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Understand how professional experience shapes your career path, influencing opportunities and personal growth in your field.

A career working from home? Should you consider it?

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People working from home now make up a higher percentage of the workforce than at any point in the last 17 years and it is still rising. Is it something for you to consider as a career option? What are the advantages and disadvantages to this flexible arrangement? Do you have to be self-employed to work from home?

According to the Office for National Statistics, 4.3 million of Britain’s 29.9 million workers did so from home in the last three months of 2014. This is an increase of 1.3 million since homeworking records began in 1998.

If we look at the cause of this increase it is probably a combination of an ageing population, the rise in self-employment and flexible working and the advancement of technology. Interestingly, this report also showed that homeworkers are more likely to have higher average earnings and work longer hours.

This all shows how flexible career paths have become, and how you can choose the right work style for your career and lifestyle. Career Analysts work with people to help them choose the best career path for them, and the best way to work. Whether it is women returning to work after a family, life after sports or the forces, or working your way back into the job market after redundancy, their experts can guide you to your ideal career.

The rise of the female entrepreneur

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Whether you are a more mature women changing your career because of redundancy or through choice, or a young mum starting a business with an eye on work/life balance, you may be considering the entrepreneurial career route. But is it right for you? Success stories are plentiful, but some women find it much more difficult to embark on that career path than they imagined.

Women account for under a third of those in self-employment, but over half of the increase in self-employment since 2008. During the turbulent economic times, between 2008 and 2011 when it was difficult to get into a more traditional career path, women accounted for an unprecedented 80% of the newly self-employed.

There are now almost 1.5 million self-employed women in the UK, which represents an increase of around 300,000. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) states that female entrepreneurs are leading high street growth with more than half of small firms established in the past two years in retail, hotels, catering and leisure owned principally by womens a higher proportion than at any other time.

So, have you considered changing career to one in which you are your own boss? And what circumstances will accelerate your change of career?

7 Psychometrics can help you choose the right career

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There are a small number of very important factors that result in you being happy in your career.

They are:

Your Interests – If you can find what career you should do – one in which you do have a real interest or even a passion then you are much more likely to succeed and enjoy your work.

Your Aptitudes – What are you good at? You will fare much better in your career if you play to your strengths and avoid your weaknesses.

Your Personality- What is the right role and career path for you? What is the right environment for you to be working in?

Your Values – People have different principles; some have a commitment to society, some are simply motivated to earn money, others have a set of beliefs which would lead them into certain career pathways – or prevent others. What factors motivate you and will make you love your career?

At Career Analysts we measure each of these factors using psychometric questionnaires. The first group, evaluating interests, personality and values, are completed by you at home before your consultation date. These contain over 400 questions and they take 2-3 hours to complete. After that you’ll attend our offices for most of a day. In the morning you will complete a series of aptitude tests taking approximately 3 hours and this will be followed by your consultation with the Occupational Psychologist in the afternoon.

How to Make a Career Change

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Deciding what career change is best for you is perhaps the most important part of the process of finding a new career, but once you’ve made up your mind the actual process of getting that new career can also be an ordeal.

The essentials of getting a new career:

Planning is crucial to a change in your career path – your new career strategy should be researched and executed meticulously. Treat the career planning stage as if it was the most important project you have ever taken on and the pathway to your new career with all the care it deserves and needs. Nothing in the career planning stage should be rushed or left to chance. Create a job application history file and record all the steps that you have taken with each prospective employer so that a quick glance will enable you to refresh your memory at every stage of the process.

Research the following in depth

Recruitment Agencies

Junior positions are likely to be advertised in your local High Street and they will have excellent local contacts for local work, but less for specialised career paths. The chance of them finding more senior or specialised career opportunities is not high. Research the specialist head-hunters in your field. Make a list of the agencies that specialise in your chosen career path.

Internet Job Sites

Internet job sites tend to have specialist job boards for each industry, but they are numerous. Before you change your career, research the most suitable websites for your personal career choice.

The Press

This can be a difficult task even if you have researched where your job is likely to be advertised. If a job is advertised locally it may be perfect for you, but it may take longer for the perfect career opening to present itself.

Executive careers are found in the national press both in the online and print editions. Check with your local library and online to ensure you are familiar with all the relevant titles to assist in your job search.

Trade journals

Trade journals are published in print and online and allow you to conduct a narrower research; more focused to your specific career choice. Draw up a Personal Job Search calendar with Google or Yahoo. Mark the days that they publish jobs in your career sector.

Mature Students start new degrees

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The Ucas website has a section dedicated solely to mature students; specifically those who are over 21 in England (over 20 in Scotland). There are lots of reasons mature students decide to study, but many say their objectives are either to improve their career prospects or because they are deeply interested in the subject.

Higher education institutions including universities want to widen participation and one way of doing that is to encourage more mature students. They are more likely to enjoy their subjects and knuckle down because they are studying by choice rather than because it is expected of them by parents. Some may have had good careers already and so understand the frustrations that can come from dead end jobs as a result of a lack of qualifications.

Ucas offers guidance about choosing the right course and also gives careers advice about how different subjects are regarded in the workplace. The Open University prospectus offers all sorts of advice about their subjects as well as the careers they can lead to. It also covers the entry routes offered to students and a lack of qualifications does not necessarily exclude mature students.

Career Path Help for School Leavers

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This year employees, with the permission of their employers, are being asked to go to secondary schools to talk about their jobs and career history. It’s expected that this will help young people get a real insight into what their careers entail.

This ‘Inspiring the Future’ campaign is designed to address the “skills mismatch” between careers and young people, and inspire students to pursue careers they would otherwise not have thought of. Volunteers around the UK are visiting a local school once a year to spend an hour talking to young people about their career pathways.

In a world of difficult career choices, confusing job titles and career changes, students are increasingly unsure about their career pathway, and knowing what job is right for them.

Nick Chambers, director of the charity behind the campaign, Education and Employers Taskforce, said young people were bombarded with “distorting influences” from the media that to be a success in life you have to be a footballer or a pop star.

“Take a look at what young people aspire to be; its vets, actors and pop stars. A lot of the career paths young people see are the careers they see in popular TV programmes”. There are few role models in other career paths” he said.

Half of office workers put in longer hours

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Nearly a half of office workers intentionally spend long hours in the office in an attempt to impress their manager and rise up the career ladder, a poll has shown. However, this extra work has no effect on productivity and can have a detrimental effect on home life.

This research, by officebroker.com, found that 43% of workers regularly arrived early or stayed late during this year, in a bid to seem more dedicated to their career than colleagues. Over a quarter said they regularly worked longer days than actually needed in order to do their job efficiently.

Employees are filling their time emailing friends, playing computer games, browsing the internet and doing menial, non-urgent tasks. They are even more likely to stay longer at work when a new boss had been appointed or when a pay or career review is imminent or redundancies are expected.

Employees working extra hours were found to be committing between an hour and two hours extra a day, adding a minimum of half a day extra to their working week, solely to impress their managers and help them move forward on their career path.

Time for a career change?

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Many people, now and then, are bored with their career path. Are you bored because you do not face enough challenges in your career? Or are you feeling burned out in your career.

These are good reasons to think about a career change; but be careful – if the cause of your dissatisfaction is a personal issue – it will follow you wherever you go.

Usually it is better to stay in your career until you have decided on your next career path and done some preparatory work; the grass may look greener on the other side but sometimes that is an illusion. Finding a new career when you are already employed can be much easier than if you are not.

A career change for its own sake is not necessarily a move in the right career direction and may even be detrimental.

It may be that you do not need an entirely new career, possibly just a new challenge. Speak to your manager and ask for extra responsibilities or a more challenging role. Often workers tend to get promoted into a new career path which include some duties they are already doing. Your own personal career goals are important; good managers will try to accommodate your career needs. Don’t let it be known that you are fed up with your work, but do let your bosses know you are ready to move forward in your career path.