6 Ways to enhance your team experience
You have already started to think about some of the teams you have been part of, reflecting on the various benefits and challenges, and you may have identified a need to build on your experience in some way.
For example, you might have concluded that:
- your team experience so far is too limited
- the team you thought you had been a member of is better described as a common interest group
- your best experience of working in teams was actually from some time ago
- an employer might not see your experience as especially relevant
- you've only worked in one type of team and would like to broaden your experience.
The skill of self-reflection, taking a step back and assessing your own experiences, can be a difficult one to master, so you’ll start by looking at Jane's story before completing Activity 7.
Case study 2: Jane
Jane is 32 and a single mother of two children of primary school age. She is currently working as a childminder four days a week as this fits in well with the care of her own children. She has been doing this for the last seven years and while she enjoys working with children, she misses working with other adults.
Jane started a degree in criminology and psychology when she was 18. After completing her degree she worked as an usher in the local magistrates’ court. In this job she worked on the reception desk, meeting and greeting court users and visitors, and keeping parties informed of changes to hearing times. She only worked in this role for a year before becoming pregnant with her first child.
In the future, Jane would like to get a job outside the home in an office environment. She has always dreamed of working as a probation officer but lacks confidence in what she has to offer an employer.
She has been looking at entry level jobs with the probation service but when she looks at job adverts she becomes disheartened. Last week she saw a part-time job as a probation service assistant advertised at her local probation office.
Probation Service Assistant (part-time) – Guildford office
Essential skills and experience:
- Knowledge and experience of the work of the Criminal Justice System.
- Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
- Ability to input and retrieve electronic data and maintain computer based information systems in an accurate and timely manner.
- Ability to participate and contribute effectively as a team member.
- Good organisational and administration skills and the ability to meet deadlines.
- Ability to motivate others and facilitate learning in order to change attitudes and behaviour.
- Ability to contribute towards team and organisational targets.
- Willingness to work towards NVQ Level 3 in Criminal Justice.
This is exactly the kind of job that Jane would like to do next as it would give her the confidence and experience she needs to get into this field. However, when she looks at the essential skills they are asking for, she decides not to apply for it as they are looking for people with good experience of working in teams.
While she feels she could do the job, she is not sure how she would manage working in such a professional team. Jane feels that she is never going to get the kind of job she wants and should give up on her dream.
What advice would you give Jane?
Activity 7 Can Jane save her dream?
Jane is going to give up on her dream job as she feels like she just doesn’t have the experience they are looking for of working in a professional team.
What advice would you give Jane to help her overcome this? Do you think she could apply for the job now and if so what would she say? Can you think of what she could do in order to gain more experience of working in teams and increase her confidence in this area?
Make some notes to record your thoughts.
Comment
Jane feels like she does not have the kind of teamwork experience that they are looking for in this job because she has been working on her own as a childminder for the last seven years. However, Jane did work at the magistrates' court for a year when she had first finished her degree. This type of experience is very relevant and Jane should not discount it. It is really easy to think that just because something was a long time ago it is not going to be relevant in a job application.
While Jane would certainly benefit from updating her skills in this area it is important to mention skills gained some time ago, especially if you meet all the other criteria they are looking for.
Jane could also look at her childminding experience from a different perspective. She is essentially working in collaboration with several sets of parents/carers and is highly likely to be demonstrating many of the skills an effective team worker needs, such as communication, decision making or problem-solving.
There is no right or wrong answer here.
What happened next?
Jane decided to build on the contacts she knew at her children’s primary school and the children’s centre she attends when childminding. The primary school was looking for volunteers, one evening per week, to work on a project extending the school library resources and she joined the committee organising the next fundraising event for the children’s centre. These activities allowed her to refresh her teamworking experience and provide more up to date examples in her job applications.