Changes in life happen. Sometimes we realize, mid-life, that the career path we had chosen is not giving us the happiness we imagined. Sometimes we just can't think of going on doing our current job any longer, and we need to understand how to change career and get to do something we really like. Changing careers often implies that the skills and experience you have in your current occupation won't be the same and you’ll need to be qualified for the next one. There may be some overlapping, but there are certainly some skills required by the other career that you don’t have yet, at least not at a professional level. A career change also implies that you are abandoning the natural advancement path of your current career, to do something different. When you change career, you will start the new one at a more junior level than you were in your previous. You may even be entry-level for that sector. Because of this, changing careers is hard. It usually requires retraining, and probably a pay cut, at least until you can advance to a more senior level. Many people don’t change careers because of this. You have to know what you really want to make this kind of change. If the answer is positive, then start by taking an  inventory of your transferable skills . Determine how your transferable skills can benefit a potential new employer, and then provide tangible examples of how you’ve demonstrated those skills in the past. Include how your past employers have benefited from your efforts, and use numbers and figures where you can to quantify those benefits. This is ultimately what potential employers want to see. By seeing what you’ve done for your past employer, they assume you can do the same for me. Show them how your skills can help them increase their revenue, save them money, or save them time. You’ll also want to organize your CV in a way that brings the things most relevant to the potential job up to the top of it while  incorporating the same keywords from the job ad . There are tricks to organizing your CV in a way to make it more relevant to the reader’s needs. Then, you could use some tips for  mind mapping your network : look into your network. Mind-map it, separate your mind-map in 4 different categories:   Personal Clients Business Partners (further separated in past, current and future) Future contacts Eventual relevant others (coworkers, other students, if you are a student, etc). Now, for each category, write a few names that come immediately to your mind, that you have a good relationship with. When you finish that, ask yourself if each of the people you wrote remind you of someone else that you know. Put them in the right category. Maybe a friend reminds you of another friend, a person that you worked with reminds you of another person. Now ask yourself if every category reminds you of another category. Slowly the mind-map will start expanding. You know hundreds of people that can help you get a job that you love. Now categorize them, not in terms of the relevance to the job you are looking for: that would be ineffective because you would be forgetting about a huge number of people that can help. Categorize them in terms of the level of trust you have established in each relation, that is also a measure of the strength of your relationship, rating each from 1 to 4, being “1” the strongest relation, “2” the good relations, “3” the neutral and “4” the ones you have some issues to solve first. Once you have that mind-map in front of you, the time has come to put it to good use. Find all the people that you have a strong relationship with. Contact them to schedule a call, to go for a coffee or a lunch. Once you are with them, discuss your current situation and what you are looking for. Identify the two areas that you would love to work in and you are good at and only communicate to them that you're interested in positions for those areas, or if they know someone who has a knowledge of the area/industry to recommend you. Now, look at the number “2” relation. Usually, people have a lot more relations tagged “2” than “1”, so many that to meet and talk with each one of them would take a lot of time. In this case, you can send them a quick email to explain your situation and ask them if they can help you in any way, either by information or introduction. Now, check all the relations tagged as “3”. Since the relation here is weaker, you need to ask them to do something really simple, like give you a name or LinkedIn link in the area you want to work in. You could end up having several interviews to do, and the more you make, the more confidenct you will get, raising also the quality of your responses. If your dream career is in media, check all the newest open  media sales job s and  which skills and knowledge are required .

These group interview tips will help you find a way to stick out when plenty of similar personalities are fighting it out for the same role. First of all, remember you got this far: use that to your advantage and let it fuel you through one of the most gruelling parts of the application process.   Group interview tips #1: Be confident One of the key traits of someone in our industry is to be confident - if you turn up to a group assessment with your head down chewing that 5 year old chewing gum, you may as well just go home now. Show off your teeth, make your presence notable and throw out the handshakes and elbow touches whenever you get the chance. When it comes to activities, be sure to offer your services ahead of the game, it’s better to be known as ‘that one who went first’ than ‘oh, that one with the brown hair that went third from last, think his name was Paul or something like that’. If you know you’re good enough to lead a task, don’t be afraid to throw your name into the hat and impress your soon-to-be employer with your leadership skills.   Group interview tips #2:  Preparation Prepare yourself as if you were attending a normal face-to-face interview – Become a bit of a stalker, check out the Twitter feeds of your prospective employer, find out if you have any common interests and keep them in mind as it may come in handy when holding a conversation. Locate company values through its websites and train yourself to showcase these as much as possible, know the company back to front and generally reach a stage that would allow you to slide straight into a team. Assure that you haven’t over prepared to a point that leaves you fluffing your lines on every unexpected question, but make sure you really do know your stuff, it’ll give you the edge over those who didn’t bother. Group interview tips #3:  Captain the team When it all comes down to it, the key to a group assessment is to remember the entire point of it in the first place – to showcase your team working. Sell yourself as such an asset that you’d be captain of a hypothetical sports team, you’re the cog that keeps the machine running; prove that you’d be indispensable. You don’t need to be the leader, but you want to show that your individual contribution is having a noticeable impact on the overall output of the team. There’s nothing wrong with becoming the leader, you just need to make sure you’re a successful and likeable person while doing so. Group interview tips #3:  Assert yourself Avoid becoming the person everybody hates straight off the bat. If you’re shown to be irritating or dominating to a point that others are getting visibly frustrated, you’ll likely be reminding the employer of that person they already can’t stand that currently works opposite them in the office. Get your opinion across quickly and effectively: make your point, listen to any suggestions and if needed, explain why your idea would be better, incorporating other propositions where needed. If your idea is disliked by others, defend your case by all means, but don’t show forms of aggression when things don’t go your way. Group interview tips #3:  Bring or wear something strange Generally speaking, appearance is without a doubt one of the easiest ways to stand out without too much effort. This doesn’t mean turn up in a tracksuit, but do something unique that nobody else would think of, keep it professional and it could make all the difference; but it doesn’t stop there. Perhaps you could be the person that brings a home-cooked lasagna to the interview, maybe a duffle bag with your complete football kit. If you end up being neck and neck with someone possessing exactly the same skills, experience and qualities, the employer will go with the person that did something a bit different – just make sure you keep it clean. In essence, it’s not that hard to stand out if you just be yourself, remain confident and be prepared to do all you can to tear yourself away from the pack. Make conversation with the assessors when necessary and gauge what they’re after, insert a bit of what they say into your performance or attitude and enjoy the next stage of the application process or even the job itself! Now you're ready to face test yourself with the next Group interviews, so  check our  media sales jobs  &  upload your CV   to be specifically targeted in the finite group of candidates suited to this industry, discipline and skill set.

Our Graduate CV tips will help you if you’re looking for  graduate media jobs   and want to impress the Media Sales Recruitment Agencies.   After the obvious  Full name, Address, Phone number, Email address , don't forget the precious opening  Personal statement , which will always have to be tailored to the role you are applying to. Generic introductions will never help your application to the recruiter because they are just a waste of valuable space. Consciously try and answer the following questions: who you are, what can you offer, and what do you aim for in your career . You will also want to show efficiently your  Core skills . For example: Strong leadership skills Confident communicator, negotiator and decision maker Proven business and strategic planner Thrives under pressure Broad knowledge of account management and client expectation Technically competent with extensive experience a variety of software systems and databases Employment history  is generally not really strong in a Graduate CV and they may not all be relevant. If this is the case, feel free to be brief, explaining only your dates of employment, company name and job title, putting a few top line duties. However, wherever possible, try and demonstrate your success in practical ways. Not only will they help quantify your output, they will also help validate your awareness of meeting targets/key responsibilities. In a Graduate CV, you want to focus on your Education . Write in reverse-chronological order, including your degree classification, A level/IB results and any other higher education diplomas. University of Surrey BSc (Hons) in Business Management (2006 – 2009) Particular course modules you’ve undertaken may be relevant to a role or scheme you’re applying for and should be used to demonstrate your wider knowledge of the subject. e.g. : Business skills Operations management Economics for business Financial accounting Business ethics Business decision-making When it comes to GCSEs, stating the number and general grades is fine, although most employers will ask for specific grades when it comes to Maths and English. If you've found our Graduate CV tips useful and your Graduate CV is ready,  upload here your CV ,  so that media sales recruitment agencies will find it easily while they're recruiting for  graduate media jobs !