So where does this leave the many people now contemplating for the first time the possibility of having to change careers. The Public Sector is characterised by specialist work, people who stay in their roles a long time and people who are, generally speaking, unused to undergoing significant business and career change.  Although it can initially feel like a lonely, daunting and scary prospect there are many things that people can do to start to help and prepare themselves for the future. Even if you feel your job is very specialised, with help, transferable skills and strengths can be identified, polished up and promoted. Additionally, weaker skills areas (and we all have them) can be given the right focus, training and attention. So what sorts of things should you start to think about now?

Get Informed – Get A Plan
One of the biggest ways of reducing those initial feelings of panic is to take control. Once you get confirmation that your role is to end it’s important to wrestle back control of your life and your career and you can. Firstly, get informed and make a plan. You can get informed by making sure you know exactly what you’re entitled to and don’t feel unduly pressured into making quick decisions. You can start planning what you’re going to do even before you get confirmation that redundancy will affect you. Start to think about what it is you want to do. Redundancy is after all an opportunity. Do you …..

• Want to get another job that’s similar?
• Want to do something totally different?
• Want to retire early?
• Want to start your own business?
• Want to do something creative?
• Want to take some time out?

Whatever you decide, write it down and start to think about what you would need to do to make it happen. Doing this also helps to clarify any further questions you have regarding any redundancy offer and helps to sharpen which aspects you’d like to negotiate. They will sometimes tell you that a redundancy package is ‘non negotiable’, in my experience everything is negotiable. Once you have a clearer idea of what you want ….ask for it. Also see our other post on ‘Life After redundancy’ which gives some extra hints and tips. Although this post is weighted towards the private sector the same principles apply.

Understand Your Strengths, Skills & experience
We often hear Public Sector workers say that they don’t have transferable skills and this is not true. The knack is in really understanding what your strengths are and this is where a Career Coach can be invaluable in helping you to unravel your thinking and raising confidence. For example, a Care Worker who say works with children will have many skills valuable to private sector nurseries or schools. Your previous job title does not limit your future.

Take some paper and draw 4 columns. In column 1 list everything you do well, if you can’t think of anything ask a colleague or a friend. Once complete choose you top 3. In column 2 now convert that strength into an ‘action orientated ’ word (if you haven’t already. For example, ‘began, organised, re-structured, conducted, consolidated, accelerated , enhanced’ and so on. We cover all of this and more on our bespoke CV and Interview courses. Doing this moves the emphasis away from your ‘job description’ which represents just your role at work to your strengths and skills as a person. In column three, start to list some of your best examples of where you have demonstrated this skill. In the last column, against each example write down what was the main thing you learned from this experience. You now have three areas that show what you can do well which can be included in your CV. Writing a good, concise CV takes understanding of yourself, skill and practice.

Market Yourself Effectively
When pulling together your CV there are many different formats. Whichever format you do choose you will need to cover off your main achievements. A very effective way to do this is by breaking your achievement into the following format:

• What was the situation or challenge?
• What did YOU do (actions and skills)?
• What was the outcome?

This format also works well when giving answers in interviews.

Stay Motivated & Stay Positive
There are many different ways to stay positive in the face of much change and uncertainty. Having a plan helps but auctioning that plan helps even more, so;

• Review your plan every day and do at least ONE thing on that plan. Either do the action that will have the biggest impact or the one thing you’ve been putting off. No ifs no buts just do it
• Work out the things that give you a buzz and make you feel good and make sure you plan in time to do those too, they can make all the difference
• Work out which things you can do for yourself and which things you need extra support on or training. If these can be completed before you leave your role, so much the better but if they can’t it just means greater focus needed to stay on track
• When you think you’ve done everything you can and you feel as though you’ve run out of ideas, ask yourself ‘what else could I do?’, use your network, family and friends to help generate ideas. However you should ultimately choose what’s best for you
• Get someone to act as your champion, that’s the role of a Life/Career Coach, the one person ALWAYS in your corner. Contact us to arrange a FREE initial coaching session.

Sign up for our FREE Weekly Email Coaching Newsletter, it’s a week by week guide to setting your career and life goals and confidently working towards them

Good luck with your next steps and get in touch if you have any more questions!

Related articles:

• Public sector jobs outlook darkens (telegraph.co.uk)
• Cut pay but not jobs, says public sector (telegraph.co.uk)
• Public sector workers can hack it in private sector (telegraph.co.uk)

What is the number one challenge facing any new business?

That’s right….cash flow…you may have the best idea in the world, the best plan and the best product but without managing cash flow effectively it could all end badly.

Management of the cash into and out of your business in year 1 should be a critical part of your business plan as many businesses go under because they haven’t budgeted correctly for regular costs and delays in getting invoices settled by customers. The careful management of payments by clients and late payments can be the difference between success and failure especially in a recession or a slow growth market. Irrespective of what industry you operate in economic downturns means that more people and businesses will hang on to the money for longer. Small business owners can do a lot to help themselves by making sure they have they have control and the right processes for managing this important area of their business.

Here Are Some Tips To Help Make Sure Your Business Gets Paid On Time…

1. Set Payment Terms To Suit YOUR Business – If in any doubt about getting paid from another business or client especially if they’re new, ask for part payment up front – you may also wish to have different invoicing terms for brand new clients and these differences should be reflected on your written invoice. You should set the payment terms that reflect your needs as a business
2. Make Your Invoices Work For You – Make sure you invoice clearly states the payment terms, what happens if there is non payment and HOW they can pay. Your invoices should be regularly updated to reflect any changes to your payments processes or contact details
3. Review Your Payment Processes – Make sure you have good invoicing processes and set up email auto-responders that you can easily trigger and manage to remind people about payment dates. You should also diarise invoice dates so that invoices are sent out in good time. It also gives a clear message to other business owners that yours is a business with solid processes for payment and that you will chase any late returning invoices
4. Manage late Payments Properly – As soon as sn invoice becomes late phone the debtor as soon as you can to discuss (amicably) the way forward. That’s what the ‘big’ companies do and although you are a small business you should be no different. The companies that do phone first and establish a plan to be paid are the ones most likely to get their money back
5. Incentivise! – You could of course offer discounts for anyone paying early which will of course also help with cash-flow

This is just one of many key parts of your year 1 business plan. To keep up to date on what else you need to think about sign up for our ‘Weekly Email Business Coach’ which gives more business coaching tips plus business start up advice and checklists.

Sign up here for your own ‘Weekly Email Business Coach’

Find out more about our business start up workshops

Redundancy Can Affect Anyone, At Any Age And At Any Stage Of Your Career.

But far from being all gloom and doom and an end, for many people it’s the start of a whole new phase in their career. So, what do you do next and how do you stop yourself hitting that ‘panic’ button?

Each person has a different way of coping with change and this is what we’re talking here, finding the best strategies for coping with major change and creating the life and the outcomes you want.

If you’re faced with redundancy or the possibility of it here are a couple of things you can do to make things easier for yourself, with our Redundancy 5 Point Checklist;

1) Clarify Your Position – Whether you are being made redundant or have been put under notice of redundancy it’s important to check the terms of what’s being offered. This is to prevent any problems or misunderstandings later on. It’s also part of what we would discuss with you during a coaching session, to ensure that you retain control over the events around you even if this seems contrary to what you believe is happening. Reality is perception after all. See the ‘blogroll’ links for more information on our career workshops that support people going through major change. So what does this mean in practice?

• Check Entitlements: check what you’re being offered in terms of a payout, including but not limited to;
  • Salary (are you paid in advance, in arrears or bit of both?) This could affect the calculation of your final salary pay. It’s important to get clarification on this so that you don’t get any (nasty) shocks in your final payout.
  • Benefits: what will happen to any benefits i.e. private med, insurances, dental cover? Will you get any cash for these or will they agree to keep these going for a number of months.
  • Notice Period: Will you have to work your notice or will you receive PILON (Pay In Lieu Of Notice)?
  • Car Allowance: If you’re entitled to a company car will you have the choice of buying the car? You may wish to negotiate keeping the car for a few months after you leave and check what will happen to your car allowance during your notice period or PILON make sure you receive the cash for any car benefit.
• What Help Are They Offering? – If your company is offering free support i.e. career, interview, job search or out placement support then you should take up their offer. You may feel angry and hurt by the way you feel you’ve been treated but now’s the time to think smart and get all the free support you can. You might not need it but you never know what contacts you will make and what new ideas it may give you.
• Don’t Be Bullied: in uncertain times some companies can forget how to behave or even good companies can put pressure on people to make a choice as to whether to take redundancy or not. The tactics often used are:
  • Time Pressures – you only have xx days to make a decision before an ‘enhanced’ offer is withdrawn. Try to negotiate more time if you need it, because you must get legal advice and you will probably want to discuss things through with your family. Don’t try and string things out too long though as this could be counterproductive.
  • Alternative Role: this could be a viable option but check the details very carefully. Is it the same grade, same pay structure, same equivalent type of work? Will you be given any additional training? Will there be a probabtion period for this new role and how long would this be? If you took the new role and decided it wasn’t for you what options would you have?
  • This is the only amount that’s on offer: sometimes this is true but there’s no harm in reviewing the figures and negotiating more, either via yourself or through your Legal Advisor.

2) Get Legal Advice – we will always recommend getting legal advice in a redundancy situation, even if it’s just to check you’re getting the right amount of entitlement or to help you negotiate more! A Legal Advisor will check, amongst other things, that;

• The amount you are being offered complies with the law
• Advise you on any tax implications of any proposed payout
• Help you by being the main point of contact for any negotiations
• Some companies will also offer you an amount towards any legal fees and if they’re not up front about it then ask for this as well!

3) Plan Your Next Steps – some people feel as though their redundnacy has come at just the right time for them. Maybe their job wasn’t quite right for them, or they’d done as much as they could. Others, will feel (understandably) that their world is about to cave in. However you’re feeling emotionally and whatever you do next, make a PLAN. And, when say plan, we mean plan! Write it down, long hand, short hand, typed, whatever you do make one! Research by various universities and authors has shown that just the act of writing down what you plan to do means it has a much greater chance of happening. Even if you just write it out and put it away in a drawer! We would rather recommend creating a plan and then scheduling your priorities and actions over a realistic time frame. In the meantime here’s a suggested list of the key areas to focus on:

• Decide what you want… sounds really basic doesn’t it? Most people do not do this. Most of us are not clear about what we really want and then wonder why we’ve ended up in a job, money or life situation we don’t want. Again career coaching can help you to clarify your goals and the easiest way to be clear about what you want to achieve is to have clarity over your end goals. Do you actually want another similar job? Do you want to do something different? Is now the right time to finish that book, start a business, retire? Once you have clarity over your end goals you are 90% of the way there.
• Financial planning and budgeting – budget for all your essentials AND make a budget for treats and nights outs. You may go out less than before but it’s important to keep a balance. For example, if you strip out everything but the essentials all you will focus on is that you ‘lack’ something i.e. money and that’s precisely what the universe will give you. Create the right mindset to support you budget and enlist the help of your family and close friends to support you.

• Contact Your Network – if you’re looking for work or just considering what to do next, your network maybe able to help. It might be actual work, it could be great advice or even support for when you need it. People often say at this point that they ‘don’t know that many people’. Your network maybe broader than you think; Facebook friends and colleagues, Linkedin, former colleagues, people within your social circle, family, sports clubs, the gym, schools and Universities and so on. Before you cantact them be clear about what it is you want? Are you just saying hello or are you looking for something more specific? In our experience most people are more than happy to help!
• Be clear about what you in terms of your next role or job; is it more money, the same? Are you prepared to move, are you clear about your strengths and what you can take to market? If your company is offering help with CVs then make the most of this. Having a good idea of what you want and where you’re heading will help you to focus on your job search in a positive way. To look for 1000s of jobs in just one place follow this link to our  ‘Jobs Page’.

4)  Overcoming Obstacles – we are only human after all and at times something, someone or even yourself is going to trample on your end goals and your plans. So, what do you do? It’s easy to succumb to negative thinking because we seem to find it easy to focus on the negative. So here are  a couple of tips taken from our workshops that will help keep you on track:

• Keep your end goals to hand either in the form of a written list or a mood board. A mood board is a collection of pictures, words, anything in fact that describes where you would like to be when your goal(s) have been attained. When things get a bit wobbly, re-read your list, look at the board, remember where you’re heading. This is a very powerful technique to re-train your mind into thinking about what it wants as opposed to what you don’t want. Do this every day for 5 mins.
• Share your goals with trusted family and friends, they will give you the boost you need.
• Make a list of the things that give you a boost and do one of those.
• If things are going repeatedy array, simply review your plans in that area, with a view to making some adjustments (in the light of new information). Make any revisions with your end goal in mind.

So what about the new start to a new career? If that’s what you want, then you can achieve it. Still not convinced?  The key is to be clear about what you want, take action, and stay motivated. If you haven’t read it already we (plus countless others) recommend reading –  ‘The Seven Habits Of Highly Successful People’ by Steve R. Covey. The clue is in the title, make taking action a habit.

So that’s it your 5 point action plan! Some people will look at it and think great let’s get started. Most people will look at it and it may seem like a lot to do, plus where do they start and what about this and what about that….and yes it is a lot to do if you try and do it all at once. If you’d like some further guidance on getting started sign up for a Free Coaching Session. This will give you an introduction into how coaching can support you through a major life change, whether you’re ready to get started or not sure where to begin. See the links to the left for our contact details to book or give us a call. Either way, we’d love to hear from you!

In the meantime, whilst you’re thinking about what to do next sign up as a subscriber for your own ‘Weekly Email Coaching Sessions’…it’s totally free and you’ll get regular hints and tips on changing your career, starting a business or just coping with change. Sign up using the form below or contact us for more information!

We offer motivational career development workshops and coaching in the U.K. Why? Because we love watching people develop their potential and achieve their goals. For us ‘coaching’ is;

“helping people to improve their careers and lives quicker and faster than if they were to work alone”

It’s our passion and in some important aspects it is quite different to counselling. Counselling has an important role to play helping people to reconcile events in their past and to deal successfully with these going forward.

Coaching looks to the future and wherever you are in your career you definitely have one!  The secret is, making sure you plan it, make it happen rather than look back and wonder ‘what happened’. That’s what coaching does, helps you to identify your goals, get into action, stay motivated and achieve the success you want. Find out more about how career coaching can help you in your career now and visit our main website and sign up for a FREE Career Coaching session. What are you waiting for….it’s Free!!