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Get A Better Job: Improve your employability

by Rod Ashley

If your employer provides continuing professional development (CPD), this will help you identify your own motivations.  I remember in my first job that CPD was seen merely as a series of events on two consecutive days in a year.  This created a ‘roll-on, roll-off’ mind-set, with colleagues not reflecting upon how to improve their work for the rest of the year!  Nothing was embedded or systemic, either personally or within the organisation.  Indeed, I recall at the beginning of my career reading in a newspaper that trainee managers for British Rail had as much spent on their training in their first year of work as my professional salary.  These days development is much more systematic and widely-available. 

What aspects of CPD do you enjoy, what would you like to do more of, what do you try to avoid?  Teach Yourself Getting a Better Job provides a range of ideas through which you can chart your own skill levels, what you should give yourself credit for and where you may need to develop these skills or experiences further.  Employability development is not just about courses – it can include mentoring, quality circles or new opportunities.  But it is about developing a mindset of continuous learning and reflection. 




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Get A Better Job: Biography - Rod Ashley Rod Ashley owns Ashley Consult (www.ashley-consult.co.uk), which incorporates Ashley Associates and CATS.  It provides consultancy and training services to a wide range of clients, such as local authorities, the BBC, universities, private companies, the European Commission and the Welsh Assembly Government.
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Get A Better Job: Multiple choice questions 1. How would you define ‘employability’?
a.    Being ‘job-ready’ in terms of job-specific skills.
b.    Retaining your attractiveness to employers by developing and displaying those abilities and attitudes in demand.
c.    Making a good impression at interview.
d.    Having the basic skills and qualifications to be able to apply for a job.

Answer: b – as defined by William Bridges in his book Jobshift.  The previous Labour government and Jobcentres tended to use (d), NVQs can focus narrowly on (a) and not respond rapidly to changing conditions. (c) alone is not enough.  Employability is explored more fully in Chapter 1 of Teach Yourself Getting a Better Job – and throughout the book readers are given clear steps on how to develop their employability skills.
Get That Job With The Right CV: How long should a CV be? Ask ten people and you may hear ten different answers. One page, two to three pages, maybe more for certain industries … it can be quite confusing.
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Get That Job With The Right CV: Should references be included? As a rule, they should not. The best approach is to keep references separate from your CV and to provide them to recruiters only when asked. References are normally not taken up until an employer has made you a conditional job offer or at least put you on the final shortlist.
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