How to improve your career prospects during lockdown

As someone who is asked by my clients to evaluate candidates for Agile and Change roles, I thought I would share some insights into what I look for, what makes candidates stand out and a few tips on how you can get organised during this enforced period at home. Even if, like me you are still working like crazy, you probably have a bit more time to play with as you are not travelling back and forth, you cannot go out with your friends and you can't shop – not even on-line shopping is worth it as there is very little point buying shoes when you have no-where to go!

So here's my process;

When I am given a CV, the first thing I do is google the name – the first couple of spots on google are usually taken by LinkedIn (if you don’t have a LinkedIn profile then that’s another problem)

So I click on your profile and start to read.

I look at your photo – no photo indicates that perhaps you have missed the point about being open and sharing via social media, or you can't be bothered to get a photo uploaded, but either way it is a question mark – as is pictures of you with a drink in your hand, or with members of your family and friends – a social picture that is great for Facebook is not the professional image you were aiming for.

I then quickly scan the job titles you have had and look to see if you have put your achievements next to these.

I look for your list of qualifications and whether they tie-up with your jobs and especially the things you are telling me you are an expert at and/or are passionate about.

I look to see if you are a member of any professional bodies, because it is amazing how many times I am told someone is an expert in something but they never bothered to join a professional body related to it – and I am not just saying this because I am the Co-Lead for the Change Management Institute in the UK – it is the same for Agile groups as well as change.

I also look to see how current these qualifications and memberships are – the world is moving so quickly that seeing that the last time you upskilled was a PRINCE2 certificate 5 years ago rings alarm bells – it's old. It implies that the world of Agile has passed you by, and you haven’t invested in your personal development for 5 years. All reasons not to interview you.

Do you set yourself up as an expert? Do you write blog posts and share resources? All easy to do in LinkedIn – no special app needed and easy to share with others via the groups. Take the opportunity to think about lessons learned on recent projects and changes and share techniques and tips that helped you with your issues – I am sure lots of people will benefit from hearing your thoughts.

The things that make you stand out from other candidates are your achievements – not the job titles, not the projects you have been involved in but what difference you have made. What were the beneficial results of what you did – you engaged stakeholders, but did you see an increase in their level of participation? Did you see a decrease in the number of negative rumours building up about your project?

You provided regular project updates – yes, but did this lead to increased satisfaction from stakeholders in the amount and type of information they had, did they register feeling more certain of what was happening, did you increase their confidence?

If you are starting to struggle with being at home day after day, take this opportunity to put yourself in the best possible situation:

Take the time to create templates, checklists, presentation materials for your work – you know when you are so busy you can barely breathe, and would really benefit from having some predefined templates for things you do regularly – now is the time to create them. There are common steps that we do on every initiative we are involved in Why do you create your own toolkit of materials that will speed up your work and increase your productivity? Because when we all return to normality, we will all be trying to get the economy back on its feet!

Create a working day – whatever those times are. If you are homeschooling your kids, create a structure where you do your work before, after or sometimes at the same time as them, to role model that you expect them to study because you are studying as well.

This is not the time to stay in bed for hours – there is too much to do.

By the way, just to be clear, I am doing exactly as I have described here – there are textbooks I want to read, so I have made a reading list and I am getting through it, and I have also booked to take a new qualification, because reading up on my subject is great, but it doesn’t exactly give me evidence for my profile of how knowledgeable I am. The quickest way to achieve this is to get an up to date qualification as proof I really do know what I claim to know about on my profile.