ARTICLES

Career journeys are rarely a neat and tidy story, moving along a single onward line. If your plan is too fixed, there is no space for seizing opportunities as they appear, and trying new things to see where they take you.

Other than your name and contact details, your profile is the most important part of your CV. If you can’t keep the recruiter/hiring manager’s attention in this brief section, you have lost them and they won’t read the rest of your CV, however fantastic it may be. But how do you make your profile so engaging that they will want to read the rest of your CV?

There’s a lot to think about when you start a new job, a hundred things, big and small, that you don’t know but need to learn very quickly. Some things you can plan for, some you can’t. But there is one sure-fire way to make yourself unpopular and set you back on your path to success and it happens more times than it should - coming on too strong and trying too hard.

Want to look confident? Get to know your shine time and structure your day around your optimal schedule. Understand your windows of opportunity to maximise your effectiveness and impact.

Most of us dread writing or updating our CV. It can feel awkward, overwhelming, or like a tedious admin task. But the truth is, a little discomfort now can lead to a lot of growth later and no regrets about potential missed opportunities. Here are four reasons why updating your CV can actually be a positive, productive experience. No pain, no gain - here's how to make it hurt less.

A lack of confidence can be a very real barrier to career success and being fulfilled at work. It might stop you from putting yourself forward for opportunities, voicing your ideas or pulling back when faced with a new or challenging situation. It can also hinder how well you ‘sell’ yourself in interviews. For those who lack confidence and experience low self-esteem, there are things you can do to help you feel more confident. Here are the five steps I recommend.

You aren’t stupid or lacking because you can’t get unstuck in your career. Resistance is real. That’s why coaching helps. It lends another perspective, helps you recognise what is holding you back and what the scary really is - and how to tackle it. If you feel stuck, why not try tackling the problem with someone who knows how to help you, someone who can reach out the hand that will help you scramble up and over the barrier and stop you bashing your face against it.

Your CV is about you, but not for you. It needs to be a clear, concise showcase of what you have to offer with relevant information and evidence that you can meet the roles requirements AND bring the skills, knowledge, attitude and experience to deliver success. A clear, concise, accessible CV makes it very easy for the reader to scan and puts you in the ‘must know more’ pile of candidates, don’t make them hunt for the info they need or they’ll move on! And science shows two

Are you overlooking or downplaying the skills, strengths, knowledge and experience that make you good at your job? Do you take for granted that people know what you are good at? If you’re struggling to understand what you’re good at or find it hard to articulate your strengths, then a session of Career Therapy will help you.

Working isn’t just ‘doing’. Working is allowing your brain to process information and generate fresh thinking.

Successfully asking for a pay rise isn’t about money. Of course, it is about money, but there’s far more to it than the figure itself. Use this simple, structured approach that is proven to work.

Is your glass half full, or half empty. Choosing to see the positive opens up possibilities and helps you build confidence and resilience. Thinking about how our brains work and how we change our behaviours, there is sound data to suggest that we can change how we perceive the world and react to it. By making a conscious choice to do or not do something and repeating that positive choice starts to create a habit, build momentum and seed more positivity.

I don’t believe the perfect job exists. And, even if it did, I’m not sure it would stay interesting for very long. Perfection can get boring pretty quickly. And as with anything that looks good on the surface, the story underneath can show quite a different reality. If you’d like to stop chasing an unattainable dream job and focus instead on what could make you happy at work, why not try a session of Career Therapy?

Tackling perfectionism to make more progress and be less of a perfectionist: The fear of not achieving perfection is strong enough to prevent them from starting in the first place or, if they do manage to start, not getting things finished. And not finishing causes a confidence wobble, which starts the cycle of self-doubt and pushing for perfection again. But it is vital to understand that perfection drains your confidence.

Confidence isn’t fixed — it’s flexible and shaped by context, experience, and mindset. If it can be lost, it can be rebuilt. Confidence grows through action, self-awareness, and reframing fear. It’s not who you are, it’s how you choose to show up. And it’s always reclaimable.

Wondering ‘what if’ isn’t a bad thing. In fact, using analysis of factors and outcomes helps us play through different aspects of a situation, find novel/better options and generate new insights. Asking ‘what if’ opens a door to possibilities. What’s the worst that can happen? What if you did make the wrong choice? It could happen, but you would deal with it because we are also hardwired to survive. And you’d have learned something you could use to make better future decision

Do you warm up before you run? Stretch as you start a yoga session? Ever thought of doing that before an interview? If not, why not? It could give you the edge. Even with the most diligent preparations for content, about 80% of the time, clients hit their stride after 20-30 minutes, which is too late on the day to make a good impression. Warm up and be ready to GO with my top tips and practical actions.

How do you know if you really want to leave your job? How deeply have you thought about this - and the practicalities? To truly understand what is fuelling your desire to leave and to stand a chance of making the right decision, there are steps you can take to put yourself in the best possible position - before you take the leap!

Decisions can be hard because they are full of unknowns and risks. Often, we don’t know what we don’t know, and that can be nerve-wracking and hard to accept. But we can’t know everything. Sometimes we have to take a leap of faith or, to put it another way, jump and accept that we might fall…or land gracefully. We can choose to think positively.

How many of us are good at faking active listening whilst our brains rush to devise solutions we can offer as advice? Two hard but vital lessons for me in my career have been to stop my brain racing and listen and think about the best solution, not the first solution.