"Life is continually evolving and when you
can accept that you are feeling uncertain, and not judge or fight it, a
clear direction and next step will surface."
-Susyn Reeve with Joan
Breiner, The Inspired Life
Monday 30 January 2012
Thursday 26 January 2012
Dream Career?
Hi All,
After yesterday's rather depressing post, I thought I would share something a bit more positive today :) A few weeks ago, I discovered that the City Business Library in London holds free seminars on everything from How to Treble your Reading Speed to How to be a Director (check it their website here: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/cbl). This was a great find for me as its FREE and all the topics are pretty relevant to where I am at the moment.
This morning I attended a seminar titled "How To Create Your Dream Career" presented by a career coach called Susan Andrewes. The seminar was targeted at anyone who is tired and just wants to find out how to get that dream career - that calling/passion that can also make them a living. The presenter told us how, 4 years ago, she decided to walk away from a job she hated. No plan. No dream. Just a feeling that there had to be something out there she could do and enjoy (sound familiar?). Today, she is doing what she absolutely loves, gets paid for it and is helping others to do the same.
She started off the seminar by asking us the following:
After yesterday's rather depressing post, I thought I would share something a bit more positive today :) A few weeks ago, I discovered that the City Business Library in London holds free seminars on everything from How to Treble your Reading Speed to How to be a Director (check it their website here: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/cbl). This was a great find for me as its FREE and all the topics are pretty relevant to where I am at the moment.
This morning I attended a seminar titled "How To Create Your Dream Career" presented by a career coach called Susan Andrewes. The seminar was targeted at anyone who is tired and just wants to find out how to get that dream career - that calling/passion that can also make them a living. The presenter told us how, 4 years ago, she decided to walk away from a job she hated. No plan. No dream. Just a feeling that there had to be something out there she could do and enjoy (sound familiar?). Today, she is doing what she absolutely loves, gets paid for it and is helping others to do the same.
She started off the seminar by asking us the following:
- What do you want to create in your life? We all have the capacity to create something and that is the key to living the dream. It doesn't have to be the next Eiffel Tower or the next best-selling novel. It just something we would be passionate about.
- What would you love to get paid to do? If you were to assume that all jobs were paid the same, what would you do? Interesting way to think of this, right? One of the participants said she loved playing with dogs and would love to get paid playing with dogs, someone else said they loved socialising and would love a job where they could socialise.
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Job Hunting - Understanding the game
Hi All,
As I mentioned in my last post, I currently looking for job. Living in a first world country and in one of the world's most populous cities means that job-hunting is a stressful and full time job. When I first moved to London 6 years ago, I was pretty naiive - I thought as long as I had the qualifications, the experience and the confidence, I could do anything I wanted. It became clear after a few weeks that things don't work that way in a saturated job market. It's a dog-eat-dog world where the only shrewdest and well-connected survive.
6 years later, I am back in the job hunting game and amazed at how much crazier the whole process has become. After weeks of sending applications directly to companies, scouring online job boards and applying to dozens of jobs, contacting agencies, registering on every known job website, I haven't had any success. I am being hounded by agencies daily, but all they want is information about my last company or companies I have applied to (I explain why below) - once they have that information, you never hear from them again.
It was getting insane and I needed to understand what was going on. So I decided to do a bit of research into how the whole system works and what I needed to do to get that job I wanted. Speaking to few people about this, I received all sorts of advice - from suggestions that I register with every agency and jobsite on the planet and just apply for everything, to suggestions that I change my name (apparently if it sounds foreign, they won't shortlist you), to suggestions that I "pad up" my CV (or lie a little bit) just to get in the door, and so much more. After a while I concluded that this was a crazy game and noone had any idea what the rules were.
My research began by looking at what was going on the recruiter's side. What were companies/hiring managers doing? How were the recruiting agencies playing this game? And more importantly, what were they doing with our CVs and applications?
As I mentioned in my last post, I currently looking for job. Living in a first world country and in one of the world's most populous cities means that job-hunting is a stressful and full time job. When I first moved to London 6 years ago, I was pretty naiive - I thought as long as I had the qualifications, the experience and the confidence, I could do anything I wanted. It became clear after a few weeks that things don't work that way in a saturated job market. It's a dog-eat-dog world where the only shrewdest and well-connected survive.
6 years later, I am back in the job hunting game and amazed at how much crazier the whole process has become. After weeks of sending applications directly to companies, scouring online job boards and applying to dozens of jobs, contacting agencies, registering on every known job website, I haven't had any success. I am being hounded by agencies daily, but all they want is information about my last company or companies I have applied to (I explain why below) - once they have that information, you never hear from them again.
It was getting insane and I needed to understand what was going on. So I decided to do a bit of research into how the whole system works and what I needed to do to get that job I wanted. Speaking to few people about this, I received all sorts of advice - from suggestions that I register with every agency and jobsite on the planet and just apply for everything, to suggestions that I change my name (apparently if it sounds foreign, they won't shortlist you), to suggestions that I "pad up" my CV (or lie a little bit) just to get in the door, and so much more. After a while I concluded that this was a crazy game and noone had any idea what the rules were.
My research began by looking at what was going on the recruiter's side. What were companies/hiring managers doing? How were the recruiting agencies playing this game? And more importantly, what were they doing with our CVs and applications?
Tuesday 24 January 2012
Tough decisions in tough times - Why I quit my job in the middle of a recession
Hi all,
Its been a while since I last wrote anything. I usually need something to inspire me to write and inspiration is something I have been lacking for a long time. Inspiration usually comes to me through life, music, the books or articles I read or people I meet. At some point last year, I stopped engaging with life. I stopped reading, I stopped listening to music and my creative mind just shut down.
The reason? I was depressed. Life had become a drag because I hated my job. I worked to live and the job started to take my life away. Each day was a chore; it was draining - mentally, physically and spiritually. It is amazing how much damage doing something you don't enjoy for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week can do. I had been in the same role for years, which in itself is not bad, but it had never been what I wanted to do. With no incentives like promotions or money, the days became longer and unbearable. Outside work, I didn't have anything else to focus on so my job had become the center of my world. My job defined me. How I felt at work was how I felt about life in general.
It reached breaking point at the end of last year. I had reached a new low and I decided I could either fall further and further into the rabbit hole (and risk a nervous breakdown), or break free and find something else to live for. It was scary and I had many sleepless nights thinking about it. When your identity is tied into what you do, it is hard and scary to divorce the two. I had so many questions, doubts, fears. Am I mad to be thinking of doing this in the middle of the worst recession in 20 years?? What would I do?? How would I survive? In such a depressed job market, how long would it take me to find a job, let alone a job in the career path I want? What if nobody wants me? What if I am not good enough?
Its been a while since I last wrote anything. I usually need something to inspire me to write and inspiration is something I have been lacking for a long time. Inspiration usually comes to me through life, music, the books or articles I read or people I meet. At some point last year, I stopped engaging with life. I stopped reading, I stopped listening to music and my creative mind just shut down.
The reason? I was depressed. Life had become a drag because I hated my job. I worked to live and the job started to take my life away. Each day was a chore; it was draining - mentally, physically and spiritually. It is amazing how much damage doing something you don't enjoy for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week can do. I had been in the same role for years, which in itself is not bad, but it had never been what I wanted to do. With no incentives like promotions or money, the days became longer and unbearable. Outside work, I didn't have anything else to focus on so my job had become the center of my world. My job defined me. How I felt at work was how I felt about life in general.
It reached breaking point at the end of last year. I had reached a new low and I decided I could either fall further and further into the rabbit hole (and risk a nervous breakdown), or break free and find something else to live for. It was scary and I had many sleepless nights thinking about it. When your identity is tied into what you do, it is hard and scary to divorce the two. I had so many questions, doubts, fears. Am I mad to be thinking of doing this in the middle of the worst recession in 20 years?? What would I do?? How would I survive? In such a depressed job market, how long would it take me to find a job, let alone a job in the career path I want? What if nobody wants me? What if I am not good enough?
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