March 6th, 2010
In a recent post, we agreed (I think) that although Elvis might be alive, careers in their traditional sense are dead. So what’s going to replace traditional careers? The biggest change is going to be the way in which we’ll work in virtual teams.
Let’s take the analogy of making a movie. Movies are great examples of short term projects. All of the necessary skills are assembled and they focus all of their energies on getting the movie made. The casting director will source the best cast from all over the world, the location will be chosen (again, anywhere in the world), everyone knows what their role is and off you go. The reality is that bitchiness, in fighting, petty politics and all of the lovely things that go with people working together still take place. Some things remain constant! 
Tomorrow’s workers will need to have the following skills and assets in order to work this way.
Firstly, a good network. Finding and developing relations with people all over the globe who have complementary sets of skills and interests will be a common requirement. It often won’t be good enough just to operate within a local or regional network. Cost factors and specialists skills mean we’ll need to look wider than this. In a way, we’ll need laser precision in our research to find those individuals with the skills that fit the project we’re hoping to win the bid for.
Finding the work will be a challenge. Having the tentacles out to spot relevant opportunities (again, anywhere in the world) will be important and this links to the first point. If you have a good network, they’ll be spotting opportunities for you and the team.
Delivering quality work virtually. Project management skills are going to become even more important. The ability to ensure that deadlines are achieved and that quality is excellent are vital. Communicating with a virtual team, even though it will mainly be in English, will create its fair share of problems. Very clear methods of communication need to be established to minimise the chances of misunderstanding of the brief, roles etc.
One sure fire way of guaranteeing that people know about you and approach you is to become well known in your area through an effective blog, conference presentations, membership of online communities etc. Get these right and people will come to you.
Tags: Future work, Virtual teams
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March 1st, 2010
When I talk about careers, I’m talking about the conventional way of looking at a “career”. Just to be clear, let’s explore this in a little detail. To many people, a career means choosing a path (either through luck, planning, default or other), that will last until that dim distant date called retirement. Remember retirement, that’s the thing we all set out to do when we’re 40! This career is likely to involve working for 3 - 5 companies during your working life, building your skills and experience steadily over time, probably becoming a specialist in an area and almost certainly managing others. Key though is the assumption that you’ll be doing similar things within a fairly narrowly defined area. In some countries this view of careers is particularly strong e.g. in Japan where even now, the idea of joining a company for life prevails.
If that’s what a career is, then careers are dead! OK, some professions (Doctors come to mind) will remain professions and although the pace of change in these professions will pick up, those of us starting out as Doctors are more likely to finish up as Doctors than other “careers”. I’ve spoken before about the research in the US showing that young adults entering the world of work now will have 14 different roles by the age of 38. Hard to believe? OK, in Europe we’re often behind the US (although we’ll hopefully never copy their eating habits), but let’s consider that hard to believe statement. Work from home is now common, companies are increasingly hiring on short term contracts. The nature of the relationship between individuals and companies is changing forever. Companies don’t pretend that they can guarantee a job for any length of time and individuals don’t pretend that they are going to be loyal for any length of time.
Most work in business in the future is going to be conducted on a project basis. Don’t expect companies to put these project teams together either. We’re all going to have to develop skills in project management and in working virtually with people from all over the world. My upcoming posts are going to explore project careers in more detail. Cheers!
Tags: careers are dead, project careers
Posted in Student Career Advice | 2 Comments »
February 26th, 2010
The Concorde fallacy, also known as sunk cost fallacy, refers to the irrational influence of costs that have already been 
incurred and cannot be recovered. It is so-called due to the British and French governments continuing to fund the Concorde project long after it was determined that it would never yield a profit.
It can be illustrated by the feeling when continuing in a hopeless investment that “I can’t stop now, otherwise what I’ve invested so far will be lost” (it is also known as “throwing good money after bad”)
So what does this have to do with your career? Well, sometimes you should disregard the sunken costs in a decision. I’m sure many a restaurant owner will have come across the predicament that their restaurant is loosing them money but they don’t want to close as they have invested a lot in it. Their projections for the future may be bleak and yet they keep plugging away. Why? because they have invested and lost a lot in the venture (large sunken costs), which influences their rational decision making.
There may be situations that aren’t as clear cut. For example if you have completed half your degree and you decide that you want to quit and get a job that you don’t need a degree for, then the sunk cost fallacy would suggest you quit (as not to spend any more time and money on a degree you don’t want. However, it is useful to have any degree behind you, especially if you are unsure exactly where your career will take you. Therefore, in this situation the sunken costs are important, as the further costs to get the degree qualification are less than they would be if the individual decides to get a degree later in life (and their course credits have expired). However, there are situations where you should ignore the sunk costs such as in this video example where a girl wants to change her degree subject. Over her lifetime the costs she incurred by changing her course will be insignificant compared to if she chose not to pursue the career path she wants.
What can you learn from this? I would say it is important to be aware of sunk costs. Try considering your decisions with and without the influence of the sunken costs before you make up your mind. Ultimately what matters is your future and you don’t want to be throwing your money away!
Tags: careers advice, careers guidence, psychology
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February 25th, 2010
Sometimes career decisions can be hard. I’ve been reading Heston Blumenthal’s autobiography in his Fat Duck Cookbook and it struck me that the brave decision he made in his early days as a chef had a powerful influence over his eventual career path.
As a self taught chef up to the age of 18 he applied for several apprenticeships in professional kitchens a step that he claims could have ‘steered his life in a different direction’. With no professional training his success rate was low and only one accepted him, however it was one of the most prestigious of his applications. And so he started work at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir Aux Quat Saisons on a week’s probation.
Heston thought that he would get the chance to see the formulation of some of the dishes from start to finish, but in reality as part of the well run kitchen his role was to prep the ingredients, with his first job being top and tailing vast quantities of green beans!
Snail Porridge - one of Heston's infamous dishes at the Fat Duck
At the end of the week he was offered the apprenticeship and had an incredibly difficult decision to make. If he accepted the offer it would look great on his CV and make it easier to get PR to open his own restaurant. What it wouldn’t be though, is quicker, he felt it would be “like a climber preparing to scale Everest” he “would be spending an awful long time acclimatising in the foothills” as there would be no possibility to see the composition of a dish from start to finish (at least for a few years). His gut was telling him to turn it down, whilst his head said that he shouldn’t pass on such an offer. He followed his gut and turned down the offer, which meant that he spent the next few years in what he deemed undemanding jobs such as a credit controller and as a repo man, in order to finance his culinary explorations and summer trips around the renowned restaurants in France. The only other professional training he had was spending 3 weeks at Marco Pierre White’s canteen just before opening his own restaurant in order to prove to himself that he could work at the speed required for service. From this he has become one of the most celebrated chefs and restaurant owner in the world, with his restaurant ‘The Fat Duck’ receiving three Michelin Stars.
Heston Blumenthal outside his restaurant - The Fat Duck
So, what is the moral of the story? For many chefs turning down such a prestigious apprenticeship would have been a bad decision. However, it depends greatly on the long term goals of the individual. I think what can be taken from this is that you need to take note of your gut instincts in the career decisions you make, and keep your long-term goals in mind. You shouldn’t take an opportunity based on the sole fact that it is a great opportunity, it needs to be a well considered decision. There may be sacrifices you have to make (such as Heston’s working as a credit-controller to finance his culinary explorations) and thinking about your long and short term motivations is always important.
Tags: career choices, careers, careers advice
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February 23rd, 2010
I recently had the pleasure of meeting with 2 of London’s firefighters. We discussed what it takes to be a firefighter, the training, selection criteria and so on. At the end of the meeting I was left feeling a little embarassed at what the bright graduate responsible for our sales and marketing is being paid relative to a trainee firefighter. In fact, if I were starting over I might seriously consider this career. This is what you need to get in:
- You have to be 17.5 years of age (Most of us qualify for that at some point)
- Must be eligible to work in the UK (yeees)
- I have to declare any offences for which the conviction is not already spent. So, having served my term for posing as Alec Baldwin, I’m OK there.
- No beard allowed - facial hair messes with breathing equipment apparently. I couldn’t grow a beard if I tried. Another tick for Dr. G.
- No make up, body piercings or jewellery. Bugger! Well I guess I might consider having that bolt removed from my nose.
- I also need to be able to climb a ladder without falling off. Note to self, no boozing before going on duty.
- I will have to complete some written tests although it does state that “no specialist knowledge is required”. In other words, this is not going to challenge the challenged unless those neurons really don’t fire much at all.
So, we’ve established that I’m in. How did you do on the seleection checklist? Having made it through this extremely selective process, how much could I expect to earn as a 17.5 year old trainee? In London I will start on £26100! And there’s more folks. Don’t leave just yet. If I do well, within 4 years, I can be running a station or similar. So, now I’m 24 and earning - £40K - £50K!
Look, I know this is an essential job and that firefighters perform a needed and valuable service. At times, the role is dangerous and occasionally lives are put at risk. But let’s face it, it’s largely about faulty toasters and rushing around going bee baaa. Give me a big red shiny company car with a loud hooter as well as this dosh and I’m there. Stand in the queue mate - I got here first!
This is a great example of the market not working efficiently. What’s the going rate for the kind of person who can pass these selection criteria. My guess is about £17K (in London) and less elsewhere. So why are taxpayers funding this excess? I don’t have a clue. Oh and by the way, when it comes to fancy dress parties, you’ve already got the kit.
Tags: market, pay
Posted in Student Career Advice, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
February 11th, 2010
I have a little theory and I know you’re dying to hear it! If we want to really improve the relevance and usability of careers advice, all 3 parts of the unholy trinity need to aligned. Let’s look at them one by one. 
Firstly, careers advisors. Let me be clear here, I’m mainly talking about careers advisors at school. Many advisors struggle to find good resources and subscribe to “legacy” careers resources. So, it’s not uncommon for a careers advisor to spend a good part of his/her budget on books relating to careers. If you think about it, any book published this year was written and researched over a period of a couple of years. The content is out of date before its printed. Let’s get with the programme here! The solution is good quality web content and particularly content that’s updated on a subscription basis. The other challenge careers advisors need to overcome is the well known UK national sport called box ticking. Forget the football world cup and olympics, if there were a world championship in box ticking, the UK would win all the golds, silvers and bronzes. Many of the standards (boxes to be ticked) are the source of the problem because they set standards around knowledge rather than skill. Careers advisors need to be aware that ticking all the boxes on a standard probably means you’re achieving the minimum acceptable.
Parents - well, what can I say, we all have them! Most parents draw on a fairly narrow set of personal experiences when they try to provide careers advice to their kids (if in fact, they do try). I suggest that one of easy ways for parents to innovate is to pool their resources. By using their network, most parents would be able to set up informal discussions in which several parents could talk meaningfully about their roles, the decisions they take, skills required, highs and lows etc to an assembled group of their combined offspring.
Once careers advisors and parents are doing a better job, then we can require of students that they take more responsibility. It’s an exceptional student that will be proactive around career choices if the foundations are not in place.
Dr G is founder of www.mytalentplace.co.uk
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February 9th, 2010
If you’ve seen any of the shift happens videos you’ll know the stat that young adults joining the world of work today are likely to have 14 different roles by the time they’re 38. Sounds a little scary and improbable? What the figures were not clear on was whether these would be different careers or different roles. In my view, it probably refers mainly to different roles and there are likely to be some career changes thrown in as well. So, what’s this got to do with interview coaching?
Firstly, if there are going to be so many role changes, there are going to be lots of interviews! It’s likely that people will be interviewed regularly both by their employers as well as partners of employers as they move between projects and roles. Those people that are skilled in being interviewed and building their personal brands will get the pick of the projects. They’ll be on the interesting projects, learning new skills etc while the rest are left with the less interesting stuff.
Not only are interviews going to be more regular, they’re going to be more competitive. The globalised and project nature of future work will mean that you are almost certainly going to be competing for work with people who have similar aspirations and skills levels anywhere in the world. There’ll be more “clutter” and the ability to build relationships and make a positive impact in interviews will be even more important than it is now.
Finally, interviewers themselves are becoming more expert. Recruitment has become and will continue to become more rigorous and analytical and candidates will find there’s less room to hide. Social profiles are already freely available and who you are is open to easy scrutiny. The ability to communicate clearly one’s skills, key messages about your personal brand, engage with a broad variety of cultures and ways of working will be required to stand out.
Convinced? One of the options is self help. That’s always a good start and indicates the right attitude. If you’re serious about competing though, you’re likely to need professional coaching. Learn the skills early and you’ll have them for the rest of your life!
Tags: Interview Coaching
Posted in Interview Skills, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
February 1st, 2010
There are lots of different ways that you can improve motivation in all aspects of your life. I would suggest that perhaps the most effective and measurable way is to set goals for both long-term and short term achievement. It is also important that you have a support network around you to help you and encourage you to achieve these goals (they must have some understanding of what you are trying to achieve in order to do this effectively).
An example of this is that I train for rowing every morning and evening, before and after work and all morning at the weekends. It can get pretty tough especially in winter when everything is freezing and you are always training in the dark. People often ask me – what keeps you motivated? (I often ask myself the question too!). So here is a quick list of what I think are the most important factors:
University trial eights racing on the tideway
- I love the sport – If you don’t enjoy it then what is the point! Ok - when it’s dark and miserable in the winter or when we have endless gym sessions and experience a hell of a lot of pain or when you lose a race you should have won - then it is far from enjoyable. However, I love all my teammates and coaches, I love racing and the sense of achievement when you race well after a lot of preparation, I like having a constant goal and I love winning.
Me (front-right) and some of my team representing England last summer.
- I have a massive support network – coaches and teammates with common goals. It is also really nice when family and friends are supportive of what you are trying to achieve.
- I want to win – this is where it starts to get interesting as firstly you want to beat your crewmates into the best boat. And then you want to make sure that as a crew you win against other teams.
- There are continuous goals/aims. You have to set realistic goals about all aspects of your training e.g. if you are lifting 50kg on weights then in the next couple of weeks you may aim to lift 52.5kg, but you may aim that by next year you can lift 60kg. It’s the same on the water, you may be ranked 10th and want to beat the person ranked 9th in the next race, however you may aim to be ranked in the top 4 by the end of the season. You don’t want to miss any sessions as this would hinder you progression toward these goals and this is what keeps you going day after day. Take a look at this Canadian rowing motivational video for inspiration.
I hope this has given some insight as to how you can motivate yourself towards achieving the best you can in whatever aspect of your life. Setting goals, enjoying what you do, being competitive and letting other people support you and help you.
Tags: motivation, personal development
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January 31st, 2010
I was talking to the Head of Careers at a school this week. During the discussion, she mentioned that one of her biggest problems is arranging work experience. I can understand that as it involves liaising with many businesses in the area, twisting a few arms, calling in a few favours - all the kinds of things that MP’s are good at. In the middle of the conversation though, she mentioned something that I found staggering …
Her school spends £10 K per year arranging these work experience opportunities for year 10’s. Guess what the money gets spent on? Travel or perhaps useful resources? No. The school spends this money on … wait for it … HEALTH AND SAFETY CHECKS.
So there are loads of companies out there coining it by conducting health and safety checks on the good people who are prepared to provide work experience opportunities. It this weren’t so serious, it would be laughable. Firstly, spending money on health and safety checks is essentially money peed down the drain - there is no return on this investment. Secondly and more importantly, this school (and there are plenty of others) are reconsidering whether they can afford work experience for their students. In a way, that’s good for us, because we provide career resources for students. However, we would never suggest doing away with work experience opportunities - they are probably the most important experience to have when coming to terms with how the world of work functions.How will students make the right kind of decisions about their futures? Services such as the Career Foundations Programme can solve this problem, but not everyone has the money to spend.
This health and safety stuff is a load of bollocks - it’s like a cancer in our society. It costs us billions every year and produces absolutely nothing. A safety first philosophy will never create anything great. It’s these kinds of constraints that make ongoing educational and economic competitiveness more and more difficult and increasingly unlikely.
Posted in Career Counselling | No Comments »
January 30th, 2010
Today, I’ve been writing some new content for our series of webinars aimed at helping careers advisors at schools to provide a better quality of career advice. The webinar has to do with “preparing for change and transitions”. In thinking about it, it strikes me that young adults need to realise that some of the changes they face are entirely predictable whereas others are far less so. For example, we know for sure that on leaving school, we will either go to University or some form of further study or we will (try to) enter the world of work. These are entirely predictable.
If we look at these examples in more detail, let’s try and identify the essence of the change in each situation. For those young adults entering University, the real change has to do with coping with much greater personal freedom and independence. If we look at what’s required to cope well with this new situation, it comes down mainly to the quality of our decision making and our ability to learn from mistakes.
For those young adults entering the world of work, the challenges presented by this change are very different. I would argue that the biggest challenges have to do with fitting in, complying and figuring out how to make one’s mark. The skills and attitudes required to make this transition successfully have much more to do with the ability to adopt the appropriate behaviours this new environment requires. Decision making the learning from mistakes are still important, but not as important as learning and adopting the behaviours required by one’s working environment. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to sit down and figure out the kinds of things that should be done (generically) in order to fit in to a full time work situation.
So predictable change is one thing - unpredictable change is another. I would argue that unpredictable change in itself is becoming more predictable given the pace of change in our lives but also that this change requires a distinct set of change skills. These are largely about awareness (having a good radar), developing a broad range of commercial and technical skills to improve one’s ability to adapt and having the confidence to act proactively. I’ll make sure to write on this in a future post.
Tags: Changes, Transitions
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