Sital Ruparelia

If you had juicy apples growing in your back garden, would you go travelling to the shops each week to buy apples..?

If you lived on a farm that produced wholesome milk, would you travel to your local supermarket to buy a pint of milk each week?

Maybe….occasionally.

But most of the time, most people would not. They would instead consume the naturally produced version at home (after all, home produced is always healthier and always sweeter).

So why is it that when you’re searching for answers to your career dilemma’s you go searching elsewhere when many of the answers are at home – inside you.

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Are you ‘stuck’ in a career you dislike?

Do you want to change careers but feel ‘tied’ due to the salary? Do you sometimes get excited by the idea of doing something completely different – but then find yourself (or others) talk you out of doing anything about it?

If this sounds like you, then you need to shut down that brain of yours and stop listening so much to the people around you. You need to stop planning ahead and just focus on taking some baby steps to get you unstuck. Once unstuck, you’re in a much better place to push on with any type of change.

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I came across this video of Malcolm Gladwell talking about the problems of hiring the right people.

The author of ‘Tipping Point’ and ‘Blink’ cites hiring practices within professional sport, teaching and the legal profession to highlight how so many industries today have a mismatch between the criteria set out during the hiring process and the demands of a role. A mismatch which effectively leads to hiring the wrong people

Interestingly, as a recruiter, I have increasingly found my own judgment and subjective indicators become far better indicators for a successful hire than many of the objective measures such as assessment centres and competency based interviews. These tools are useful – but not as useful as they were in the past.  

I thought it was just me – but as Gladwell points out, it’s more to do with the changing work place.

He argues that the sheer increase in complexity in the modern workplace means that there is inevitably increased uncertainty in the hiring process – an uncertainty which cannot always be managed with measured objective assesments.

But instead, organisations should focus more on subjective, human measures.

All which comes down to an increase in the quality of the people involved in the recruitment process rather than just the assessment process used.

If you have some time, click here – it’s an interesting talk. 

Are you a career changer struggling to figure out what it is you really want to do? 

Well one of the best ways to discover which careers you would both enjoy and be talented at, is to simply just go out there and try different roles and careers before making a change. 

A concept highlighted by Sean Aitkin , a graduate from Toronto who has just spent the last year working 52 different jobs – one week at a time. 

Struggling to decide what he wanted to do after college, the Canadian graduate decided to start a 52 week project – to do 52 different jobs, a week at a time and donate the money to charity.

Over the last year, he has been a stock trader, an advertising excecutive, a martial arts instructor, an air force cadette, a school teacher, a Hollywood producer, a photographer, an astronomer, a firelighter, a fashion buyer and even been a Mayor for a week!

Having completed his 52 week project, Sean now has a book deal with Penguin and Random House publishers and is about to pilot a new reality TV series. So by following his experiment, he seems to have landed on his feet and found a new career for himself.

Are you frustrated with your current career? 

There are so many people in the financial services sector who hate their careers and want to make a change. 

The first (and often the most difficult) step in any career change is deciding what it is you want to do.  The way to take this first step is to: 

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So you have done all the hard work – found the right opportunity, negotiated and agreed on a salary package and finally managed to get some time with your boss to offer your resignation.

But there is another twist to your job search – your current employer makes a counter-offer.

Whilst it is flattering and a welcome boost to your ego, it can be a little stressful.  It’s a nice problem to have – but what do you do?

How do you decide which offer to take up? How do you negotiate the best deal for yourself without coming across as unprofessional or overly materialistic?

Here are 10 tips that may help:

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