I've got to make a move, ASAP
Relax. Don't get stampeded into taking the first job that comes along. You've got a career to think of - and though it might not look like it right now, the only way is up. Or should be.
But don't hang around either. First get yourself registered on ClickAJob and set up email alerts so that lists of jobs with your preferences start feeding to you every day or weekly, whichever you prefer.
Next, go over your CV to make sure you look as good on paper as you possibly can. Upload it to ClickAJob so that employers and recruiters know you're available - and can match you against the jobs they have on offer.
Don't let your present job drive you crazy either. Start practicing effective cover letters and polishing your interview technique. You'll need both soon, you'll see.
Take your job and shove it!
Onwards and upwards has a ring to it. More money, more responsibility. Recruiters like to see it on your CV. Bank managers like to see it in your pay check.
You can do it too. Easy peasy. All it takes is passion and commitment.
Hold it, right there.
What about training and experience? What about serving your seniority?
Driving with passion
Tosh and piffle. As long as you have passion and can stay the grade, anything is possible. Translated into career terms, that means money or fun. Whichever one is driving you, nothing is unreachable or too much effort. You simply take it in your stride.
Take training. If the subject really is a passion, you'll embrace it with your whole being. Without even trying, you'll eat, sleep and breathe your enthusiasm, unconsciously picking up detail, almost absorbing everything through your pores. Learning is not a chore, it's a pleasure, in fact the whole process is completely effortless.
Success is no accident
Don't believe it? Take a look around you at successful people. Notice they have a fervour and a glow in their eye. Their success is no accident. Sheer passion and enthusiasm makes it inevitable.
You need to get yourself some of that. Either you switch on a passion for what you're doing now, or you deliberately go looking for a career that can make it happen. If that turns out to be accountancy or law, you're extremely lucky. Because chances are you'll be persuaded by money too - a heady mix when you're looking at career choices.
Childhood dreams
To get started, cast your mind back to when you were little. It was the glam jobs that lured you then, wasn't it? The ones that fired your imagination - fashion model, TV host, fireman, jet fighter pilot. The ones with passion. If you really want to shove your career irresistibly skywards, you owe it to yourself to discover and rekindle those feelings.
You might as well. Because why are you thinking of a career move anyway, is it boring where you are? Or just so mind-blowingly claustrophobic, you've got to move anywhere ASAP?
A question of attitude
Get ready for a major attitude shift. One in which you stop running away from things because you can't stand them, into chasing after because you're totally hooked.
Never mind that it's work - you spend two-thirds of your life working anyway, so you might as well enjoy it. The trick is to get such a kick out of it that it becomes a major turn-on - right up there with sex, blue-sky holidays and ice-cold mojitos.
OK, so you've fixed the attitude. How about your skill set?
Career assets you already have
Where have you been since you left school? Chances are you already have a collection of capabilities you've picked up on the job and never even thought about. Like what about those computer skills? How many jobs can you think of these days that don't use computers?
Next, to ramp it up a little - how hot are these skills that you already have?
Certified experience
Now don't go vague and just list them because you're familiar with them. To make any employer look at you more than once, they have to jump up and sing. Which brings you up against the usual big CV question - how do you make your experience look sexy alongside somebody else's string of high-powered qualifications?Like we said, easy peasy. Just get some high-powered qualifications of your own.
Point your browser at www.clickatest.co.uk - and surprise, surprise - there's a whole load of tests you can take to validate your EXISTING skills up to ISO 9001-2000 certificate level - a quality standard recognised worldwide as one of the most demanding you can get.
Better than a degree
Never thought your experience could be measured closely enough to stack up alongside degrees and diplomas? Try arguing with a ClickATest certificate in Oracle Administration, Information Technology or Business Communication. In a face-off for a new job, they could be better than a degree - proof at last, that all your experience is worth something.
And what if you don't have the qualifications you need - that you find your way blocked by three years of full-time training and thousands of pounds of course fees?
Remember passion?
No problems
If you really want to do it, no problem. Like first of all, find out if there isn't an employer out there who will pay you to retrain, there are plenty around. Failing that, get the best retail job you can find to bankroll it - there's always jobs in retail - and get stuck in.
So what if it takes a few years? If the subject is your life, what a pleasure! Even the day job is worth doing because it's financing your whole new career direction. Towards more money, more responsibility. Onwards and upwards. Mmmm.
Started shoving your job yet?
