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:
We spend a lot of time preparing for interviews. We research the company, the role and the interviewer’s background; we prepare our key achievements to show how we can add value to the hiring company, and we practice making sure that we can show our capabilities and give a strong indication of how we can rise to the challenge and succeed.
Yet despite the research and rehearsing we can sometimes sit in an interview and just know that things aren’t going well. The may be a lack of chemistry or rapport; the interviewer may be throwing some curveball questions at us that no amount of preparation could have readied us for. And it may be that we’ve somehow lost their interest.
However strong a fit you are for the role you still have to engage the interviewer and keep them interested in finding out more. It’s amazing how many strong candidates can undo all their hard work during the interview…here are 4 ways in which you can lose their interest:
Most skilled interviewers use silence as part of their questioning approach. By remaining silent when you’ve finished an answer they create a great big void that you, the interviewee, is only too ready to rush in and fill. The problem is you’ve already given your answer, you’ve told them what they need to know…anything you say now is likely to be unprepared and, quite probably, a bit rambling. And will almost certainly fall under the heading of too much information! So make sure there are no anecdotes, and no attempts at insight or rationalising any of your answer. Be firm and ask the interviewer if they want you to expand on your answer and, if so, which part they would like you to expand on.
If you’re choosing to leave a role, or have been asked to leave a company, then you are likely to have negative thoughts towards a former boss or colleague or to the way that your previous employer has treated you. Keep them to yourself! Continue reading “Beware! 4 Ways You Can Lose an Interviewer’s Interest” »
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