What's the next step in my career?

Time for change

It would be ideal to know what you’re looking for and where to find it – but it isn’t always as easy as that.

Most executives have more than enough to do without reading the national adverts every week yet those who are too busy to read the press are often the best prospects, as energetic managers make the best candidates.

Or you’ve been working flat out to keep the business going in a really tough market over the past twelve months and you find yourself ‘available for your next challenge’ with very little warning, because the company has decided your business is ‘no longer core’ just as you were about to turn the corner.

Whatever the reason, you need to assess what sort of person you are and where you want your career to go.

What sort of person am I?

It’s a good idea to get a greater understanding of yourself through some structured self-appraisal.

Think about having some psychometric assessment on yourself, if you haven’t done this recently. This will draw out your key strengths and drives.

Obtain some feedback from your colleagues; try to get some comment on how they really see you perform.

Have a look at the trends emerging from your appraisals over the past few years.

What should I be aiming at?

Responding to opportunities placed in front of you is not enough.

What you need to do is create new opportunities by focusing on a number of areas in which you can do well.

Take a good look round in a systematic manner, talk to people, and pick the best options in areas where people are prospering, where your skills and abilities will be valued.

Concentrate on the key skills that they want and you have, and your choice of target area will be right for you.

How do I find specific opportunities?

Having decided where you want to aim for, you need to use all available information sources i.e. the web, the press, your ex-colleagues and personal contacts.

As well as the major nationals and their websites, look at the trade press for your profession and the other daily newspapers. Positions are not always advertised where you’d think they’d be, so make sure you cover the ground thoroughly

Check out the websites of the search and selection consultancies. Increasingly they publish their vacancies, many of which are not being advertised elsewhere.

Talk to everyone you have met in your business life. Active networking can produce good results. You may uncover opportunities yet to be advertised or passed out to recruitment consultancies. At a minimum it will give you useful knowledge of what people are looking for.

Write directly to target companies offering to provide a solution to (what your research tells you) are their requirements. Many vacancies are filled through this method

Look for companies that are going through change (either expanding or contracting), they are more likely to be looking for capable people than those businesses which are in a steady state.

How do I stand out from the crowd?

Once you know that someone like you could be required, you must view it from the perspective of the recruiter. Sending a standard letter with your CV is not sufficient.

You will need to develop your approach for securing an interview. Then, having got a meeting arranged, it is important that you perform to your best ability. If you then receive an offer it’s then a case of determining whether or not to accept it as it stands, turn it down, or to negotiate on it.