I would now be a very wealthy man indeed if I had gathered a pound for every time during the course of a career transition dialogue, when an individual is reflecting on their past decisions about some critical past point in their career, and they say “I wish I had .....” and then go on to complete the sentence with details of an unfulfilled aspiration. 

Here comes the question “so tell me Tim, how would you describe your leadership style?”. You know (because you have done your interview preparation) that behind this general opener there will be more probing questions. “Give me an example of when you ....”, “How did you deal with any resistance to change?”

What is your unique distinctive leadership style? What is both the philosophy and practice of the way you “do” leadership and can you articulate this in a powerful simple way with lots of examples to back it up? If you can then you will stand out as a leadership candidate. 

We often find that even the most successful people struggle to be clear and focused about telling their career stories in a compelling, impactful and relevant way. This becomes very apparent to us when under video playback conditions we role-play an upcoming job interview with a candidate. 

The three most common states we observe in individuals in how well or otherwise they convey their career stories are: 

We are in Dubai this week.. our Directors Tim Chapman and Brendan Colclough are visiting the region again to undertake important client work until 8th February. Contact us if you would like to meet during this period to discuss your particular needs.  

In this blog we explore the meaning and importance of one particular word, an understanding of which is central to all primary recruitment activities, and particularly important if you are embarking upon a phase of major career transition. The magic word is  “Competencies” 

So what do we mean by competencies and why is an understanding of them so important to your job search? 

The language we use to describe ourselves, our skills, our experiences and our achievements is absolutely critical to the impact and influence we have on others. And nowhere is this more important than when we are seeking a new role where both in writing via our CV/application form and verbally during interview stages, the words we use will make a critical impression on whoever is making the assessment for an advertised role. 

In our experience in coaching individuals, this is the time of year when many people make some bold promises and big commitments to themselves about changing jobs or even attempting a complete career change. Sadly however what we also observe is that all too often there is a very rapid dilution of these fine intents as individuals become absorbed and swamped with all the competing back at work demands that a new year presents. 

Here are the six main habits that differentiate between those who succeed in turning their New Year wishes into positive outcomes and those who consistently fail in this task. 

The surprise to us often is that individuals simply don’t realise just how talented they are or, if they do, they often don’t quite know how to describe their distinct capabilities in an impactful way to others. When it comes to that pivotal moment to seek out a new career opportunity, it suddenly becomes vitally important to be able to project yourself in a compelling way.

We have our own Brosna top ten tips for those of you who might want to navigate your way through an important career or job change in 2019:

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love sent to me 

a brand new improved CV

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love sent to me 

two head hunters and a 

brand new improved CV 

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love sent to me 

Your boss has become intolerable - you feel suffocated.  You are repeating the same tasks over and over - nothing is new. We regularly hear stories about how unfulfilled people have become at work - but also how long they have put up with these unhappy scenarios. Inertia seems to set in preventing people from moving on and moving forward.

Well it simply doesn’t have to be like this. Why would you want to carry on wasting large parts of your waking life carrying on doing the same old unfulfilling stuff? So what to do to break out of your inertia? 

Is next year the year when you will be in career transition?  Have the circumstances of your current role changed so significantly that you will have to move on in the near future?  

Are the avenues to further career advancement in your current organisation becoming blocked off?

Do you just need and want a fresh career challenge? 

As the year draws to a close, these are questions that often come to the surface in our thinking.

We are in Dubai this week.. our Directors Tim Chapman and Brendan Colclough are visiting the region for the second time in six weeks to undertake important client work until 6th December. Contact us if you would like to meet during this period to discuss your particular needs.  

We specialise in coaching and supporting executives, senior managers and skilled professionals who are in career transition - particularly international expatriates.

We have discovered a number of simple principles that will often shape the speed and effectiveness of the move from one job to securing a new career opportunity. 

Experience indicates there are four critical pieces of thinking an individual needs to undertake upfront:

When we at Brosna work with candidates who are preparing for a really important career changing job interview, we are often alarmed by the degree to which talented individuals under-sell themselves in their interview practice. This manifests itself in a number of different ways..

We have had a number of interesting discussions with expatriates who have been working in Dubai for some years and are now seeking to move on and in many cases return to their home bases. They have raised with us a number of common career issues that seem to be specific to their expatriate context and where they have asked for our help most notably: 

•  Having been out of their “home” market for jobs for a number years, many individuals are simply out of touch with how things may have changed and what opportunities might now be available; this is often accompanied by...

Contacts and colleagues often enquire of me “Well what exactly is it that Brosna does?”

Well, simply put, we predominantly specialise in helping talented individuals to prepare themselves for career changing job interviews. We intensively coach individuals to make sure that they come across as competent, confident, personable and self-assured under the challenging pressures of interview.

Are you Ready for a Change?

Here are a few ways to determine where you are with your career, and three important considerations for the next steps.

It all starts and continues with defining a series of very well-formed outcomes. What are well-formed outcomes and how do they differ from more broadly based aspirations, wishes and positive intents? Here are some straightforward and important distinctions. to help you plan your next career move. 

We are often asked “how do I know that the time is right for me to move on from my current job and/or organisation?” 

Well of course we are all different and we all have our own unique and varied circumstances and preferences that will determine when we feel it is right to make a change. 

However what we do observe is that there are often, only relatively, a few important questions to ask yourself that if answered honestly, will indicate strongly or not if it is time for you to Stay or Go