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Careers Advice
Whatever your position on the career ladder - whether you're thinking about improving your chances of
promotion, starting out on your career path, returning to work or even considering a complete change of
direction - you will need sound advice to help you make well-planned decisions.
Your first task is to assess your current skills and the type of position you'd like to pursue.
There are various ways in which you can do this; why not try this simple method called a SWOT analysis?
Divide a box into four sections, labelled Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats
(as shown below). Read the notes in each box and consider the key points before you complete each one.
Strengths
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What are your strengths? |
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Professional qualifications and others - don't forget in-house training |
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Your work experience |
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Think about the skills and knowledge that you have acquired |
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Other life experiences |
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Have you been involved with any community activities, such as brownie/cub groups?
Have you been a school governor or worked as a volunteer for charity?
What about your social activities - for example, are you involved with amateur
dramatics or a chess club? Consider everything, as all your activities will have given
you new insights and skills.
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Weaknesses
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Attitudes |
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Do you have confidence in your own abilities?
Do you think that others know better than you or do you always think that you are right?
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Skills |
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Some of your skills may be rusty or you may not have the current skills and/or
qualifications for the position you are considering
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Knowledge |
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Do you think that your current knowledge is sufficient for a new career change? |
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Opportunities
Returning to work or changing your career can open all sorts of opportunities for you in terms
of personal and professional fulfilment.
What opportunities can you think of? You will apply skills that took a long time to acquire as
well as learning new ones. Perhaps you'll identify so many new opportunities that you'll wonder
why you haven't done this before!
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Threats
What do you perceive to be the threats of changing your career or returning to work?
Is the thought of returning to work daunting? Are your childcare or other arrangements secure
enough to withstand emergencies that may crop up from time to time? Perhaps you are worried
about knowing less than your younger colleagues. Do you worry about keeping up to date with
changes in the workplace, or the thought of studying again?
Look at the things that may interfere with your goals. Try to be as realistic and objective as
possible - the clearer you are about potential problems, the easier they will be to manage.
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