At last I got to see my outplacement consultant today. The previous two attempts at meeting up had been hijacked by snow and flu so today I was pretty much chomping at the bit for the meeting and was delighted it actually happened.
I had been waiting for this meeting because I'm not sure which way my career will turn next. I feel as if there are a few different directions it could take and that I need advice on how to figure out the next best steps.
I was not disappointed. My consultant works for Penna and they have a vast set of resources for people in my position. Today we looked at what resources would help me - they have a lot of online resources I can tap in to for the next six months (some for longer). We also talked about my career to date and did a quick review of my CV.
The upshot of these discussions is that I will be spending the next couple of weeks looking at my achievements - filling in gaps ie pulling in data and other evidence of what I have achieved plus using some tools to identify my key competencies.
In short, I am stepping back and taking a good look at what I have achieved. I will also be indentifying the things I have enjoyed doing and the things I think I am good at. I will start to think about the things I would like to do in the future.
It may sound as I have should have all these things at myfinger tips. I don't. I was enjoying my last role, felt at the bleeding edge of content and technology (which I was) so therefore did not give next steps much of a thought.
I can see some process emerging as to how I will approach my job search and that is a good thing. Without some process, and in a competitive jobs market, the job hunt would be so much more difficult.
The scary (and exciting) part: this is all about me now!
The relief: the look of this blog sucks, especially considering what I do, but now I am planning a complete overhaul based on how I want to present myself. This makes sense rather than changing the blog for the sake of it.
Last day at work tomorrow . . .
My other job search posts.