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Blog post | Igniting a Spark!

13 November 2020

Following 4 November, our sky was filled with bangs, pops and wizzes. Now, it’s time to light your career spark.

We’ve teamed up with The Mallows Company to bring you a blog giving you our top 3 ways to take control of your career and ignite a spark.

No matter your employment status, taking control of your career can unlock a range of opportunities. To help you start defining your career this winter, we’ve identified 3 things you can control to further your career.

1. Developing your skills virtually

Online there is a vast variety of free remote courses. Whether you want to build on your existing skills or learn something new, there’s a course tailored to you.

One in three people have used online learning to help them get a better job. On average, online learning can boost your annual pay by £3,640 too.

If you want to take a look at some of the online courses available, here are some sites to get you started:

  • The Skills Toolkit: Developed during the first lockdown, this site showcases a range of free courses for individuals to gain confidence and build skills while people are staying at home.
  • Make IT Click: Learn new apps, improve the skills you already have and take a positive step forward in your work.
  • Future Learn: Offering a range of courses, Future Learn delivers 100% flexible online courses.

2. Knowing your strengths and build on your weaknesses 

Identifying your skills can set your career on the right path. If you want to find your dream job, it’s worth taking a step back and identifying your key skills and areas for development.

By identifying your skills, you’ll gain confidence, self-worth and understand the value you can bring to an organisation. Read SEMLEP’s last blog post ‘How do I know what I’m good at?’ for practical tips to identify your skills.

Knowing your weaknesses is a strength in itself. Personal development is a skill often sought after by employers. So, why not use one of the free online courses to build on your weaknesses improving your skills going forward?

3. Experience, experience, experience! 

Employers are always looking for candidates with experience. It’s vital that your able to show you’re experience and the value it will add to an organisation.

If you’re looking to develop experience, why not try volunteering? Volunteering not only helps the community but can also help you to develop new skills from team work to management. You can find out how to volunteer on the government website.

If you’ve got experience, how are you evidencing it? Reflect on your CV and make sure that your experience is prominent, accurate and shows the value you can add to an organisation. It’s also worthwhile to update your LinkedIn profile. Not only does this show your digitally literate, but it’s a great way to show off your career history.

The National Career Service is running a programme of employment webinars which can help you to update your CV, ace an interview and evidence experience.

If you’d like to access further employment support, take a look at SEMLEP’s Define Your Career initiative to access a network of local, national and regional support.

The Mallows Company offers fully funded one to one support for individuals. Through their team of qualified careers advisers, they offer impartial help to individuals to assist with learning, training and work opportunities.

 

 

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