Much has been written about the need for changes that employers should make in order to attract and retain Millennials and now Gen Z. We have seen a veritable outbreak of company Facebook pages, inter-active web sites, Twitter , TikTok and Instagram accounts, mentoring  programmes and the like. But as one client mentioned recently after a less than effective graduate recruitment job fair, an additional challenge…

Poor timekeeping I have to confess that in my time I have indeed been guilty of some erratic timekeeping. I was very much “a one more thing before I go” type of girl and a great subscriber to the phrase “fashionably late“.  But then I worked for a manager who would monetize the communally wasted time whenever any of his…

A Portfolio Career “a tapestry of a variety of eclectic employment experiences; employment in a series of short-contract or part-time positions“ Not new but on the increase The term Portfolio Career is being used in current business  vernacular with the same type of smug and superior “in the know -ness,”  as we might have seen when the atom was split or  the wheel invented. I…

For anyone embarking on a job search related to career change and developing a personal brand for the first time, I outline the steps and possibilities involved. As I do so I am always aware of one thing. Their faces turning ashen as they mentally try to calculate how much time this is going to take out of their already busy day. There is a reason it’s called net “working ” ( not net “vacationing” ). It is indeed a lot of work, takes time and much of it is new.

Creating an effective USP ( Unique Selling Proposition ) is key for any job seeker or career  changer. It a major, invaluable tool in the job search tool box and will serve as a basis for: One sentence bio either written or oral Your online professional profile tagline (120 characters with spacse on LinkedIn) Any introduction…

Fixing your job search visibility I have spent the past week with two different women, of two different ages. Their backgrounds could not be further apart. One is a young graduate, seeking entry-level employment, the other a woman in her 40s, with extensive supply chain and procurement experience, as well as an MBA. She has…

Does the feminisation of HR have a downside? The feminisation of HR has been creeping up on us for years. I was recently involved in an executive search for an upper level middle management HR position. The European VP asked me to try to produce a gender balanced short list. Now, this is not what…

What to do when you HATE your job with a passion! I spent time last week coaching a young professional who hated his job in a small, family run organisation. In fact he hated it so badly that the things he claimed he would rather be doing instead, covered all manner of unspeakable things, too…

Why I think there should be barriers to entry in the executive search business and minimal professional qualifications.

This post was orignally a guest post for Ann Lewis author of “Recover your balance: How to bounce back from bad times at work” Take a stand In my research for my series on the bullying of women in the work place by women, I was contacted by a huge number of women and somewhat…