Autism and Accessing Employment

Some of this post draws on the ideas of The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment which was a resource guide written for autistic individuals in 2013.  While some of its language and thinking has now dated, this book remains a useful resource for autistic adults to navigate the unique culture and unspoken rules of workplaces.  It is available for online purchase or by order from your local library.

Finding A Good Job Fit For You

Engaging work is work that draws you in, holds your attention and gives you a state of flow. Regardless of what path you choose to take, feeling satisfied and fulfilled by what you do can give you the energy and motivation to continue on your career path.

Following your inherent knowledge, interests and abilities can help to open up great and enjoyable employment opportunities.  Focus on your interests and how to become even better at what you do.   

Formal qualifications will give you the edge to stand out from competitors but any books, online education and even social media can help you to link up with careers that align well with your interests.

It is worth thinking about what other ingredients a good job fit for you would involve. Research has suggested that the best job matches for autistic adults in employment are jobs with structure, routine and that align well with personal interests. Clear job responsibilities, predictable expectations and mentoring are all factors that create good conditions for employment success.

If we assume that you know what job you are targeting, there are a number of predictable steps in the process of jobseeking.

Job Searches

APPROACH YOUR JOB SEARCH WTIH A PLAN!

Approach your job search with a plan. You can try using a spreadsheet or notebook to keep track of jobs you have applied for, the date of your application, the contact details for follow-up and any updates as they happen. Being prepared is critical for getting employment. 

Finding a job opening is actually the easy part.  The trickier part is knowing which jobs you are suited for and communicating that you have the skills and experience an employer is looking for. Give yourself time and patience to practice these skills.

There is no ‘right’ job search engine to use but IrishJobs.ie is worth considering because of their recent collaborations with AsIAm researching autistic unemployment in Ireland.  JobAlert.ie is a small Irish owned jobsite that is easy to navigate and allows you to search for jobs by county.  JobsIreland.ie is the official job search site run by the employment service.

Google searches will help you learn where the jobs you want tend to be advertised and allows you to focus your energies. If you’re not sure, try googling your target job along with your location and see what comes up. You can then target your job search towards those sites where they seem to be advertised.

For example, PublicJobs.ie is for the public and semi state sector, Activelink.ie is for the community and non profit sector and specific recruitment agencies or specialist sites may target your sector.

When you see a job ad that interests you, take a few moments to scan the full ad. This gives you a chance to check the minimum requirements for applicants, job location, work conditions, salary range, hours, application closing date.  After confirming that all that is in line with your expectations, save a copy of the job description and person specification if you plan to go ahead with an application.

Keep using your tracking system to keep records of your job applications and the dates you apply.  Set yourself realistic targets for how many applications you want to make a day / a week and stick with them.  If your targets need to be revised, then do that. 

So much of jobseeking feels outside of our control, so when you know at the end of the week that you have kept to your own targets, it can really help when you are feeling demotivated in the face of finding employment. 

Plan rest days so that your breaks are intentional and you know when they are coming up and enjoy them guilt-free.

Job Applications

Take your time before applying for the job.  Identify the skills and experience needed for the job.  Spend some time researching the skills and experience employers generally look for in employees in this sector.   This research will help you to learn the language to use on your application.

This previous blog post on how to market yourself for a job application may be helpful to you. 

Compile a CV and get references.  Show your CV to trusted people around you to get their feedback.  Spunout offer a nice tipsheet on CV writing here

If your experience is not matching up, it is time to think about implementing strategies to acquire these. I have suggested some of these strategies below.

Targeted strategies to help with accessing employment

WHO (OR WHAT) CAN HELP ME GET AHEAD

Targeted strategies get you access to employers in ways other than direct job applications. Targeted strategies can include training, mentors, people you know in the industry, agency work or voluntary experience. 

There may also be specialised supports for jobseeking and recruitment practices that are open to you, and if so why not use them? 

For example, Specialisterne is a specialist consultancy agency for neurodivergent jobseekers in Ireland , AsIAm provide employment guidance and a list of inclusive workplaces and Ahead offer the WAM Work Placement programme for graduates with disabilities. Any of these could be very helpful supports to you in accessing employment.

There may be other opportunities you are overlooking:

If you are in college there may be mentoring or graduate programmes available to you that can help you to gain experience and references. 

If you are unemployed you may find support through INTREO or the Local Area Employment Service.  

If you are looking for upskilling, Springboard courses are excellent and generally there options there for employed as well as jobseeking people.

 If volunteering could boost your skills or contacts, then Volunteer Ireland, Activelink or your library, community or resource centre may be helpful to you.   

Employment or recruitment agencies remain a popular way to gain experience and have somebody help you to find your feet in a job.

Also make sure you have a LinkedIn page, that it is up to date and with a professional-style photo and that you have clicked Available for Work under your profile settings. More tips on setting up your LinkedIn page can be found here

Mentoring

A mentor is someone who can guide you professionally to success.  Think of someone familiar to you who meets that description, who is a good communicator and who has experience in the profession you are seeking. 

You could make contact with this person by email, phone or through someone known to you both, to ask them if they would be interested in guiding or mentoring you as you set out on your career path in their field.

It can be a good idea at your first meeting to suggest to your mentor that you agree some clear guidelines and boundaries for meetings.  These could include setting an agenda, agreeing a start and end time for your meeting, allowing time at the end for any questions before you finish the meeting, and agreeing that both the mentor and mentee have the right to end the mentoring relationship if that is what they wish to do.    Keep to those boundaries to minimise any conflicts. 

Before every meeting, think about what you would like to focus on. It is good to ask questions of your mentor if you need clarity on anything.  If a problem occurs, try raising it for discussion during a meeting to see if it can be resolved.

If you start working with one good mentor, it could then lead to building a network out one person at a time.  This rehearsal of a professional relationship can also be very helpful when starting to work as part of a team or with a supervisor or line manager.

THE HIDDEN CURRICULM: AVAILABLE ONLINE OR BY LIBrARY ORDER

Autistic Rights in Accessing Employment

The draft Autism Innovation Strategy (AIS) is a cross government initiative that aims to address the challenges and barriers facing autistic people and to improve understanding and accommodation of autism within society and across the public system.  While this is a draft policy and has only just been through a public consultation period,  hopefully a final AIS strategy will soon be published and include recommended actions across government departments. 

Any suggested actions listed below were quoted in the draft format of the AIS before it went to public consultation. These have not yet been finalised but give an idea of the barriers facing autistic people in accessing employment.

Intreo Centres provide employment and income supports and services and have begun identifying sensory rooms or calm zones in their Centres.  One goal of the draft AIS strategy is that a sensory room will be available in each Intreo office by the end of the first quarter of 2025. It may be worth enquiring if your local Intreo Centre is planning to develop a sensory room in line with this strategy. The draft AIS has recommended that all Intreo staff receive disability awareness education. 

The Public Appointments Service (PAS) provides a range of reasonable accommodations for candidates with a disability as part of the recruitment and selection process. The PAS is supporting the delivery of more inclusive routes into the civil and public service. Efforts are also under way to increase diversity within the PAS interview board member pool and ensure that all interview board members undergo disability awareness and unconscious bias training.

To ensure equity for all candidates, including autistic people, the recommendations for the PAS are to continue to enhance its recruitment and selection processes by taking a universal design-led approach and to gather equality monitoring data in order to support the commitment to increase by 20% the number of candidates with a declared disability, including autism, and who are from an ethnically diverse background applying for roles.

Local Area Enterprise Offices were recommended under the draft AIS strategy to better support entrepreneurship opportunities by adapting their training and mentoring programmes so as to better support the needs of autistic individuals using their services, alongside other under-represented groups, in line with best practice.

To support remote working and entrepreneurial opportunities for autistic people, the AIS Strategy also recommends encouraging the development of autism-friendly workspaces within the Connected Hubs network, which offers a network of remote working spaces and office facilities across Ireland.  The goal of this action would be to enable autistic people and people with disabilities to work remotely at a venue that caters for their needs.

The National Development Authority has been recommended under the draft AIS strategy to review existing resources relating to autism-friendly workplaces and identify gaps in information and/or the need for updating information, including guidance on accommodating people with sensory issues in shared office including open-plan offices.  The goal of this action would be to enable employers to better support autistic employees in the workplace.

The Importance of Well-Being when Jobseeking

Jobseeking is a stage in life where all people feel their autonomy is threatened.  For autistic people, who frequently spend most of their time already needing to advocate for themselves to simply have the same opportunities as everyone else, jobseeking can be exceptionally challenging.  Consider any and all supports you may need to access employment and prioritise your stability and ways that you know can help you restore some kind of equilibrium in response to the stresses of this time for an autistic person. 

Learn what you need to do well to keep well-regulated during the jobseeking process and try to implement these habits now.  Ultimately these habits will serve you well when you get the job.

Sources

AsIAm Ireland’s Autism Charity: Frequently Asked Questions | AsIAm

Autism in the Workplace Report 2021 | AsIAm and IrishJobs.ie

Draft Autism Innovation Strategy 2024 | Gov.ie

Interview with an employee at a majority-autistic company | Ask a Manager

The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment

What are the Characteristics of the Most Satisfying Jobs? | Indeed

Autism at Work

First in a new series of blog posts focusing on neurodivergence in the workplace.

My aim for this series is to provide helpful information to neurodivergent adults who are distanced from the workplace or who are working or seeking work.  I also would like to encourage employers or managers to think more closely about their workplace practices and how they can make them more inclusive to people who have different neurodevelopmental types to the majority.

Autism

Autism is a neurodevelopmental difference that pervasively affects the way a person thinks, feels and experiences the world. While autistic traits are not universal and are often specific to the person, patterns of common traits may include different preferences for sensory processing, social communication and monotropism which is a tendency for interests to strongly and intensely pull the person in.

A particular challenge for autistic people is the invisibility of autism.  Many autistic people do not have a formal diagnosis, and this is particularly true of autistic adults.  Many traits which are considered signs of autism in children are only sometimes seen in autistic adults.  This could be a result of either practice or masking. 

A Neurominority Culture

Autistic people are a neurominority and may face challenges and stress because autism is not always properly understood or accepted by non-autistic people. This lack of understanding can impact on a person’s mental health, access to education and employment, access to services and participation in the community. It can also result in autistic people trying to change or mask in order to belong or fit in, which can be harmful and exhausting for autistic people.  HSE research suggests that autistic people are more likely to have chronic mental and physical health conditions than non-autistic people.

Like many other marginalised communities, the autistic neurominority has cultivated resilience, their own culture and have continued to navigate a world that was not built for them. 

Most people have something they don’t understand about their own thinking or processing but autistic people have typically been through a deeper process of introspection and have emerged with a clearer sense of their own needs and preferences separate to social norms.

One way to learn about autistic culture is to pay attention to the online conversations that autistic adults are having with each other and with the wider population. We are probably a generation away from fully understanding autism and we are in a process of learning and discovery.  Openness and willingness to learn is going to be key to any progress. 

image source: 5 Tips for Creating a Sensory-Friendly Office | Pinnacle

Monotropism as a Workplace Strength

More researchers in recent years have started listening seriously to autistic perspectives on their own experiences.  Theories to describe autism are shifting from negative language (phrases like “executive dysfunction” and “repetitive interests”) to aspects of autistic experience previously overlooked (such as sensory processing and the nature of autistic interests).  Diagnostic frameworks are now starting to tie together these strands while still providing insight into the reasons why difficulties may happen. 

Monotropism is characterised by intensity.  The main characteristic feature of autistic special interests is really about how much people focus on them rather than how restricted or repetitive they are.  Autistic interests pull people in very strongly and persistently compared with most people. That can be a huge asset in many fields of work –  intense focus is indispensible in science, maths, technology, music, art and philosophy, among others.

Obviously autistic people are not the only ones capable of hyperfocus and persistent interests, but it is a common feature of the autistic psyche, and one that is too often squandered when workplaces are not set up to allow it. A person gains confidence when they are allowed to work with and through their strengths and workplaces should nurture this.

Creating Autistic Stability in the Workplace

Many social differences are sensory processing differences at heart. Autism is a heightened sensitivity and helping autistic people to maintain a sense of stability should be a priority at workplaces.

Sensory processing can relate to language processing.  When a person’s attention is elsewhere, noise input might register as an unwelcome interruption or it might not register at all.  This may be why autistic people often need more processing time and can find the back-and-forth of neurotypical conversation difficult to keep up with.  An autistic person may need extra time to process language and find it easier to communicate in writing or with visual cues (such as email) rather than coping with the challenge of conversation and the combination of spoken words, body language and eye contact that it requires. 

Another area of autistic stability is routine. It’s widely understood that routines can often help autistic people, a lot of which is about minimising mental load.  Routine helps to reduce the amount a person has to think about, which helps to maintain focus and stability.  Another big part of it is that changing plans involves an exhausting mental shift. The ability to feel in control is central to all of this, and externally imposed routines sometimes backfire for that reason. 

Autistic inertia can be a stress response to an externally imposed change, particularly when a person is naturally monotropic.  It refers to a difficulty in starting, stopping or changing direction when focused on a task. This is central to many of the difficulties autistic people face in life, but it is also part of what makes autistic thinking distinctive and valuable. 

Empathy – seeing a situation or the work environment from the other person’s point of view – is key to resolving workplace conflicts and restoring workplace stability.  It is best to try to work with someone and understand what is at the root of difficulties rather than go against them.  

image Source: melton Design Build

Autism + Environment = Outcome

Dr. Luke Beardon at Sheffield Hallam University developed what is known as the Golden Equation: Autism + Environment = Outcome.

This means that if an autistic person is experiencing chronic stress or burnout at work, they may think it’s their fault when in actual fact the workplace environment is not creating the right conditions for them to thrive.  Outcomes are directly related to the environment as much as they are to the individual.

If you are an employer, it may be worth considering where you can make sensory-friendly accommodations so that strong external stimuli — like scents, visuals, or sounds — are reduced or controlled.

If you are autistic, it may be worth examining workplace conditions, either alone, with a manager or with a trusted ally who knows you well.  A quick audit may give you a sense of what is lacking.

· The nature, quality or threshold of the tasks expected of you. 
Are you being asked to spend the majority of your time in people-facing work if your preference is otherwise?  Is your work a good technical fit for you?

· The degree of regularly scheduled support, job coaching or mentoring offered. 
Do you have a regularly scheduled meet up with your manager, and is an agenda organised before this meeting to give structure to the conversation?  Do you have an interest in training or moving into other areas but are being overlooked?

· The environmental conditions of your workspace.  Could small changes have huge impacts on your workspace?  
These could be sensory or social demands such as music on headphones, wearing ear defenders, moving your desk, adjusting the quality of overhead light, reducing social demands or expectations, providing quiet spaces for privacy, increasing the days you work from home, adjusting hours to what suits you best.

· Whether your preferences and comfort levels are accommodated.
Can calls be more infrequent and with people asking for permission before calling. Are you more comfortable expressing yourself by email. Can the default in meetings be agreed as camera off.  If you tend to ask a lot of questions, do your colleagues understand you do this in order to understand and ultimately perform better?

· Whether your workplace is the right balance of cultural fit for you. 
How does your manager show you that your opinion is worth seeking and valued?   Has there been a real focus on working to suit everyone’s strengths?   

Autism: Know Your Rights

It is important to know current policies that point to autistic rights and where to get support.

AsIAm, Ireland’s Autism Charity, has a great summary in the Employment Section of their FAQ page of the relevant EU and Irish laws that support the rights of autistic people when they enter the workplace. These include the Equal Status Acts 2000 and the Employment Equality Acts.

The Autism Innovation Strategy aims to be the building blocks for a more autism-inclusive Ireland and a framework for cross-government policy actions on autism.  The strategy’s purpose is to focus on unique challenges to Ireland’s autistic population not currently covered under existing disability frameworks.  Currently at draft stage, the strategy has just completed a period of public consultation.  It is important to keep an eye on this as it will inform government policy.  The draft strategy can be viewed here.

The strategy recognises that there is significant work to do to better support autistic people in Ireland.  The values underpinning the actions in the strategy are:

· Rights Focused · Person-Centred · Neuro-Affirmative · Delivered within the mainstream, where possible

The National Disability Authority was established to advise and inform the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when it comes to policy and practise for people with disabilities. The NDA produced guidance in 2018 in order to support employers in assisting autistic people in employment.  This can be viewed here

If you are an Irish employer wanting to enhance your own accessibility, there are inclusive tools that you can develop to bridge the employment gap.  You may not know where to begin.  This Focusondiversity blog post on how a workplace can enhance its accessibility contains a lot of useful resources

Thank you for reading.  The next post in this series will focus on Autism and Accessing Employment.

Sources

An Office Designed for Workers With Autism | The New York Times

AsIAm Ireland’s Autism Charity: Frequently Asked Questions | AsIAm

Autism in the Workplace Report 2021 | AsIAm and IrishJobs.ie

Assisting People with Autism in the Workplace | National Disability Authority

Connections Between Sensory Sensitivities in Autism; the Importance of Sensory Friendly Environments for Accessibility and Increased Quality of Life for the Neurodivergent Autistic Minority | Heidi Morgan

Draft Autism Innovation Strategy 2024 | Gov.ie

Interview with an employee at a majority-autistic company | Ask a Manager

Irish organisations that can enhance a company’s workplace or digital accessibility | Focusondiversity.ie

Me and Monotropism: A unified theory of autism | BPS

5 Tips for Creating a Sensory-Friendly Office | Pinnacle

Career Ideas for High Verbal Ability

Career Ideas To Fit Your Aptitude And Ability: 3

Today the focus is on Verbal Reasoning.

But First: Why Measure Ability? 

There is general agreement that abilities are a valid predictor of performance.  This means that where you have a high ability, you are likely going to be more able to cope with the demands of a specific environment.  By better understanding your ability, this can help you to make an informed choice around jobs where you might reach your full potential while also gaining insight about where some struggles may be coming from. However, motivation and context also play an important role. Almost every skill can be learned with the help of someone who can show you how. 

What Is Verbal Reasoning?
Verbal reasoning is the ability to understand concepts expressed through language, to think constructively and to apply logic when solving problems. 

One example of verbal reasoning is the ability to hear some information about a problem, process the information, form a theory, and use this theory to evaluate and communicate the solution to a problem.  If that sounds like something you can do, then you are likely to have high verbal ability.

Interests that may be associated with high verbal ability include:

· an interest in abstract word thinking and imagination to shape ideas and bring them to life

· a passion for reading and writing

· an interest in learning new languages and appreciating the uniqueness of language structures

· public speaking

Why Test Verbal Reasoning?

The reason that verbal reasoning tests are frequently used as part of psychometric assessments for employment in many different types of roles because the ability to problem solve, comprehend and reason logically is valuable across many sectors.

A verbal reasoning test can assess any combination of the following:

·       Comprehension and analysis.  These assess whether you can draw logical conclusions on the basis of text in front of you.

·       The ability to evaluate arguments and statements from a piece of text.

·       Vocabulary. Identifying words that have been used wrongly in a text or testing you on words that are similar and easily confused.

·       The ability to extract and summarise key points from written information.

Verbal reasoning assessments don’t typically assess your ability to write – they are more focused on your understanding.

Being able to communicate your thoughts can make a positive difference in the workplace

Why is Verbal Reasoning so highly valued in the workplace?

Verbal skills are particularly important in fields such as marketing, customer service and PR where communication forms a vital part of the job.  Verbal abilities are also highly valued in careers in law, teaching, public sector, retail or sales. 

However, verbal ability is very much tied to problem solving and to be able to communicate your thoughts can make a positive difference in almost any workplace. 

One of the most crucial elements of workplaces are social interactions and the ability to listen, convey understanding and express yourself can help you to stand out from the crowd and progress your career.  This is true of both in-person or remote work.  Most workplaces – in any sector - are at their heart dependent on people to bring about change, success or results.

Written and verbal communication, emotional intelligence and leadership are core skills in the future of work. Even as artificial intelligence and robotics continue to share work with us, people will still be critical for the tasks that rely on distinctly human skills that computers can’t yet replicate.

To be successful in the workplace of the future it is crucial to cultivate soft skills that influence how you think, work, and relate to other people.

Bottom of Form

Career ideas for high verbal ability  

Most jobs require excellent communication skills; however, there are some particular jobs that search for the best of the best when it comes to communicating with others. 

Lawyers provide legal advice and counsel, gather information or evidence, draw up legal documents and prosecute or defend in court. Lawyers need strong written and communication skills and must be good at public speaking when appearing in court, delivering statements, and cross-examining witnesses. An efficient lawyer may need to find lots of information and learn to deal with the warfare of words.  An innate ability to master language skills and deal with lots of information may also play a vital role in the study and practice of law.

Human Resource Specialists are responsible for recruiting team members, making calls and answering questions, interviewing potential candidates, and setting up meetings with managers. They need to use their communication and people skills to get their job done.

Public Relations Specialists are the public face and voice of an organisation. They serve as the spokespeople and release statements to the media. Public relations specialists mostly communicate with reporters but they also organise events to promote the business online and in the community.

Content Writers need a firm grasp of language and good writing skills to be able to explain a collection of ideas and concepts to readers from around the world.

Social Media Managers are often needed by entrepreneurs to reply to customer queries and manager a business’s social media presence.  For those who have got intensive experience on social media and know how to communicate a message effectively, becoming a social media manager can be the ideal job.

 
Communications Executives write engaging copy for websites, blogs, articles, social media, and newsletters. They also look after the internal and external communications, including marketing a company’s image.

Journalists are storytellers whose role is to provide and share information accurately with the public; journalists need to practice active listening skills to interview countless sources before writing their stories. They also need determination to convince sources to open up and reveal their secrets.  Journalists may need to have a strong memory capacity and the skills to present facts, data, and information in a clear manner. Within this field are further options like writing and editing, reporter, or a show host.  Journalists are also very focused, attentive, and self-aware, making them an ideal choice for this profession. Additional languages can also enhance this career choice as knowing and interpreting various languages are vital for journalists.  

TV Reporters need to be prepared at any moment with no script and no teleprompter. All of these require impressive communication skills. 

Radio DJs and Broadcasters are able to maintain composure while under pressure and feel confident talking in front of potentially thousands of people. If you are fun to listen to, have an interest in current trends and can engage your listeners, this could be a perfect fit

Editorial jobs require intense data collection, revaluation, and reviewing of information, articles, and stories published in daily media and communication platforms.  Editors need to have impressive knowledge about vocabulary, grammar and command of language and sentence tone.

Sales Representatives are responsible for approaching and selling a company’s products to customers by identifying leads and educating prospects with presentations, phone calls, or training. They need to master excellent communication skills to sell their products.

Customer Service Representatives assist customers with product enquiries, complaints and any other questions. They are also responsible for placing orders and scheduling deliveries. Customer service representatives are expert communicators with the ability to multitask.

Marketing Managers have many responsibilities, such as building strategies, budgeting and reviewing advertising material such as print, radio, TV commercials, and digital marketing. They need to have strong negotiation skills, along with a keen eye for detail when proofreading press releases or advertising copies.   

Marketing Analysts develop innovative ways and ideas to  create something fascinating and unique.  These roles require intense research and creativity and marketing analysts may spend a lot of time gathering new ideas for market growth, sales expansion, client acquisitions, and providing innovative ideas for of branding and e-commerce.  This work may suit an individual who likes to grow and develop ideas and thoughts.

Financial Advisors help people with long-term financial planning, such as investments, pensions, life insurance, and mortgages. Financial advisors need to communicate complex information to their clients in an understandable way, so good communication skills are a must.  These roles may be a good fit for someone who also holds strong numerical skills.

Teachers work in a field that is all about communication.  Teachers need to communicate with children in a way that children understand. As a multistakeholder role, teachers also need to communicate well with parents and with faculty management as well as maintaining the record keeping and lesson planning elements of the role.

Lecturers draw on expressive and language skills to communicate their ideas and keep classes engaged in deep and emerging concepts.  An interest in research and the academic circuits are a strong advantage in this field.

Interpreters act as liaisons and translate documents for the corporate, multinational and public sectors. They help break down the barriers between people who speak different languages.  There is increasing demand for interpreters in the healthcare and community sectors.

Translators have an innate interest in learning and mastering new languages and are required in government offices, language departments and the fields of language development and diplomacy.

Social Workers can work with a broad sector of society and need strong communication skills to mediate between family members and systemic structures.  With a strong focus on record-keeping, social workers draw on a range verbal skills to complete their work. 

Occupational Therapists help patients with injuries, illnesses, or disabilities recover and improve their daily living skills. They need good communication and listening skills to explore what is wrong with a patient and proactively suggest treatment options.

Speech and Language Therapy as a role may suit people with an interest in linguistics and communication strategies who are motivated to contribute positively to the speech and language needs of others. 

Counsellors and Psychotherapists are trained to understand the needs and desires of a client without judgment. They  offer support and guidance to help people process their area of concern in a safe space. Counsellors may also need to consult with other professionals which also draws on good communication skills.

Career Advisors help students and adults evaluate their interests and abilities. They need strong communication skills to support clients who are exploring career options.

Sport Coaches teach, train, and motivate athletes who compete to win. They need proper communication skills to make the players understand how to win the game.

Politicians debate and present topical and persuasive ideas. They tend to value knowledge and are driven to understand the facts and context of a situation. Political roles may suit those who can express public opinion of the and provide clarity on policies and decisions that may impact society. They also inhibit a powerful ability to lead and organise groups and determination, patience and innovation may also be traits that suit a politician portfolio.

Authors create new text such as an articles, poetry or fiction and tend to be masters of language and written expression. The art of writing requires a lot of brainstorming and composing elements of language to produce pieces of literature.   Those with strong visual-linguistic talents might like to consider a writing career.

Sources

How to pass verbal reasoning tests for graduate jobs (gradireland.com)

Top 16 Essential Soft Skills For The Future Of Work | Bernard Marr

 WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2020.pdf (weforum.org)

 What can I do with a linguistics degree? | Prospects.ac.uk

10 Potential Careers For Individuals With High Verbal Linguistic Intelligence - Number Dyslexia

20 Jobs to Consider if you have Good Communication Skills (lead-academy.org)

Irish Times Article: Ten Hurdles Faced by Graduates Entering the Workforce

Throwback Thursday: About a year ago, I had the pleasure of speaking with Shauna Bowers from the Irish Times about challenges faced by fresh college graduates in the workplace. Reposting for this year’s graduates!

Article by Shauna Bowers

Published 19 September 2022

Link to original here: 10 hurdles faced by graduates entering the workforce – The Irish Times

Finishing university can be a time of equal amounts excitement and trepidation. You are moving from a place in which you’re top of the totem pole and know your surroundings, to another environment in which you’re starting from the beginning again.

Obviously, this creates challenges. Here are some of the most common issues faced by graduates entering the workforce, and some of the solutions to overcome these hurdles.

What changes once a student enters the professional world?

1. Poor development or line management

Anne Musiol, a Career Counsellor based in Dublin, said one of the biggest issues is people struggling to cope working with a manager who maybe isn’t offering them clear instructions or guidance. “If someone has poor management in that first job, it can really have an impact on their confidence or on their prospects,” she said.

“It can leave them floundering without anybody developing their career and development.”

The best way to overcome this hurdle, she said, is to request a one-on-one meeting with your manager to seek a clear understanding of your role, or to see if your place of work has a mentorship programme so you can partner with a more experienced colleague who could guide you.

2. Lack of training

A lot of focus when beginning a new job is on the soft skills that are learned. However, every place of work is different, and many of them require role-specific training or upskilling. Line managers and colleagues often think all employees have the knowledge and skills for the role, however, new entrants may not be fully equipped.

“To be a graduate, it’s really important for your confidence to keep building on your learning through training; to gain new skills as you go along, especially as you’re starting,” Ms Musiol said.

3. Part of a team

As any individual who attended full-time education can attest, group work is the worst. There’s always one member who doesn’t pull their weight, one member who thinks they’re the boss of everyone, and everyone else just tries to get through the experience without committing homicide. According to Ms Musiol, teamwork and collaboration are key features of the working environment, but it is often more palatable than it was in university.

“There’s always going to be someone whose job it is to guide you. There are parameters there, and there is always a job description to fall back on,” she said.

4. Matching your perceptions with reality

Often, how we envisage a job to be is vastly different from how it is in practice, particularly for those graduates who studied largely theoretical degrees such as business or humanities.

Trying to mesh those perceptions to how graduates’ roles are in reality is often a difficulty encountered by those beginning work.

“If you’re not happy, and if what you have is not what you thought it would be, I think you can still be very valuable to build on that towards what you want. Maybe what you’re doing isn’t that satisfying, but there are movements left and right,” Ms Musiol added.

5. Setting boundaries

One of the biggest difficulties is trying to complete your workload in a healthy and relatively stress-free way. Even though you might want to prove yourself, you should not be working hours and hours of overtime to complete tasks of impress your bosses.

Setting healthy worklife boundaries is “really difficult”, Ms Musiol said.

“If you’re trying to make a name for yourself, it’s really easy to let those boundaries slip. It’s a very new situation to you, so you don’t even know what these boundaries are yet.

“You’ve got to work out what works for you, and where you need the breaks and respite as you go along. If you can define what stresses you then you can start to look for techniques to master it.”

6. Are your expectations of yourself realistic?

As you move from the cream of the crop to suddenly being the fledgling once again, it is important not to expect too much of yourself. While you’re an important part of the workforce, you’re not going to solve a company’s problems in your first week of the job. But this lack of responsibility allows a graduate to work on themselves, and to decide what sort of employee they want to be.

“It can be really good to identify people to look up to, maybe there’s somebody who really reminds you of yourself or really impressed by,” Ms Musiol said.

“You should look into what attracts that person to you, and how you can apply that to yourself.”

7. Anxiety

On the flip side of that, anxiety and stress are emotions often felt by new employees as you’re pushed to take on new tasks or to try things that are outside of your comfortzone. Ms Musiol said it can be “very easy to feel overwhelmed” in these early days of transition.

“It’s important for people to recognise that preparation can help with anxiety in work. If you’re starting to get anxious about things you’re being asked to do, put some time in to prepare and do practical things you can do for yourself. Be patient with yourself as you learn,” she added.

8. Mistakes are bound to happen

It’s also important to remember that you’re a human who is on a new learning journey. With that, mistakes are going to happen, just like they did to your colleagues when they first began working. “Making mistakes can be really painful, but allow yourself that moment of suffering but then say ‘okay, I’m learning from this and I’ll try again’. It’s okay to admit you don’t know everything,” Ms Musiol said.

9. Confidence

When you’re new and younger than your colleagues, the workplace can be daunting. But the best way to success is to contribute: pitch ideas, speak at meetings and volunteer for projects. Ms Musiol said impostor syndrome too often holds new graduates back.

“You might need something extra, maybe more tools and more guidance, but yeah you can do it. It’s important not to go to that automatic thought of ‘oh I’m an impostor and I don’t belong here’,” she said.

10. Interpersonal skills

For a cohort of individuals who largely completed university online during the Covid-19 pandemic, a specific issue of people skills arises. However, Ms Musiol said these graduates have shown resilience and adaptability, and going into the workplace with an open mind will assist in overcoming this issue.

“Depending on where you go, some places have a large influx of graduates and you’ll find your tribe through that. Other places, you may come in as the only person or one of two, and that’s going to be quite different,” she added.

Small Steps can make big improvements. Remember to ask for help.

Source with thanks to Shauna Bowers for interviewing me

10 hurdles faced by graduates entering the workforce – The Irish Times

Career Ideas for High Numerical Ability

Career Ideas to Fit Your Aptitude And Ability: 2 

Today the focus is on Numerical Reasoning.

But First: Why Measure Ability? 

There is general agreement that abilities are a valid predictor of performance.  This means that where you have a high ability, you are likely going to be more able to cope with the demands of a specific environment.  By better understanding your ability, this can help you to make an informed choice around jobs where you might reach your full potential while also gaining insight about where some struggles may be coming from. However, motivation and context also play an important role. Almost every skill can be learned with the help of someone who can show you how. 

What is Numerical Reasoning?

image source: unsplash.com

Numerical reasoning involves processing numerical patterns logically and easily. But people with strong numerical reasoning excel at more than addition, multiplication, and division. They easily process, analyse and interpret numerical charts, trends, and relationships.

Someone with a strong aptitude for numerical reasoning finds trends in numbers interesting. They enjoy number games and puzzles. They can memorise and recall numerical facts from various sources and put them to practical use. They can make accurate estimates and projections from data. And they’re good in roles that require instant access to numerical facts and information.  If you are naturally numerical or you enjoy handling large sets of data then a numerical job is likely to satisfy you. 

When someone’s aptitude for numerical reasoning isn’t one of their strongest aptitudes, they take longer to understand patterns in numerical information, especially if it’s their first interaction with that information. And they may feel lost when looking at a report with a lot of unrelated data sets. But they may excel when applying a numerical formula they’re familiar with already.  So if you have a low to moderate numerical ability, you may still be able for the numerical tasks of your job.  You may need someone to help you to learn the skills to perform effectively at your job, or you may take a little longer to learn.   The proportion of numerical tasks you are asked to perform may be out of alignment with your natural abilities.  So it is worth paying attention to your natural aptitudes and whether the balance of numerical tasks is right for you in your current role or whether you are feeling stressed.  You may want to speak with your boss about adjusting or rethinking your role or supports so that you can perform at your best and as your most authentic self.

What Courses of Study are Good Fits for Numerical Ability

If you have an aptitude for numerical reasoning and enjoy working out complex equations you may find yourself considering a course heavily based in maths.

A maths degree is highly valued in the employment sector.  Although there are few companies hiring mathematicians, maths graduates are highly sought after. Maths graduates have highly developed problem-solving skills; a trait that gives mathematicians an advantage in acquiring other skills quickly and efficiently.

Engineering, computers, science, accounting, actuarial studies, statistics should also give you enough maths to satisfy your hunger for problem solving. 

What Career Skills Relate Well to Numerical Ability

People with an aptitude for numbers are in a strong position to create a satisfying career in the current jobs market.  In the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023, analytical thinking, creative thinking and technological literacy were identified as the 3 core skills most on the rise that employers want from their employees.    As of 2020, analytical thinking is considered to be a core skill by more companies than any other skill.    Numerical and analytical thinking often go hand in hand so this is a skill generally well developed in those with high numerical ability.

People with a strong aptitude for numerical reasoning are needed for the ever-expanding tech and data-driven careers waiting to be filled.   Numerical reasoning matters in non-tech roles too, including for roles in finance and marketing. Numerical and analytical people are needed in almost every business you can imagine, no matter how creative or alternative they are. Jobs covering the financial industry and beyond often tend to be very well paid, particularly if you are driven to succeed.

People with strong numerical skills would do well to positively develop their softer self-efficacy skills – resilience, flexibility and agility; motivation and self-awareness; and curiosity and lifelong learning – which were also identified as key core skills to help employers adapt to the current trends of industry transformation.

Image source: Unsplash.com

Careers for People Who are Good with Numbers

Jobs for people with high numerical ability tend to be forward thinking and ever changing but I would agree with Careers Portal that they can be loosely grouped into three categories.

1.       Careers directly related to maths   

There are many positions within the public sector, in industry, IT and finance that demand a strong mathematical knowledge.

Public sector roles include civil service positions which involve using mathematical, statistical, and computing knowledge acquired through the study of maths. Maths-related public jobs also include all forms of teaching and academic work.

Construction managers, construction professionals (civil engineers, architects), construction technicians (draughtspersons) and construction craftspersons (bricklayers, plasterers) all rely heavily on strong numerical ability to deliver in their roles.

Machinists work in industry and draw on numerical skills to understand machine systems and to set up and run equipment that creates precision parts, instruments, and tools.

Engineers are often maths enthusiasts who are more drawn to the concrete than the abstract.  The type of maths depends on the type of engineering but mathematics is a big part of an engineer's daily work, including statistics, calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

Computer science and ICT sector are good fits for those who are forward thinking and like to design innovative uses for new and existing computing technologies. 

Statisticians analyse data and apply computational techniques to solve problems. They may specialise in biostatistics, agricultural statistics, business statistics, economic statistics, or survey statistics.

Scientists will find that numerical ability plays an important role in understanding the laws equations and formulae of physics, chemistry and its specialisations.

Economists collect and analyse data, research trends, and evaluate economic issues for resources, goods and services, or monetary and fiscal policy.

Stockbrokers possess a deep understanding of economics and the financial markets. 

2.       Careers that involve thinking logically and quantitatively

Typical examples include actuarial, accounting and banking careers.

Accountants remain in high demand.  Almost all companies use the services of an accountant and some of the biggest financial institutions are accountancy firms.

Banking is radically transforming.  There are many different types of banker, from retail bank branches through to the big multinational investment bankers. 

Auditors go through the records of companies to ensure they’re paying the right taxes and everything is above board. 

Actuaries use mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to analyse the economic costs of risk and uncertainty to forecast risk and liability for payment of future benefits.

Administrators and clerical workers often complete mathematical tasks that support the management and running of a business. Numerical skills are an asset for administrative roles and duties.

3.       Wide career pool open to those with highly developed numerical and logical thinking and analytical skills

Analysis is a core numerical skill.  The ability to analyse difficult problems coupled with industry experience and well developed softer skills makes a highly attractive combination for employers.

Service managers may find that data spreadsheets and forecasting form a large part of their role. The ability to conceptualise figures and relate it back to daily operations is an asset in these roles.

Management analysts find ways to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness by conducting studies and evaluations and designing systems and procedures.

Market research analysts  — or marketing analysts or strategists — cover an array of jobs from analysts who study how market conditions impact sales to those who dig into marketing data to find trends and marketing opportunities.

Operations research analysts use advanced mathematical and analytical methods to help solve complex issues, help management make decisions, formulate policies, and improve functions.

Financial analysts has some basic primary duties, including performing financial forecasting, reporting and operational metrics tracking. They're also responsible for analysing financial data, creating financial models for decision support, analysing past results and identifying trends. Financial analysts also make recommendations for improvement, report on financial performance and prepare for regular leadership reviews. They work closely with accounting teams to ensure accurate financial reporting.

Data scientists work closely with business stakeholders and create data models and algorithms. They can predict the right model a business needs to grow and also analyse data with stakeholders. Some popular careers in data science include data scientists, data analysts, data engineers, data architects and business intelligence specialists. Data science is one of the highest growth areas in the current job market.

Sources

Ireland’s National Skills Strategy 2025 

Jobs for People Good with Numbers

Numeracy Skills: examples and jobs that require them

Numerical reasoning and what it means for careers

Skills Outlook: The Future of Jobs Report 2023

What can I do with a Degree in Maths?

10 skills you need to land a top job in 2022, according to Glassdoor

Career Ideas for Abstract Thinkers

Career Ideas To Fit Your Aptitude And Ability: 1

Today the focus is on Abstract Reasoning.

But First: Why Measure Ability? 

There is general agreement that abilities are a valid predictor of performance.  This means that where you have a high ability, you are likely going to be more able to cope with the demands of a specific environment.  By better understanding your ability, this can help you to make an informed choice around jobs where you might reach your full potential while also gaining insight about where some struggles may be coming from. However, motivation and context also play an important role. Almost every skill can be learned with the help of someone who can show you how. 

image source

What is Abstract Reasoning?

You’ll know you are taking an abstract reasoning test when you are answering questions that are non-verbal but contain a series of shapes, patterns and pictures that ask you to predict what is coming next.   Abstract reasoning is the ability to think about objects, principles, and ideas that are not physically present.  These questions measure your lateral thinking and fluid reasoning: your ability to solve a problem using unfamiliar information, logic and analytical skills.   Questions that measure non verbal reasoning ask you to make sense of information, patterns and graphics that are depicted in visual form.

In many ways, abstract and concrete thinkers take opposite approaches. Concrete reasoning involves physical objects a person can experience through the five senses—smell, taste, touch, hearing, and sight.  Concrete thinkers rely on what’s in front of them to make decisions. Abstract reasoning skills are all about the intangible: thoughts, ideas, and symbols to better understand the bigger picture behind events and actions. 

Abstract reasoning can be an indicator in neurodivergence.  Some neurological conditions can negatively impact on a person’s ability to think abstractly with people more likely to take abstract concepts or metaphors literally: examples include autism, schizophrenia, learning disabilities or traumatic brain injury.  W with giftedness however, abstract reasoning is typically present at an earlier age than the average population. Understanding where your capacity lies for abstract reasoning can therefore also help with insight on strengths or challenges you may be having in the workplace.

The psychometric assessment that I use in my practice measures abstract reasoning by showing you shapes and patterns to assess your problem-solving skills and ability to spot logical series.  The reason why this assessment is included when measuring ability is because there are roles where fluid reasoning, problem solving and unfamiliar scenarios are a common occurrence. 

Careers that Suit an Abstract Thinker

So what kinds of jobs would suit someone with a high score in abstract thinking?  Good jobs for abstract thinkers are jobs that require the ability to think clearly, process information, solve problems and make good decisions.  Abstract thinkers are able to problem-solve creatively. Not only do they have the ability to do so, they enjoy using the critical thinking skills that are needed for difficult decisions. Abstract thinkers are curious and innovative.

It would be useful to firstly think about what career sectors are interesting to you and where you might be motivated and excited to apply your abstract thinking.

Creative Careers

Abstract thinkers often gravitate to creative job industries,.   Abstract thinkers are also creative thinkers who are able to conceptualize ideas and bring these ideas into physical existence. Writers, painters, illustrators, sculptors and other types of artists use abstract thought to create or break down a piece of art. Many introverted abstract thinkers find a career as an artist fulfilling in the sense that they get to work alone and develop their own ideas. Other artistic avenues include graphic design, photography and music.

image source

Investigative Careers

Because abstract thinkers can make connections between ideas, they may be well-suited for investigative jobs. Many investigative careers involve heavy research and a capacity for mental problem solving.  Criminal investigators and detectives must use their powers of observation and ability to make sense of evidence. Lawyers analyse the evidence to develop an argument to resolve their clients’ legal cases and to identify and foresee problems. 

Abstract thinkers are interested in how and why things function. They love fact gathering, hands-on work, variety and logic. Such careers avenues include biological scientists, industrial engineering technicians, medical scientists, physicists, detectives, mechanics, strategic planners and forensic researchers.  Abstract thinkers often enjoy coming up with hypotheses, then developing ways to test them. Their natural ability to think analytically can help them thrive in a career as a chemist, physicist or psychologist.

Technological Careers

Curious by nature, abstract thinkers gravitate to structure, complex systems, rules and logical analysis. These types of thinkers have a strong need to understand what makes something tick. They show a desire to clarify the world around them and use logic and rationality to do so. Jobs for conceptual thinkers such as these fall into categories that include computer programmers, systems analysts, mathematicians, philosophers, sound engineers, electricians and scientists.

The analytical skills of abstract thinkers can help them excel in the field of information technology and technical support. Computer programmers need to interpret complex instructions and computer languages to code programs. Systems analysts must understand the business needs of employers to design computer systems to help them succeed.

Entrepreneurial Careers

Many people who think abstractly value the ability to run their own businesses and work according to their own schedule. This includes writers, small business owners and designers, among others. Abstract thinkers are independent thinkers who can prefer to keep to themselves and observe life from a less mainstream perspective, as their distance from other people facilitates objective critical analysis.  

A 2020 research study concluded that university students with a high performance rate in problem solving also showed high performance rates in abstract reasoning.  Abstract and creative thinkers can also excel as instructors, in project management, visual scheduling, evaluation, facilitation and in developing creative solutions to business problems.

Sources

Abstract Reasoning and Problem-Solving Skills of First Year College Students | ResearchGate

Abstract Thinking: How to Develop Abstract Reasoning Skills | MasterClass

Abstract Reasoning Practice Test Questions & Tips | Jobtestprep.co.uk

GoodTherapy | Abstract Thinking

Jobs for Abstract Thinkers | Chron.com

Jobs for Abstract Thinkers | Career Trend

The Future Belongs To The Abstract Thinkers. The World Is Overcrowded by The Concrete Thinkers! Who Are You? | LinkedIn

11 Careers for Abstract Thinkers (With Salaries and Job Duties) | Indeed.com

Job Seeking Skills are Actually Self Marketing Skills

Here’s the short version of how I found my dream job:  I went to see someone like me for advice.  After working in homeless support services, I was feeling blocked about what to do next.  I was sitting opposite the Career Counsellor watching her work when I had the realisation: I really want your job. 

I sought her advice then and there: ‘how do I do what you do?’ 

A week later, she rang me.  She’d been contacted by a university promoting studies in Career Development.  Would I be interested in learning more?  I said yes.

Two years further on in my studies, I contacted a Local Employment Service for advice.  I asked the Manager if she would meet with me and she said yes.  She gave me an hour of her time, even arranged for me to work shadow for a morning. I said yes to that opportunity and came back to do it.  

I didn’t ask for a job, instead I asked: ‘how do I prepare for working somewhere like this?’

A few days later, she contacted me that she had heard of a vacancy in a similar service.  I applied and interviewed and I brought my purposeful preparation and passion into the room with me.  And I arrived at my destination: the job I wanted.

 Jobseeking is an Ongoing and Deliberate Self Marketing Campaign

Self Marketing means you focus on your employability, not on being employed.  You want to create and sustain your own opportunities in work, learning and life. 

The good news is that you can do it. 

The first step is to keep a structure to your day.  Get up at the same time.  Make space in the day for making connections and give time to it every day.  

Know what you’re looking for and know where your weaknesses are.  Tell yourself: I’m going to fill those gaps and I’m going to persevere and practice until I have it done.

Is there someone you could speak to who could identify where your gaps are and how to bridge them.

Put the scaffolding in place to purposefully move your career forward.

Purposefully target the jobs you are serious about.

Be a Serious Candidate

Effective Self Marketing is a process of converting ignorance on the part of another person into a buying decision on what you have to offer.  They’ve got a job to fill, and you want to show that you have the strengths to do it.  To do this, you need an edge.

Be aware of how serious a candidate a hiring manager may view you.  Make sure you are setting a high enough bar for yourself.   If your application merely states that in your view you fit the job, then you will not be seen as a serious candidate.

A basic application will only go so far as to list how your past experience fits the job content.  This is too low a bar to set for yourself if you are genuinely interested in the job.

But how do you communicate that you are a serious candidate?

To be a serious candidate, you will need to put some work in.  You will need to concentrate on matching your skills to the selection criteria, person specification and job specification.  Each word should demonstrate good communication and self marketing.  The information should be precise and factual and not merely opinion. 

You would preferably provide something quantifiable.  Can you prove that your efforts improved sales, profits, retention, response, customer satisfaction?  Then provide the proof. 

In the recruitment industry, if you demonstrate ‘knowledge’ level self-marketing skills, you will be viewed as a serious candidate. 

Follow these tips and see if it positions you as a serious candidate.  Give your job applications the leverage you need. 

Self Marketing Recommendations[i]

1. Indicate your previous employer’s use of you; e.g. promotion, secondment, rehiring, being assigned special projects, training investment etc.

2. Include things you have stopped, started, made better, and quantify the effects on profits, assets and people.

3. Indicators of success can include your final education, qualifications and training.

4. Consider the new employer’s known problems – show how specific bits of your experience can make an instant contribution when applied.

5. Be precise.  Engage your thinking.  Use facts, precision, proof rather than general statements.  Imprecision is one of the biggest flaws in job applications and interviews. 

6. Comply fully with requirements: instructions, disclosures, timing, forms.  Strive for excellence and relevance, all properly presented and understood.

7. For self-improvement and to overcome bad habits that may come across in interview, get impartial advice from someone who knows you well.  Consider if you have a habit of overstating a point, being brash, speaking in excesses.

8. Proof reading is important on job applications.  Remember the person who writes a document is the least qualified to check it. 

9. Don’t overstate something.  Listen closely and use self-discipline.  Demonstrate your confidence that your experience meets their need.

[i] Self-Marketing Recommendations sourced from John Courtis (1999) Getting a Better Job. Chartered Institute of Personal Development UK.

Imagery Sourced with thanks to UnSplash.com

How to Embark on the Career You Want

Your twenties can be a difficult time in shaping your career.  If you are feeling lost, I would hope there is some comfort in knowing that it is OK not to have or know your passion at the start of your career. 

Try not to be put off by having vague rather than clear feelings of what you are aiming for.  Career passions often develop and emerge from experience. 

Try to pay a bit of attention to how you actually spend your time. There are clues in how you spend your time as to what really interests and excites you.  Perhaps you can combine those interests with your skills or qualifications and start to create a picture of what would be a satisfying career for you.

Positive and negative experiences both shape us.  Your confidence can be greatly affected by a disinterested or uninvested manager, by a toxic workplace, by a job that took advantage of you and may have used you up and burned you out.  It can be painful to explore negative experiences but they do provide clues to what you have learned so far. 

By the same token, perhaps there was something that was a profoundly joyful experience, such as an event or moment in school or college that really shaped you and taught you something significant about yourself.  Try tapping back into that joy, and remembering what you learned about yourself in those moments. When did you feel most proud.

Here are some core questions to ask yourself. See if you can come up with anything new that you haven’t considered before. 

In digging a little deeper, it may help to recruit help from someone in your life knows you really well and who you can rely on to help you as you sound things out.

What Am I Interested In

For any job you’ve had, you can ask yourself ‘what about this interests or interested me the most?’  Brainstorm quickly through every job you’ve had, no matter how short or informal they were.  Your answers will start to give you clues about what is satisfying for you in the world of work.  

If your work week is deeply unsatisfying to you, what is your favourite part of the week?  Perhaps there is time with someone you find extremely interesting, a voluntary activity that you love, a hobby or interest that absorbs you and generates your energy like nothing else. 

What have you given up that you used to really enjoy?

What Am I Looking For

Ask yourself some concrete questions: what have you learned from your experiences about what suits you, what you’re good at, what you’re capable of.  From things that went wrong, what have you learned about jobs or environments that may suit you better, or about your responses to stress: being honest and truthful can help you to understand yourself better.

In thinking about the career you want, you may be trying to correct a course.  Try spending a little time thinking about what you are trying to correct and what you have learned about yourself along the way.

Where Are My Opportunities

Have you fully explored the place you are standing right now?  Try to take stock of what you have achieved so far in your life and whether there are opportunities there that you haven’t fully considered.

If you are a college graduate, there may be opportunities such as internships or recruitment drives for graduates that can give you crucial experience in areas you are curious about.  Websites such as www.gradireland.com are tailored to your stage of life and the questions you might have.  The Public Appointments Service graduate recruitment drive is currently open if you could see a place for yourself working for the public or on policy in areas of education, defence, conservation, economics or health.

If you are working, have you taken a close look at management traineeships or mobility schemes that could further your career?  There may be opportunities to try out other roles, to take on additional projects that will stretch your experiences and introduce you to more people. 

What Am I Overlooking

Perhaps you are contemplating jumping from a role that is unsatisfying without fully considering the opportunities it could give you.  Your work could open up access to travel, to transfer, to other branches, to other departments, to training.  Could you open up a conversation with your line manager or or somebody who understands your company (and with whom you have a good rapport) about your hopes and expectations for the future before you decide to leave.

From work or college, there may be a mentor figure who can point you towards opportunities that you haven’t considered or do not know about, or who.  Making contact with a mentor figure or an old lecturer could be a very helpful support to you. 

There may be a friend or someone in your wider circle who is working in an area you are curious about and you would love to know more about how they got there. I’m sure they’d be delighted to tell you all about it.

Try quickly writing up a list of people you know that could take you one step closer to roles you are curious about. Try thinking of opportunities that your company might support you in. You might surprise yourself with an idea you haven’t thought of before.

 What Is Holding Me Back

At the end of the day, what is a career.  It’s a series or work or life roles that you take on over your lifespan.  That learning doesn’t come with a deadline.  You have plenty of time to work this out but the choices that you make are going to influence these roles. 

Value the experiences you’ve had and what they’ve taught you about yourself.  Value what you have learned from setbacks or mistakes.  Try to make considered choices where you have taken time to process these experiences and what they mean to you.  Clarify what you want your next step to be.

A little fear is understandable in the face of change. It’s our way of staying safe.

The truth is that the only way to embark on a career is like anything else: one step at a time.

Imagery sourced from Unsplash with thanks.

How to Break the Habit of Overpreparation

‘Success Favours the Prepared’ goes the saying and many of us feel comfort and security in the feeling of being prepared for a task. 

But what if you have developed a habit of giving too much weight and time to preparation for work tasks and duties; time that you are taking away from other priorities, work duties, the ability to think clearly or your own well-being.

Perhaps you are reading this and you are…

·       Ruled by the list of uncompleted actions

·       See anything undone as a stress that keeps you awake at night

·       Tend to spend a long morning preparing for what turns out to be a short meeting

·       Try to anticipate 100% of contingencies

·       Count any unplanned obstacle as a personal failure on your part.

To alleviate worry, you may have developed the habit of overpreparation.  Overpreparation can be a well-intentioned tool; a person will develop it to respond to and alleviate worry.  While overpreparation can start as an understandable habit at the beginning of a career, like all habits it can be hard to break.  It can lead to unproductivity, stress and a devaluing of your time and your self-worth in the long run.  Your time is important and you should be aware of how you spend it.

Preparation is defined as the action or process of making ready.  This is an intentional act.

Overpreparation can be aligned with perfectionism and a desire to eliminate the risk of failure by preparing for every response.  But of course failure allows us to learn and perfection is an impossible standard to hold ourselves to.  So instead of trying to eliminate the risk of failure, here are some suggestions to break the habit of overpreparation and to let the more messy side of reality in.

Build your Awareness

In order to change a habit you have to firstly see it, name it and decide whether it is something you genuinely want to change. 

A habit was developed for good intentions that served you well at the time. Unless you honour its good intentions you risk hiding it, defending it or protecting it from external judgement.  So take a moment to honour it:  overprotection was the best response you had in your toolbox at that time.  You introduced preparation as a tool in order to alleviate the stress of feeling unprepared.  It was successful and so you have continued to develop it.  Perhaps however, you have now overcorrected for the stress.  The overpreparation which was once your best solution is now the source of issues in your working life and your well-being.

Know your Triggers

What are your triggers for overpreparing?

Is there a fear of being judged by someone and if so, what is the basis for that fear.  Perhaps that pattern of fear has repeated from job to job and so it may be more of an internal critic rather than a verified outside threat. Start to explore your triggers, perhaps by writing or meditating on them or by seeking the support of a professional or a trusted manager.

-          Know why you are overpreparing

-          Know who is triggering you

-          Then adjust how you prepare – try setting limits on the hours you spend preparing

-          Introduce something else into your preparation routine that eases and alleviates that fear such as a quiet moment on the morning of a meeting

What is preparation? Remember preparation requires a movement of the mind from a comfortable operating zone into a more focused switched on position.  You would do best to ensure this happens at the right time: prepare too early and you risk burning out before you get there; prepare too late and you risk over-arousal or overwhelm.

Remember that good preparation involves rest and removal from the situation too.

Break the Habit Gradually

Rather than being forceful, pull back gradually on the amount of time spent preparing.

Track your time – before you change a habit you need to know how many hours of the day you spend preparing.  Keep track for one week of how you spend your time and whether you are spending long days preparing for short or minor events.  Take stock on what you see on paper:  does it clarify things for you about how you spend your time.

Ask someone for help: whether it is someone senior to you for a monthly check in to keep track of your progress with your work; or someone you know and trust who doesn’t overly prepare for work and could share some advice with you.  Let them know you are trying to change a habit.

Question Your Outlook

Change your outlook by deciding to prepare for 80% of contingencies rather than 100%.   Being overprepared can mean that we are better prepared for reading than thinking.   Are you leaving space for creativity and thinking in your execution?  Allow your preparation to enhance your pressure decisions, but not to dictate them.

Once you start questioning the “truth” of the value of preparation, try creating a framework and a timeline, so that you know in advance what you will focus on and what you will let go.   Know your objective and what you want to achieve. If you know your priorities, then you can speak positively to yourself afterwards because you achieved what you wanted to achieve.

Know when to say, ‘I’m prepared now and I’ve done enough’

You can still prepare for flawless execution of small details as a comfort, but aim for a lower threshold, such as 80% instead of the usual 100%.  Know and set your limits: and pay attention to how that limit feels for you and what it gives back to you.

Try Under Preparation (just once)

Try being unprepared for something low risk such as a meeting which is typically informal, where you feel comfortable or where others generally do not prepare.  See how it goes and take stock afterwards of how you feel.  Was there a rush, an excitement, an openness you don’t often feel.  Was that a positive or negative experience for you.

Like many changes in habit, you will need to connect with what the change brings you. You may regain crucial thinking time that helps you to refocus on what is important to you and your career growth.  Or perhaps there is space for fun in your life thar once seemed out of reach. 

Perhaps experiencing the opposite of this habit will help you to appreciate what change can bring you.  Perhaps you are experiencing confidence.  Perhaps you like that feeling.

The Value of Time

Any given week should promise some quiet time and a break from the working world.  Try using that time to contemplate what it would be like to take back some of the attention you give to preparing for tasks when you don’t need to. 

Preparation is a future focused act.  When you are performing the action for which you have been preparing, bring your focus back to the now, to the moment.  Focus on the one small thing in front of you and let go of everything else.

Time is a finite resource and we need to rethink how we spend it.

Sources

How To Stop Over-Preparing (forbes.com)

Being Over-Prepared Is No Better than Being Under-Prepared (andymort.com)

(33) Why The Best Leaders Always Overprepare But Don't Overthink | LinkedIn

Imagery sourced from Unsplash

Using LinkedIn Effectively

For a jobseeker or job changer, LinkedIn can offer a valuable tool to get to know the world of work and to learn about opportunities and networks that are more in reach than you might think.

But first, how did LinkedIn start and what is its purpose?

LinkedIn launched in 2003 and is the largest career development social network in the world with 774 million members across more than 200 countries.  As of 2015, most of the company’s revenue came from selling access to information about its members to recruiters and sales professionals.

LinkedIn offers useful resources to job seekers: providing information, acting as a noticeboard to highlight your unique value, giving you access to organisations and job sectors at the push of a ‘Follow’ button and making your information public to recruiters who may be looking for what you have to offer. It gives you quite a bit of control over your jobseeking.

Individuals use LinkedIn for professional networking, connecting and job searching.  Companies use it for recruiting and for sharing company information with prospective employees.

Steps to a strong Profile

• Choose a Professional Photo – the right clothes, a clear background and good lighting are important

• Write a strong Profile Summary – Make the most of the character limit in this section.  Use short, compact sentences, avoid jargon, write in the first person and use keywords.

• Improve your Profile – This is your bulletin board that contains your work experience, education, skills, endorsements and recommendations from others in your network.  Include relevant keywords that you think search engines and hiring managers might look for. 

• Make connections - Let LinkedIn make suggestions to you from your address book and from your pool of contacts.  Most people will be happy to get a LinkedIn request and grow their network: after all, that is why they are there!  Think about people you’d like to reconnect with professionally or people (including public figures) you are curious about.

• Your skills list is important – it shows employers and recruiters at a glance what you are able and qualified to do. If you endorse other people’s skills, it helps you to reconnect with them and invites them to visit your page and endorse yours.

• Grow your network - Start to like and respond to the content that other people post.  Pay attention to the 2nd and 3rd numbers on people’s names on your Newsfeed.  These are people you may already know or may be one degree of separation from. 

• Use LinkedIn Recommendations and Endorsements – These will never hurt your profile.  One of the best ways is to endorse others in your contacts as this helps you to get noticed.  

• Change your LinkedIn URL to something simple related to your name and add it to your CV.

• Post some content – perhaps some articles that you read and would like to share.  Photos are popular.  Don’t be afraid to show your personality but keep your content clean, professional, relevant and work appropriate.

• Use LinkedIn to job search – follow your occupation or career themes as hashtags that are relevant to your industry, your country, your location.  Use the search function and the buttons at the top of the search page to look for Jobs. Think about organisations that would give you an insight into what you are aiming for.

• Use LinkedIn to learn about organisations - Look up organisations you are interested in and follow their pages or suggested follows.  If you are active on other social networks, compare their pages on those networks to LinkedIn. Assess which networks they are more likely to use for job postings. If you are preparing for an interview, LinkedIn can be a great resource to you when you’re researching the organisation.

• Tweak your Profile – Set a reminder in your diary to update your LinkedIn profile every 3-6 months until it becomes a habit.  Update with key projects, successes, some activity on your Newsfeed or anything that feels more relevant now than it did 6 months ago.

Although it can have its fair share of targeted marketers and cold call messages, LinkedIn has managed to preserve its core function and professionalism with less scope for fake profiles or trolling than other platforms. Which means that, while not perfect, LinkedIn can feel like a more focused and safer space than some other social media platforms.

If you start using LinkedIn along the lines of what is suggested here, your page will naturally become active and alive and - most importantly - useful to you. Why not try it and see how it goes!

Some Useful Resources

How to Use LinkedIn Effectively (thebalancecareers.com)

Top Skills to List on LinkedIn (thebalancecareers.com)

Customize Your Public Profile URL | LinkedIn Help

How accommodating is your workplace of neurodiversity?

The word neurodiversity has gone mainstream and modern workplace culture seems to be developing a greater awareness and acceptance of neurodiversity.  However and despite progress in promoting workplace diversity, prejudices keep the employment prospects for neurodiverse individuals shockingly low.  I wonder how accommodating in practice are workplaces to the individual with cognitive differences?  How often do workplaces show a willingness to change their practices in order to accommodate needs and differences?

NEURODIVERSITY AND NEURODIVERGENCE: SOME DEFINITIONS

Diversity and variation is an undeniable fact of nature.  While a group of people can be neurodiverse, meaning that the group contains variations in cognition and thinking, an individual is neurodivergent, meaning that the person’s cognitive thinking differs from established norms.  Examples of neurodiversity are autism, ADHD, dyspraxia and dyslexia.  This blog post focuses primarily on workplace accommodations for an autistic employee.

THE WORLD NEEDS NEURODIVERSITY

Neurodiversity adds so much value to life and work.  People with cognitive differences can have strengths and specialisms, insight and innovations that are important to a workplace, as this graphic by Dr Nancy Doyle so effectively shows.

The Overlapping Strengths of Neurodiversity. DR NANCY DOYLE

Important interviews such as this one with an employee at a majority-autistic company place the experience of the individual at the centre of workplace accommodations. It is time to rethink how we adapt workplaces to neurodivergent needs.

A WORKPLACE SCORE CARD

In my work, I have observed that a neurodivergent person can internalise chronic stress and anxiety in a workplace without fully appreciating that the fault is not theirs but rather that the workplace is not creating the right conditions for them to thrive.  By changing the focus from the individual to the workplace, a person can gain insight into the fact that workplace conditions are not adequately supporting their neurodiversity.

I have developed a scorecard that supports neurodiverse people to highlight areas where their workplace may be under-supporting them.  This may be an imperfect tool but I would hope that in some way it makes the case that workplaces need to be willing to make changes to accommodate neurominorities in their workforce.

Remember it is not just the individual but also the changemakers at work that need to consider how accommodating their workplace is of neurological differences.

Examples of changes to the workplace may include:

·       the nature or quality of tasks expected of the person

·       the degree of regularly scheduled support, job coaching or mentoring a person is offered

·       the environmental conditions of a person’s workspace

·        whether the workplace is the right balance of cultural fit for a person

·       whether a person feels accommodated or validated in everyday workplace decisions

HOW DOES A NEURODIVERGENT PERSON EXPERIENCE YOUR WORKPLACE

Here are some headings under which a workplace could consider making accommodations for neurodiversity on their staff.

QUALITY OF WORK TASKS

An accommodating workplace should have a focus on work that suits everyone’s strengths.  How does your company ensure that staff have a clear understanding of work tasks and what is expected of them.  Have you considered what percentage of a person’s work is task-oriented or people-oriented and whether that is the right  balance to interest or motivate the person to fulfil their role?  What is the balance of personal interaction, written interaction and independent work in a person’s workday and have you checked whether it is the right balance for a person’s needs?

HIRING PRACTICES AND ONGOING MENTORING

Adjustment of hiring practices and mentoring are crucial to building a neurodiverse workforce.  Is your company’s interview process and reasoning clearly explained to candidates in advance.  Does your onboarding process take into account a person’s needs or perspectives?  Does your company provide regularly scheduled on to one sessions with a manager or on-site mentoring that could support somebody feeling stressed in a new role?  Would designated job coaches support neurodivergent individuals to progress in their careers, and if so, how could your workplace introduce this?  How embedded is learning and development in your support of company employees?

WORKPLACE ADAPTATION TO NEED AND DIFFERENCE

A workplace should accommodate for sensory or language processing differences that a neurodivergent person frequently needs to cope and/or thrive.    What efforts does your workplace make to learn what accommodations a person may need?   Do you have a mentor or job coach at work that is regularly available to staff for support or to manage on-the-job stresses?  How are any sensory or language processing differences accommodated at work?  An example might be headphones to prevent auditory overstimulation.  Other examples of accommodations are that a person can work remotely or in a quiet and private space with limited interruptions, that OT is made available to a person to assess their workspace, or that a person is allowed to make adjustments to their personal workspace to accommodate their sensitives or better match to what they might need?

WORK CULTURAL FIT AND OPENNESS

Communication is the most needed, and easiest, workplace accommodation.  It is worth examining whether your company has a culture of awareness and openness.  Too often a neurodivergent person is expected to provide teaching moments for other employees at an individual level.  An employer would do well to consider what support can be provided at a systemic level to reduce that pressure on the individual.  In examining support of neurodiversity at your company, it is worth considering whether staff receive regular constructive feedback from a manager in a way that suits them, and what measures the company puts in place to communicate that a person’s perspective is welcome. 

One big benefit of an inclusive work culture is that it fosters diversity of thought, different approaches to work, innovation, and creativity.  When offering one to one meetings with employees, does your company take the time to explore whether the employee believes their job is a good match for them technically and culturally. 

VALIDATION OF SUPPORT AND WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE

Working as an autistic person can involve a lot of teaching moments which can in itself be exhausting and lead to burnout.  Does your company take the time to gauge a person’s overall relationship to their job, and whether their job has an effect on their stress and anxiety levels.  Does working in your company require an individual to accommodate internal bias or lack of awareness about neurodiversity in the workplace?  Does the individual need to mask who they are or are they comfortable and validated enough to be their authentic self at work?   In reality, how flexible is your work culture and how often does it prioritise well-being over defending the status quo? 

A supportive employer will make efforts to ensure that the workplace practices communicate that a person’s perspective is valid and will support a person’s needs by making changes that can enhance a person’s experience. 

If you would like a copy of my Workplace Score Card, please reach out to me at anne@careercounsellor.ie.

SUGGESTED READING

Interview with an Employee at a Majority Autistic Company (askamanager.org)

The World Needs Neurodiversity: Unusual Times Call For Unusual Thinking (forbes.com)

From neurodiversity to neurodivergence: the role of epistemic and cognitive marginalization | SpringerLink

AskEARN | Neurodiversity in the Workplace

Neurodiversity Is a Competitive Advantage (hbr.org)

Neurodiversity Resources For Employers — Neurodiversity Hub

A Personal Account of Lifelong Guidance

When I was starting out in self employment, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to tell my own career story in the NCGE magazine Guidance Matters. 3 years later, reposting this seems fitting because it contains so many of the philosophies by which I work.

First published Spring 2019, Guidance Matters

When I was 23, I worked as a waitress in a family style restaurant that I am sure you know well.  A man sat in my section one Sunday evening when the restaurant was quiet. In my memory, he greatly resembles Ernest Hemingway; he was a big man, white close-shaven beard and he wore a flat cap.  I irritated him when he ordered pork ribs for a starter and I advised that they didn’t come in half portions.  He ordered a bottle of red wine “and I’ll drink all of that as well.” I smiled and he smiled back and the tension was broken.  We chatted as I broke down my section.  He shared that he was very disappointed that his son was ‘only’ a waiter in a trendy city centre hotel.  I told him that I thought waiting tables was a great job: you work with a microcosm of society; you develop great coping and leadership skills; it is time well spent. I told him I had a Masters in History. He was greatly surprised.  I pointed out some of my colleagues.  Rita was a teacher in Lithuania before she came here, I told him, and Jane is doing her degree in Psychology right now. I ended up sitting at the table with him.  I don’t remember what we talked about but I remember how I felt and I hope he remembers how he felt.  I often think of him. I wonder did his feelings about ‘unskilled work’ change after we spoke.   

Luck

I am very fortunate, I have two parents who believed in me and believed in education and I had every privilege associated with that.  I am very aware that life has been made easy for me and that repeatedly throughout my life, I have been able to make decisions based on what I wanted to do rather than what I needed.  Still, my interest has always been to level the playing field for those less fortunate than me, and so I have found myself naturally moving towards the field of lifelong guidance.  

Persistence

While waitressing, I volunteered with the Dublin Simon soup run.  I discovered my sense of purpose there.  I began working in homeless shelters as a keyworker. Several years later, I moved to Canada and I tried to get employment there in a homeless shelter.  I remember the interview and how the HR Manager made me feel.  “My concern is that you just don’t know the local resources”, she said, shaking her head and smiling.  I made the point that knowing local resources is surely a matter of learning a handbook; that the people skills I had were less learnable and more important.  But she was immovable and I felt powerless against it.  It gave me a sense of how easy it is to close a door on someone who has less than you, someone you can classify under ‘other’.  I took a research job that I was grateful for.  But it gave me no energy.  I felt tired.  Again, I started to look for solutions.  I needed transferable skills to make me less vulnerable.  I needed qualifications so that HR Managers couldn’t shut me out. 

Purpose

I focused on where I got my energy. I thought about how I wanted to help people to develop their potential.  I began to study a Masters in Career Development through distance learning from ECU, an Australian university. 

Australian career theory is very exciting.  There is a focus on social learning theory and on narrative theory, and on chaos as a learning opportunity because life is, after all, not linear.  I learned a systems theory approach, where the importance of the individual is accompanied by an exploration of the system within which he/she lives.  There are Lifelong Learning Principles and Luck Principles and particularly interesting theories like HB Gelatt’s Positive Uncertainty Principles:

1.    Be aware and wary about what you know.

2.    Be focused and flexible about what you want.

3.    Be objective and optimistic about what you believe.

4.    Be practical and magical about what you do.

I loved these principles.  I loved how applicable they were.  They seemed to make space for the truth in between two extremes. 

Optimism

Halfway through my studies, I married and moved home to Ireland.  I found work in a Dublin Local Employment Service as a Guidance Worker in addiction support services.    I began to base my work on finding a realistic way forward for clients, grounded in their life experience and personal circumstances. 

In my work, I aimed above all else to give clients a positive experience of linking with the service.  I wanted them to develop a lifelong openness to new experiences.  I took the long view.  I believed in everyone and I met them where they were at. 

Flexibility

At 33, I moved abroad again with my husband’s work.  I was nervous about leaving a job that gave me such fulfilment and sense of identity.  I shared this with a colleague who said, “just think about all the things you would love to do if you weren’t working fulltime.  Now is your chance to do them.”  While abroad, we had our children.  I thought about my colleague’s lines from time to time.  At first I interpreted them shallowly.  I joined a cooking club (which I left), I thought about signing up for language classes (which I did not do).  Mostly I tried to survive those difficult, all consuming years of pregnancy and babies.  It took me four years out of the workforce before I connected with my dream.  I was standing in the kitchen one morning.  I suddenly thought, I have always wanted to write!  I hadn’t thought of this in 20 years.  It gave me a degree of understanding of how deep you need to go, how removed you need to be from external distractions, to remember your dreams. Connecting with it helped me to see how creative I am.  From that creativity came the thought that maybe I want to work for myself and follow my own interests and passions.  Being a stay at home parent has much of the autonomy of self-employment and now that I had that, I did not want to lose it.

Risk

Since coming home three years ago, I have reconnected with my professional self by studying modules of Adult Guidance and Counselling Skills at Maynooth University.  I have set up my own business – www.careercounsellor.ie- where I focus on the needs of people distanced from the labour market.  I am committed to the principles of social equity that have always driven my work.  I have become aware of how deeply skewed the world is against women.  I want to support people from immigrant and marginalised communities to feel valued and respected for who they are.

Lifelong Guidance

As a country, we tend to provide Guidance Counselling to young people before they start their careers and we offer Leadership Coaching to business people who aspire to or have reached executive level.  These are important interventions.  But most of us live in that space in between and many people are going through life with seemingly insurmountable barriers to progression.  

This is where I want to focus my work, to help people to make sense of their experiences and develop a response to them. I want to help people to develop the capacity to manage their own lives and their own lifelong learning so that ultimately they can define and create a satisfying life.  

Lifelong Learning Principles – J. Denham

These attitudes facilitate learning and help a person to adapt to changing circumstances 

·      Suspend assumptions and judgements.

·      Take risks and be willing to make mistakes.

·      Be willing to admit you don’t know everything.

·      Be curious, ask questions and try new experiences.

·      Apply what you learn and persevere.

·      Frequently remind yourself of strengths and preferences.

·      Be kind and patient with yourself while you learn.

·      Develop and maintain a support network.

 Planned Happenstance or Luck Principles - Krumboltz et al

These skills allow a person to capitalise on unexpected events

·      Curiosity.  Exploring new learning opportunities.

·      Persistence.  Exerting effort despite setbacks.

·      Flexibility.  Changing attitudes and circumstances

·      Optimism.  Viewing new opportunities as possible and attainable.

·      Risk Taking. Taking action in the face of uncertain outcomes.

View original article here

The Benefits of Assessment Tools

The first step to creating a new future is to make sense of what you’ve been through so far.

Career Assessments may not be for everyone. Nothing is.  But they can be a very useful tool to bring into the process of defining what you want in your work life.

When you have a career problem, it helps to bring new things to the surface that you may not have been aware of.  Maybe you want to better define what you are looking for and create a path towards that goal.  You are looking for solutions. 

Career Assessment tools are online tools that help you to explore your career interests, your personality and other aspects that all become part of answering those questions you have about what you’re looking for.  In my work I offer MyFuture+ which are well-researched, adult-oriented tools from the Careers Portal platform.

My Future+ tools are freely available to all my clients

The benefit of a Career Assessment is that it can highlight to you that there is a suitable work environment that you are likely to find rewarding and satisfying.  We are trying to find career options that are a good fit for you.

Here are some things to consider about assessment tools. 

·       The tools are realistic.  They may not necessarily tell you what you want to hear but they will hopefully provide you with insight into what would be a satisfying career for you. 

·       The tools are self-reported.  There should not be any major surprises here.  Done right, the results should feel like a good alignment with the way you see yourself. 

·       The tools are not right or wrong or set in stone.  Rather, they provide us with questions to consider. 

·       The tools should only be considered as a support to the career counselling process.  They are an aid to decision-making, not an answer in themselves. 

·       Discussion with your career counsellor can help you to narrow down choices into careers that you would be both good at and passionate about.

Here are some of the assessment tools I use:

Interest Profiler – This tool identifies career categories and specific occupations that are interesting to you.  By narrowing down a range of 8 interest areas to a top 3, and by thinking about which job sectors interest you the most, you start to think about how to combine these into satisfying work. 

Example: A person works in construction but their Interest Profiler shows a strong interest in Investigative/ scientific work and STEM sectors (Science, Engineering and Construction).  They start to consider options outside construction that build well on the career they have.  They show an interest in Robotics and upskilling in Automated Systems.   

Personality Quiz – What does personality mean to you?  I see it as the thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make us unique.  We use this quiz to explore your innate traits and how they relate to the work environment  Certain job environment will allow certain personalities to flourish.

Example: A conscientious person will enjoy a stable, ordered environment, while an idealistic personality seeks meaning and purpose through their work.

Career Values – It can help to look at your life values and whether your career choices relate well to these.  Do they align and bring satisfaction, or are they misaligned and lead to frustration?

Example: A person’s top career value is ‘peace of mind’ but they have worked as an Event Planner for five years.  Seeing these side by side helps them to appreciate that their career choices do not relate well to their top values and that this is generating stress in their life.

Career Skills – This tool separates skills from academic achievement.  It can help you to identify the skills that you have picked up through work, lifelong activities and friendships.  It can also help you to identify those skills that you (perhaps secretly) most want to learn.

Example: A person rates themselves as highly skilled at presenting ideas and public speaking.  This helps them to see that they would like to develop these skills further and become a trainer.  They have more to offer.     They also identify that they could learn practical task skills that would help with their new choice of career such as computer skills and working to deadline.

Multiple Intelligences – The theory behind this tool is that rather than a person having one intelligence pre-determined at birth, there are eight types of intelligence that we can grow and develop throughout life. This tool aims to connect people with their strongest intelligence areas and how they could apply that to their career search.

Example: A person’s top scoring intelligences are Intrapersonal (Self Smart) and Interpersonal (People Smart).  They have been considering retraining as a psychotherapist and this reaffirms to them that it is a good fit and they are likely to enjoy it.

As a career counsellor, I believe assessment tools are a really useful tool.  They can throw new light on a familiar situation. 

They can provide you with language to describe what you are already experiencing. What you have learned about yourself. What skills you have to offer. What you want your future to look like.

They can offer you a portfolio of yourself that you can bring with you and incorporate into future plans. It can be motivating and gratifying to see yourself clearly described in black and white.

But it is the discussion they generate – and the decisions and plans that come out of that discussion - that is their greatest value.  Learn from the past. Think of the future.

For more details on MyFuture+ see MyFuture+ | Irelands National Career Development Programme (careersportal.ie)

Coping with Anxiety in the Workplace

In relation to problems you may experience in your career, coping with anxiety can frequently come up. 

It is very difficult to cope with anxiety: worry about the future is characterised by feeling undefined, overwhelming and out of our control. 

I would suggest that the best strategy to pull anxiety back is to turn those characteristics around:

·       by defining it

·       by putting it in perspective

·       by clarifying what elements of your stress are within your control.

This post focuses on the elements of your stress within the workplace that are within your control. A job change may not necessarily solve this problem for you.  It can help to stop and think more closely about what you are experiencing in the now.  You are learning how to cope with stress.

What are the Problems Within the Workplace

The first step is to make sure you are very clear on where the problems lie.  Identify the sources of stress and whether you can develop a response to them.  For example, it may be that you are unclear about who you report to and what is expected of you.  Perhaps nobody is developing your skills. Or there may be elements of your work that you find especially challenging, and these may flood your thoughts but actually represent only a small portion of your work.  Perhaps stress is a pattern that has followed you from job to job, indicating that the core changes you want to make are in how you respond to work stress in general.  Perfectionism can also be a source of stress and may require a response where you adjust your personal expectations or your kindness to yourself when you experience a setback.  It’s important to be clear on what you are experiencing before you can decide how best to respond.

If you are trying to articulate what is wrong, this graphic may be helpful. These are ingredients for happiness and well-being. Where work is meeting none or few of these needs, it can be considered a source of stress.

Ingredients for Happiness and Well-Being. Source: Dr. Patricia Daly, University of Limerick, 2019

Are any External Factors Impacting on your Performance and Happiness

If one aspect of life is causing you distress and it begins to impact on other parts of your life, it inhibits your ability to act purposefully and protect yourself from burnout.  It may be helpful to mention to someone at work (that you trust) that you are experiencing difficulties outside work.  Each company culture is different, and someone who understands your work context could be a helpful ally in figuring out what would be the next step in order to cope with work tasks alongside this external stress. You may need nothing more formal than an occasional check-in by your colleague, or you may decide that it would relieve your stress to be open about difficulties you are experiencing outside work to a manager or to HR.  Generally it is best to try to put strategies in place that can keep home stress and work stress separate.

Relaxation is a Skill

If we can turn on relaxation, then we can turn off tension.  Regulation of anxiety through relaxation is a skill that can be learned through practice.  While implementing change, take time for yourself and self-care strategies that meet your needs, such as alone time, exercise you enjoy, phone-free evenings, early nights or meaningful connections with others.  Develop skills that you enjoy outside of work. Consider mindful practices that keep you in the moment, such as writing in a daily journal or sitting quietly while drinking a hot drink.  When you are working, pace yourself and plan breaks (or rewards) after periods of intense work.

Keep the Consultation Going

Not knowing when or how to say ‘help’ can lead to escalating anxiety.  If you do not have clear communication with your boss and this causes you stress, try to establish a regular slot or structure to communicate better.  Explore whether you can prioritise some tasks while delegating or postponing others.  There may be skills or training that would interest you and increase your enjoyment of work. Generally a communication breakdown is bridged when people have a better understanding of each other’s needs and experiences.  Make sure your employer understands your needs and keep the consultation going by communicating with your employer and colleagues on a regular basis.

Who Can You Talk To

A friendly chat with someone you trust is a vital support to stress in the workplace. Reach out to someone who knows you well and who can provide an external point of view.  This may be a family member, a friend, a colleague or a person you studied alongside.  Consider the value of a professional support service such as a counsellor, who can help you towards insight, self-acceptance and who can support you if you decide to no longer engage in behaviours that create stress for you in the workplace.  Sometimes, validation from someone who cares about us is all we need to cope.

Don’t Overdo It

When  managing anxiety in the workplace, small changes can make a big difference.  Small changes, implemented thoughtfully, can change your life.  Once you have a clear idea of what is causing you stress, try setting a reasonable response to it.    In the long run, little and often may the best strategy to change.

How to Change your Career

The feeling of being trapped in a job you don’t want to do is a very overwhelming and blocking feeling. 

Change is rarely a single distinct event.  The change process usually begins when you move from being unaware of something being wrong to gradually becoming aware of an unhappiness and a change that you want to make happen in your life. 

If you are feeling stuck, trapped, restricted: pay attention to that feeling.  It is trying to tell you something.  Try asking yourself what is happening for you here and what can you do to relieve it?

Take time for yourself

It is tempting to always want to be somewhere else but it is really important to focus on what is going on for you and to develop a response to that in the here and now. 

I believe there is always a solution and that there is real power in clearing an hour of your day to focus and to clearly articulate to yourself what is going on for you and how are you experiencing it.

Look at your whole life.  Look at how you spend your time.  What qualities in yourself are important to you?  What are the supports and interests that sustain you?   Outside of the personal elements of your story, what are the systems that are holding you back.  Are you blaming yourself for feeling a certain way when there are other factors (such as time shortages, financial hardship or a toxic boss) that are having a negative impact on you.   

Making changes needs to wait until you have defined what is causing you stress and suffering. 

Explore how much you want to change

Think of dropping a pebble into a pool of water and the ripples it causes.  Sometimes a small change can have a very big impact.  Be honest with yourself so that you can more closely define what you are looking for.  Career success and career contentment are very different things.  

Are you suffering from a lack of meaning or are you experiencing daily stress that a change of context (such as a change of team, of leader, or an adjustment to your expectations) would improve.  If it is a problem of burnout, explore whether this is a repeating pattern in your life and whether the changes that you need to make are in how you respond to stress, rather than allowing this pattern of burnout to continue to follow you into a new role.

You need to define what this change means to you so that you recognise it when it happens.  Try to define what would help you to feel a little bit better.  Hopefully you’ll gain insight from that. 

Make a decision on what you want

At this point it can be helpful to broaden your thinking.  Do you want to change your job or do you want to change your relationship with your job? Allow yourself to daydream.  What subjects did you like most in school. What did you want to be when you were a child and what does that tell you about yourself? 

Would you feel happier in your job if it was meeting more of your needs, and can you reconcile those needs at work without making bigger changes.  For example, if you are experiencing a lack of control in work, is there an aspect of work that you can request to coordinate or manage, to meet that need for control without changing the entire context.  

What would happen if you got involved in projects or causes that reflect your interests so that energy flows back into you.  The more practical the better.

Defining what is causing your distress is not easy to do alone, which is why I believe career guidance can help you build the life you want.

Act on your world so that it better matches what you want

It’s time to take action when you decide that there is a definitive change you want to make in your life.  Once you know what you want, then break it down into steps.  What do I need to put in place to make it happen? 

When planning change, it’s important to know how far into the future you can see.  If you can only see the short term, plan only for short term change.  However, if you have decided where you want to be in 5 years, then set that goal, and break it down into stages with milestones along the way.

As you contemplate change you will come up with arguments against yourself.  You may experience ambivalence where you counter the reasons to stay unchanged in your career (the hassle, the fear the risk) with potential benefits of change.  The way to combat that is to ask yourself honestly, what are the good things about changing, and what are the not-so-good-things.  And which do I want most?  

Life is a complicated compromise between what you want and what is enough.

Setbacks are as human as you are

If you are changing and able to maintain that change consistently, well done.  Your goals are clear to you and your steps are achievable.  

If you are changing and experiencing a loss of motivation or a setback, be gentle with yourself.  Setbacks are part of being human.  Ask yourself what has worked so far and what can you learn from that? 

How can you raise the quality of your thoughts again?  How can you prevent your energy from continually flowing away from you?   What has worked in the past and what does that teach you? Don’t be hard on yourself, long term change takes a few cycles before we get it right.

Perhaps bring the plan for change back to little changes and leave the bigger changes until the timing is right. 

I am sure there is one thing you can do this week that can take you a step in the right direction.

Empathic Listening Skills: For Clients Who Have Experienced Trauma

Several years ago I read a 1997 booklet called ‘Empathic Listening for Use with Traumatised Clients’ and thought it was full of ideas that deserved to be more widely read. I was delighted when the below note which I developed from the booklet was published by Guideline Magazine in March 2021. From September I will be offering CPD workshops to the branches of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors on the ideas presented in this post. It represents a small departure for my blog but I am so pleased to be part of disseminating these ideas to a wider audience.

Empathic Listening Skills: For Clients Who Have Experienced Trauma

Support work is a difficult task and this note aims to offer some guidance on how to handle a complex listening situation should it arise.  This note is not about counselling or questioning a person, it is simply about listening. 

Traumatised people are ordinary people who have been exposed to extraordinary situations.  Their feelings are also ordinary – but have been given the power to overwhelm and so seem extraordinary.

Listening in an Ordinary Situation

Essentially, listening is a decision made by one person to give another person their undivided attention so as to make them feel at home.  The first person decides to take their attention off their own concerns, thoughts and feelings for a while and to put it onto another person.

Listening is a difficult task since it is based on a total appreciation of the other person’s situation.  The more you move towards acceptance of another person’s point of view, the better you are becoming as a listener.

We use two methods to communicate that we are listening:

1.      Attentive Body Language

Your body language signals whether you are paying attention and willing to listen.

2.      The Listening Process

Observe: Notice non-verbal behaviour

 Focus: Don’t do anything else while listening

 Acknowledge: Acknowledge the message, even if you don’t agree with it

Respect: Let the speaker finish

Listening in an Extraordinary Situation

Shock or trauma is associated with situations that could be described as extraordinary.  Equally, the feelings which accompany trauma are extraordinary in that they tend to overwhelm the person so exposed.

The feelings which overwhelm at the core of psychological trauma are aloneness and helplessness.  These two emotions are the opposite of identity; people who feel alone and helpless begin to wonder who they are.

The presence of such powerful emotions require a form of listening known as empathic listening.

Empathic listening involves hearing and speaking

To be a good listener is to be a good student.  It makes sense to view the speaker as the teacher – and to stop thinking that you have something important to tell them.  Teaching and directing have their place, but not when you are supposed to be the listener.

Do not tell someone that you understand them.  Rather, ask them if you are understanding them – and they will tell you.  Understanding is an award, not a right. 

Empathy as an attitude

An empathic attitude can be similar to role play or drama. It’s not just a matter of mirroring or echoing the speaker, it requires the ability to get into the character of the other person.   To think as if you were them.  To try to see the world through their eyes.

Listen for the images the person uses, or the metaphors they use.  By reflecting these metaphors back to them, they will begin to show you the world as they see it.

As you seek understanding, the speaker will sense this and see themselves in you, and begin to feel less alone and helpless in the world.  This is empathic listening.

How to listen empathically

When someone begins to talk to you, there are two basic questions to ask yourself.

 1.      What is this person feeling?

 It is important to focus on how they are being/ feeling rather than what they are doing/ thinking.  The number of feelings listed can be used as a rule-of-thumb guide as to the number of issues involved.

 The classic formula is as follows: You feel (state the emotion) because (describe what they are thinking).  “You feel upset because of what happened.”

 If you find yourself saying “You feel THAT…”, then you are describing an opinion or a thought, not an emotion.  Avoid using “that” and instead put a feeling word. “You feel sad.”

2.      How does this person see the world?

People tend to see things in terms of doubles which represent opposites in conflict.  While the core conflict is probably “good vs evil”, this tends to appear as “us vs them”, “men vs women”, “old vs young”, “person vs person” etc.

A useful rule of thumb is the more negatives, the longer the process will be. This can help you to decide whether you are the right person to act as support.

If someone uses “but” in the middle or towards the end of a sentence, they are presenting opposition to what they have just said.  The words after the “but” are more important than the words before it but the speaker is not focusing on them. If you can reverse these statements, you may help them to connect their feelings (message from their body) with their thoughts (message from their head).  This may lead to insight. 

They say: “I feel upset at what happened but I think it is important to forgive.”

You say: “You think it is important to forgive but you feel upset at what happened.”

They say: “I do still feel upset.” (Insight)   

Your Task

A good listener does not explore the items in the client’s story, start asking questions or go after facts that they do not need to know.  Don’t be drawn into other people’s feelings who might appear in the story and don’t pass judgment.

This means:

• Never agree or disagree with what is said

• Never add a diagnosis or analysis to what is said

• Never exaggerate or minimise what is said

• Simply review what was said to the person’s satisfaction

If you don’t, you will be resisted by the client.  This resistance will appear as:

“Yes, but…. “

“I suppose you’re right”

“Well, not exactly”

“No!  That’s not what I mean!”

If the person senses that you are not “following” them, they will not feel listened to and your efforts will be classified as “not helpful”.

It can be difficult to find the words.  When Captain Cook first visited Australia, people could not “see” his ship because they had no word in their language for such an object.

Trauma and the Power to Overwhelm

This brings us back to the idea that traumatised people are ordinary people who have been exposed to extraordinary situations. The “power to overwhelm” appears whenever a person is faced with the unknown  and experiences a gap in their knowledge.  They fill that gap with demons.  The person does not have words to put on what they experience and so they think in pictures.

This seems to be precisely what happens in cases of shock; the person is exposed to something extraordinary and words fail them.  The person tends to think in terms of pictures instead of words.

Helping a Traumatised Client

If someone discloses trauma to you, do not ask the person to be specific about the actual traumatic incident.  They might feel that they are losing control and traumatised people need to feel in control of themselves and their environment.

Rather, you can acknowledge what they have said and ask them to be concrete and specific about their life before and after the event, but not the event itself.

 All the person wants from you is that you listen to them.

Projections

As empathy is a way of being with people, projecting could be described as a way of not being with people.  When you project onto the unknown, you create the illusion that you now know it and can control it.

In all of this, there is a danger that your creation of the person is no more than a projection of you, not an accurate image of the person. 

It is essential that you continually check with the person as to the accuracy of your understandings, and that you evaluate yourself to ensure that you are empathising properly.

 A person is projecting (not empathising) when:

• one experiences very strong feelings about the other

• one is convinced that the other is the source of one’s emotions      

• one is obsessed with someone or something

• one feels chained or tied to the other

• one feels isolated from the other

• the other begins to look strange or shady

• one’s feelings about the other become divided or mixed

• one becomes fascinated by an “-ism”

If this is happening, it is essential for your well-being that you ask for supervision or external help.

Be Self Aware

Please keep in mind that to listen to the traumatised is to risk becoming traumatised in turn.

The danger for those who care is that they can become addicted to helping with little awareness of what is happening.  And helpers can become angry or depressed when their efforts to control (or help) do not seem to work.

Because of this danger it is of the utmost importance that helpers, in turn, make use of a supervisor, if for no other reason than to ensure they are not becoming addicted to helping, and thus feeding from the people whom they set out to help in the first place.

Take care, and go gently with yourself.

Source: McCreave, E. (1997) Empathic Listening: For Use with Traumatised Clients. Belfast NI: A Twin Spires Publication.

Published in Guideline Magazine, a publication of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, March 2021

Self-Care: Simple Tools that Can Work

I’d like to talk about self-care.  It’s important because if we look after how we physically and emotionally feel, our cognition will also function better and we will be able to think more clearly and make more reasoned decisions.    Self-care is in many ways the core of all good decision making. 

I am going to write today about a number of tools that I have found effective in diagnosing stresses and improving our relationship with ourselves.

Voice the Difficulties

The first step to change is to name the difficulties.  If you write out a typical day hour by hour, you can note where your stress triggers are.  Do they happen during the working day, during the transition from work to home life, during idle hours when dissatisfaction seeps in?

Manage the Manageables

Then draw a large container image. You can see the container as a membrane between yourself and the world. 

I draw three sides of a rectangle that’s open at the top.  Everything you write inside the jar are things you can control.  Everything that is stressing you but that is outside your control goes in the white space outside the jar.

The Container helps you to visualise the membrane between you and circumstances beyond your control

The container helps you to appreciate that there are limits to what is within your control and to visualise what life would be like if you focused your energies on managing the manageables.

The Incredible 5 Point Scale

The Incredible 5 Point Scale is actually a sensory tool developed to help children to emotionally regulate by becoming more aware of the stages and levels of their emotions.  However like many sensory tools, it works well for almost everyone.

To develop your own self-care scale, draw a table.  4 columns, 5 rows :

Example of an Incredible 5 Point Scale Table. Make your own!

And start to fill it in, relating your emotional state of mind to what you do when you are unaware and what you could do instead to move yourself down through the scale to a calmer state.

Reflect on What’s Changed

When developing new coping strategies for yourself, reflect on what you have learned about yourself that you didn’t always know.   Many of us have experienced transformative change during the pandemic and drawn on resources we didn’t know we had.  What’s changed for you?  What new information have you learned about yourself?  Did you discover new coping strategies or new joys in your life?

Make a list for yourself that you can draw on: Things that help you cope.  Be as specific as you can be. Is there a certain TV show, a certain moment in the day or a view you really enjoy? Name it!

Early Warning Signs

What are the warning signs for you when the self-care is slipping?   Are they likely to trigger you into feeling worse?  Make a note of them so that you can recognise when they’re happening. These may be the things that will move you up the 5 Point Scale instead of down

Maintain your Supports

Now that you have named what works for you , keep it in your mind by writing your list of coping strategies somewhere you will find it, like at the back of a work diary.

I like to write it in a gentle way.

I Can Try:

• Keeping a little structure on the week; Getting exercise; Only scheduling two things a day; Sitting in my garden; Drinking water with ice; Making time for play.

Start changing your life by changing your self-care and see if it helps you to identify your stress triggers and make clearer decisions.

Take the Mystery out of the Interview Process

job Interviews are draining experiences for many of us, made all the more stressful when there is an information gap about what we can expect.  Here are some tips to help to reduce the stress of the unknown when preparing for a formal job interview.

1.       I am not sure what I’m being tested on in an interview

An interview can feel like an unknown entity where you fire word missiles into space and hope that by some miracle you score a hit.  The hiring panel are there to make a decision, and they will have a methodology and a scoring system to select candidates.   You can contact the company in advance and ask if you can have the interview process explained to you and what you can expect.  For example, in a structured competency-based interview you can expect to be scored across 5-6 competencies, which are probably listed in the job spec to help you prepare.   

2.       Interview panels intimidate me

An interview panel is actually a good sign that a company is aware of the risk of bias when hiring and is trying to use a structured method to reduce it. If your interview panel has at least three people and reflects gender balance, then it’s a signal to you that the company is trying to have good hiring practices.  A panel might comprise a HR Representative, a Manager and possibly an external interviewer or Board Member.  The interviewers listen and score your answers and the person who scores highest will be offered the position first.  By understanding the reasoning of this system, you can prepare better for the task.   

3.       The thoughts of travelling to the interview fill me with anxiety

If you have reasons for why you would strongly prefer an interview by Zoom rather than in person or if you need to gain a good understanding of their interview process and what you can expect in order to prepare, don’t be afraid to reach out when you are offered the interview.  Don’t let anxiety of the unknown harness this moment and become a barrier to you.  Contact the company for more information or to request adaptations to the interview process.  And trust your gut feeling; if they’re inflexible about accommodating you, perhaps their company culture is not the right fit for you anyway.

4.       I’m never sure if I am waffling

If you are told in advance the length of an interview and if you know the size of the interview panel, you can calculate how many questions you’ll be asked and how much time you’re expected to spend on them.  30 minute interview?  You can probably expect 10 questions, and you should spend about 3 minutes on each question. 3 person interview panel?  You can expect that each interviewer will ask at least 3 questions.  Therefore if you have not heard from one interviewer yet, make sure you allow yourself enough time and material to answer their questions.  Using these benchmarks can help you prepare a balanced picture of yourself and an opportunity to score points across the board.

5.       I couldn’t find any information on the company

When you are researching the company in your interview preparations, you may want to consider contacting them.  The team you wish to join might be happy to hear from you and to answer some questions you have.  Be sure to have your questions ready and double check that they are appropriate to ask.  Always know the reason that you are asking a question and if the reasoning is unclear to you, drop it from the list.

6.       I don’t know how to handle myself when I walk in

While most interviews are now on Zoom and walking in is less of a worry, you are still auditioning for a role in a company that has an existing team and you want to demonstrate that you align well with the culture of that team.  Don’t enter the meeting until you are ready to start a conversation.  And when we do go back to interviews in person, be on form from the moment you enter.  Be courteous to people you meet in the reception area, be warm and professional to the person who comes down to escort you to the interview room.  If you are nervous or tense, take five deep breaths to centre yourself.  First impressions of you are important. 

7.       I like to prepare really carefully for my questions

It’s great to know your key examples for each competency but the most important thing is to listen to the question you are being asked.  It is tempting to launch into prepared material  but it may not be that relevant to the question.  If you’re not answering what they’ve asked, they can’t score you on it, and you are losing yourself points.   Know your key examples for each competency.   Similarly, you may have that one question you are nervous about answering, but if you spend all your time preparing for one question, and if you spend ten minutes of your interview answering one question, you are not giving your interviewers enough material to score you across competencies.

8.       I don’t know what to say when I’m asked about a work skill I know I haven’t done before

You want to communicate hunger, preparation and interest.  Your interviewers want you to do well and are often eager to hear you speak the words that allows them to score you highly.  Know that women are much more likely to stick with what they’ve already done, while men come in and speak about what they can do.  Practice saying ‘YES I can do that’ and keep practising until you can say it with conviction.  Demonstrate that you are able for new tasks, rather than focusing on whether you have done them before.  Because if you don’t say you can do it, the next person being interviewed is going to score those points that you have passed up. 

9.       I would love to get to the point where I feel ready for the interview

The night before the interview, think about the three core messages you want to get across.  Know the job description really well and relate it to what you can do.   Know these three messages and go into the interview with a clear and open mind.  This is your moment. 

And honestly, breathe into it and enjoy the moment.  You’re at the table.  You’re here.  Be proud of yourself that you have made it this far.

How a Guidance Counsellor can help with Career Burnout

‘Stress is a reality – like love or electricity – unmistakeable in experience yet difficult to define.’[i]

Career Burnout is a form of stress.  It is a gradual building up of work-related stress to the point where it is having chronically negative impacts on your life.   

The Lobster Pot

Burnout is hard to recognise because what can often start as high job satisfaction becomes over time a waning optimism and eventually chronic stress.  You can’t quite figure out what’s wrong but something is wrong.  It’s the lobster pot metaphor: it heats up gradually and you can’t quite tell whether the problem is with you (the person) or with the pot (the context).

Burnout is depicted as having three strands: if you are feeling exhausted in your work, cynical about your work (and losing your sense of identity with it) and feeling reduced in your ability to do your work, you are exhibiting warning signs of burnout.

Fuzzy Thinking

The trouble is that stress can lead to fuzzy thinking which makes it hard to define and even harder to imagine that the solutions available to you will help.  You are being asked to think clearly at a very moment where you are feeling unable to do so.  It is difficult to live through something and make sense of it at the same time.

Here are the ways that I think a Guidance Counsellor can help:

1.       Making Sense of What is Happening to You

Life is made up of everyday individual actions and interactions.   Guidance counsellors are trained to help you bridge the divide between who you are and the world in which you exist.  By making sense of what is happening to you, your understanding increases.  By making meaning from your experiences,  you become able to separate what you need to respond to and what is outside of your control.

Life experiences can feel like fact but the very act of talking them through with someone else can change them.  This act can help you to reframe your understanding of yourself and think more clearly how the world in which you exist is impacting on you. 

2.       Adding in Objective Information

Sometimes an objective assessment such as a Career Assessment provides useful information to add to the context of your experiences. Tools such as an Interest Profile, a Personality Quiz or an assessment of your Career Values can help you make sense of your career issues and why your current context is no longer working for you.  You can also reconnect with forgotten career aspirations and begin to consider whether your current work is still meeting your needs.

Whether you need a big change such as a change of career, or a small change such as a change in your hours, your responsibilities or your communication with direct management, assessment helps you to gain awareness of your skills and how you can use them to change your context and ultimately help you to cope. 

3.       It’s not You, it’s Them

Many coping strategies for stress and burnout focus on developing personal resilience.  These elements, while helpful, don’t suit every person and every situation.  There needs to be a recognition that sometimes people are being asked to deliver beyond what would be considered reasonable. 

Example of an approach that focuses only on personal resilience. Source: hellodriven.com

This HBR article quotes a survey by Gallup that found the top five reasons for burnout are:

1. Unfair treatment at work

2. Unmanageable workload

3. Lack of role clarity

4. Lack of communication and support from their manager

5. Unreasonable time pressure

While a focus on personal resilience is a valuable tool, workplace practices and expectations feed into personal burnout and a person’s context needs to be addressed if they are to break the cycle.  Burnout is a system problem and most likely things at work will need to change.

Knowing Yourself Better Helps You Plan For Change

The process of guidance counselling can help you to bring yourself to an a-ha moment of what kind of change you are looking for.  Clarity – the very opposite of fuzzy thinking – is a major component in planning for change.  By taking a step back, you begin to explore options which you have not been considering because you have been feeling overwhelmed from your current work context. 

Sometimes a dilemma enhances our freedom to choose.  The process of guidance counselling can give you a new vocabulary for breaking down your old coping routines and building new ways of developing your career.

i Eugene Kennedy and Sara Charles. On Becoming a Counsellor. Gill & McMillan 1977

6 Ways to Use Your Phone to Improve Your Job Search

Most people would say their favourite gadget is their phone.  For many, it is their only gadget.  2017 research found that nearly 90% of Irish adults own a smartphone, with the top three uses being email, social media and news/weather.  28% of people check their phones all day, every day.

Your phone gives you a chance to contribute to wider conversations, it allows you to focus on your strengths and interests and it builds your knowledge.  For most people, it’s indispensable.

But a smartphone is probably also your kryptonite.  Job searching can pull down your emotions and your fatigue to the point where you are not thinking clearly and are losing your potency of thought.   A phone can exacerbate that fatigue. 

Here are 6 ways to use your favourite gadget to centre your search and raise the quality of your thoughts again.   

1.     Follow the Path Already Travelled

There are people already doing what you would like to be doing. List five organisations you would love to work for and follow them on all your social media pages. Look for inspiration, industry knowledge, opportunities.  Go directly to Career Opportunities listings on their websites instead of waiting to see them on job sites.

Search for jobs on job sites that have a more personal handprint.
JobAlert.ie is a smaller Irish job site with strong employer engagement.
Activelink.ie is a specific site for the community and non-profit sectors.
Jobs.ie have a 4.6 star rating on their app and you can apply directly to the employer.

Look for professionals within those organisations that may have a public profile that is worth following on a platform you already use.  Look at the About Us section of organisations, or take a look at their list of board members.  Consider small recruitment start-ups.  Do they have CEO’s with strong public profiles?  You may see opportunities by following the individuals as much as the organisations.

By bringing new voices into your newsfeed, you may spark an idea you haven’t had before. 

2.     Name Your Themes

Quieten the noise by knowing the themes of your job hunt and following these as hashtags across social media. 

One of your themes is the sector of work you are looking for.  Follow this theme using hashtag functions on social media, in particular LinkedIn.  Build your knowledge.

Jobseeking is another theme.  #Jobsfairy and #Jobfairy are useful follows across social media.  If you find a good resource for jobseeking in your context, follow that resource directly and keep an eye on it.

Another theme is a community that you may belong to.  Do you have characteristics which define your job hunt?  Are you a career returner?  Have you moved to or returned to Ireland?  Are you looking to juggle work with home life or a sideline? What about your age group?   Your location?

Use these keywords to find support and communities to join on Instagram and Facebook.  Look for groups and organisations that ‘get’ you and your context.

3.     Instagram and Facebook

Consider separating your professional self from your other social media personas.  Instagram is surprisingly effective for setting up a work-focused page.  It is better to have a separate Instagram page that has 25 priority-focused follows than to add them into an already busy feed.  The imagery that floods your feed generates calm, motivation and ideas.  And going there to jobseek is a conscious decision that you make.

JobAlert.ie provide targeted job listings by county.  So you can follow ‘Galway Jobs’ or ‘Tipperary Jobs’ on Instagram or Facebook, making it easy to spot new opportunities.

Replenish your energy.  Follow local groups that spotlight your area with free initiatives like your Local Development Company, your local Council or innovative responses to things you care about.

Is there a Facebook group for your profession in Ireland?  This is a place to generate ideas and build connections within your industry.  When you are contributing to a discussion, aim to be a helpful person who stays on point.

4.     LinkedIn 

LinkedIn should be an app on our phone so that when you move to kill time on social media, you get into the habit of opening LinkedIn as much as any other app.   

All you need is a simple LinkedIn profile with all sections complete and a professional-looking photo (not a holiday snap).  At the top of your profile you can click to show recruiters you are open for work, and you can control who sees this.

Start to say hello on LinkedIn as you would in real life.  Add a short note to an invitation to connect. Comment on people’s posts.  Build a network.  Start to look for people whose message you connect with or who are living out your dreams.  

Use LinkedIn like Facebook: comment and share and like content. Done right, your LinkedIn feed will look like a vibrant Facebook-like newsfeed with a professional orientation.

5.     Zoom

Job searching is an isolating experience.  Try combatting that by scheduling a Zoom call over coffee with a good friend.

Make it someone who won’t give you platitudes but will be happy to offer you practical help such as endorsing your skills on LinkedIn or introducing you via email to a friend who works in your field.

Make it someone you have fun chatting with!

6.     Know When to Fold

You may want to try scheduling times of the day when your phone is not with you. You can see it as a placeholder for something else in your day.  Put your phone out of your reach so that you have to consciously stretch for it. Choose the radio, a podcast, a book, a chat or some quiet reflection instead. Change the habit and see how it makes you feel.

Finally, if you spend a lot of time on a network that has yielded no opportunities, it is time to rethink that and reassess where you spend your energies.

Job searching is an act of putting yourself out there for external approval.   It takes its toll.   By valuing your time and how you spend it, you are showing yourself a kindness.