Skills

More on Skills:

If you've been unemployed, you've learned how to budget, how to fill in forms, write CVs, search for jobs and are familiar with the entire plot of all the daytime soaps. Don't laugh - people get paid to write summaries of popular soaps.

Tip Keeping old job descriptions will help you come up with an impressive list of skills. If you haven't got descriptions from your previous jobs, look in the newspapers for jobs similar to the ones you've done, get the application pack and look at the the person spec. This is also useful for jobs you'd like to have. Once you have the pack, you can list all the skills you already have and all the ones you need to gain. Then you can make a plan to develop them.

Skills

Skills: "Think you haven't got any transferable skills? Think again!

Whatever you've been doing with your life, you've developed a long list of skills and many of these will be really useful in the workplace. Even if you haven't had a job for years, you've still got loads to offer. Whatever you've been up to, you will have acquired a collection of transferable skills along the way. Let's take a few examples:

If you've been at home, looking after kids, you'll have great organisational and time management skills, you'll be used to juggling 3 tasks at once, possibly be a good cook and definitely have learned a lot about childcare and multitasking. Many of these skills could be used to set up a home business, and indeed, working at home is often the ideal solution for parents who can combine self employment with childcare."

Training for a new career

Training for a new
career: "Next, list all the skills you'll need for your new career, and make a note of those you've already got and those you need to improve or acquire.

When considering how you might get the training you need for a future career, start where you are now. There are likely to be some elements of your present job which will be useful in your intended future career, especially so-called soft skills, like communication and teamwork. In addition, computer skills are needed in almost any industry these days. Does your present company have a training budget or offer in-house courses? Find out and then take advantage of whatever is available. Can you learn or improve a skill informally on the job from one of your colleagues or set up a skills exchange?"

Planning a new career

Retraining: "Start by assessing your current situation and deciding where you would like to be in 5, 10, 20 years' time - or even 30 or 40 years' time if you are just starting out in the labour market. Plot out a rough plan, listing the steps which could get you from where you are now to where you want to be. You may need to consult some careers books or websites to help you with this. (You'll find a list of useful websites at the end of this article.) Don't forget that no plan is written in stone and once you have more information, the dream job may seem more like a nightmare! But for now a plan is a useful starting place."

Training for a new career

careers advisors: "Education and Training for a New Career.

With the academic year now under way, how many of you have embarked on some form of training? Perhaps you want to brush up on an existing skill or learn a new one to improve your job prospects. Or perhaps you are starting on the path towards a completely new career.

It has been estimated that young people today will have to retrain 7 times during their working lifetime and, with the present pensions' crisis, it's likely that most of us won't be able to give up work at 65. So, if the prospect of staying in your present job until you are 70 or older does not fill you with joy, it might be worth considering some form of training.

It's now getting to the time of year when initial enthusiasm starts to wane and with the clocks going back and the colder weather - or at least wetter in the UK - upon us, many people drop out of their classes.

Education and training for adults is becoming more expensive and if you work full time, it can also be difficult to find the time.

If you really want to change career, how can you afford the time and money for training? There are no easy answers, but the trend towards part-time study and distance learning has opened up possibilities for people who would never have considered further study before. Over the next few days, we'll look at various options in detail, but first of all, how do you decide what to study?"

careers advisors

careers advisors: "CV and Resume Tips

For those of you who haven't got the book, here is a little more information on improving your CV or Resume.

A CV in England is the same thing as a Resumein the US, where the term CV is reserved for academic CVs.

Getting your CV and cover letter right is a crucial part of the job search process, as they open the door to the next stage of the process, the interview. So always keep that in mind when you are writing them - it may be a boring and arduous task, but it's an important one.

Don't be tempted to produce a CV and send it off every time you want to apply for a job. This is a trap that many people fall into, especially if they have paid a professional to write the CV for them. This is a big mistake - CVs need to be targeted to match the job you're applying for and if they aren't, it will show. This doesn't mean you have to rewrite your CV every time, but you will need to make subtle changes, highlighting the keywords which the employer will be looking for. Keep your CV to 2 pages (unless it's academic or you are applying for a very senior position which requires more information). If you are just starting out, you'll only need one page. In the first round of the selection process, CVs only gets a glance of about 20 seconds. So make sure your application doesn't end up in the shredder!

Because I believe the best approach to writing CVs, is to learn how to do this yourself, I've put all the information you need into the e-book, which includes templates, an article to help you identify your transferable skills and a critique of your CV or job application form. The critique is time consuming, but I wanted to make this package affordable and so at the moment I'm selling it for �27 (I charge �25 an hour to do this one to one, not including the book). So, I won't be keeping it at this price for long."

careers advisors

careers advisors: "Getting back to work is recommended as the best way for those who have been displaced to cope with the ordeal, but the host communities just don't have enough jobs to provide employment for everyone who needs it.

It certainly makes you think - we are getting more extreme weather in many parts of the world. In the UK, we now get frequent severe flooding, which can destroy homes and businesses.

So, if you've got a job, don't take it for granted! Work on your transferable skills and consider other jobs where these would be useful if you were forced to move away from where you live and work. Consider developing a sideline - perhaps a small business that you can run online or from home - something that isn't dependent on commercial premises or having a lot of products in stock."

How would you cope if you lost your job?

careers advisors: "How would you cope if you suddenly lost your job? Hurricane Katrina might seem like old news to some, but it's certainly current for those who lost their jobs as a result of the devastation.

Most of don't expect to lose our jobs or if we work in an area where contracts are short and firing is common, we'd probably have a contingency plan and would usually expect some warning. But how would you cope if you lost your job as a result of the weather? Sounds ridiculous to most of us, but that's exactly what has happened to many of the residents of New Orleans.

At least three quarters of a million people are not working as a result of Katrina. Some of the more fortunate will continue to receive pay cheques while others will be relocated by their companies. However, many of those who worked for small businesses are now without a job, as well as without a home.

It seems unthinkable to most of us in the west, and yet it's happening in the richest country in the world."