Reading Room

Be Your Own Career Consultant

The psychological contract that exists between employers and employees is changing faster than it has since the Industrial Revolution.  Employers cannot and will not offer a job for life, and employees are increasingly understanding that this is a reality that they need to face up to.  There will always be jobs for bright people, and bright people are creating jobs for themselves.  Employability should be on every career minded individual’s agenda, but the skills needed to develop your own career independent of an employers demands are not taught at school or university level.

Often personal career planning only becomes a priority in times of downsizing, rightsizing, de-layering, de-hiring, or whatever the current term for lay-offs is.  At that stage people may not be at their most hireable as they may not have thought about their skill sets, their experience profile or any training they may find useful for quite some time.

The time to plan your career is when you’re happy and successful in what you’re doing now.  ‘Be Your Own Career Consultant’ is a simple, common sense guide to how you can start the process, walking you through the process from thinking about who you are and what you want, to how to build a practical route-map to get there.

The book is written in a friendly, conversational style, which allows you to jot your own notes in the book and try a few exercises as you go.  There are short case histories to illustrate points and references to popular culture to help the reader think from a different angle.

There’s nothing intrinsically life changing about the book, the reality is that you need to do the work, put in the effort, and perhaps take a leap of faith to achieve your career ambitions.  The life changing step is making the decision that you do want to take control of your own career destiny.  If you do then this book will help guide you along the way.

Claudine McClean
T: +44 (0) 1789 734333
E: claudinem@predaptive.com