Personal Career Development is your responsibility
Career development is an investment in you. Surely it is the most obvious investment to make – way above a new kitchen or bathroom. Usually costing a lot less too! Personal branding, personal presentation, interview training, media training – all these things are highly valued by employers and clients and have never been more important to professional careers. You invest in your clothes and your hair (or at least you should) – surely you should also invest in your skills and your knowledge.
This is just as important at every stage of your career, whether you are looking for your first job, looking to change jobs or to be promoted. Some companies now do far more sifting out through telephone interviews, while others such as Barclays now use the grinding and arduous “truth serum” of Top Grading interviews for all hires from AD up.
Some companies do much less or no career development training and planning – so you have to make sure you are in charge of your career development training programme – whether the company provides it or not.
The corporate cultures and demands of professional services firms like lawyers and accountants also range hugely so you need to know that what pushes buttons at Hogan Lovells may not work at Slaughter and May.
So whether you are in the job market, making that big pitch or presenting to the main board, I can help you ensure you make the most of the opportunity.