Generalist needs start-up advice!

[cojak]

Interesting!

So how much chutzpah do you use in marketing that particular specialist skill? All job adverts are written in a way that makes you feel like they are looking for people who have done ONLY THAT for X amount of years.

Has anybody any experience in 'trading up' their skills, i.e. deciding what category they WANT to be in, and then marketing themselves?

Nele

Yes, I've traded 'up' (not sure it was up, just moved into work that I wanted to do) a few times, but it takes planning and a timeline, it's not often you can just body-swerve into something that's not on your CV or you have experience in.

(I generally plan 6 months - 2 years ahead, depending on what it is I want to move into).

[northernladuk]

A complete waste of time. Fire and wait…

+1 and a cupcake to oscarose.

Occasionally, if I am particularly excited about a role, I will attempt to call him but always came of the phone realising I just wasted 15 mins of my life.

[TheFaQQer]

Interesting!

So how much chutzpah do you use in marketing that particular specialist skill? All job adverts are written in a way that makes you feel like they are looking for people who have done ONLY THAT for X amount of years.

I'm not sure that it's chutzpah to tailor your CV so that it highlights the areas that the client are looking for. See what the role is, then if necessary make the CV slightly different based on what they are looking for. This has been mentioned a few times before on here - maybe have three or four different CVs, depending on the different areas you want to work in.

Has anybody any experience in 'trading up' their skills, i.e. deciding what category they WANT to be in, and then marketing themselves?

Nele

I've certainly changed my CV to bring out the best bits for a given role, if that's what you mean. I tend to work in one area these days, although the current contract (16 months) has been on part of my skillset that I'd prefer to move away from a little. That said, good money, working from home, niche skills - can't really complain.

[oscarose]

+1 and a cupcake to oscarose.

A biscuit’s fine.

[kaiser78]

Hello everybody -

I would like to fish for some advice / experiences. I've just left my job to set up as a contractor.

I have worked in systems development and business process change, mainly on the business analysis, planning, training and change management side, on some major IT systems.

I've basically done it all - workshops, communications plan, training strategies, technical writing, stakeholder management, RAID management, lots of business analysis and requirements gathering, complex reporting and data analysis, built my own databases (with a scientific theme), business process improvements ... I have a list of training courses that's as long as my arm, just completed an MS Project 2010 refresher. I have PRINCE2, Change Management Practitioner, ISEB BA essentials ...

I'm kind of stumped as to which bracket I would fall in and how I should sell myself ... Also, I did a lot of the above without having the title to go with it, so how do you sell your 'past'?

Has anybody of you had a similar start-up experience?

Another question. Ideally I'd love to work in the city. All the jobs want 'financial sector experience' ... would you ever apply for these jobs in spite of this?

Thanks a lot folks! :-)


Nele

Mod note: moved out of the Bear Pit that is General.

In the world of contracting, experience counts for much more than certificates or letters after your name. Whilst the formers are obviously useful to have, you need to focus what specific experience and skills you can bring to any role you are applying for, tailored to that role.