In my work as a Career and Talent Consultant, I assist people to make career changes and apply for new jobs. My role is to support and mentor each person through their unique career change process. I am always interested in what makes people able to move successfully from one position to another in a tight job market. Some people are successful in their endeavours to change and others are not.
The first step in making this move is to be able to sell your knowledge, skills and abilities through your application, cover letter and resume or Curriculum Vitae. Often, I am surprised when people think they have the skills to match a position, but their resume or Curriculum Vitae does not tell the reader why they would be suitable. In their own mind, they would be a good fit, but this does not come across in their application. To be successful, you need to bring your application to life with the key challenges facing employers and knowledge of how you can fulfil your new role. Keeping your CV as well as your skills up to date is advisable if you are considering a career or job change.
To be successful in the first stage, your goal is to obtain an interview for the new position. You need to match the employer’s requirements in the job advertisement and ‘see between the lines’ or decipher what it is that the employer is looking for. Once you feel you have a good knowledge of the employee requirements you need to take another look at your own skills, knowledge and abilities and whether they align with the position.
In the rail industry, demonstration of your ability to use digital skills is one of the key success factors that may enable you to move from one role to the next. Digital railways are a ‘hot topic’ and your ability to demonstrate the skills, knowledge and abilities you bring to the new era of rail demonstrates the key themes and challenges of the industry such as –
- Customer experiences in freight and passenger services
- Multimodal options, e-commerce and international operations
- Connectivity for customers
- Maintenance of assets and infrastructure
I am interested in how people are updating their digital skills and knowledge to help them in contemporary rail workplaces. People are learning in their own time to take advantage of these new career opportunities. If you have time to send me an email outlining what tools, apps or ways you are learning these new skills for the workplace, I will provide you with a copy of the summary of the findings from the emails. This may help you find out about what other people are doing their careers.
In the meantime, revisit your CV and add any professional learning or workplace achievements that you have recently undertaken so that you are ready for your next challenge. Showing a positive mindset, openness to new ways of doing things and new skills will help you to succeed.
Dr Janene Piip
Talent consultant and career practitioner
Australia
www.janenepiip.com.au
janenepiip@gmail.com
