​As a worker, knowing your skills and talents will help you excel by seeking out and performing in a role that fits your strengths. Knowing yourself requires more than a general sense of intuition about your abilities – it also takes rigorous assessment.The following steps can help you identify what you have to offer.Find out what drives youA majority of millennials say purpose is a priority in their career. This is important to know in assessing, because where there is passion, the drive to succeed, learn and improve follows. Ask yourself what you would do if a paycheck wasn’t on the line. Nurture this curiosity and desire to explore new things, which translates into Learnability, and continual improvement.Identify what’s not workingOn the opposite spectrum, you should identify what you don’t like doing at work, or even if you hate your job. This is likely to be correlated with poor performance. Is the problem to do with your tasks and responsibilities? Or is your low job satisfaction more to do with a difficult boss or coworker? If the problem is your duties, try taking a career assessment questionnaire or seeking out the help of a career consultant. These can help you identify roles in other industries that you may not have considered. If the problem is your boss, you may solve the issue by transitioning to to another department or into another role within the organization.Seek outside perspectiveYou may feel like you know yourself better than anyone else, but you’re not necessarily the most objective evaluator of your own skills. Instead, you can view yourself through the eyes of an employer by taking a professional skills or personality assessment and leverage the results to identify your strengths. Similarly, you can find a career coach to help you better understand your value to employers. Finally, ask your boss, a co-worker, or trusted friend to provide you with feedback.In the end, knowing where you excel – and where you fall short – requires a blend of both introspection and external help and input. Knowing where your true talent lies will help nurture and grow where you have the most potential, and where you can thrive right now.

​You get an email from a recruiter wanting to know if you’re interested in an attractive new role for you. However, the email also includes several terms and requirements –and you’re not exactly sure what they mean. Use this glossary of recruiting terms to familiarize yourself with terminology that you may hear in career-related conversations.AssessmentBefore moving forward with an interview or offer, a recruiter may ask you to take an assessment. What makes you valuable? And what distinguishes you from your peers? Essentially, what is your value proposition? To answer any of these questions, you first have to assess your strengths through assessment. Today, there is a plethora of online tools at your fingertips to help you assess your skills and learning style, including your Learnability Quotient. Learnability Quotient (LQ) reflects your desire and ability to grow and adapt to new circumstances and challenges throughout your work life.Soft skillsA recruiter can look at your resume, but knowing what soft skills it doesn’t necessarily reflect can be just as valuable to placing you in a new role. These are all just some of the personal attributes that indicate a high level of emotional and personal intelligence, also known as soft skills. They include communicating, critical thinking, meeting deadlines, being well-organized, collaborating and the ability to analyze and innovate. Employers are seeking these skills more than ever as they are broadly applicable across job titles, industries and changing times. Soft skills can also be developed and grown.ExpectationsIt’s common for a recruiter to ask about your salary expectations. But expectations for a new role may go beyond money, including what kind of career coaching ar offered for employees. To succeed in today’s workforce, you need to continue learning and growing your skills. Successful companies recognize that they also play a part in building successful careers, which benefits them in the long run. Start a career conversation by letting them know that you understand your success translates into their success.When a recruiter first makes contact with you, it’s important to open the lines of communication. Make sure you both understand what is being discussed. If you’re not clear about anything, make sure to ask. It’s best to do that at the beginning of the process.

​Will this new year bring another transition for you? Here are strategies and skills to help you during potential career transitions in the coming year.  ​Assess your goals A new year can be an opportunity to assess what you want out of work and your life, including perks like flexible scheduling or remote work. Rather than immediately falling into a job search, evaluate your last or current job: What aspects did you like or dislike? Is it time to make a change? Where do you want to go next? Is entrepreneurship an option? Create a life map of where you would like to be in three to five years. Feeling like you have more control over the situation will lessen your perception of stress. ​Manage your timeSearching for a job is more than a full-time job. Sometimes it feels like you can’t keep up, and other times it feels like all you do is wait. It can help with peace of mind to set aside times to actively search, to write follow-ups, and even to wait guilt-free. Don’t let the job search take up your entire life. ​Set incremental goalsA new role or career may be your ultimate goal, and achieving that end can sometimes feel overwhelming. To help you get there, set incremental and smaller steps to achieve. You can also pick up freelance work, consulting, contract jobs or even volunteer positions. This part-time or temporary work can help pay bills or bolster your resume while your searching for a permanent job. Don’t overlook these opportunities while continuing to pursue full-time work. Finally, remember that whenever you are feeling overwhelmed or like you have lost control of the process, take a break. Go for a walk or perform an activity that you enjoy.You need downtime to help maintain your mental health, and you can always resume again later. 

​For the first time in more than a decade, a single historical event has affected millions of careers at once. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted not just jobs lost, but also career trajectories for those who were expecting to move up in their organizations or find new responsibilities.The good news is that the large-scale change in work situations has helped change how employers think about “career gaps” on the resume. It’s no longer just about taking a step back in a career –– it can also be seen as stepping up to help families and communities. As a result, LinkedIn has updated profile options to elevate “stay at home parent” roles or sabbaticals for family leave. Here are other ways job candidates can rethink and reframe their job gaps, especially in light of the COVID-19 impact.  Become a mentor You can continue to show leadership skills beyond a job title, such as signing on to be a mentor for an organization or an advisor to a start-up. If you want to be a mentor, finding the right mentee is a lot like the other side of the equation. Network and talk to key people in your company or network about the type of person you want to be a mentor to, and be specific. You can also check with your alma mater about alumni/student mentoring programs you can join. Becoming a mentor can be a valuable addition to your experience and resume.Keep improving job skillsThere are no shortage of ways to re-skill and upskill with online education and courses, and not having a full-time job can provide more opportunity for growth in soft skills. This includes communicating, critical thinking, meeting deadlines, being well-organized, collaborating and the ability to analyze and innovate. Employers are seeking these skills more than ever as they are broadly applicable across job titles.Step into volunteer rolesConsider volunteer roles that add expertise and knowledge to your tool kit. Use volunteering as an opportunity to try something new, perhaps a career you always wanted to explore. You may find it as exciting as you dreamed, or it may lack the glamour or fulfillment you envisioned. Follow your passion – when you are giving back to something you believe, it is much easier to learn new skills.Ultimately, employers will be much more understanding of gaps in your resume during this past year, given the circumstances. At the same time, this is an opportunity to keep learning and growing –– and find what you really want to do in your career.​

​Moving from college to the workplace traditionally requires major adjustments, including acquiring new skills on the job and learning to balance independent projects. Right now, economic and public health uncertainty only adds to the stress on college graduates. But stepping back, slowing down and taking concrete steps can help mitigate anxieties and improve your outlook. Here are ways to help navigate the unchartered waters. ​Build a mentor relationship In college, students can easily stop by a professor’s office hours or book an appointment with your academic advisor or job counselor. The same principles of mentorship are just as important to getting started in the workplace. After you graduate, you have to be more proactive about securing your own mentor. Having a mentor will enable you to learn what employers expect from new grads and you can use the information to make yourself job ready, and also help find new opportunities in sectors that are hiring. ​Take a skills inventory Does your resume reflect all that you are capable of accomplishing? Make sure that you reflect not just your major and hard skills, but also soft skills like learnability that shows you can make adjustments during turbulent periods. Research from ManpowerGroup has concluded that 65% of the jobs Generation Z will perform do not even exist yet, and right now is certainly a time of disruption and change. Show how your past has prepared you for a future that is evolving and being invented in front of us. ​Be open to new forms of work Look beyond the full-time permanent roles. In some sectors, hiring is ramping up right now for temporary or short-term work. Taking a temporary job to help meet demand may provide an in to a company, or an end in itself. Today, nearly 9 in 10 workers are open to NextGen work– part-time, contingent, contract, freelance or temporary. As younger workers bring tech-savvy skills to the workplace, new graduates can turn to flexible employment opportunities where it is needed most. ​Reach out to help others Right now, it’s easy to develop tunnel vision with respect to your own needs. No one will blame you for that. But many others are going through the same uncertainty, and seeking ways to help is not a zero-sum game. Over time, how you treat others builds a reputation. Recognizing others need assistance, offering to be of service through small acts like proofing someone else’s resume or sending an email with encouragement will become an extension of your resume. Do it for its own reward, and it’s likely to help deepen and expand your network as well. ​After years of being in the school system, it will take new grads time to transition to a new world –– and that’s never been true more than now. For college graduates, it’s important to be patient, keep being productive where you can be, and keep the faith. 

​​Having a plan for your career was important before the pandemic – and it’s even more critical now as companies are adapting and accelerating changes throughout their organizations. Do you know where you are headed? Below are steps you can take to develop a plan for the next months, years or decades of their careers.Know your skills and strengthsFirst, take a skills inventory to know your strengths and where they could apply in the future. Many soft skills like communication, creativity and leadership that helped you in a previous or current role can be transferred to future opportunities. To help with this process, use an outside resource that can help spot hidden strengths. The SkillsInSight tool, for example, is a free and short assessment that you can take to receive immediate feedback on what your personality traits say about your strengths and opportunities in the workforce. Have career conversationsThe organization you work for should seek to help you on your journey, whether that means developing hard skills or soft skills to take the next leap. Schedule conversations with your manager to discuss how they can assist. You can also check with your HR department to see what virtual tools or career growth classes they may offer, or if they provide tuition remission or other assistance to take ongoing education. Make your goals and plans known to those in the organization so they can help you succeed.Know your career optionsDo you want to seek out a new responsibility in your organization, and redeploy new skills to help colleagues? Or do you have an eye on a new kind of role in a different organization? Or are you excited to explore new emerging digital jobs that may not even exist yet? In any event, do research to see what options may exist in your immediate vicinity or beyond, and consider how they fit your short- and long-term career goals.No matter where you are in your career, taking the time to consider what you really want is an important strategy amid an ongoing crisis. Start planning today, and you give yourself the opportunity to reach where you really want to find yourself in the future. 

​​It's important that you understand the risks and challenges associated with setting up your own business in 2021.Self-employment is an overarching term for several different potential career paths that might form a part of a career plan. And Right Management’s offering around self-employment covers setting up your own business all the way through to pursuing the option of interim management and contracting.And each of these paths provide potential opportunities and benefits as well as associated downsides. Although the downsides will, to some extent, be impacted by individual circumstances. The focus of this article in on just one of these paths, and that’s setting up your own business.Do adequate researchAn important consideration when setting up your own business is spending the time needed to undertake adequate research. Setting up your own business shouldn’t be taken lightly, as the literature on our RightEverywhere website will tell you that more than half of Britain’s small businesses that collapse do so because of cash-flow problems.And the sheer number of start-up businesses ending in failure often comes as a surprise to those who uncover the data for the first time. So, make sure you do your research to avoid becoming another statistic.Assess market conditionsAt the current time, market conditions remain depressed and the impact of Covid-19 on small businesses, and the wider economy, is yet to be fully realized. So it would be wise for you to act cautiously; being extra careful about due diligence, and ensuring you put a robust plan of action in place before proceeding. Ultimately, if you think now might just be a great time for you start a new business, you have ensure you keep abreast of market conditions.Identify your marketIt's extremely important that you establish whether the product or service being offered does in fact have a market. Identifying potential competitors is another important consideration and helps you think about viability. A practical example springs to mind of someone who secured funding for their software product from one of their clients, but when attempting to roll out their product more widely, discovered there was a limited market for it. In addition, there were so many competitors selling the same product at a much lower cost in an area that wouldn’t have been seen to be business critical, particularly in a slowing market. So, make sure you know and understand your market before starting your own business.Spend time on marketing initiativesAdequate marketing initiatives are essential. You simply cannot remain a ‘techie’ forever in a start-up business and hope to succeed. You might have a brilliant product from a technical perspective, but if you can’t market or sell the product, problems inevitably lie ahead. So, we recommend spending as much time  on your marketing campaign and sales effort as you put into the initial technical design of your product or service.Remember, marketing is a fast-evolving functional specialism that's heavily impacted by technology. And new ways of reaching a target audience through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) provide more impressive ways to connect with future customers.Adopt a flexible approachRemaining optimistic is key but it’s also essential for new business start-ups to question and challenge their thinking on a continuous basis. It’s easy to become so emotionally attached to your plans that you lose objectivity and perspective; failing to re-evaluate and change approach when necessary.Take time to consider plan B and avoid rigid thinking. Identify when to stop investing money into the venture if it’s unlikely to succeed. And do this when you’re level-headed rather than in an emotionally charged state facing increasingly stressful times. Remember, adequate planning up-front can help mitigate the risk of the situation becoming overwhelming.Ultimately, there’s no perfect time to start a business. And given the challenges in the market at the current time, it’s advisable to take an even more critical view of your plans and have them tested by friends, colleagues and experts in the field.A good starting point is to make use of Right Management’s RightEverywhere website, as well as our superb self-employment experts who can guide and support you with your plans and challenge your thinking in a supportive, yet constructive manner.​This article is contributed by Right Management UK.Author: David Hurst, Consultant — Right Management UK

​For some of us, the option to retire is a real possibility - although you may have had very little time to explore what this really means.A life full of activities such as handling job responsibilities, looking after children as well as a myriad of other things might have kept you focused on day-to-day concerns with little time for anything else.When your job comes to an end, this very often frees up the time to look over the parapet and think about what to do next. Retirement can be a welcome prospect for some but for others it may feel frightening – ‘do I need to work?’, ‘will I get bored if I give up work?’ and, ‘do I have enough money to retire?’ are just a few of the questions that can appear when exploring retirement.Orientate YourselfFortunately, retirement support is something that Right Management provides. The starting point begins with orientating yourself in relation to what may seem rather alien – it’s about taking control of the future. Exploring retirement helps you take stock of your current situation while encouraging you to spend time crafting a vision of your desired future, based on  your own values, drivers and other factors.The mechanics of the program provide you with the option to speak to a specialist self-employment consultant in a one-to-one meeting, or attend a webinar focused on helping you reflect on personal circumstances as part of a group, in line with program deliverables.It’s important to not put undue pressure on yourself and to take adequate time to think about individual circumstances. If your job has suddenly come to an end before planning to retire, this might require some reflection and recalibration. The starting point is always to take stock of your current situation, what’s important to you and how that relates to your own vision of the future.Adopt and Open MindsetWe very often have greater freedom to act when planning retirement than we realize. For many there’s an opportunity to think about your own interests rather than simply being driven by financial considerations. Limiting constraints such as paying for mortgages, university education, schooling etc. have often disappeared as younger family members have left the home. Therefore, exploring retirement enables you to make choices based on what you’d really like to do, and provides the freedom to adopt an open mind-set.Develop Your Plan of ActionAnother key element of retirement is working towards a plan of action. It’s helpful to understand the different pieces of the puzzle that need to be analyzed and addressed so that you can consider everything necessary before moving forward. It's worth noting that adequate reflection on those key elements includes financial and legal considerations, and adopting a holistic perspective is always advised before drawing up a retirement plan.The RightEverywhere website includes useful information on retirement planning and helpful resources that target a range of important retirement issues. These resources can help make the transition as smooth as possible, reminding you that retirement is an exciting part of your life journey that opens many new opportunities. And Right Management is equipped to support those transitioning to retirement in a productive and meaningful way.​This article is contributed by Right Management UK.Author: David Hurst, Consultant— Right Management UK

​Gyms fill up. Healthy recipe books fly off the shelves. Diets get started.Motivation runs high in the window of New Year’s resolutions. It’s also no secret that this focus tends to dissipate as we move into the year.But if the goal is a fresh start, you can harness this productive window to land a new job, get a promotion or expand your role. Unlike a lapsed diet, channeling this energy to develop your career at the beginning of the year can pay off for years to come. Here are tips to maximize your job search in the new year.Dream bigNew year’s resolutions are a time to shamelessly dream big. So what’s your dream career? Some questions to guide your career dream include: Think back to when you were a child, what were your career aspirations? When time seems to fly, what activities are you engaged in? What activities do you both enjoy and are good at? What activities feed your soul? If you could work in any field, in any role, what would you choose?Set specific goalsAny personal trainer will tell you that “get in shape” or “lose weight” are bound to fail, because they have no clear end point or path to succeed. The same is true with career goals. Write down and visualize exactly what outcome you are seeking, such as gaining a leadership role, increasingly your salary or relocating to another part of the country. With a clear end in mind, work backwards and create a route to achieve what you want with a route such as a 30-60-90 day plan to make progress each step of the way.Lay the groundworkNew Year’s resolutions can’t get off the ground without the basics – joining a gym, setting up a workout schedule or hiring a personal trainer. In the same way, a new job search shouldn’t overlook the basics of updating your resume, contacting connections in your network and searching job boards for open positions. Make a checklist of all the legwork you need for “quick wins” to build momentum such as sending out resumes, contacting recruiters and other basic steps.Finally, make sure you don’t just dream it – do it. You’re much more likely to achieve your goals when you write things down. Managing your career with the help of new year’s resolutions is a great way to set clear goals. Good luck, and happy new year!

​The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made employers double down on online recruiting, whether that’s job boards or virtual career fairs. For job seekers, it pays to invest time and energy to find a match. Here are tips to maximize a digital job search.Look for new job titles It might be time to audit and add keywords to your job search. Today a growing number of people are opting for alternative models over traditional, full-time, permanent roles. One of the main findings of ManpowerGroup’s Skills Revolution 4.0 report reveals that the jobs of tomorrow won’t look exactly like yesterday, so workers need to keep an eye out for job descriptions that weren’t previously on their radar. Organizations are investing in digital, shifting tasks to robots and creating new jobs. Build your digital brandYou probably have a resume or CV, but a digital brand like a personal website or LinkedIn profile can add another dimension to your personal brand. Your digital footprint gives you an opportunity to have a living career story, complete with career details, accomplishments, skills, recommendations, work samples and more; much more than a normal resume can offer.Network onlineDigital connections can help you get jobs. You can connect/network with people you know, people you want to know, industry leaders, others with similar skills and interest, and the list goes on. There are networking groups on just about every career, industry and topic imaginable. Join a few and contribute to the discussion. You never know who you will meet. These contacts can be your link to your next job.Research target companies Technology can help you learn all about a company, its values before you apply or interview. As ManpowerGroup’s What Workers Want report found, workers are looking for more trust and balance from an employer, and a digital job search can help uncover these traits. Follow the company across social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook, and also follow competitors and peers how it compares to others. Sites like Glassdoor can provide reviews and a window into culture. Finally, set up Google alerts to get daily emails of relevant keywords when the company is mentioned in the news, which can show interest and engagement in an interview.  Finally, make sure you prioritize and make a plan. You’re much more likely to achieve your goals when you write things down. Managing your career with the help of a concrete goal will help you succeed and find your right path.