Going Back to Basics

Understanding what you need to understand; Knowing what you need to know; Doing what you need to do;

Over the last 3 months we have attended a number of events; for the industry and for consumers. These events provide us with an up to date insight of a number of things for our business, our service and our products. The major events during this period included the Melbourne Herald Sun Career Expo, where Rebecca presented and was part of the Career Success Panel, as well as the Reinvent Your Career Expo, where Rebecca was also a main stage presenter. These events are integral to what we do as a business as well as to the industry. As Rebecca remains on the board of the Career Development Association for Victoria, the information obtained at these events allows her to plan for the year ahead within the business but also, and of extreme importance, work towards improving the Career Development Industry.

During the course of these events consumers are able to discuss their needs and their desires with qualified career development practitioners and attend numerous seminars on various topics including training, education, job search and career tools. Consumers are also provided the opportunity of having their application documents (including their resume) assessed for suitability and develop a further understanding of what Career Development is to them. Various alarm bells were raised following meetings with consumers, training organisations, other service providers and professionals. Some of these concerns include:

• Professionals are not aware of Career Development and how management of their career is important and integral to success.
• Individuals feel that career planning is the responsibility of their employer.
• Consumers mistake the services provided by Recruiters with the services provided by Career Management Professionals.
• Individuals are still not aware of what is a resume; or what should a professional resume should include, be about or look like.
• There are still practitioners/individuals providing inappropriate documents professing they are “professional resumes” at a cost to consumers.
• Individuals are not aware of how to effectively job search specific to their industries.
• Individuals are not aware of how to work most effectively with recruitment or HR professionals during the recruitment process.
• Individuals and organisations are not aware that in Australia Career Development Practitioners are required to work under the CICA Professional Standards for Career Development (January 2012).

Following this awareness, and in understanding that individuals need to know more; we have decided to go back to basics. Over the next couple of months we will be providing you with information relevant to what we have identified above and more. We want to help everyone understand how important their own career management is, how it is important for them to identify and manage their own career progression. We also cannot emphasise enough the importance of a quality resume and LinkedIn profile; ultimately the information needed to sell you throughout your career. And lastly but not least, in understanding the recruitment process. As we provide this information we would like to invite you to share the articles throughout your network and even more importantly through your online network. We want to help as best we can and we feel this is the greatest opportunity for everyone to improve their knowledge and understanding of Career Management in the current market. Keep checking our posts to make sure you don’t miss anything.