Outplacement Services

Today I went in for two sessions

1. Resume Writing

and

2. Career Assessment

The resume writing workshop was an interesting one. I learned something new which is always encouraging. Resumes have come a long way since I last actively used one and since then much research has gone into what works and what doesn't. Now that I've gone through the workshop I need to spend about 30 hours to pull all my points together. The hardest thing for me is going to be identifying my accomplishments. I always hated this at performance appraisal time and I hate it even more now. I find it so uncomfortable to do. Both the Australian and Canadian culture discourages self promotion - my American friends are much better (in a positive way) in being able to do this. So next week my entire focus will be on my resume. It takes 30 - 45 seconds for a recruiter to decide whether they'll take a more in depth look at you. You have that long to make enough of an impression.

The second workshop was right up my alley. It was all about identifying what you want to do. There are a number of assessment tools out there - Myer Briggs being one of the more common - but the outplacement company uses one called the Birkman Assessment

Basically the Birkman assessment is based on preferences and it identifies where you sit in terms of preferred management style, preferred activities, your needs and your stress reactions should those needs not be met. It then takes your personal profile and indicates what sort of roles other people with your preferences have. So in other words it gives you an indication as to what other types of jobs you may want to consider... with the basic premise being to find something that meets your needs, lowers your stress and incorporates activities you like to do. It's a way of identifying filters with which to sort through potential job opportunities.

I love this stuff. My aha was that on all elements the assessment seemed to nail me - down pat - except where it came to needs. But then as we talked and as I was able to identify very closely with my stress reactions, I realized that what was actually likely in play here was that I was not fully understanding my own needs. I thought I knew what I wanted/needed but in reality it may have been something else. That would potentially explain why certain elements of my last job were frustrating me.

The good news is that I seem to be ideally suited for the learning and performance/ training arena which is where I have worked the last 6 years. It's a start should I want to continue in that role. The other type of roles it showed as others with a similar profile as me included lawyers, teachers, professors, writers, editors, journalists, marketing, advertising... funny thing is that I have a marketing undergrad, both journalism and law were on my list of possibilities when I first finished high school, I want to be a teacher in my next life when I can afford the massive pay cut (I would love to work at the junior elementary level when you still have a chance to instill a lifelong love of learning) and writer... well I'm just a frustrated writer who now loves to blog. There were of course many other career groupings but it amazed me as to how many I had a connection with.

No surprise - I would not be happy in a clerical or mechanical role... it's just not in me to be precise and organized.

All in an interesting day. I learned some new things. Had a few aha moments and had a few laughs at my own expense. I'm looking forward to next steps.