I see many people in transition who struggle to advance in their careers  internally within their own organisations, in almost the same way as if they were involved in an external job search. Today,  many companies have very rigorous internal promotion processes which can be as daunting as looking for a position outside a current organisation. However,  there are…

Maternity leave: then what? Making decisions about going back to work after maternity leave is always challenging.  D-day looms large and is unavoidable. Decisions have to be made eventually. The period leading  up to the return to work can be one of great stress. What goes on for the new mother? Guilt and angst These emotions plays…

Interviewers need to clean up their acts on childcare and interview questions We are constantly inundated with soundbites from high-profile women such as Marissa Meyer, Anne- Marie-Slaughter and Sheryl Sandberg  who vie for media attention in the business stratosphere. Now we have the  ex-CEO of Burberry drifting or jumping into the fray, I’m not sure which. The…

How do to find a position post retirement

When building your career, your hard skills are your foundations. But soft skills are very often the cement. Find out why you need to synthesize your career into a coherent story for delivery both verbally and in writing.

Do you have a career plan? The likelihood of most of us sitting down every year with a professional career coach to create an annual career strategy is about as great as chocolate cream cake becoming a zero calorie dessert any time soon.  No one would think of having a medical with an unqualified doctor or getting their cars serviced at an…

I was born with light red hair. Back in the day it was called strawberry blonde which I never really understood, because strawberries are actually really red!  Sometimes and more ostentatiously I was a Titian blonde. Apart from the odd building site worker yelling “Hey ginge”  from time to time, I was never subjected to any sort of name calling, teasing or harassment that many redheads are now…

The Peter Drucker phrase “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” has been around in management training manuals for decades. With some dissenting views, it is widely accepted if not as a business truism, certainly as a useful guideline and management tool. In career management what is also gaining credibility is the line “If you can’t…

Much is written about professional profiles by many “experts” that frightens the life out of the average job seeker, or even passive candidate who simply want to have a strong online presence. The list of dos and don’ts is never-ending, with the net result that many are totally confused. I’m actually confused. There are many so-called pearls of wisdom written about…

One of the buzz words reverberating around the job search market is the need to identify our tent- pole skills or skill. This is rooted in company jargon which according to Bruce Watson means: “the tent pole  is  a term that refers to a company’s most promising or prominent product. Generally, a tent pole generates most of an organization’s income,…