Director of Careers Service, John Watkins, uses recent business trading figures as a comparator for personal differentiation……
The post Christmas period brings a flood (forgive the term) of announcements about the performance of major organisations. These are not solely based on the festive period but the importance of this particular window is often critical to the overall outcome. The variability of performance has been quite stark – there have been very definite winners and losers, with Tesco and Morrison falling into the latter category when they became the latest to share their results.
Commentators will offer a variety of explanations and I will now attempt to translate some of these onto a personal basis, so that you can see how many of the features of success are applicable in our own worlds.
1. Excellence online has generated good outcomes as the trend continues towards more use of this option – in our careers, our online presence and reputation are of increasing significance to employers who both scan our footprint and devote more recruitment effort in this space.
2. Confidence in your product(s) translates into holding your prices for longer rather than rushing into early panic sales which inevitably erode the margin – in our careers, we must have confidence in our ability and believe in ourselves; selling yourself short will reduce your negotiating power and generally restrict the opportunities put your way.
3. Reputation is critical and disappointments damage the brand in the medium and long term, not just the immediate – in our careers, our brand (reputation) is vital over a sustained period; it has the power to both open and close doors, with lots of time needed to build up a strong standing and one momentary shortcoming capable of wiping it out in an instant.
4. Accountability for performance is key and admission of relative failure is necessary – in our careers, we must take responsibility for our own actions and for those whose performance we oversee; acknowledging mistakes and seeking to address them takes courage but ultimately proves beneficial in comparison to playing the blame game.
5. Continuous improvement is an admirable goal whether you are currently doing well or coming up short – in our careers, we should always be seeking to develop; sometimes it is easier to do this when it is apparent that performance has not been good enough, but it is equally important to make the good even better rather than resting on your laurels.
6. No one stays on top for ever, there will always be highs and lows – in our careers, the ride will not always be smooth and it will require commitment and hard work to reach our potential, maintain and enhance it; we will have to deal with adversity on occasions and find an effective response.
So listen out for the next time a set of financial figures are published…….
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