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Hello!
It's been a few more weeks than usual since my last newsletter and there are two (good) reasons for it:
- I've taken some proper time off over the summer to spend time with my family – I often speak about the benefits of rest and for once, I've managed to follow my own advice!
- My team and I have spent the summer building some exciting new ways you can benefit from OnUpBeyond. And a new website too!
Before I get into all that, I thought it'd be helpful to share my insight on "blockers". I've been reflecting on my learnings from supporting hundreds of you with career planning and making successful career moves since I started OnUpBeyond. And it's clear to me that there are 4 common blockers to making and executing a career plan.
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The biggest issues in career planning & execution
Across every one of my bootcamps, every career advice drop-in session and every casual conversation with one of you, it became clear to me that career paths & transitions tend to get stuck in one of four places.
1. Figuring out what you actually want. So many people I've worked with, and almost every (ex)consultant, are blessed with a plethora of transferable skills and experiences. This makes it very hard to narrow your career path down to a "plan A". And it's equally common to end up chasing roles you think you should pursue based on others' expectations, rather than ones that genuinely excite you. But it's the people I've worked with who land a role right in their sweet spot who always see the greatest career success and satisfaction.
2. Landing interviews. Many of the professionals I've worked with have trouble crafting their CV/resume as well as cover letters in a way that consistently gets them into the room. That's especially true for consultants moving into industry, where positioning consulting projects for a different audience is genuinely hard to get right. Equally true for people seeking to change sector, forge a new freelance career, join a different type of organisation (e.g., start-up/scale-up) or land their first NED role.
3. Finding and landing the right roles. Even when you know exactly what you want and have a CV/resume that works, you need to discover roles you're truly excited about. I've previously talked about the "hidden jobs market" and how to access it. These roles rarely just show up on LinkedIn – they usually take proactive and systematic search to find – leveraging your network's network and headhunters in the best way and also understanding how to open up powerful moves internally.
4. Assessing and optimising the offer. Finally, lots of people I've worked with have regretted receiving an offer and saying yes straight away, only to end up in a role that turned out not to be a fit. In not taking the time & using the right structure to weigh up whether the organisation, team and role are the best fit for you – and, crucially, whether the role will act as a stepping stone to your ultimate career goal – you risk being miserable at work, embarking on a path to a dead end or re-starting the job search after a few months. Also, you miss the opportunity to optimise the offer – that's not just negotiating your salary but could be about any number of components that are important to you and can be negotiated with the right approach.
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We've revamped OnUpBeyond
The bootcamps I used to run worked extremely well in addressing these 4 issues. The problem was – there was only ever space for a handful of people in every bootcamp and they were always oversubscribed.
So over the last couple of months, we've completely refreshed OnUpBeyond – new website, new programmes, more coaches – to help far more people with their career planning and execution.
If you're trying to plan your career, actively thinking about making a move or already pursuing one and not getting the traction you were hoping for, check out our new website or take our 20-second quiz to discover your biggest career blocker.
If you have any feedback about the new website or any questions about our support, please feel free to reply.
All the best,
Rich & the OUB team
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