Find your tribe to find your job

Often women talk to me in the New Year with that #NewYearNewCareer mantra in their head. But often they’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed and don’t know where or how to start.

So throughout January, I’m going to focus on sharing stories, tips and insights to help you find a new job.

As part of that, I’m hosting a series of Career Conversations to celebrate the launch of the Career Club. This will give you a taster of what to expect inside the online membership community.

For this series, I’m interviewing women with recent job hunting experience to discover the ups, the downs, the challenges and the learnings.

To get involved with Career Conversations, join us in the pop-up Facebook group where you can listen to the interviews live or catch up on the recordings after the event.

All the interviews will continue to be available to all Career Club members.

The second interview in the series is with Louise Delaney.

Find your tribe to find your job

Louise’s left university with a degree in Engineering and Business Management. She started her engineering career with the National Grid Company dealing with huge power cables and installations.

As power cable pricing plummeted, Louise was made redundant. It was a chance conversation at a rehearsal that led to her next job working in IT.

She joined an outsourcing company, working for BP and then an investment bank, and then an insurance company in a range of IT related project and programme management roles.

Every time a contract was coming to an end, Louise picked up the phone and reached out to her contacts. Every time, her tribe came up trumps.

The biggest job hunting challenge

One of the biggest challenges for Louise, as it is for many of the women I often talk to, was getting really clear on her skills and what she wants to do.

Very often, we just can’t see what’s on the end of our nose. It surprises us when somebody says “Oh you’re so good at dealing with difficult people” or “How did you organise that event so quickly”.

When we find something very easy, often we undervalue that skill. When in fact it’s priceless.

Any time you hear yourself saying “Oh well it’s common sense” or you’re thinking to yourself “Why are they making that so hard for themselves”, it’s probably one of your special talents.

This is another reason why it’s so valuable to find your tribe, because your can tell you what you’re brilliant at.

What helped Louise’s job search

When talking to Louise, what comes across really strongly – she is fantastic with people. She’s simply brilliant at building and nurturing relationships.

So her answers come as no surprise when I asked her what she had found most helpful when job hunting.

• Talking to people who know me and my talents.
• Getting insights from others on what I can’t see about myself.
• Building and nurturing relationships.

Louise’s job hunting tips

• Look for the networking opportunities and try them out.
• Find your tribe and your cheerleaders.
• Learn how to use LinkedIn really effectively. (Here’s a great free resource to get you started).
• Get your social media profile tidied up.
• Talk about you and your story (because that makes you more interesting and more engaging).

If you enjoyed Louise’s story, join us for more job hunting stories in the Career Conversations group.

Listen to the interviews live or catch up on the recordings afterwards (and no sign-up required).

p.s. if you are currently jobhunting and would like practical and personal support, check out the Career Club online membership community, on offer until 31 January. Join now for £29 per month instead of £49 per month.