“I am looking for a job that matches my experience, but outside my current industry. How do I stand out among candidates who know the industry?”, “I am looking for a job in a field in which I have no experience. How long can such a process take?“. These are very common challenges a candidate faces in a rapidly changing job market. During the fifth weekend of the Career Advisory postgraduate studies, the following topics were discussed: assessment of career goals in the context of market realities and dynamics, and Candidate Positioning – defining a client’s “unique selling proposition” on the market.
Assessment of the career goal in the context of market realities and dynamics
The first day of the fifth weekend was led by Anna Zadrożna, who focused on the topic of “Career goal assessments in the context of market realities and dynamics”. She discussed the complexity of the “standard, medium, difficult” job search processes, which are a product of the following elements:
- demand / supply on the job market (number of open job ads vs. number of similar candidates)
- readiness of the profile in the context of one’s goal and presenting it on the CV / LinkedIn profile
- relocation: showing the connection or motivation that is real / realistic (e.g. I am moving for family reasons)
possible / available - technical configurations, e.g. reporting to someone outside their current country although the candidate is not at the board level.
Anna also discussed real life examples with the students, such as:
- an experienced lawyer who wants to change their firm
- an employee who wants to get promoted within their current company
- a Head of Sales & Business Development who is considering 3 scenarios:
1) the same position but in another large international organisation,
2) GM in a medium-sized but also international organisation,
3) a change of profile towards a broader HR profile - a Chief Security Officer who wants to become a board member in a larger, international corporation
- an experienced manager with an international profile who wants to move to Berlin.
During the first day, another special guest had a chance to share their experience of working with a Career Consultant. The Financial Director with over 20 years of international experience answered the following questions:
- What were their expectations? And what did they receive?
- What was their return to the job market in Poland like? How did the Career Consultant help with that?
- How did the cooperation in terms of career counselling help them in the following years, especially since they decided to set up their own company?
Career Positioning
The second day of the fifth weekend was led by Anna Zadrożna as well, who focused on the topic of “Candidate Positioning – defining unique customer characteristics on the market“. During this day, the participants learnt, “How do you help your client find their Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?” and “What are the challenges when developing it (from the perspective of the candidate on the job market)?”. It is crucial that the candidate stands out positively among all applicants and, consequently, that they are invited to recruitment processes. To illustrate this type of situation to the students, the case of a client who wanted to find a job in a field different from their regular one was discussed. The students also had the opportunity to see how this knowledge can be applied in an organization from the employer’s perspective.
On that day, a Director of Conduct and Ethics also made a guest appearance. They talked about their experiences with outplacement, and revealed what surprised them in the past and what they would do differently today.
Reflections after the fifth weekend
“I saw how valuable the USP is, both inside an organisation and outside of it, in consulting.”
“It was an extraordinarily interesting weekend with a proper dose of information!”
“The discussed case of the client showed me how powerful a tool the right choice of words is in writing a CV, and how big a lever it is in achieving your goal.”
“Working on a CV and USP is not only about matching the role, but also about discovering the target role – discovering a job that will give you satisfaction.”
“This weekend showed me that identifying somebody’s USP is not as easy as you might think.”
“I didn’t know beforehand how broadly a USP can be applied.”
“During this weekend, I was especially inspired by the special guest. I really liked their energy and approach to managing their own career in their 50s. With their story, they proved that regardless of age, you should strategically use modern job search tools; they led them to their goal.”
We will keep you informed about our students, as well as the progress of our studies.
PS. Read more about the first, second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh weekends.
PPS. Are you interested in this field and don’t want to wait for the next edition? Follow information about our courses – including in-house – on this page:
https://careerangels.eu/become-a-certified-career-consultant/