Step 1 - Stop
chapter 1 - knowing yourself
Self-awareness is a key element of finding and securing employment; put simply, the more you know about yourself, the better prepared you’ll be when it comes to writing your CV and attending interviews. This chapter will help you to develop your levels of self-awareness by getting you to reflect on:
- your preferred style of working
- your strengths and weaknesses
- your barriers to finding employment (i.e. the things that are stopping you from getting the job that you really want)
- the things that you need to do in order to overcome your barriers to finding employment.
This chapter will also help you to coach yourself through the issues that you will need to address at the start of your application process. ?
This chapter includes:
- a framework that will help you to collate details of your preferred style of working
- examples of real employee working styles
- advice about identifying your personal qualities
- advice about identifying your strengths and weaknesses
- advice about identifying your barriers to finding employment
- advice about how to deal with, and/or address your barriers to finding employment
chapter 2 - providing powerful evidence of your skills, experiences and achievements
Whether you’re writing a CV or some supporting information, completing an application form or preparing for an interview, at some point you’ll need to demonstrate to your potential employer that you’ve got the right skills, personal attributes and experiences for the job that you’re interested in doing.
This chapter shows you how to:
- assess your existing skills, experiences and achievements
- create examples of the 14 core skills and personal traits that employers typically value
- write good examples of your skills, experiences and achievements, and
- produce good supporting information
- edit your text (including advice about 'what are the most important things to look for and check when editing your text').
This chapter contains:
- 14 skills and personal traits that you need in every job that you’re likely to consider
- advice and guidance on how to create powerful examples of these important skills
- examples of key words that you can use to demonstrate your skills to best effect
chapter 3 - finding a job that’s right for you
THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN WRITTEN FOR PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW WHAT JOB THEY’D LIKE TO DO NEXT. IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO NEXT, OR IF YOU’VE SEEN A JOB THAT YOU’D LIKE TO APPLY FOR, THEN WE SUGGEST THAT YOU SKIP THIS CHAPTER AND GO STRAIGHT TO CHAPTER 4.
This chapter will help you to find out what your ideal job is and it will also help you to gather evidence that you can use to demonstrate to your potential employer that you have the required skills to do the job that you want to apply for.
The exercises that you will work through in this chapter will help you to:
- determine what you actually want from a job
- identify what skills you will need to demonstrate to your potential employer in order to secure the job that you’re interested in doing
- find organisations that offer the sort of job that you’re interested in doing
- assess whether your needs actually match your potential employer's needs.
This chapter will help you to:
- recognise and understand what your career drivers are
- write more effective CVs and cover letters
- plan and then complete application forms more effectively
- prepare for interviews by raising your awareness of what you actually want from a job
