate Job Market and Senior Lecturer in Enterprise and Strategy at LSBU has written her top five employability tips for LSBU Alumni.
Employability is not an end in itself. Once you begin your career, then you need to continually reflect upon your employability skills to ensure your skills are still aligned with the needs of your employer and your industry sector. The environment within which companies operate is continually changing, developing and advancing. For instance IT is continually changing and influencing the services and products being developed by companies and how they are delivered. Social media has had an impact on all sectors in one shape or form with companies utilising social networks both informally and formally to communicate with their target audience. As a result you can’t afford to stand still now that you have secured a graduate position, as life is constantly moving!
As you develop, mature and move through your career lifecycle, your needs and wants will also change. What you defined as career goals and ambitions, may change as you get older or your circumstances change. To progress in your career your employability skills will also need to be enhanced and developed in line with skills expected at more senior level. You will need to review the skills and requirements within your company and sector to advance to a more senior position.
During the current climate of recession, redundancies and a challenging global market you need to stay abreast of the changing skill requirements within your sector.
Top 5 Employability Tips
- Continue to research and explore new opportunities to develop additional skills.
- Continue to develop your interview, CV writing and application skills
- Assess your skills against those required for senior positions in your company and sector. Develop an action plan to meet any gaps
- Set yourself a personal development challenge every 6-12 months to ensure you advance your skillset each year
- Don’t stand still – your skills should be advancing at the same speed as your sector. Don’t fall behind!
Why not visit Your Development, which details all the help and advice available to LSBU Alumni Association members