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Get that Job in 7 simple steps
Peter Storr


7 simple steps to help you find your perfect jobKickstart your job applications and get the job you want. If you’re new to the job market, back for a restart, or want a change of scene, we’ll help you target what you want and show you how to get there.The job market is tougher than ever, and making a great first impression is everything. We’ll debunk the myths of applying for jobs, help get your CV into shape and prepare you for the interview. Just make sure you get there on time (that bit’s up to you).















Contents


Cover (#u0b34bccb-176d-5955-a3a7-7d732b39ade1)

Title Page (#u4df13d19-def6-5deb-a987-b0053bc3566c)



Step 1 Plan your hunt and keep it moving (#ue68a360f-13ce-5fac-bcaa-75eb489a56c1)



Step 2 Understand what you want (#ubbc5cd54-d7bb-56e3-ad23-6a6917c178c3)



Step 3 Know your skills and strengths (#litres_trial_promo)



Step 4 Write a killer CV (#litres_trial_promo)



Step 5 Ace the interview (#litres_trial_promo)



Step 6 Perform well in assessments (#litres_trial_promo)



Step 7 Survive and thrive in your new job (#litres_trial_promo)



Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher





Step 1 (#ulink_0b294b6e-c8f9-5eab-b3c3-2af2c5fcaeb7)

PLAN YOUR HUNT AND KEEP IT MOVING (#ulink_0b294b6e-c8f9-5eab-b3c3-2af2c5fcaeb7)


‘Knowing that we are responsible – “responseable” – is fundamental to our effectiveness and to every other habit of effectiveness. — Stephen R. Covey: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People




Five ways to succeed




Recognise that you are responsible for your own career.

Make a ‘Get that job’ plan and regularly review it.

Create an ‘elevator pitch’ and practise it.

Create a network and keep in touch with your contacts.

Know what helps you stay motivated when things get tough.





Five ways to fail




Assume that a dream job is going to fall into your lap.

Fire off a stream of random applications and hope for the best.

Make the assumption that people will know what you want.

Try to do it all yourself without support.

Give up after a couple of attempts.


The changing job market




How it used to be …


Let me start with a personal example. I left school in 1980 and got a job in a bank. I didn’t mean to really; it just happened. I remember having a chat with the school careers officer who suggested banking was a good idea, but to be honest I don’t think I gave it any more thought than that. What seemed to be important is that I got a job – any job – and that was that. I also seem to remember (it has got lost in the mists of time, rather) the job interview going something like this:

Them: Why do you want this job?

Me: Well, it sounded interesting and I’m good with numbers, I think.

Them: Congratulations! You’re in. You’ll retire when you’re 65.

I’m sure it wasn’t really like that, but it wasn’t far off. I got an interview at the first time of trying, too, and without really trying at all. It doesn’t work like that now, and it could be argued that it shouldn’t: I got a job that I wasn’t really interested in, wasn’t very good at and it was a rather unfulfilling period of my life – and they got someone who was average at best.




How it is now


Wind forward 30 years and things couldn’t be more different. There is no such thing as failsafe job security, it’s rare to get a job at the first time of trying and even rarer to be offered a job if you haven’t done your homework. Perhaps the major change though is in who is responsible for our career path. In my case, I was made to feel like I was a passive recipient of my future, with no control or accountability; as long as I went through the motions, I would fulfil the destiny presented to me.

Nowadays, it’s us, the jobseekers, more than ever, who are responsible. We’ve had to replace security in our employers with security in our employability; in other words, it’s up to us to build the transferable knowledge, skills and abilities to take from one employer to another, in a kind of ‘portfolio’. We are now in charge of our careers, which is both empowering and a little scary.









What does this mean for getting that job?


By now it will be clear that, today, merely sending off a few CVs to a few organisations you like the sound of and hoping for the best just doesn’t cut the mustard. You need to be proactive, to have a plan or a strategy for job hunting because job hunting is best thought of as a process; a sequence of steps that should be followed to maximise your chances of success. The simple truth is that employers expect prospective employees to show initiative and take charge of their own destinies. Taking the initiative is not about being aggressive, arrogant or overbearing. It’s about deciding to make things happen and then creating a plan to make them more likely to.

While it’s not always easy, and at times may be frustrating and disheartening, many people find it rather satisfying to make a plan and monitor its progress, analysing the results and learning from what worked and what didn’t. If you can share your plans, ideas, successes and failures with others who are in the same position as you, then that extra support and mutual encouragement can be invaluable. You also need to periodically review your plans and give them occasional reality checks. There is a saying: ‘The first sign of madness is to keep on doing the same things and expecting different results.’ If something seems not to be working, change it!

Your ‘Getting that job’ plan

So, what might your ‘Getting that job’ plan look like? The precise nature and components of your plan depend on the type of job you’re looking for. Graduate and managerial job selection processes often include assessments such as a presentation, role-play exercises or exercises that assess planning and organisational abilities. Other jobs may have manual dexterity tests or verbal/numerical reasoning tests or personality assessments, but essentially they are all just ways of ensuring that you fit the job and that the job fits you.

Most plans tend to cover the following areas:



Stage 1: Doing the groundworkResearching, networking, creating a plan, deciding what you want, clarifying your skills and strengths (see Steps 1 (#ue68a360f-13ce-5fac-bcaa-75eb489a56c1), 2 (#ubbc5cd54-d7bb-56e3-ad23-6a6917c178c3) and 3 (#litres_trial_promo) of this book)

Stage 2: Getting ready to applyCreating a CV template, building a portfolio of evidence of competencies (see Step 4 (#litres_trial_promo))

Stage 3: Preparing for interviewing and other assessmentsPresenting yourself, preparing for typical interview questions and understanding what assessments are likely to be used (see Steps 5 (#litres_trial_promo) and 6 (#litres_trial_promo))

Stage 4: Reviewing progress and keeping up to dateReviewing your job search process: what went well, what you could do differently next time, what development is needed


By following a process like this, you’ll put yourself in the best possible position to get that job.

Networking in your job search

It should now be clear that to be successful in job hunting, as in anything, it’s best to seize the initiative, to take control of the job hunting process – and to treat it like a process. Later steps in this book will take this a stage further, when we look at what you want to achieve and why you are the ideal candidate for specific jobs. Identifying the actions required during Step 1 (#ue68a360f-13ce-5fac-bcaa-75eb489a56c1) will be easier if you’re aware of how you might find a job to apply for in the first place.

Of course, you may hear about a job through a relative, friend or someone you know. There’s nothing wrong with this – far from it – and your chances of this happening are greatly increased if you widen your circle of contacts. Most of us do this naturally and spontaneously, but we can (and should) also be more targeted and strategic about it. This is called ‘networking’. Think about your reactions to that word. As soon as we make it sound formal, a ‘thing’ we should be doing, it suddenly becomes scary. It’s worth practising and persevering though; a great many people become aware of a potential opportunity through someone they know.

Remember that this is not about getting an unfair advantage over others or being neatly slotted into a vacancy. When we have a good network we simply hear about more opportunities than we would otherwise – and there are more people potentially looking out for us.




Why it works


So, networking is, to put it simply, building our networks. Everybody is at the centre of their own network, a bit like a spider is in the middle of its web, and the further you can spin your web, the more chances you will have of hearing of opportunities that might have otherwise passed you by.

The principle is exactly the same as in selling: a ‘warm’ lead is far more likely to result in success than a ‘cold’ call. The fact that there’s an initial contact or relationship, no matter how small, is what seems to make the difference between a sale and no sale – and when you’re job hunting, you are in effect selling yourself. If we are recommended by someone else, that has a very powerful impact indeed. It’s probably the best possible strategy you can have for standing out from the crowd.

Don’t forget, however, that your network doesn’t end simply with the name on the list. Each name in your network will have their own network, so by implication you are in their network too, if at a stage removed. There are many instances of people hearing about a job through a contact of a contact, so the more people who know who you are, what you’re good at and what you’re looking for, the better your chances.

The good news is that networking is simple. Once you’ve made a list of everyone you know, it’s simply a matter of contacting them. The trick is to be strategic, and to have a plan. Don’t just send out a generic email to everyone on your list and hope for the best. Think about how you would feel if your friends did that. It’s far better to target your communication – to tailor the message to the recipient. Let’s look at this in more detail.




Building your network


The starting point for creating your network is simple, as we said earlier: to list everyone you know. Set yourself a target. If you can get to between 150 and 200 people in your first draft, then you’re well on your way! Don’t worry if it feels like a bit of a ‘stretch’ to include some of the names in your network; you can always prune it later. You may find the following list helpful to get you started:



Family

Friends

Friends of friends

People you have worked with in the past

People you work with now

People your partner knows

Neighbours

People you know from your hobbies or sporting activities

Customers you have had a good experience with

People you know through voluntary work

People who have supplied services to you or your workplace

Old school or university friends





Making contact


When you’ve made your list, the next stage is to contact each person to let them know that you’re looking for the next opportunity to further your career. Some people find it helpful to write out a script in advance of a telephone call; in any event, whatever means of communication you choose, be clear about the following:



How you come to be contacting this person; in other words, how you got their name (unless this is obvious).

A very brief summary of why and how this person may be able to help you. Note, asking them directly for a job is not a good idea; it’s too blunt and may make them feel they have been put on the spot. It’s far better to ask if they know of one, or to ask for any advice they can give as to how to find one, or if they know of someone else who could help.

Your current situation and what, precisely, you’re looking for.


It’s important to bear in mind that if they have no advice to give or haven’t heard of a specific opportunity, this is far from a wasted effort! By contacting them, you have planted a seed that may come to fruition many months down the line, and you have also reminded them of who you are, which makes it more likely that they’ll think of you should a suitable opportunity arise.




Using social media


Many people find using some form of social media helpful in developing and maintaining contacts and networks and becoming alert to job opportunities. In fact, nowadays it’s fair to say that it’s become essential. Like any system, however, it’s only as good as the data you put into it and the particular methods or sites that you use. And remember – it’s only a tool and is only part of the process. Many people fall into the trap of thinking that having a LinkedIn® page (a great idea), and connecting with people on it, is the same thing as networking. Having a presence on sites such as LinkedIn® has several benefits:



They help you keep track of your contacts and of their contact details.

They help you keep up to date with what your contacts are doing.

They enable you to post a brief summary of your work experience, key skills and attributes all in one place, and in a place that you can easily keep up to date.

You can post messages about what you’re doing and what you’re looking for.

You can receive and read messages from others.

It doesn’t cost anything!


You can use social media to your advantage in other ways, too. If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, follow or connect with the organisations you’re either applying to join or would be interested in joining; you’ll get a feel for the organisation’s style and key issues and concerns, and it’s a way of demonstrating enthusiasm, creative thinking and a degree of understanding of how the digital world works. It may be of benefit to start your own blog – maybe about your job search itself. Bloggers are the internet’s thought leaders, and you can link your blog to your profiles on LinkedIn® and Facebook. This would then, for example, go out to your connections on the weekly update email. If you search or connect with companies you’re interested in, you can look for employees of that company who are connected to those in your own network. You could then ask your connections for a connect request with those people you have identified.

A couple of other tips:



Regularly update your status to inform your connections across all social media of any relevant activities, such as training, achievements, articles you’ve read, book reviews. It will help them remain aware of your job search and interests.

Similarly, post regular updates on your progress on all your social media sites; you may want to update your contacts on what you’re looking for, interviews you’ve attended, people you’ve met.


A word of warning, however: be very careful about what you post on social networking sites. There have been cases where individuals have had to resign over inappropriate postings on social media sites. Many employers and recruiters check the Facebook and Twitter accounts of job applicants. You can’t go far wrong if you never post anything publicly on any form of social media that you wouldn’t want a prospective employer (or interviewer) to see. This applies to activities you write about, pictures that you may not want the wider public to see, and also the language you use. You can set up Facebook so it informs you of picture tags to enable you to view them before they’re published. You can’t stop them being ‘out there’ but you can stop them being identified with you. Likewise, be careful about what you post on anyone else’s Facebook page or website too – you will no longer have control of it and you may even need them to delete it for you.

If you are worried about anything that’s already in the public domain, some websites suggest moving those items off that profile and setting up another profile (a social media alias using a different name) so that you end up having both a professional and personal online profile. The first profile, with your correct name, then becomes your professional profile with content that you are happy to share with prospective employers.

You can type your name into any of the major search engines to find anything you may have forgotten about – and remember, if you can do this, so can a prospective employer, and more of them are starting to do so.




Networking in the field


Sometimes we get the opportunity to attend a function (such as a seminar or conference) where networking is one of the main reasons to go – or at least, a very useful side issue! The trick is to have a well-practised script to fall back on to help you get your key message across and to reduce the fear of running out of small talk.



Before you attend the function, prepare. If you had only 20 or so seconds between floors in an elevator to get the essence of ‘you’ across to a stranger, what would you say? This is the ‘elevator pitch’.

Remember that people love to talk about themselves, so first ask what they do and why they’re there, what they have enjoyed and what they’re intending to see, and then move on to talking about yourself and what you’re looking for.










Sounding pro


Usually, once a networking conversation has started, it looks after itself – it’s the getting going that feels like the most difficult part. Remember these basic rules:



Have an elevator pitch rehearsed.

Even if you don’t feel like it, smile!

Introduce yourself confidently, then ask about the other person.

Ask questions and make comments about the nature of their job and their organisation, if you can.

Turn the topic of attention to you at an appropriate point.

When the conversation reaches a natural close, end it politely and smile again! If it’s appropriate, give your contact details and ask them to get in touch if they hear of a suitable opportunity. Use your judgement. Did the other person seem to enjoy the conversation? Were they interested in what you had to say?





For more information on networking, see Successful Networking in 7 Simple Steps, published by HarperCollins.

Where else to find jobs

It’s fair to say that a large number of people get jobs – or at least hear about them – through their networks. Increasing the size and scope of yours will help you hear about those opportunities as they arise. Of course, you can’t only rely on your network – both real and virtual – to find job opportunities, even though it is a good strategy. Try to widen your search, and improve your chances of success, by considering avenues such as these:



Newspaper adverts: Look in all local papers, and even papers local to an area you would consider moving to.

Professional or specific industry magazines: As well as scanning advertisements, it’s a long shot to read an article and send a speculative letter, but you never know …

Libraries: These are a greatly under-used resource by job hunters. Some libraries have job advertisement areas, and some larger ones hold job-seeking seminars.

Job centres: One of the more obvious ways, but it’s definitely worth registering your interest and checking regularly. Bear in mind that it’s often jobs in the trades that are advertised in job centres.


Two of the most commonly used avenues are worth exploring in a bit more depth. Many people register with recruitment agencies, either specialist sector-specific ones or more generalist ones, and increasingly, job hunters are turning to internet job search sites to find opportunities.




Recruitment agencies


Some recruitment agencies are fabulous and are staffed by professionals who really want to help you find a job. And some are less good. But they are a useful resource for finding many types of job, and some organisations only advertise through specific agencies. As long as you understand that, like estate agents, they’re working primarily for their client, not you, and that they usually have an incredibly heavy workload so will tend to keep communication to a minimum, then there’s no harm in allowing them to help you. Follow these tips for dealing effectively with recruitment agencies:



Identify the most relevant recruitment agencies for the type of work or sector you’re interested in.

Be prepared to ask them questions about how the process works: what they require of you and what you can expect of them; how and when communication should be conducted and any advice they can give you.

Be clear about what you want – and only go for jobs you would be prepared to accept. If the agency puts you forward for a job that you subsequently turn down without a good reason, they’ll be unlikely to consider you again.

Always be honest: your reputation as someone who is straightforward to deal with is worth its weight in gold.

Make sure you come across to them and to any company you are referred to in a way that makes you look good: never be late; always be polite; present yourself appropriately.





Internet job search sites


Registering with internet job search sites has become an incredibly popular method of looking for work for one simple reason: everything is there in one place, to be accessed whenever and wherever you like. Employers can advertise vacancies and search through pre-uploaded CVs to see if there are any initial matches. Job hunters can get career advice through articles and online tutorials or webinars. They can also get advice on how to build an effective CV (although this advice may be tailored to the format they want for CVs to be uploaded to their particular site). And, of course, you can search for job vacancies – by job type or title, salary, location and specific organisation. You can also register to get immediate notification of vacancies sent directly to your phone or email address.

Some have links to related career services elsewhere, such as the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Open University, where you can get advice on flexible learning and development or enhancing and building on your qualifications. Others have links to – or even arrange themselves – career roadshows that travel around the country giving advice and putting job seekers and local employers together. These usually include masterclasses in CV writing and interview techniques. There are many of these internet job search sites, but some of the most popular are:



Monster (www.monster.co.uk (http://www.monster.co.uk))

Reed (www.reed.co.uk (http://www.reed.co.uk))

TotalJobs (www.totaljobs.com (http://www.totaljobs.com))

Fish4Jobs (www.fish4.co.uk (http://www.fish4.co.uk))


Finally, do remember to keep everything you have uploaded to these sites up to date.

Keeping motivated

Job hunting does require a certain amount of resilience, and keeping motivated when you’ve been rejected a few times can be difficult. It’s easy to take to heart stories you hear of people sending 100 job applications a day without success, but let’s put this into perspective. It’s far more efficient to channel your efforts, energy and motivation into a meaningful, targeted plan rather than a generic scattergun approach, and applying in this way is far more likely to keep your motivation higher. Creating a plan, sticking to it and reviewing regularly what’s working is going to keep your resilience levels up and your drive to achieve your end goal more focused.

Some people find keeping a diary is helpful for monitoring progress, but most at least find keeping some sort of written record of actions and results achieved useful. Ensure you make a note of progress achieved during the week – even if you haven’t got a firm end result you can usually identify steps you’ve made towards your end goal. Don’t underestimate the importance of celebrating even small wins and successes on your job hunting journey; it releases feel-good chemicals similar to the endorphins experienced by long-distance runners!

If you’re one of those individuals motivated by variety (see Step 2 (#ubbc5cd54-d7bb-56e3-ad23-6a6917c178c3)), then varying your approach during the week may keep your energy levels up. Pursuing a variety of avenues will not only increase your chances of success, but will have the knock-on effect of keeping your interest levels up too. It may take months to find a job that you really want (rather less if you’re prepared to take the view that being in any job is a good springboard to finding one you really want), so think about what will keep you going; don’t be one of the many people who give up after a couple of months. Your dedication to the process and your determination to succeed are likely to impress any subsequent interviewer – and would be a good example if asked the question: ‘When have you had to demonstrate resilience in achieving a goal?’









Key take-aways


Think about the things you will take away from Step 1 (#ue68a360f-13ce-5fac-bcaa-75eb489a56c1) and how you will implement them.








Step 2 (#ulink_10e2ba83-af1a-59aa-b484-fa2ff761a272)

UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WANT (#ulink_10e2ba83-af1a-59aa-b484-fa2ff761a272)


‘There is no such thing as a career path. There is only crazy paving and you have to lay it yourself.’ — Sir Dominic Cadbury, former chairman of Cadbury, the chocolate manufacturer




Five ways to succeed




Think about where you would like to get to in the longer term.

Identify what interests you and how this may relate to jobs.

Determine your core values and what this means.

Clarify what would really motivate you at work.

Remember that work does not have to fulfil all your needs.





Five ways to fail




Never spend time thinking about your future.

Assume that work is what you do, not who you are.

Wait for that perfect job that is the answer to everything.

Make work and getting a job just about the money.

Don’t believe that work can be enjoyable.


Identifying your interests, values and motivation

There is an ancient Chinese saying: ‘A thousand mile journey begins with a single step.’ In Step 1 (#ue68a360f-13ce-5fac-bcaa-75eb489a56c1) we looked at how your job hunting journey starts with understanding the world of work and at the importance of taking control of the job hunting process so you can meet it head on. The next stage is to work out what you want by looking at your interests and values and what motivates you. This is based on a very simple premise: we do best what we most enjoy. If we enjoy something, we try harder and are more motivated, which leads to higher performance. And higher performance leads to more possibilities – and more probability – of promotion. All of this leads to expanding our potential avenues for work and futures we never even dreamed of. It all starts with being good at whatever you do – whatever it is you are doing – because you never know where it might lead you.

Performing well and keeping motivation up are not always easy, especially if you’re currently doing a job which you don’t particularly enjoy or you feel is beneath you. Remember that resilience is a key – and learnable – skill; one of the most transferable!




A job or a career?


So, at this stage in your job search, what is it that you want? Is it a job or a career? What is the difference? Indeed, is there a difference any more?

Back in the distant past when I applied for that first banking role, there most definitely was a difference. A job was something you did that did not necessarily lead to anything else apart from a salary and work experience. A career was meant to be for life, and had qualifications and a career path and there was usually just one way of getting there: steady progression up the chain of command.

It would be ridiculous to say that the career is dead, but it is nowhere near as rigid a concept as 30 years ago. It was a very limiting concept – you ‘were’ a banker or an accountant or a member of the Armed Forces, and once you were, that’s what you stayed. Being asked at 18: ‘What do you want to do for the rest of your working life?’ sounds like nonsense, but many people still feel forced into coming up with something.

If we take the idea of the portfolio of transferable skills we mentioned in Step 1 (#ue68a360f-13ce-5fac-bcaa-75eb489a56c1), we increase our options and create our own future, mixing and matching a varied sequence of interlinked careers. Every job or mini-career has a set of transferable skills and experiences which can lead to a multitude of futures – futures that we construct ourselves. In the end, the job or career question becomes redundant.




Identifying your interests


We said earlier that we tend to be good at what we enjoy. The same is true of what interests us. What interests us and what we’re good at aren’t quite the same, however: we can be good at ‘things’ but are interested in an idea or a particular discipline or sector. For example, you may be fascinated by the world of accounting and finance; this may relate to being good with numbers, but it’s not necessarily the same thing.

If you are fortunate enough to have a clear interest or desire to work in a particular area, then you are indeed very lucky. You may have to be flexible and creative in how you break into that sector if you’re not in it already, but knowing that you want to get there is a great start. It makes your targeting of that sector more simple and elegant, and when we come to Step 3 (#litres_trial_promo) (Know your skills and strengths) you will be able to ensure they reflect the sector you have aspirations to join or progress in. We’ll mention this again later, but a great principle to live by is: ‘Begin with the end in mind’ – work out what you want to achieve and work backwards.

I mentioned at the start of this book that I began my professional working life as a bank clerk. I hadn’t been particularly happy in this role for a couple of years, but – sensibly, some might argue – I didn’t feel that I could leave until I knew what I wanted to leave to. It took a while for me to go from ‘banking isn’t it’ to ‘studying psychology is’. Once I had a good idea of where I wanted to go, it was far easier to take the plunge!

Many of us, however, are not clear about what we ultimately want. It’s important not to get demoralised by this. Not many people wake up when they’re 15 and say to themselves: ‘I want to be a doctor’ and then follow through on the ten-year plan to get there. Those that do are usually successful (as the ‘Begin with the end in mind’ principle would suggest), but it doesn’t happen for most of us.

If you have clear interests career-wise, then so much the better. If not, what then? Well, to start with, the links between our interests and the world of work are not always obvious – and indeed, we may have separated them in our head: ‘This is what I’m interested in, and this is what I will do for a living …’. It’s a useful exercise to occasionally question the assumptions we have allowed ourselves to believe.






You may think that it’s obvious to you what your interests are. But it’s worth going through this exercise because many of us don’t make the link between our interests and the world of work. They don’t have to be the same (you may have an interest in the natural world but don’t necessarily want a career in it), but it may prompt some ideas. And if you can work in an area where you have a personal interest, it won’t feel as much like work.

Ask yourself these questions and write the answers down:



What do you find yourself drawn to when you read a newspaper?

What non-fiction books do you read for fun?

What do your friends think you are particularly knowledgeable about?

What particularly interested you at school?

What are your main hobbies?

What is it about these hobbies that particularly interests you?

What would you say are your key interests?

If you were forced to give a presentation on any subject, what would it be?

What jobs or careers might link to these areas of interest?

Does anyone in the network you identified in Step 1 (#ue68a360f-13ce-5fac-bcaa-75eb489a56c1) have links with these areas?

Who else do you know who has this interest? What are their ideas?


Determining your values

As well as working out what interests us, determining our values can also help us to identify what we want from our work. Values are our core beliefs about what is right and wrong and what is important to us. The culture we were brought up in, the way we were parented, our religion and our experiences as children and as adults all have an impact on our values. They can be treated as a route map: an inner voice or guide – or sometimes our conscience – and ultimately lead us to determining our behaviours and attitudes.

When we act against these values, we get a ‘pricking’ of our conscience. Psychologists call this ‘cognitive dissonance’. It’s an unpleasant feeling and it’s unpleasant for a reason: it’s there in order to prompt us to change either the belief/attitude or the behaviour, to make the tension go away. If you were vegetarian and got a job in a butcher’s shop, for example, the tension between your values and your behaviour would make it harder to perform well because you wouldn’t enjoy it. It’s always worth listening to this tension – this inner voice – because when we behave in accordance with our values, we become more fulfilled by what we’re doing.




Rokeach’s list of personal values


A well-known model of values was developed in the 1970s by Milton Rokeach, a Polish-American social psychologist. He suggested that the following values have an impact on our behaviour and we will each have our particular favourites – the ones that guide us the most. Read the following list and choose the five that say the most about how you prefer to behave in order to achieve what you want in life.




If you can, think about the order of importance for you of your five values. How do they help you when things get tough? What do they say about how you can conduct your job search? And how do they help you determine or have an influence on the line of work you are most suited to?

Determining what motivates you

Motivation has been studied for close to 100 years. Initially, the research seemed to be saying that people are primarily motivated by money; if we want people to work harder, we pay them more. If we had enough money, we wouldn’t work.

We now know that this is far too simplistic. Of course, money can be a motivator to us, and when you are out of work it may be a key driver towards getting employment. This, of course, is entirely natural and understandable. But it’s important to realise that once we are in work, and our basic survival needs are met, then for most of us money ceases to be the powerful motivator it was to start with.

There are other things that cause us to be satisfied with work apart from a good salary: like-minded colleagues or a nice corner office, for example. However, research over the last 50 years or so has tended to concentrate on money as being the one thing. So, if money and the other trappings of employment are limited as to the effect they have on our motivation, what does have a motivational effect? This is an important question for one very good reason: we are all different.




What makes us different?


We differ from each other in many ways. Psychologists have tended to separate the ways we differ at a psychological level into four main categories which are largely distinct from each other.




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