Career Development

With our recent research showing jobseekers becoming a bit more proactive, there may be quite a few who start looking to move on after a long period with the same company. Whilst the recent employment climate has not really been conducive to this, and things are still very tough, there may be enough signs to encourage those who feel the need to seek a new challenge.

Looking for a job following a long period of employment brings its own challenges, so we asked career change expert Simon North for his advice…

“Your progression from being happy and settled in a long-term job to wanting to leave tends to be quite binary. Either something happens, a particular event, which makes you fed up with your job or you gradually become more conscious of the need to move. Understanding your motivations for wanting to leave is important because the first big question you have to ask yourself in a job hunt is what you want your next job to be. Understanding your motives is key to answering this question. You don’t want to move to a new role where the same thing that made you leave your old position is lying in wait for you. So when you ask yourself what you want to do, ask yourself what it is about what you do now that makes you not want to do it any more.

Here are some more tips for finding a new job after so long in your old one:

• Understand the value of your assets. Your natural strengths, life and work experience and learned skills all feed into what we call capability – what it is you are capable of doing. Understand your market value. Without understanding this it’s hard to judge what your next step should be. In fact, without this understanding there can be no next step. When it comes to finding a new job, too many of us leap to the end point – a bit like wanting a house built and furnished before working out what soil we’re going to build it on. We should not lay that first brick until you know about your soil.
• Once you’re clear on what you want, start using your network to get it. The advantage of being in one role and/or organisation for a long time is that you have readymade connections with people within your industry who’ve known you a long time. They know what you enjoy, what you’re passionate about and what you’re good at. Listen to what they think and feel and take note of what their advice is. Let them point you towards useful introductions and recommendations. Continue reading “Job Hunting After a Long Period of Employment” »