Tag Archives: business

Job Search:Do you include a “profile” in your CV?

Posted on 13 June 2013 by Wendy Mason | Leave a comment

Job Search:Do you include a “profile” in your CV?

A few thoughts on the value of including a short summary profile at the top of your CV!

This profile is sometimes called the career summary, personal profile statement, profile statement, resume summary, and summary of qualifications. All refer to profiling your key qualifications for a particular job on your résumé.

The profile sums up your skills and experience, and it can include your career goals. This is a part of your CV that you should certainly tailor to the particular needs of the specific job for which you are applying. These are the headline words that will flag up to a recruiter why you are right for the role.

Essentially, a profile is a very condensed and targeted version of a cover letter. And there are clear benefits to including a good one. It can help you stand out among the hundreds of applications companies receive. Most employers spend only a few seconds looking at your CV, and most of this time is spent looking at the top half of it. So, even if a potential employer reads only your profile (located directly beneath your name and contact information), they will still have a clear idea of how uniquely well fitted you are for the role.

In addition, your profile can include Keywords that will help your application get picked up by the recruiting management software that many companies use now use to screen applications.

Keep your profile concise – between one and four short sentences and you can use bullet points. Focus on the requirements for the job and what you have to offer. Overall, integrate your employment history and skills into the qualifications listed for the job – make sure right at first glance, you look like the best candidate.

Wendy Mason is the The Career Coach – helping you to find fresh perspectives on your Job Search and Career. She helps you work towards your goals and aspirations, in a way that fits in with both work and home life. Email her at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com, find her on Skype at wendymason14, or call +44 (0) 2081239146 (02081239146 for UK callers) or +1 262 317 9016 if you are in the US.

A free trial/consultation allows you to try phone coaching from the comfort of your own home and without risk. Don’t forget to ask about the Summer Special Offer

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Posted in CV, Job hunting, Job Search

Tagged business, career summary, Curriculum vitae, CV, Employment, Job Search, job seeking, personal profile statement, profile statement, recruitment, Resume, resume profile, resume summary, summary of qualifications, Writing your CV

Multiple Project Management – Tips

Posted on 14 May 2013 by Wendy Mason | Leave a comment

Today we have a guest post from Nate Miller, a part-time guest-blogger. His main interests are Business with a recent focus on Education and Technology. He is constantly extending his fields of interest to incorporate news suggested to him by his readers. He is currently interning at Domo. Make sure to follow him on his business intelligence blog.

Multiple Project Management – Tips

Multi-tasking is almost always tricky business. It can be seriously difficult to do just one major project at a time, never mind trying to juggle multiple. But the fact of the matter is that sometimes you just have to deal with several projects at once since schedules won’t allow for it to be done any other way. Fortunately, there are a few methods you can use for staying sane during the process and getting everything done on time.

Use Project Management Software

There are many different programs you can use to keep track of projects. For example, Microsoft Project is a piece of software that helps you maintain and manage projects effectively. This sort of management is crucial for not getting left behind or getting confused on which project you’re doing. One of the major benefits of this software is that it integrates with other pieces of Microsoft software. For example, there’s a seamless option to transfer files to project from Word, Excel, and so on. So if you are working on projects within these other programs, you can use Project to keep track of them all or mix them together, as the case may be.

After all, sometimes multiple projects will combine together or overlap for the sake of other larger projects. It can be much easier to have a program to help with the organization rather than trying to do all of it yourself in the long run. It can help to experiment with different programs until you find one that you’re comfortable with before settling down to learn every aspect of it. After all, the process of learning a project management program can be fairly time consuming.

Keep Organized

It’s also important to keep notes for the individual projects and organize them all separately. For example, it can be useful to create separate folders for each project. That way you’ll make sure that you don’t accidentally get projects confused. It can be easy to misplace some of the files from projects so that they get stuck in with other projects if you aren’t careful. This is especially likely to happen if you have a lot of projects and a lot of files for each.

For example, if you give files for different projects a similar name, like something with “project.doc,” then you could easily open and work on the wrong one if you don’t have them all in different folders. It can help to name not just the folder, but also every one of the files something related to the project so that you have no chance of getting confused.

After all, it’s easy to get confused when you have multiple projects all happening at the same time.

Overall, finding out as many different methods for managing multiple projects at the same time as you can is important. You can easily find business intelligence, blog after blog on the Internet on this subject as well, to get additional ideas. There are no shortage of possibilities for organization including a wide assortment of management programs and apps.

Writer Biography

This is a guest post by Nate Miller, a part-time guest-blogger. His main interests are Business with a recent focus on Education and Technology. He is constantly extending his fields of interest to incorporate news suggested to him by his readers. He is currently interning at Domo. Make sure to follow him on his business intelligence blog.

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Posted in Management, Project Management

Tagged business, Management, managing multiple projects, Microsoft Project, multi-tasking, Nate Miller, Project Management

Why Telephone Coaching Works

Posted on 3 April 2013 by Wendy Mason | 21 Comments

Why Telephone Coaching Works

I’ve been coaching successfully by phone and Skype for a while now and clients have found it a very positive experience. It always amazes me just how powerful and effective coaching by phone can be. But lots of people seem to have reservations about trying coaching by phone. So here are some thoughts on why it works well and might well be right for you.

What phone coaching can do for you!

First of all phone coaching delivers all the benefits that coaching by other methods delivers.

This includes an opportunity to gain;

•Fresh perspectives on personal and career challenges and opportunities,

•Improved thinking and decision-making skills,

•Better interpersonal skills and communication

•Increased confidence at work and in your personal life.

There are some special advantages specific to phone coaching.

These include:

Concentration – it if often much easier to concentrate in complete privacy in an environment of your own choosing!
Convenient and Relaxing – you can be in your own familiar surroundings. Coaching by phone means I can work with my clients pretty much at any time of the day or night – we can fit coaching flexibly into their lives.
Clients find it easier to be open on the phone– there can be a nice blend anonymity and intimacy and people tend to be more open
Time Efficient – there’s no time (or money) spent travelling and coaching can be fitted more easily into a busy schedule
International Coaching – it really doesn’t matter where you are in the world, so long as you have agood phone connection and can speak English.

I’m based in the UK but I’ve coached clients from a number of other countries including the US. But you don’t have to be far away – it is convenient wherever you live. I find it helpful to clients to have both US and UK telephone numbers and of course I’m on Skype.

If you would like to try our coaching by telephone, please get in touch – I offer a free trial session.

Wendy Mason is the The Career Coach – helping you to find fresh perspectives on your Job Search and Career. She helps you work towards your goals and aspirations, in a way that fits in with both work and home life. Email her at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com, find her on Skype at wendymason14, or call +44 (0) 2081239146 (02081239146 for UK callers) or +1 262 317 9016 if you are in the US.

A free trial/consultation allows you to try phone coaching from the comfort of your own home and without risk. Don’t forget to ask about the Summer Special Offer

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Posted in Coaching, Coaching Services

Tagged business, Career Coaching, Coaching, coaching by phone, coaching by Skype, coaching successfully, life coaching, Skype, Value of coaching, value of phone coaching

Management – Challenging conversations and how to manage them

Posted on 2 April 2013 by Wendy Mason | Leave a comment

Challenging conversations and how to manage them

Today’s post comes from the ACAS website. Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) aims to improve organisations and working life through better employment relations. You can download their brochure at this link Challenging conversations and how to manage them [302kb] You might find this book useful too Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most

Download the Challenging conversations and how to manage them in pdf form [302kb]

“Excuse me! There’s a problem.”

“What’s happened?”

“Where do you want to start?” Take your pick:

Simon’s been posting derogatory comments about you on a social networking site
Mary failed to get the expected promotion and is very upset
Phil is waiting to complain about a colleague making sexist comments in the canteen

Hopefully not a typical Monday morning, but we can all be ambushed by difficult line management issues.

The first question many managers ask themselves is ‘is it my responsibility to sort it out?’

If the answer is ‘yes’ there can still be a real reluctance to get caught up in very emotional or difficult performance and conduct issues.

Get it wrong and the employee may go absent, work less effectively or you may get landed with a grievance.

Get it right and you can improve levels of performance, attendance and employee engagement.

The new Acas guide pdf Challenging conversations and how to manage them [302kb] and training package will help you to stay in control of whatever situation comes your way.

If you have an urgent issue to deal with and need to get some quick practical advice, the pdf Challenging conversations – step by step table [45kb] is available.

Watch this video to see how conversations can sometimes go wrong

word Having difficult conversations transcript [83kb]

Questions and Answers

What is a difficult conversation?

A difficult or challenging conversation is a conversation where you have to manage emotions and information in a sensitive way in order to:

Address poor performance or conduct
Deal with personal problems
Investigate complaints/deal with grievances
Comfort or reassure someone – for example, if they are to be made redundant
Tackle personality clashes

The conversation usually takes place one-to-one and can really test a line manager’s skills.

Why should I act now?

If you do not act now then you could:

mislead the employee by giving the impression that there is no problem
deny the employee the chance to improve or put things right
damage the productivity and efficiency of your business
lower the morale amongst team members

How can I make the conversations more bearable?

You can help make conversations with your employees less difficult by:

having a quiet word at the first sign that something is wrong
keeping in touch with your staff and the team
using employee representatives as sounding boards for how staff are feeling about issues

It is far better to nip problems in the bud, wherever possible, rather than waiting for them to become more entrenched or complicated.

What skills do I need to handle a challenging conversation?

Many of the skills needed to manage difficult conversations and behaviour are often referred to, in a rather derogatory tone, as ‘soft’. But there’s nothing soft about dealing with an emotional or confrontational employee who may appear to be trying to unsettle or undermine you.

In order to manage a difficult conversation you need to think carefully about:

the way you communicate
your ability to take control of a meeting and
your levels of self-belief.

Training can help to give you the confidence you need.

Handling Difficult Conversations – Acas training

This training will show you how to prepare for difficult or crucial conversations, how to manage and control the workplace discussion process and how to ensure you are talking to employees in as productive a way as possible. Acas will improve your confidence and enhance your knowledge and skills for reducing stress, taking action and tackling difficult conversations head on.

View Handling Difficult Conversations course details, dates and locations orenquire online.

Other related Acas training

Discipline and grievance

Conducting investigations

Performance management

Skills for supervisors

Further information

Acas Publications

Challenging conversations and how to manage them pdf [302kb]
Challenging conversations and how to manage them
Challenging conversations – step by step table pdf [45kb]
Follow these steps table on challenging conversations

Wendy Mason is the Happiness Coach and author of a new novel, The Wolf Project. Wendy is a life and career coach and writer. She is passionate about helping people find happiness at work and at home! She helps people reach their goals and aspirations, without sacrificing their home and personal life. She believes coaching requires compassion, warmth and empathy. Wendy helps people reach their career goals and aspirations, without sacrificing their home and personal life. You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com and find out more at http://wisewolfcoaching.com

CV review and interview preparation a speciality

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Posted in Communication, Management

Tagged Acas, business, Conversation, difficult conversations, disciplinary, Human resources, Management

Managing People – Know Yourself!

Posted on 26 March 2013 by Wendy Mason | 2 Comments

Managing People – Know Yourself!

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Aristotle

I’ve been writing a lot recently about the personal development mindset. A key part of the mindset is self-belief. But before you can believe in yourself, you need to understand yourself; particularly your strengths, your weaknesses and your personality. This is particularly important if you want to be successful at managing others!

I have important news for you – there are no perfect managers. Managers have strengths and all of them have weaknesses too. You are no different to the rest. There will be things that you are good at and there will be other things that you might prefer not to talk about, or even to admit to yourself. And every one of us has our own quirks of personality. Believe me, you need to understand yours! If you want to succeed as a manager, you need to be honest and, not least, with yourself.

Being a good manager doesn’t mean you need to be perfect or to know everything. But, you do need to be good at covering the gaps; that only works if you know where the gaps are. Then you have options.

You can:

Put together a team that includes people who are what you are not and can do what you cannot. Sometimes this can be a challenge – often our first instinct is to recruit people just like us! If you are putting together a team for an important, business critical, task, you need to have all the bases covered,
Outsource/buy in the ability you need, when you need it, for example, HR advice when faced with a large-scale organizational change.
Adapt the task so that it uses the skills and experience you have available. This may be negotiable more often than you think. But without an honest appraisal of your own strengths and the strengths of the team, that would not be possible.

If you would like to understand yourself better then “Personality: What makes you the way you are” by Daniel Nettle comes well recommended. Also, there are lots of free personality tests on line – HumanMetrics provides one of the more widely used ones.

Wendy Mason is the Happiness Coach and author of a new novel, The Wolf Project Wendy is a life and career coach and writer. She is passionate about helping people find happiness at work and at home! She helps people reach their goals and aspirations, without sacrificing their home and personal life. She believes coaching requires compassion, warmth and empathy. Wendy helps people reach their career goals and aspirations, without sacrificing their home and personal life. You can contact Wendy at wendymason@wisewolfcoaching.com and find out more at http://wisewolfcoaching.com