01 Mar Don’t wing it, prepare for it

Some years ago, my colleague and I were approached by a senior manager to deliver an application skills workshop to nurses who wanted to apply for specialist training.  The manager explained that the majority of fully funded training places in the previous year had gone to external candidates.  Internal candidates had relied heavily on the fact that their work was well known to the organisation and recruiting managers.

Consequently, they had failed to demonstrate the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities required for the recruiting panels.  Instead, internal candidates had relied heavily on the fact that their work was well known to the organisation and recruiting managers.

Crucially, most internal candidates lost an attractive opportunity to:

• Attend university on a full bursary.
• Be paid at around 80% of their total time salary while training.
• Achieve a post-graduate qualification and specialist practitioner status.
• Progress their careers and future earning potential.

Thankfully, the story (for some) doesn’t end there.  The next cohort (including some of the previously unsuccessful applicants) underwent application skills training.  We listened to their concerns and coached them through their fears and doubts.

The words don’t assume and, evidence your experience was never far from our lips!  Most internal applicants successfully applied for a training place – this trend continued in future cohorts, realising their dreams and ambitions.

Use this story as a salutory reminder that if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.  Take the time and effort to develop yourself for your next role.  For some of you, this may include undertaking a career review, getting rid of unhelpful habits such as people pleasing or procrastination, for others, it may be updating your current skillset.

Whatever it looks like for you, remember quality investment in preparation is ultimately an investment in yourself.  The nurses that prepared for promotion yielded returns at various points, promotion, professional autonomy, increased pay and increased pension contributions.  You get the point!

Remember, be HR-Wise.

© Dawn H Jones

This post is based on an excerpt from my online course Get Job Ready