Ask James How do I turn a temp job into a permanent role

Ask James How do I turn a temp job into a permanent role by James Reed Not sure where to go next in your career? You’ve come to the right place…In his monthly column, career coach and Chairman of reed.co.uk, James Reed, shares his expert advice to help you tackle your biggest career concerns.In this months column James talks temping..The questionDear James,  I recently moved to a new city and have taken on some temp work while I find my feet. Ive been here for three months now and Im really enjoying the job Im doing, love the people Im working with and dont want to move on.  My contract is up in just three more months do you have any advice on how I can turn my temp job into a permanent role by then?  Many thanks,Jessica  The answerHi Jessica,Temporary work is a great way to try out a role in a new company, or city, without the commitment of a permanent contract.Some temp roles are just that, and inevitably have an expiration date, but don’t despair. It’s not uncommon for temporary workers who perform well to be rewarded w ith a permanent position.Prove you’re worth it…The trick is to prove your worth. Make yourself indispensable to your employer and they’ll naturally want to retain you. If you have the opportunity to gain expertise in an area vital to the business, seize it. Go above and beyond to exceed expectations on a daily basis and show that you’re worth the investment.I often say a job is a problem to be solved, so show them that you are the solution to their problem.Build lasting relationships…Employers also want to know that you’ll fit in well with the company culture not just on a personal level with your colleagues, but with the company’s core values. Follow correct company etiquette when it comes to break times, socialising and meetings, and always offer to help your co-workers.Ensuring that you’re known as someone who is well-liked will go a long way with your employer when it comes to considering you for a full time position.  Take notesYou’re in a unique position yo u already have your foot in the door so use it to your advantage. Find out what skills are required to become a full time employee and make sure that you have them, or that you’re working on building them.Make your intentions knownIt’s important that you and your employer are on the same page. It may be that your employer assumes that, because you accepted a temporary role, you want to move on to other things when your initial contract is up. So take the initiative.Talk to your manager about your time with them and express your enthusiasm for the company and your job. If you have a good relationship with your manager and you feel confident doing so, you can even broach the subject with them. Ask what you would need to do to “go permanent”.Use a recruitment agencyYou don’t mention how you secured the job, but it could make a difference. If you were placed in the role by a recruitment consultant, use them in your current negotiations.They have built a relationship with the company to get you hired initially, so explain the current situation to them and they may be able to help you secure a permanent position with your company.As the end of your temp contract nears, hopefully your employer will appreciate your hard work and reward you with a permanent position in their organisation.And if your position doesn’t turn into a permanent one, it’s not all bad news; you’ve gained a wealth of experience to take with you to your next role.Five reasons to start tempingFive of the best temp jobsCV template for temp workIf you’d like James to answer your career query, tweet your question to @James_A_ReedLooking for more interview advice?   Download Why You? nowFind a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the terms and conditions applicable to our service and acknowledge that your personal data will be used in accordance with o ur privacy policy and you will receive emails and communications about jobs and career related topics. Ask James Temporary jobs

Becoming Anti-Fragile

Becoming Anti-Fragile Nassim Nicholas Taleb   is an author who specializes in studying uncertainty.   He’s a Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at New York Universitys Polytechnic Institute. His main theme is how to cope with decision making under opacity, or “how we should live in a world we dont understand.” In his latest book, Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder, he talks about the three classes of things (and by extension, systems and people) in the world: Fragile: vulnerable to unforeseen shocks Robust: indifferent to shocks Antifragile: thrive on shocks, at least in some way. In a 2012 Fast Company article, he discusses how foolish we are when we seek order in chaotic world; we are comforted, but not smart, to do so. “You get pseudo-order when you seek order; you only get a measure of order and control when you embrace randomness. he’s quoted as saying. He thinks its cool hes featured on a calendar. The idea that your career can be fragile is not a new one. There are times when you feel fragile â€" when the company is struggling, for example, or management changes. It’s the unseen dangers lurking around the corner that are more frightening. If you don’t think you’re at risk, you won’t be prepared.   Taleb likens people who don’t prepare for randomness to turkeys in mid-November; they’re happy, but not likely to survive. Moving from fragile to robust take three things: nimble skills, a great network, and a sideline gig. Fragile careerists wait for their employers to train them in what they need to know; they consider learning a necessary evil, and they resist change, which always means starting over at getting good at your job. Robust careerists stay one step ahead of what their job, their company and their industry is demanding. They consider learning to be their job. Having nimble skills means that you are ready to pick up new tasks, new technology and new ideas quickly â€" you’ve positioned yourself to be in a learning mode all the time, not just when you’re expected to be “in training.” Fragile careerists don’t enjoy networking â€" they consider it to be something to do when you need help. Robust careerists know that a great network needs continuous care and feeding, A great network is made up of people who understand your skills and can champion them to others.   It’s the difference between someone saying “I know Candace”   and saying “Do I know a great writer who never misses a deadline?   Yes â€" you should talk to Candace.” That takes time and excellence â€" you must build a reputation and stay connected with people, even when you don’t need a job or a favor. (By the way, staying connected means that you may be helping others with jobs or favors, building good career karma.) Fragile careerists depend on their job to provide all their income and opportunities.   Take a moment to read that sentence again. If you have only one source of income, opportunities, and chances to grow your skills, it takes just one call to put you out of work. If you have other gigs, you’ll always have another source of income that you can grow when you need it. I’ve been talking and writing about gigs for years, ever since a professor of mine suggested to me that every professional should have a sideline that was under her control. Whether it’s buying and selling on EBay, owning rental property, creating art or crafts for sale, freelance writing or seasonal tax preparation, your sideline helps supplement your income and may even become your fulltime job when you need it. Some jobs are designed to be a series of gigs, and the people who work in them are constantly working on what’s next. They also have to be very, very good at what they do, because their continued employability depends on their skill set, and not simply on inertia on the part of their employer. The jazz musician who plays a weekend gig doesn’t feel pain and anguish when the gig ends; he’s already lined up his next gig. He may even have an agent in place who’s out there lining up new gigs for him.   Contrast that to your neighbor who just got laid off from his job at an office. Being robust means that you can depend on yourself to survive unforeseeable events. You can give up the fear of uncertainty that makes so many people risk averse. They stay in terrible jobs working with people they don’t like because they are afraid of change. Becoming robust means you can say: “I have something better than job security; I have talent.” Next: Move from robust to anti-fragile.

The Damaging Effect of Unconscious Bias on the Leadership of Tomorrow

The Damaging Effect of Unconscious Bias on the Leadership of Tomorrow Did you know only 51% of the FTSE 100 companies have directors from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds and only 8% of the total director population in the UK? By contrast, UK society comprises 14, non-white ethnic groups. With decades of campaigning, policy review and focus on creating a society inclusive of its rich diversity, how can this still be the case? The answer, unconscious bias! We all have unconscious biases which influence our decision-making processes and therefore, the rapport we build with some people over others, the way we recruit, promote, manage and even the opportunities or limitations we place on ourselves. Unconscious biases are our unintentional people preferences, formed by our social experiences. They are the result of our limited cognitive capacity; we subconsciously categorize people when we meet them to avoid having to conduct completely new assessments for every new person we come across. We assign a ‘value’ to the categories we use and without even realizing it, stereotype based on images in mass media, or reputations passed on by parents, peers and other members of society. According to Nottx.com, 20% of 540 UK female BAME jobseekers altered their name in applications and almost all who changed their name reported a higher level of call-backs from potential employers. According to the CIPD, 51% of HR professionals in the UK were found to be biased against overweight women and were unaware that this was the case. Unconscious bias can often show up as micro-behaviors the little things that we say and do which show how we regard those around us. Even these very small behaviors can make people feel excluded and can have long term effects. The everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, can communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target people based solely upon their marginalized group membership. At work, these micro-behaviors can have an enormous impact on whether to what extent we feel valued and included and therefore how productive and loyal we are. There is a reason it’s called unconscious bias, not many people would behave that way if they knew they were doing it, but things like being constantly interrupted while talking, being left out of a discussion, someone reading email/messages while you’re talking to them, looking at their watch or not being introduced at a meeting can send negative signals. Even a change in voice pitch, volume or rate, a change in body posture or hand gestures can impact the way you come across and make another person feel. The lack of diversity in UK Boardrooms has not gone unnoticed by the UK Government. In October last year, the Parker Review Committee, led by Sir John Parker published its final report urging business leaders to improve the ethnic and cultural diversity of UK Boards to better reflect their employee base and the communities they serve. The report set out achievable objectives and timescales to encourage greater diversity and provided practical tools to support Board members of UK companies to address the issue. Its recommendations fell under the following three areas: Increase the ethnic diversity of UK Boards by proposing each FTSE 100 Board to have at least one director from an ethnic minority background by 2021 and for each FTSE 250 Board to do the same by 2024 Develop a pipeline of candidates and plan for succession through mentoring and sponsoring Enhance transparency and disclosure to record and track progress against the objectives Thankfully it is not just the government who are encouraging these changes, on International Women’s Day this year the Asian Business Chamber (ABCC) in Birmingham launched its Diversity in Leadership Pledge. This pilot campaign is working with some of the region’s biggest employers to boost the numbers of BAME, women, LGBT and disability groups being represented on boards of directors and in leadership roles. As part of the pledge, the ABCC held an Unconscious Bias for Leaders workshop in collaboration with RightTrack Learning where participants learned how unconscious bias impacts teams and influences organizations. Attended by over 30 leaders from the region, the workshop taught attendees to recognize the micro-behaviors that impact on Inclusive Leadership, and strategies to help them reduce the impact of unconscious bias on individuals, teams, and organizations. If you take a step back and reflect on yourself, you will find that you too are guilty of unconscious bias in some way or another. Don’t beat yourself up about them, it’s natural. Once you identify how they impact on your behavior, relationships and decision-making, you can learn to question or mistrust first impressions or to review the decisions you make about people to ensure that you are being as objective as possible and relying on facts instead of your ‘gut feeling’ or quick assumptions. About the author:  Paula Whelan  is an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion specialist at RightTrack Learning.  She has an extensive background in Equality and Diversity and hands-on experience of planning to advance the inclusivity of organizations through learning strategies that develop leaders, managers, and employees.

Late Bloomer Fear Not, The Best is Yet To Come!

Late Bloomer Fear Not, The Best is Yet To Come! Do you feel like you havent peaked in life yet? No worries. It is believed that developing later on in life is perfectly healthy and normal. In fact, many people feel happier as they grow older so they are more prone to make decisions that fit the kind of life they wish to have as opposed to being younger and not fully maturedâ€"mentally and emotionally. Our needs are very different when we’re 18 as opposed to 30. Perhaps we wanted to be a teacher in our earlier years but as life takes its turns, we find that we are most happy tapping into our creative side. Not having success earlier in life doesn’t count you out for success in the later years. I found that so many of the successful people we know today first got their start in their early to mid 30s. I find that adversity helps shape us into the person we need to be before our life begins to take off in a way we never envisioned. Perhaps you were the “black sheep” of your family, received horrible grades in school, felt you were never good at anything.   I am here to tell you that anything is possible. It is never too late to get your start and be all that you can be. Below are a few ways to help you stay on course despite being a late bloomer. Check your expectations. When you are young, you usually have higher expectations due to less experience. As you grow older, you end up gaining more experience while having fewer expectations. Its not that youve lowered your standards. You have just learned, through experiences, to keep your expectations in check. Stay hungry for learning. One is never too old to get additional education. I once had a friend whose father enrolled in an advanced French course when he was 75 years old! When you continue to learn, your mind stays engaged and active. Keep a youthful mind Its not how old you are, but how old you feel. Whether you are old or not depends to a large extent on whether or not you FEEL old.   If you dont refer to yourself as old, people wont see you as old. Age, as a category, is slowly dissolving, and you are only old if you think and feel old. It is a proven fact that although your body may become more fragile with age, other parts of you mind can remain sharp much longer. Limit your stress. I know you may be feeling overwhelmed at the thoughts of not having achieved the success you dreamed of. But clear your mind and focus your energy and attention on your next moves. Should you enroll in school?   Could you use a mentor?   What other skills sets do you need for that desired career? Figure out what’s needed and make a plan without getting stressed.   Stress is never healthy and will only contribute negative thoughtsâ€"which you do not need! A Late Bloomer Isnt a Never Bloomer What I want you to take from this article is to remain fearless. Proceed through life as if you couldn’t fail. Don’t worry about your age or other people’s opinions. You have the willpower to make all your dreams come true. Stay the course. This guest post was authored by Soulaima  Gourani Soulaima is a  TED Talks Mentor  and works with corporate clients and world leaders as a  World Economic Forum  expert in  behavioral science  and  education. She is a two-time author and speaks on the topics of  change management,  career development,  leadership,entrepreneurship, global trade,  emotional intelligence and much more.

5 check points for whether an office romance is worth pursuing - Debut

5 check points for whether an office romance is worth pursuing - Debut This post was written by an external contributor. Samantha Bobb-Lucas explains what in the way of you shooting your shot at a colleague this Valentines. Office romances are unsurprisingly REALLY common. You see your colleagues 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, constantly talking and constantly relying on one and another for support. Its only a matter of time before Cupid strikes his bow  well, either that, or you both wind up hooking up at your workmate’s leaving do, thanks to a few shots. Whichever way it happens, office romances can be a risky territory. Aside from potentially annoying your co-workers with too much PDA, or being the subject of favouritism if youre dating a senior member, the worst possible outcome is of course, the incredible awkwardness that stands if you end up calling it quits. Theres nothing worse than trying to get over someone and having to see them EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Before you know it, word has got around the office, remixed stories of the break-up start to unfold, and if worse comes to worst, you may start to consider leaving. Whilst an office relationship could also be the best commitment you’ve ever made, the moral of the story is, if youre looking to pursue one, you HAVE to be sure. So if there’s someone you’ve got your eye on in the boardroom, here’s five checkpoints on whether or not you should go in for the plunge… Do you see them as more than just a one night stand? If the answer is no then don’t do it. If you’re looking for a one night stand there are plenty of eligible people outside of your workplace that you won’t have to awkwardly face every day, after deciding that you want nothing to do with them. Whilst you will never know exactly how long you and colleague could last, you need to at least see them as someone special, to go ahead and pursue what could potentially be detrimental to your working relationship (if things turn sour, that is). On the other hand, if sparks are flying, and you get the same vibe from them, then you know that it’s worth it. Can you keep it on the DL? Whilst no one is saying that work romances need to be top secret, at the same time public displays of affection are likely to turn from, “Aww, they’re so sweet,” to “Get a room!” in a matter of minutes. Keeping things professional in the office is the ultimate goal, as well as learning to keep your business private. From arguments to bedroom antics, no one needs to know! Do you think you can face seeing your partner every day? Having an office romance means signing yourself up to seeing that person day in and day out, five days a week (if you’re a full timer). That includes seeing them the morning after that argument that might have gone down the night before, and potentially sacrificing your ‘me time’ for ‘we time’ on your peaceful lunch time stroll. Relationships no doubt, grow the more time you and your partner spend together, although absence also is known to make th  e heart grow fonder. And if you’re the type that needs your space, then having a beau in the office might not be the one for you. Can you handle a break-up? As sad as it is, some good things have to come to an end and if that ending is bitter, you could be screwed. You need to assess whether you are strong enough to face everything that comes with a break-up if things don’t work out. That includes everything from gossiping workmates, to the challenge of remaining professional with your ex even if you’re dying inside. The last thing you want is to let it drive you out of the company, because you can’t face seeing them. Can you keep the spark alive? If you do the journey in together, spend the day together, lunch together and go home together, then the thought of date night in the evening might not be the most exciting. Being with a colleague can often mean putting in slightly more effort to keep the spark alive. However, office relationships are all about balance, if you make sure you have your own set of friends that you can spend some of your lunch time’s with, then you’re not in each other’s face every minute of every day, and that way, date night can still feel special. If you reckon you can handle all of these checkpoints, now is the time to make your move! Connect with Debut on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for more careers insights.