IF you are in the first eight years of your career and you have been doing
the same job for two years or more, it鈥檚 time to ask yourself if you are getting
the right experiences to develop and move upwards, or maybe onwards.
Opportunities to develop new skills, especially in high technology
industries, are the lifeblood of career growth. Chances to take more
responsibility, and progress your management skills, must be taken either as
they arise or engineered by seeking secondments, moves or a change of employer
to provide different and broader perspectives.
A few organisations make sure that these opportunities happen and
additionally run training schemes for their staff, but most of us have to take
responsibility for our own career development. Increasing management skills,
broadening your understanding of the commercial imperatives of the business and
perhaps gaining international experience, can be useful assets to be tucked away
for use later in your career. When employers recruit new graduates they look for
a blend of the skills and knowledge which relate to their vacancies, plus a
strong motivation to succeed in their industry. Career progress is subsequently
achieved by employees after further experience to develop skills, or training
designed to help in the acquisition of new ones. Then he or she is ready to move
on to greater responsibilities.
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Candidates鈥� previous experiences always play a big part in selection, whether
it is for their first job, a change of career or a promotion to a position of
more responsibility. Interviewers ask questions which investigate the
applicants鈥� competencies and compare them with those which are required for
success. 鈥淲e are particularly interested in computer scientists and electronic
engineers who have had a placement year in industry or had any exposure to a
technical environment,鈥� says Gail Saxon, recruitment manager at Marconi
Communications, Coventry. 鈥淎ny work experience at all is an advantage for those
from other disciplines who apply for our commercial vacancies. I worked at
Macdonald鈥檚 as a student and it was a great introduction to the world of
飞辞谤办.鈥�
When employers recruit scientists they seek relevant technical skills
developed by experience. 鈥淲e prefer recruits who have taken the trouble to gain
real experience of industrial science,鈥� says Michael Elves of Glaxo Wellcome.
His company鈥檚 Medicines Research Centre is based in Stevenage, Hertfordshire,
and offers around 180 students the opportunity to spend a year working in the
organisation, where they gain relevant laboratory skills.
Work placements and vacation work experiences, even when they have not been
gained within the industry you are applying to join, are extremely valuable. The
national committee of inquiry into higher education, chaired by Ron Dearing in
1997, commended the Shell Technology Enterprise Programme, which places more
than 200 undergraduates into small and medium-sized businesses every summer. The
Dearing committee recommended that Shell should increase the programme. But
employers simply do not have sufficient vacancies to provide such experiences to
all undergraduates. Yet many employers have increased the numbers of students
they offer work to each summer. Attracting such students, and offering
employment to the best of these when they graduate, has become an important
method of recruitment.
Employers are currently competing keenly for students with skills in
programming information technology, applications software and networking. In
their application forms, they are asking graduates questions to reveal what they
have developed in the way of skills relevant to a wide range of jobs. Typical of
the sort of open-ended questions employers use to find these 鈥渢ransferable鈥�
skills are: 鈥淲hen did you work effectively with people from different
backgrounds or views to accomplish something?鈥� and 鈥淲hen did you set yourself a
demanding goal and overcome obstacles to achieve it?鈥�, both of which come from
the Procter and Gamble form.
Recruiters analyse application forms and interview candidates who have
developed the specific skills and knowledge relevant to their vacancy and
acquired some transferable skills. They look for evidence of teamwork,
leadership, creativity and initiative plus the ability to communicate well both
verbally and in writing.
Sarah Price, a recruiter from the Deutsche Bank, London, and who incidentally
happens to have a degree in animal nutrition and physiology, says 鈥淲e are
looking for evidence that candidates are consistent high achievers. Those who
have been on a Kibbutz, gone backpacking, or done things that require
organisation and timing are certainly attractive to us. Because of the nature of
our international business we also like students who have spent some time living
in another country. The experience of settling into different environments shows
that they are adaptable and have a degree of mobility.鈥�
When you want a job you need to be able to persuade someone that you have the
ability to do it, want to do it and will. But you must also show that you could,
with experience and training, eventually make a contribution at a higher level
within the organisation. Too often, scientists and engineers seem to think that
this is just a matter of telling employers about their excellent technical
skills.
Just suppose that you are applying for a job in which one of the requirements
is to visit an overseas subsidiary from time to time. The work may be highly
technical but the recruiter will also want to know how often you travel abroad,
whether you have a driving licence and if you know any other language. As
Britain integrates more closely with Europe, this will become an increasing
requirement. And the need for IT skills grows relentlessly each year. So if you
can program computers, understand their operating systems or are able to use
some software packages, don鈥檛 neglect highlighting your capabilities. Employers
will want to know about your previous employment and leisure activities, even
holidays, to see if you have what they need. Read the advertisements carefully,
think hard and laterally about what might interest the recruiters and search
your experiences for examples of when you applied your skills. You will be glad
that you did. In the end, it will pay big dividends.