ALT_1 Understanding your sector Understanding your sector About this free course This free course is an adapted extract from the Open University course . This version of the content may include video, images and interactive content that may not be optimised for your device. You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University – There you’ll also be able to track your progress via your activity record, which you can use to demonstrate your learning.

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All rights falling outside the terms of the Creative Commons licence are retained or controlled by The Open University. Head of Intellectual Property, The Open University Introduction and guidance This free badged course, Understanding your sector, will help you to understand the difference between sectors, industries and professions. It will also help you to gain the inside knowledge to impress in applications and at interviews and to put together an action plan that is tailored to you. The course lasts eight weeks, with approximately three hours’ study time each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week’s study. You'll start this course by considering the way in which the world of employment is structured into sectors, industries, professions, jobs and so on and the differences between these. As you move on, you will investigate the factors that affect organisations at different levels, the job market within different sectors and the sources of information and support available to you. Finally, you will identify how this understanding might be applied to your own situation and devise a practical action plan that is appropriate for you. There will be plenty of examples to help you as you progress together with opportunities to practise your understanding. The weekly interactive quizzes form part of this practice and those at Weeks 4 and 8 will provide you with an opportunity to earn a badge to demonstrate your new skills. You can read more on how to study the course and about badges in the next sections. As part of the course you have been provided you with an interactive toolkit in which you can collect all your thoughts together in one place. You will use the toolkit and the templates within it as you complete activities throughout the course and it will provide a resouce that you can draw on in the future to help shape your career. Using the toolkit is optional: if you would rather note your responses down in a different way, that is fine. After completing this course you will be able to: outline the differences between sectors, industries, professions and jobs describe the main factors that affect organisations and their performance describe different types of employer and the ways in which they recruit staff identify the principal sources of information to help you understand a sector reflect in light of this understanding and devise an appropriate plan of action. Moving around the course The easiest way to navigate around the course is through the ‘My course progress’ page. You can get back there at any time by clicking on ‘Back to course’ in the menu bar. It’s also good practice, if you access a link from within a course page (including links to the quizzes), to open it in a new window or tab. That way you can easily return to where you’ve come from without having to use the back button on your browser.

While studying Understanding your sector you have the option to work towards gaining a digital badge. Badged courses are a key part of The Open University’s mission to promote the educational well-being of the community. The courses also provide another way of helping you to progress from informal to formal learning. To complete a course you need to be able to find about 24 hours of study time, over a period of about 8 weeks. However, it is possible to study them at any time, and at a pace to suit you. Badged courses are all available on The Open University’s OpenLearn website and do not cost anything to study. They differ from Open University courses because you do not receive support from a tutor. But you do get useful feedback from the interactive quizzes. What is a badge? Digital badges are a new way of demonstrating online that you have gained a skill. Schools, colleges and universities are working with employers and other organisations to develop open badges that help learners gain recognition for their skills, and support employers to identify the right candidate for a job. Badges demonstrate your work and achievement on the course. You can share your achievement with friends, family and employers, and on social media. Badges are a great motivation, helping you to reach the end of the course. Gaining a badge often boosts confidence in the skills and abilities that underpin successful study. So, completing this course should encourage you to think about taking other courses.

Getting a badge is straightforward! Here’s what you have to do: read each week of the course score 50% or more in the two badge quizzes in Week 4 and Week 8. For all the quizzes, you can have three attempts at most of the questions (for true or false type questions you usually only get one attempt). If you get the answer right first time you will get more marks than for a correct answer the second or third time. Therefore, please be aware that for the two badge quizzes it is possible to get all the questions right but not score 50% and be eligible for the badge on that attempt. If one of your answers is incorrect you will often receive helpful feedback and suggestions about how to work out the correct answer. For the badge quizzes, if you’re not successful in getting 50% the first time, after 24 hours you can attempt the whole quiz, and come back as many times as you like. We hope that as many people as possible will gain an Open University badge – so you should see getting a badge as an opportunity to reflect on what you have learned rather than as a test. If you need more guidance on getting a badge and what you can do with it, take a look at the OpenLearn FAQs. When you gain your badge you will receive an email to notify you and you will be able to view and manage all your badges in My OpenLearn within 24 hours of completing the criteria to gain a badge. Get started with Week 1.

Week 1: Where are you now? Welcome to Week 1 of the free badged course Understanding your sector – and congratulations! You have taken the first important step in thinking about your chosen employment sector, its structure and the factors that affect it. Investigating these areas will not only help you to perform better in your current role, with possible implications for your career progress, but also improve your knowledge of other roles or organisations that you might want to move into. Employers are impressed by applicants who can talk in an informed way about their organisation and its surrounding context, so this understanding will help you in applications and interviews. Watch Lynne Johnson as she introduces Week 1. Lynne works in the Careers Service at The Open University and has worked in adult career guidance for over twenty years. LYNNE JOHNSON Welcome to Week 1 of the course. In this first week, you’ll be thinking about the differences between various sectors, industries and professions. You’ll also be finding out why it’s so important to have a good understanding of your own sector and how it relates to other sectors. By exploring these areas, you’ll not only be able to improve the career progression you could make, but you’ll improve your knowledge of other jobs or organisations that you might be considering. The course will also help you identify what you’re trying to do, whether that’s find a job, get a promotion or maybe change direction to something completely new. It will help you explore ways to make the time you need to keep up with an ever-changing sector and career landscape and help you to be better prepared for applications and interviews.

As suggested in the Introduction and guidance, it is recommend that you record your responses to the activities throughout the course. As part of the course, you have been provided with an interactive toolkit in which you can keep your notes together. You will be directed to different parts of the toolkit at specific points throughout the course. However, if you’d prefer to use a notebook that is, of course, also fine. By the end of this week, you will be able to: describe the differences between a job, a profession, an industry/business and a sector outline how these overlap and provide a different perspective on your own situation describe how understanding this ‘bigger picture’ can help with generating career options identify areas of interest based on your current situation and your knowledge of the bigger picture schedule time in your diary for these activities and use this time effectively. The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others.

Figure 1 This is a photograph of a person, presumably with a role in IT, working on a computer.

Have you ever sat down and thought about the bigger picture into which your job fits? This is not just about the other people that you work with, your managers, or the staff you manage, but the wider economic context of your work. Sometimes, if you have been doing a job for a while or are in a job that you do not really like, it may be difficult to think about this bigger picture. You may be working for a particular employer, but what profession, business, industry or sector does that fit into? Take a moment to think about the example below. Joe Joe is a software engineer employed by a retail organisation specialising in fashion. He might describe himself as a software engineer (job) but also as an IT professional (profession). Moreover, he also works in the fashion industry (industry/business), an important part of the retail sector (sector). Activity 1 My job context part 1 Allow about 5 minutes Think about your current job or a job that you have had in the past – or even a job that you would like to move into. Spend five minutes just thinking about this job and its context in the way that Joe has above. Complete the table below; Joe’s responses have been included as an example. Table 1 Where does my job fit in?

	Joe’s response	Your response
Job title	Software engineer
Profession	IT professional
Business/industry	Fashion
Sector	Retail

Did you find that these categories were completely separate or was there some overlap between them? Sometimes, it is difficult to see the precise boundaries between jobs and professions, for example, or between industries and sectors. Maybe you feel that your current role is a job but not a profession so left this box empty. In addition, people will use these terms in different ways and, where one person will say industry, another will say sector. Don’t worry too much about this at the moment, as you will be looking at definitions in the next section. Although this might sound a bit confusing to start with, it is important that you think about the wider context of your current job, or the job that you would like, so that you can see it in perspective. Doing so will widen your understanding of the economy and of how businesses operate, and provide you with the knowledge required to make plans and move on. You will look in more detail at some important terms in the next section, but first listen to Rebecca and Charlie from Gradconsult explain how an understanding of the sector you want to work in, and the challenges it faces, can put you ahead of other candidates in a competitive recruitment process. REBECCA Understanding the sector that you’re aspiring to or applying to is absolutely critical in what I would describe as singularly the most competitive part of any recruitment process, which is the written application – at the beginning of any process. Once you’re past that stage, actually you’re able to show more of your personality and your character. And, of course, you’ll be more committed and engaged in the process, as will the employer. So a whole range of other factors then become much more important. But at application in written stage, most of your competition who will be applying for the job will probably have similar qualifications, skills, and experience to yourself. And therefore one of the biggest differentiators are those people who can demonstrate real understanding and insight as to the organisation and the sector that they’re applying to. What are the values? What drives this sector? What’s the reality of the job? CHARLIE It’s so important to understand the sector that you’re interested in applying for, for many different reasons. First of all, I’d like to say that this is the area that people get wrong a lot and don’t make enough preparations or research into it. But it’s really important, because each individual sector has its own unique challenges that come from the people that work in it, the things that the sector has to achieve, the government policies that affect that sector, the social aspect of that sector. And it’s having an appreciation for those unique challenges that then will put you head and shoulders above other candidates that are applying, because you’ve done a bit of research around it. You understand, for example, like, the transport sector that I’ve worked in has unique challenges around the demographics of the workforce – that it’s a service delivery that has to operate 24/7, 365 – that there’s a lot of governmental policy that affects the way that business can be done and can be operated. And so it’s having a keen awareness of that, so that the person that’s sitting across the interview table can say, ‘ah, right, OK, this person’s really, really interested in this job’. REBECCA There was a piece of evidence produced by an organisation now called Amberjack. They were Grad Web. And they looked at 650,000 data points as an organisation that manages huge volumes of applicants, primarily for graduate schemes. And I haven’t seen it for the experienced hire market, but I have seen it for this particular part of the market. And they were able to prove a very strong correlation, in terms of the success that somebody will achieve in the recruitment process linked directly back to a question about, why do you want a career in this area? There was a high, high correlation between how well you scored in that singular question and how likely you were to get a job offer. Interestingly, there was almost no correlation between the question ‘Why do you want to work for us?’ and whether or not you were likely to be successful in the recruitment process. And what that demonstrated, from the recruiter’s perspective, is that what’s really important is somebody’s drive and ambition to start a career and develop a career in that particular sector or area as a profession – much less so about whether or not they want to work for you or one of your competitors. So, for me, understanding your sector and understanding your profession – there’s proven research that there’s a direct impact on your ability to be able to get the job.

Figure 2 This is a photograph of a group of people dressed to convey a variety of job roles, for instance, a doctor, a pilot and an office worker.

In the last section, you were introduced to several terms – job, profession, business/industry and sector. You also discovered that sometimes people use these terms in different ways, so perhaps a good place to start is with some definitions from Oxford Dictionaries. Firstly, a job is defined as ‘a paid position of regular employment’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). The important factors are that it is paid and regular, meaning that it can range from a very unskilled role, such as a building labourer, to one requiring lengthy training, such as a surgeon. A profession, however, is defined as ‘a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016), which immediately discounts many jobs from being professions. Based on this definition, ‘building labourer’ would probably be described as a job but not a profession, whereas a surgeon would be both. Similar expressions such as ‘role’ and ‘career’ can also be used, which have certain connotations. An industry is defined as ‘a particular form or branch of economic or commercial activity’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016), which means that it must have a specific identity. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a traditional industry − it could be a service or a public sector area, such as a hospital or a secondary school. Compare this with a sector, defined as ‘a distinct part or branch of a nation’s economy or society or of a sphere of activity such as education’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016), encompassing several businesses or industries. For example, the engineering sector in the UK will include the car, aircraft, rail and nuclear power industries, among others. Activity 2 Categorising jobs Allow about 5 minutes Look at the examples given in the table below and see if you can fill the gaps for the final two examples before reading the comment. Table 2 Filling the gaps

Job	Profession	Business/industry	Sector
Primary school teaching assistant	Teaching	Primary school	Education
Credit controller in a car factory	Accountancy	Car manufacture	Finance
Electrical goods section manager in a department store	Retail management	Sale of electrical goods	Retail
Mental health nurse in a special hospital
Motor mechanic in a garage

The table below shows the responses you might have given, although your wording might be slightly different. Table 3 Filling the gaps example

Job	Profession	Business/industry	Sector
Primary school teaching assistant	Teaching	Primary school	Education
Credit controller in a car factory	Accountancy	Car manufacture	Finance
Electrical goods section manager in a department store	Retail management	Sale of electrical goods	Retail
Mental health nurse in a special hospital	Nursing	Hospital	Health
Motor mechanic in a garage	Mechanic	Automobile repair	Engineering

If you came up with different answers, that is fine – people use terms in a variety of ways – but have a think about why this was the case. Does this tell you anything about you and how you think about your job and its wider context? If your answers to this activity were markedly different from ours, think about why this might be the case and write your thoughts in your notebook or the Notes tool in the Toolkit. Now let’s transfer this to your own situation. In Activity 1 you were asked to think about your job, or one you have had or aspire to, and to imagine its wider context in terms of profession, business/industry and sector. You will be revisiting this in Activity 3. Activity 3 My job context part 2 Allow about 5 minutes Go back to Activity 1 and think again about the answers you gave to the questions. In the light of these new definitions, do you still think the same or would you like to make any changes? Table 4 Where does my job fit in?

	Joe’s response	Your response
Job title	Software engineer
Profession	IT professional
Business/industry	Fashion
Sector	Retail

Did these new definitions help you see your situation in a different light? Did they enable you to be more precise in the answers you gave? Have they prompted you to think about how people can view things in different ways? You have now started to look at the bigger picture surrounding your job, or the job that you would like to have, and to think about the meaning of important terms such as job, profession, business/industry and sector. Understanding these terms and how they interrelate will provide a richer picture of the world of work and help you to appreciate the career possibilities within it. This is a key step towards achieving your full career potential. You will look at this in more detail in Section 3.

Figure 3 A person daydreaming, with a thought bubble showing them imagining themselves in different job roles.

Understanding the differences between job, profession, business/industry and sector is not purely an academic exercise, but has very practical uses. Put simply, widening your perspective can help you to realise your potential. Take the example of Joe from Section 1, a software engineer with a fashion retailer. How he defines himself and the context within which he does so can have important implications for his future. When Joe thinks about his future, he could begin from several starting points. Software engineerThis might lead Joe to look for similar roles at the same level in other organisations. IT professionalThis might lead him to think of progressing to more senior positions where Joe can use his experience and take on greater responsibility, for projects or staff for example. Fashion industry/businessJoe’s interest in clothes and fashion, and his experience in the fashion industry, might lead him to explore other roles and careers within this field, possibly including those outside IT. Retail sectorJoe’s experience in retail might encourage him to seek positions in the wider retail sector. These could be outside fashion, as many of his skills might be transferable to other clothing contexts such as sports goods and footwear, or more broadly into electrical goods or food retail, for example. Activity 4 Main economic sectors Allow about 2 minutes Watch this short video about the way in which the economy is divided into three main sectors: primary, secondary and tertiary. Has this helped to place things into perspective and aid your understanding? Knowing how sectors interrelate can help you to understand your particular business or industry better, and to identify some of the factors that might have an impact on it. Knowledge and understanding of the wider context surrounding your job can help you to think more creatively and productively about your career options. This takes effort and thought, however, and it is sometimes more attractive to retreat into our comfort zones and to think of ourselves as ‘just a sales assistant’ or, in Joe’s case, ‘just a software engineer’. Before you move on to the next section, take a look at a couple of people and how they could be more creative in thinking through some possible career ideas. Activity 5 Widening perspectives Allow about 10 minutes The following two case studies feature people who feel dissatisfied in their jobs, but who might be helped to think more creatively by widening their perspective. What might you suggest to them based on what you have learned so far? Rachel Rachel has been a pub manager for several years with a well-known pub chain, having worked her way up from serving behind the bar. She enjoys her job but feels that the long and unsocial hours are now taking their toll. She feels that the best parts of the job are managing her staff and providing a service to customers, but feels trapped after so long in this post. James James has worked as a sports assistant at a leisure centre for several years since leaving college at 18 with a qualification in sports studies. He likes working with the public and advising them on exercise and fitness regimes, but he also feels that his job does not stretch him enough and he would like to take on more responsibility. Although there is no single correct response, Rachel and James might perhaps think about the following. Rachel More senior posts with her current employer that might be more suitable for her Other careers in the hospitality industry with more social hours that would use her skills and experience Other management careers in other service industries or sectors James More senior posts within the leisure industry, possibly including management Other areas of the leisure industry where he could use his understanding of sports and personal fitness Other areas related to the leisure industry where his knowledge and experience might be useful, for example retail You may have been able to make other suggestions and ideas based on your understanding of jobs, professions, industries and sectors. Well done, if you have! You have now looked at several important terms – job, profession, business/industry and sector – and how these can help you better understand the world of work. In the next section you will start to think about your own situation and to identify the sector(s) that you want to explore in more detail.

Figure 4 A coxcomb chart, with sections of varying sizes indicating different job sectors.

So what does all this mean for you, then? To a large extent it depends on your individual circumstances and, in particular, on your aims and aspirations. How you decide to move forward depends on what you want to achieve and this will determine which sector(s) you want to explore in more depth. For example, if you enjoy what you do and just want to find out more about possible progress within your role, then you might not have to do much research. If, however, you decide that you need to leave your current role and change career completely, then the work that you will have to do will be more extensive. If you are currently not in employment, and are looking for work, thinking about the kind of sector you would like to enter in the future may be a good starting point. Activity 6 asks you to think about your current work situation. If this is the first time you have been asked to think about how you feel about what you want to achieve in the future you may be unsure what to say. You may not have taken time out before to consider what you want from work and how well your current situation matches this. If this sounds like you, then you may benefit from having a look at the Personal awareness tool in the Toolkit. Undertaking this activity will give you an opportunity to consider what you want from your life, your values and the kind of work–life balance that would work for you. This self-awareness is the starting point of any consideration of career change or development and will help you when you come to consider the options posed in Activity 6. Activity 6 My current situation Allow about 10 minutes Think about your current situation and select one of the options below that best describes how you feel about it. Copy it into the box below, or write it in your notes. I’m working in a job that I dislike and would like to change. I’m working in a job that is OK for now but which I would like to leave soon. I’m working in a job that I enjoy and in which I would like to progress. I’m not working at the moment and I am seeking a particular type of employment. I’m not working at the moment and I’m not sure what I will do next. Option 1: There is some urgency about starting to think about possibilities, so working on your wider knowledge and understanding of industry and sectors would be very helpful. Option 2: You have more time to make sensible plans, including thinking about the bigger picture based on your current role, industry and sector. Option 3: This is positive, suggesting that you have a good starting point in your current role for looking at wider possibilities within your industry or sector and that research would be helpful. Option 4: You have an idea of what job you would like to do; thinking about the broader context of this might help you to generate ideas and strategies, and to prepare yourself as a credible candidate. Option 5: You have the broadest options of all, but thinking about previous jobs you have done – and looking at the context of these – might generate ideas and alternatives for consideration. This may be the first time that you have sat down and thought about yourself in this way, and this can take some getting used to. More often than not, we tend to accept our current situation as being fixed because it takes time and effort to think about alternatives. Either that, or our minds tend to run along well-worn grooves of what is possible and our ideas lack imagination or interest. This phenomenon, more common when alternative jobs are seen as being scarce, has been termed ‘involuntary non-mobility’ or being ‘locked-in’ (Stengård et al., 2016). This feeling of not having the power or means to leave a job can have profound effects on a person’s perception of their own employability and their ability to change their situation or to move on. Starting with your current situation, and improving your understanding of this and the wider industry and sector, can help you to break out of this cycle and consider other possibilities and options. In Activity 6 you identified how you feel about your current work situation. Now you need to think about this a bit more deeply and decide on your specific objectives for moving forward. Activity 7 will help you to do this. Activity 7 Identifying sectors to research Allow about 10 minutes Start with the results of Activity 6, where you described your current situation. Then, using the examples of Rachel and James (whom you met in Activity 5) to help you, think about what you need to do and the sectors you might need to research. Table 5 Ideas for change

Current situation	What I need to do	Examples of sectors to research
RachelI am currently a pub manager and would like to consider options with a different lifestyle that still involves managing staff and dealing with the public.	I should:find out about options with my current employerfind out about other hospitality careersexplore the service sector more generally.	Hospitality industry: other pub/hotel groupshigher education conference tradeService sector: retailevent managementleisure recreationhealth-related services
JamesI am currently a sports assistant in a leisure centre and would like to consider options using my current skills but with more responsibility.	I should:find out about senior positions within the leisure industryfind out about other leisure careers related to sportexplore related sectors such as retail.	Leisure industry: sports clubsleisure centresfitness and health spassports coachinghotelsRelated sectors: sports goods retail/wholesalesports equipment manufacturerecreationhealth

My current situation I am What I need to do I should Sectors to research This activity should have given you a broad sense of where you are now and what you might do next based on your current role. Remember that there is no right or wrong answer about this. You know best what your current situation is and so you will have the clearest sense of how you might want to change this. Having identified several areas that you want to follow up in more detail, you might want to speak to others in order to get a different view on this. This could be someone you know well, and who knows you well, such as a relative or friend, or someone you work with. Alternatively, you might want to talk to a professional with the skills and knowledge to help you move on, such as a careers adviser or someone in HR. The final part of this week’s learning focuses on identifying the time that you have available to start putting these plans into action.

Figure 5 A clock.

One of the key skills that you will need to demonstrate during this course – and you may have already discovered this for yourself – is managing your time effectively. If you are working full time, or even working part time and balancing this with other responsibilities such as childcare, you will have only a certain number of hours in the day for your research. If you are to understand your sector fully, it is important that you put aside a certain number of hours a week for completing this course and for doing the extra work involved. Fortunately, if you follow a small number of steps, you will be able to plan your time so that you can fit any extra tasks resulting from this course around your employment and other commitments. Start by identifying how you currently spend your time. Activity 8 How do I spend my time? Allow about 15 minutes The schedule below lists 90-minute blocks of time between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. on the seven days of the week. It assumes that most people sleep sometime between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m., but you can adapt this for your own circumstances. Complete the boxes, showing how you spend the hours within each block of time. Table 6 My timetable

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
08:00–09:30
09:30–11:00
11:00–12:30
12:30–14:00
14:00–15:30
15:30–17:00
17:00–18:30
18:30–20:00
20:00–21:30
21:30–23:00

What do you notice? Are there large periods of time when you are engaged in something that can only be done then or is a really high priority? This might include when you are at work, when you are responsible for other people or dependent on someone else’s availability. This is reasonable and indicates that you will have to think carefully about how much time you can devote to other activities and when that would be. If you print this table, you may want to highlight these times in some way to indicate their importance. Don’t forget to schedule some time for unforeseen events or activities that you know you will have to do but may not be able to schedule precisely, for example shopping or leisure activities. This is your contingency time. Again, if you print this table, you may want to indicate in a different colour that these times may well be taken up with activity. You should also bear in mind that people are more or less effective at different times of the day. If you know that you are a ‘morning person’, there is little point in arranging extra activities for yourself during the evening when you may be less alert and receptive. It might be better if you were to get up an hour earlier in the morning and use this hour to do career research at a time when you are likely to get the most out of such activity. Finally, are there blank spaces that show the times when you have no particular responsibilities and are completely free to decide how you will use the time? This represents your discretionary time and is the best time of all to schedule new activities, such as research into your career sector. If you printed the table, you could use a third colour to highlight this time. After undertaking Activity 8 you should have a much clearer idea of the time you have available in your usual week. You can hopefully identify blocks of time that would be most appropriate for devoting to either completing this course or starting to undertake some of the activities you add to your action plan at the end of this course. This, however, may not be enough for you to be confident that this will lead to action and you may want to consider undertaking the following additional exercise from the Toolkit. Optional activity The Time management tool is an effective way of considering what is on your ‘to-do list’. What is competing on your list for these blocks of free time you have allocated to self-development? If your overall task seems too big, then this will help you to break down this task into manageable chunks and consider what to commit to doing first. If you know that you are good at making lists but not so good at getting round to doing the items on the lists, then this tool will help you to think about the things that get in the way of completing your goals and how you can minimise the effects of things that stop you getting things done. You have now considered how much discretionary time you have in the week and the best time of day for you to do career-related activities. It only remains for you to decide exactly how much time each week you are going to devote to the kind of career research it is suggested you do. The important thing here is to be realistic. It is better to schedule in an hour a week and know that you will stick to this than to aim to do five hours a week, fail to keep to your schedule and feel guilty as a result. After all, if you find that you can manage the time easily, you can always increase this to two hours! You can now return to the results of Activity 7, where you identified further areas to research, and start to plan how you are going to fit this work into your schedule. Well done – you have reached the end of Week 1 and can now take the weekly quiz to test your understanding. Week 1 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new tab or window (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link). By now, you should be feeling some confidence in the journey on which you have set out. You have explored what is meant by the terms job, profession, industry/business and sector, the differences between them and what they might mean to you. You have also thought about how knowing about this ‘bigger picture’ can help you to think creatively about your future and the options that might be open to you. Starting from your current situation, you have also made some early plans about which sectors you want to explore and how you will set time aside to ensure you do this. Next week’s learning will introduce you to the external factors affecting you and your sector. You should now feel that you can: describe the differences between a job, a profession, an industry/business and a sector outline how these overlap and provide a different perspective on your own situation describe how understanding this ‘bigger picture’ can help with generating career options identify areas of interest based on your current situation and your knowledge of the bigger picture schedule time in your diary for these activities and use this time effectively. Next week you will look more closely at the even bigger picture – the external factors that affect all economies and, in turn, the sectors, businesses and jobs within them. You can now go to Week 2. Week 2: Will things stay the same? Last week you explored some key concepts about jobs, professions, industries/businesses and sectors. As a result, you should have a more complete understanding of how your job fits into the parts of the economy most related to the area of your work, or that which you wish to enter – the bigger picture. You also spent some time considering how these might affect your perspective on your work and generate career options, identifying areas of interest to follow up and scheduling time to do so. This week you will be looking at the even bigger picture – the external factors that affect all economies and, in turn, the jobs, professions, industries/businesses and sectors within them. Identifying and understanding these forces will help you to anticipate changes and developments closer to home. This will help you to think about what you might do within your current job to accommodate or even take advantage of these, and also to see what opportunities might exist elsewhere. Lynne Johnson introduces you to Week 2 in the video below. LYNNE JOHNSON Welcome to Week 2. Last week, you explored the differences between various sectors, industries and professions and found out why it’s so important to have a good understanding and awareness of this. This week, you’ll be looking at the bigger picture, at wider factors that could affect all economies, including your own sector, and the impact of external influences on the workplace. You’ll be conducting something called a PEST analysis, which will help you identify the political, economic, social and technological factors that could affect your organisation in the future. This will help you consider what opportunities might exist in your own job or elsewhere.

As with Week 1, you’ll need the Toolkit or your notebook to jot down your thoughts and responses to the activities. By the end of this week, you will be able to: describe how a broad range of external factors – political, economic, social and technological – affect the way organisations operate understand what a PEST (political, economic, social, technological) analysis is and how it can help you to understand your sector use a PEST analysis to identify the specific factors that might impact on your organisation identify the resources your organisation possesses to deal with these challenges.

Figure 1 A globe.

When we think about the world today, it is clear that we can be greatly affected by events that take place well away from our immediate environment. Although our immediate environment is where we live, work and meet other people in our daily lives, we are also connected to and influenced by factors further from home. Think about the influence of the internet, social media and cheap air travel – these have opened up many people’s horizons in a way that a previous generation would have believed unthinkable. Similarly, we are now much more aware of the impact that events in one part of the world can have on countries many miles away, for example conflict in the Middle East or a volcano erupting in Iceland. From another perspective, consider also the influence of different levels of government in the UK. Locally there are parish, district, city and county councils, and nationally there is the UK government at Westminster and the devolved national administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. Further afield are the European Union (EU) institutions, primarily the European Parliament and the European Commission. The EU will leave an imprint on the UK for some time to come, despite the 2016 referendum result, and this is a good example of the need to keep an eye on quickly changing events. Finally, at a global level the United Nations strives to lead on world issues, such as the environment and poverty, and to hold the line between nations’ competing interests. The policies and legislation enacted and implemented at each of these levels affect us all, whether as individuals, workers or organisations. Activity 1 Remote events affecting the workplace Allow about 10 minutes Try to think of at least one example of how your workplace, or a workplace that you have known in the past, has been affected by what appears to be a remote event. What was its impact on your workplace? What type of event was it? Table 1 has two examples to get you started – if you can think of several more, even better! Table 1 Remote events affecting the workplace

Event	Impact on workplace	Type of event
UK smoking ban	More pleasant working environment; pubs and restaurants providing outdoor smoking areas	Legislation
Global recession	UK government austerity policies affecting local services such as libraries, community centres, waste collection, etc.	Economic

The specific examples that you provide are not as important as understanding the idea that there are many forces operating across the world that can affect people at a very personal level, not least in their working lives. The wider context beyond the individual operates at a number of important levels. Just beyond the individual level, the organisation and its structure will be most familiar to you; you looked at this in Week 1. Outside this lies the external context of customers/clients, competitors and suppliers; you will explore this in Weeks 3 and 4. This week, you are considering world trends, national and global economics, and legislative, technological and environmental developments. Being aware of this context will help your understanding of what is happening at the workplace and individual levels. You will examine this in more detail in the next section.

Figure 2 The interior of the Danish parliament.

There are many factors that operate in this wider context and they can be categorised in various ways in order to help your understanding of them. In fact, in Activity 1 you started to do exactly this by describing the ‘type of event’ in the final column of Table 1. ‘Legislation’ and ‘economic’ were suggested as descriptors of the first two examples and you may have used other words to describe your examples – this is fine. For the purposes of this section of the course, these factors are assigned to four main categories: political economic social technological. These four categories have been given the acronym ‘PEST’. These are not necessarily exclusive, as there may be large areas of overlap between them, meaning that it is sometimes difficult to disentangle them. For example, political decisions, often based on economic considerations, might have economic consequences. Having identified these four categories, they now need to be defined more closely so they can be visualised clearly. Political This is the way in which government, at all levels, acts to affect the governance and organisation of the economy. This includes deciding and implementing policy and enacting legislation to achieve particular outcomes. Some of the most important areas affected include fiscal policy (tax and spending), trade, health, education, infrastructure (roads and transport, for example), immigration and labour regulation. Economic This embraces the external economic influences affecting businesses and individuals, including economic growth and stability, exchange rates, inflation and interest rates, the availability of credit, the price of resources, and employment policy. Already you may be able to see overlaps with the ‘political’ dimension above. Social This covers factors such as culture, population growth, age distribution, gender, ethnic and religious diversity, education and health. It also encompasses the broader way in which society is organised and the attitudes that prevail within it, which, in turn, will be affected by some of the individual factors mentioned above. Technological This relates both to technological change itself, and to how this is achieved and delivered. It, therefore, includes factors such as research and development, innovation, government technology policy, education, information and communications technology, and transport. It also encompasses the consequences of these for the economy and those within it. Activity 2 Identifying the impact of PEST factors Allow about 10 minutes Think of an example from each of these four areas – political, economic, social and technological – that demonstrates how developments in these areas can affect organisations and people at a local level. Table 2 Identifying examples and impact of PEST factors

Category	Examples	Impact
Political
Economic
Social
Technological

The following examples illustrate the general principles under consideration. Table 3 Examples of PEST factors and their impact

Category	Examples	Impact
Political	UK government decision to allow private organisations to bid for public contracts	Fewer people employed in the public sector with implications for working conditions
Economic	Global economic recession in 2008	Widespread loss of employment for many in finance, construction and other industries
Social	Widespread availability of the contraceptive pill in the late 1960s	Women began to assert greater control over their lives and demand equal rights with men
Technological	Development of communication technologies and the internet in 1990s	Many workers are able to work remotely rather than at their employer’s premises

The examples you selected will probably be different from these. They should indicate how the wider context in which an organisation operates contains factors that will have day-to-day implications for how it functions and for the people who work within it. You have now used PEST analysis as a way of understanding the impact of external factors on the business environment and can move on to using this technique to help you analyse your own situation.

Figure 3 An infographic depicting the four letters of the acronym ‘PEST’, where ‘P’ is for ‘political factors’, ‘E’ is for ‘economic factors’, ‘S’ is for ‘social factors’ and ‘T’ is for ‘technological factors’.

In this section, you will learn how to use a PEST analysis to investigate and analyse the external context in which your organisation is located. As you have discovered, PEST analysis is a common method of identifying the external factors most likely to affect a business or an organisation. When these have been identified, they can be assessed in order to establish their likely impact. There are three steps involved in this process: You will need to identify the factors that will have the most impact on your organisation. This will involve research using various sources of information depending on the exact nature of your organisation. Listen to Rebecca and Charlie from Gradconsult explain different sources of information you can use to research your sector including social media and conferences organised by sector associations. REBECCA There are a number of strategies that you can use to find out about a sector or about an organisation. And obviously websites are the first place that everybody goes. But I would suggest that that is a relatively shallow piece of research. And the vast majority of people now will check a website or websites and be able to regurgitate the same amount of information from having done that. What really shines out are those people who can go a little bit further and a little bit deeper into the sector. Certainly, one of the easiest things to do is to follow different organisations and different businesses who are prominent within that sector on social media. Follow them on Twitter, follow them on LinkedIn, join in any LinkedIn groups that you can that are appropriate to that sector, and get involved in the conversations. Understand what professionals in that sector are talking about. Read the articles that they’re sharing. Those are the people that are in the sector that you’re aspiring to. And you will get a much deeper and much more relevant and recent view of the sector by getting involved in those social-media forums CHARLIE You can research a sector in many different ways. Start by doing desktop research. You can get an awful lot of information just by doing a few searches. Have a look and read through industry-related articles and magazines. One of my favourite things to do is go down to the British Library, for example, and take out a book that tells me a bit more information about that sector. If you want to broaden your knowledge of a sector that you’re already working in – so, you’re a career developer – then you really have to volunteer to go to as many different events that will help expand your knowledge of that sector. So there’s many different conferences or forums you could go to that are not just about what your business does or the business that you’re working in does, but what the wider sector does. There’s often professional associations you can go to to get experience of what’s going on – the sector-wide issues that are currently hot topics and challenges for that particular sector.

There are some common sources you might want to check.Company annual reports frequently include a section scanning the horizon for future possibilities.Trade and professional magazines and websites will contain research and comment on the wider context within which their members operate.Newspapers such as The Times, The Guardian and The Financial Times have large sections devoted to industrial and commercial news and comment. You can search these online alongside other authorities such as the BBC.The British Library puts together industry guides providing industrial overviews and details of sources of information on markets, competition and latest development.LinkedIn is not just a collection of individuals – it also has many industrial and professional groups inviting comments and sharing insights. Following individuals or organisations on social media, such as Twitter, can sometimes also provide helpful insights.Many professionals and insiders write blogs to inform others, and to encourage discussion and collaboration.Visiting trade shows and conferences will bring you into contact with professionals speaking about major issues relating to a particular trade or industry. You will need to analyse what these factors mean in terms of their impact or potential impact. This involves realistically assessing how likely, or otherwise, it is that these factors will affect your organisation or sector, and whether this effect is likely to be helpful or not. The final step is to prioritise these factors in terms of their relative importance to your organisation or sector so that you know which to consider or tackle first.

Listed below is a set of questions that you can use to conduct your PEST analysis and to start you thinking about the appropriate areas to cover within this. You will notice that the questions are what might be described as ‘broad-brush’ questions that could be applied to any sector or organisation. As you become more familiar with the PEST analysis technique, you will probably develop a more sophisticated range of questions more relevant to your sector. However, the following questions will serve to get you started and you may be able to think of others as you proceed. PoliticalWhat governmental policies and actions are likely to affect my organisation or sector?What changes are likely in the political priorities of government at regional, national and European levels?How are these changes likely to affect the general climate in which my organisation operates? EconomicAre there any economic trends or indicators that are favourable towards my organisation or sector?Are there any clouds on the economic horizon that might affect my organisation or sector?How volatile is the national, European or global economy? SocialWhat key influences are affecting people’s attitudes and behaviour in ways that might affect my organisation or sector?Are there trends discernible in particular groups that have implications for my organisation or sector?What demographic changes within key populations might have implications for my organisation or sector? TechnologicalWhat emerging technologies might have implications for my organisation or sector?Which technologies are becoming redundant, the decline of which might pose a threat to my organisation or sector?Will any changing technologies have an impact on political or economic events with implications for my organisation or sector? Alongside these key questions – and others that you might think of – is the important issue of timescale. You should begin with the short term, i.e. the next year or so, and then look further ahead. Bear in mind that certain factors, particularly political and economic events, can be very volatile and change very quickly. For example, how many people or organisations can claim to have foreseen the economic crash of 2008 and to have planned appropriately for it? Activity 3 Conducting a PEST analysis Allow about 15 minutes Think about your workplace, organisation or sector; if you are not currently working, think about previous employment or a job that you are aiming for. The broader your perspective, the more likely you are to take into account the range of factors that you have been considering in this section. Try to identify at least one factor within each of the four PEST dimensions and, if possible, to consider the two time frames displayed. A good place to start is to review the sources of information listed in Section 3 or to ask people that you work with for their ideas. Table 4 Conducting a PEST analysis on your organisation

Category	Short term (1–2 years)	Longer term (3–5 years)
Political
Economic
Social
Technological

You have now done a PEST analysis – congratulations! Bear in mind that the object of this activity is to start you thinking about the PEST dimensions, and the factors within them, and to provide you with some practice in using this method of analysis. You now have a powerful tool that you can use to improve your understanding of your sector. A PEST analysis is not a once-and-for-all exercise. It needs to be done regularly as factors within the different categories may change, often quite swiftly. Moreover, you need to ensure that your research involves appropriate and varied sources so that you can keep up with possible changes. Think about the resources you used this time and whether you would use them in the future or would try different ones. The analysis provides you with a meaningful baseline, however, for considering your sector and your organisation’s place within it. PEST analysis will help you to think in a structured way about factors that may seem remote, but which can have a significant impact on your working life.

Figure 4 A group of staff members where one is writing on a whiteboard.

The wider factors that you have identified by scrutinising the ‘big picture’ will influence events within your organisation or workplace in different ways. These will depend upon the capacity and willingness of the organisation or workplace to respond in a meaningful and appropriate way. No two organisations are the same and consequently responses will vary. What influences these variations? Any organisation possesses resources and it is these that will dictate the extent to which it can respond to the kind of external influences that you identified in the PEST analysis. You may have heard the term ‘resources’ used in many different contexts, for example human resources, energy resources and natural resources. This course will use it to mean all of these in line with the definition provided by Oxford Dictionaries, that is a ‘stock or supply of money, materials, staff, and other assets that can be drawn on by a person or organization in order to function effectively’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). These can differentiated further between tangible resources and intangible resources. Tangible resources: these can be observed and measured, and include staff (human resources), premises, equipment, stocks, finances and so on. Intangible resources: these cannot be observed or measured so easily, although they may be equally important, and include experience, know-how, leadership, structures, communication, reputation, intellectual property and so on. Having a clear understanding of these resources will help you to assess whether or not your organisation has the capacity to deal with the factors identified by the PEST analysis; this is called a resource analysis.

As with the PEST analysis you carried out in Activity 3, you will need to do some research into your organisation to assess the extent of its resources. This could involve: looking at your organisation’s website to find out how your organisation describes itself to the outside world checking its latest reports for details of its assets and financial situation. If these are not available on a company’s own website, they might be accessible from Companies House talking to other staff with a better knowledge of some of these areas, for example human resources employees will know about the latest recruitment initiatives and any particular skills shortages. Finally, don’t underestimate your own experience, and that of colleagues, of working for the organisation. What does this tell you about some of its intangible resources, such as how staff communicate with each other and how they are led and managed? Some questions that you might want to ask include: Physical resourcesAre buildings, plant and machinery regularly maintained?Is there a regular investment plan for new resources to replace outdated ones? Financial resourcesWhat do the organisation’s accounts tell you about its financial soundness?Are there any plans to raise finance for further investment?Who makes important financial decisions and are these made at the appropriate level? Human resourcesDoes the organisation have any skills shortages and how are these addressed?Do staff stay with the organisation for long or is there a high turnover?How are staff trained and how is their development recognised?Can staff make constructive suggestions for change and how are their concerns addressed? Intangible resourcesIs the culture of the organisation open and rewarding, or closed and competitive?How do staff communicate with each other and is this positive and supportive?What do customers/clients think of the organisation; does it have a strong reputation? Table 5 is an example of a template you could use to conduct a basic audit or analysis of your organisation by rating a selection of its resources on a scale of 1 to 10. Table 5 Conducting a resource analysis on your organisation

Resource	1–2Very poor	3–4Needs attention	5–6About average	7–8Performs well	9–10As good as it gets
PhysicalState of buildingsAge of plant/machineryPlan for investment
FinancialSoundness of accountsPlans for investmentAppropriate financial decision making
Human resourcesSkills shortagesStaff turnoverStaff training and development
Intangible resourcesOrganisational cultureStaff communicationOrganisational reputation

An analysis like this should begin to provide you with a picture of your organisation and how well prepared it is, in terms of its basic resources, to deal with the kinds of factor that you identified in the PEST analysis. The list of resources provided in the example is fairly basic and you could probably think of others to add to it. However, a basic analysis like this would help you to see the underlying principles rather than to produce a completely comprehensive analysis. You have now learned of two ways in which to analyse your organisation. They will have provided you with a sense of the factors caused by events in the wider world that might affect your organisation – and ultimately you as part of this – and its capacity to respond appropriately to these. You should also feel confident that you could do these analyses at a more detailed level with more practice and time.

Well done – you have reached the end of Week 2 and can now take the weekly quiz to test your understanding. Week 2 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new tab or window (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link). This week you looked at the wider factors that might affect an organisation and how it operates. You considered how these factors are crucial in setting the context within which organisations function, and you defined these using the acronym PEST (political, economic, social and technological). You have also been introduced to some of the resources available to help you discover more about this wider context and have conducted a PEST analysis on your own organisation. Following this, you started to identify the resources possessed by your organisation and whether these might be appropriate in relation to the factors revealed by the PEST analysis. You should now feel that you can: describe how a broad range of external factors – political, economic, social and technological – affect the way organisations operate understand what a PEST analysis is and how it can help you to understand your sector use a PEST analysis to identify the specific factors that might impact on your organisation identify the resources your organisation possesses to deal with these challenges. Next week you will look at your organisation’s more immediate business context in order to reveal a more detailed picture of the sector and its important elements. You can now go to Week 3. Week 3: What else do you need to know about your sector? Last week you explored the external environment to your organisation. The major national and global influences that might affect it and its prospects were separated into four broad factors – political, economic, social and technological. On the basis of this, you conducted a short PEST analysis of these factors in relation to your own organisation and then investigated the resources that you considered your organisation possesses to meet their challenges. You should now have a clear sense of the range of external influences that might have an impact on your organisation. This week you will examine your organisation’s more immediate business context in order to reveal a more detailed picture of the sector and its important elements. Understanding this will help you to appreciate more fully the pressures that affect your organisation and why it operates in the way it does, including its strengths and weaknesses. This will help you to see your own position more clearly and to think more sensibly about your future options. Lynne Johnson introduces Week 3 in the video below. LYNNE JOHNSON Welcome to Week 3. Last week, you considered the external influences that could impact on your organisation in the future. You used a PEST analysis to think about some of the factors which might influence this, such as available resources and challenges. This week, you’ll be thinking about the different elements that can affect things within the sector. You’ll be looking at relationships with customers, clients, competitors and suppliers and thinking about the ways these relationships can affect how organisations operate. You’ll also explore the concept of customer satisfaction, describe what is meant by unique selling point, or USP, and investigate supply chains. You’ll assess these elements by using something called a SWOT analysis, which will help you to consider the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats available to you.

As the week progresses, use your notebook or the Toolkit to jot down your thoughts and responses to the activities. By the end of this week, you will be able to: identify how the immediate business context – consisting of customers, competitors and suppliers – affects how organisations operate outline what is meant by ‘customer satisfaction’ and how this might be assessed outline the strategic importance to an organisation of understanding its competitors describe what is meant by a USP (unique selling point) and apply this concept to your own organisation identify why organisations need to engage with their supply chain and whom this might involve.

Figure 1 A busy marketplace.

No organisation exists within a vacuum with the luxury of being able to operate without regard for its immediate business environment. For example, a supermarket that pays no attention to the prices being charged by a competitor a mile away will not thrive for very long. Similarly, a manufacturing company that continues to purchase its raw materials from a supplier without comparing price and quality with those from another source might find that its profit margins and reputation suffer as a result. Organisations, therefore, have to pay close attention to a range of immediate business realities or they risk failure. This is also true of both public and private sector organisations, although the former might be more protected from the worst effects of the market by the backing of their government. In the UK, many public sector functions are carried out by private contractors, and fulfilling a contract while making a profit is crucial if they are not to lose out in the next bidding cycle. There are three main areas that organisations need to constantly appraise when assessing their relative business health in the marketplace. Customers: knowing its customers is vital to an organisation’s welfare, and getting close to customers, finding out what they want and generating new markets is crucial. Competitors: businesses are always seeking to gain a competitive edge over their rivals and understanding their practices and operations is fundamental to this. Suppliers: all organisations rely on obtaining resources at a reasonable price, so using these effectively, and getting the right supply chain, are important elements in this process. The following short activity will help you to think about these different elements in relation to your own organisation. Activity 1 Identifying customers, competitors and suppliers Allow about 10 minutes Consider your own organisation, or perhaps a previous employer or one that you would like to work for, and think about the three elements – customers, competitors and suppliers. Try to identify as many different examples of each and list them in the table below. A couple of examples – a familiar name and an example of a small local business – have been provided to start you off. Table 1 Identifying customers, competitors and suppliers

Organisation	Customers	Competitors	Suppliers
Tesco(supermarket)	Local residentsLocal businesses	Sainsbury’sAsdaMorrisonsLidlAldi	FarmsFood manufacturersClothing manufacturersFurnishersService providers – plumbers, electricians, etc.
John Smith (solicitors)	Local residentsLocal businesses	Other local law practicesLarger regional law practices	Stationery suppliersIT suppliersFurniture suppliersCaterers

You might be surprised by the range of people and organisations with which an individual business – even a small one – typically engages. This might make you think about how an organisation manages its relationships with its customers, competitors and suppliers, and how it maintains its reputation. Having identified these three important elements, you will now examine each in turn, beginning with customers.

Figure 2 A person buying goods from a trader in a shop.

Every organisation exists to serve the needs of its customers; there are no exceptions to this rule, even though the words used to describe ‘customers’ might vary from organisation to organisation. Take the example of Tesco used in Activity 1. In this case, it is very simple: the supermarket exists to sell goods – principally food, groceries and clothes – to its customers, who are ordinary people buying basic goods for themselves and their families. Tesco will be judged on its success in terms of its volume of sales and what this represents in terms of profit. By taking a very different example, such as a hospital, then you can see that the situation is more complex. Certainly, a hospital exists to meet the needs of its customers, or more accurately its patients, but how is success judged? Tesco might define success as having a customer return to shop again at the same store, but a return visit to a hospital might indicate that the treatment was not effective and that the patient’s needs were not fully met. A more sophisticated measure is needed in this situation; one that takes into account longer-term patient health outcomes. In fact, although these two examples are drawn from almost opposite extremes, there are many variations on this theme. This means that you need to think carefully about the customer and their relationship with the provider (for example Tesco, the hospital, etc.) before deciding what constitutes a successful relationship between them. The term ‘customer satisfaction’ is also commonly used to illustrate whether or not such a relationship is positive, but, once again, you need to ensure that the appropriate variables are examined. Bear in mind that customers are not simply individuals, but could be other businesses or even public bodies such as councils or the government. Activity 2 Indicators of customer satisfaction Allow about 15 minutes The following table contains the names of three very different organisations, each of which aims to meet the needs of its ‘customers’. In each case, list what you think might indicate healthy levels of customer satisfaction. There is also a box where you can insert an alternative word to ‘customer’ if you think this is more appropriate. Table 2 Assessing customer satisfaction

Organisation	Customer satisfaction	Alternative to ‘customer’
Great Western Railway
BBC
Apple

The suggested answers below are not intended to be definitive; you may have come up with alternative thoughts. Once again, it is the principle that is important here. Thinking about the nature of the relationship between a provider and its ‘customers’ is a crucial first step in identifying what constitutes success in meeting customer needs and customer satisfaction. Table 3 Suggested measures of customer satisfaction

Organisation	Customer satisfaction	Alternative to ‘customer’
Great Western Railway	Ticket salesPassengers making repeat journeysReduced levels of car use and air travelGrowing customer base	PassengersTravellers
BBC	Viewing and listening figuresOpinions of licence payersComparative figures for other TV and radio channelsSales of DVDs and downloadsGrowing customer base	ViewersListeners
Apple	Sales figuresComparative sales for rival productsRepeat buyers of Apple productsGrowing customer base	Users

How then, should an organisation measure its success in meeting customer needs, and how does it truly find out what they think? As you can see from Activity 2, simple figures – for passenger miles, viewers, sales, etc. – tell only some of the story, and any organisation wanting to engage seriously with its customers will carry out market research. Market research can take various forms, ranging from a short online survey seeking numerical ratings of a number of selected factors to full-blown qualitative research, which typically involves discussion groups and in-depth interviews on the organisation, its services and products. Activity 3 is designed to help you find out what your organisation – or one that you have previously worked for or would like to work for – does to meet its customers’ needs and what else it might do to improve its performance in this respect. Activity 3 Measuring customer satisfaction Allow about 15 minutes The following are a few common methods that organisations use to measure and evaluate their success: analysis of sales figures quantitative market research (e.g. online surveys) that analyse data qualitative market research (e.g. discussion groups, interviews) that analyse people’s opinions and views compliments and complaints mystery shopper or hidden customer monitoring social media comments. Which of these methods does your organisation use regularly? Which methods don’t they use but perhaps if they did, it would help them to improve customer satisfaction? You might be able to find out the answers to these questions by, for example, talking to your manager or by looking on the organisation’s website. Record the results of your investigations in your notebook or the Notes tool in the Toolkit. Also make a mental note to follow up at least one method that you currently know little about. You may have experience of other methods, in which case make a note of these, too. All these methods allow an organisation to measure its effectiveness in meeting customer needs. Being aware of these, and their advantages and disadvantages, can help you to understand the business realities that affect the area in which you work. An organisation’s customers – the people that it exists to serve or to whom it sells products or services – are crucial to its success. Ignoring customers and what they think is the first step to business disaster, and many organisations spend considerable sums of money on ensuring that they keep up to date with customer views and opinions. Think about former retail high street giants such as Woolworths, Comet, Littlewoods and Blockbuster – what do you think contributed to the demise of these companies? Such organisations, which had been household names for many years, can fall foul of taking both their customers and their loyalty for granted, and the consequences can be severe. Now fallen by the wayside, all these businesses would, at some point, have felt secure in their reputations and business health. Although a key element in their disappearance was their failure to respond to changes in consumer attitudes and behaviour, another factor could have been the level of competition that they faced. The reasons for an organisation’s collapse can be complex, however. Perhaps you can think of other reasons why such organisations disappeared including being overtaken by, for example, technological or social changes. You will move on to examine competitors and the market place in the next section.

Figure 3 Female athletes running in a race.

In a market economy, such as exists in the UK, there are very few areas of life that are not subject to some form of competition. As noted earlier, even in the public sector services may be delivered by private contractors, bidding competitively against other similar organisations. It is an area that many organisations ignore, however, as it can be uncomfortable to face the reality of competition. The most successful businesses embrace the concept of competition and actively seek out information about their competitors. There are good reasons for this. The existence of competition demonstrates that there is a market for the product or service being sold and that others are surviving in this marketplace. Although no one really likes competition, this is reassuring, and studying the methods, practices, mistakes and false steps of competitors can helpfully reveal the strengths and weaknesses of your own organisation. Strong competition can encourage an organisation to strive harder to be successful and to seek new ways to develop its products, services and potential markets. This is good for the business and also good for the customer, who will benefit from innovation and change. Activity 4 Responding to competition Allow about 15 minutes The following short case study should help you to think about the value of assessing the level of competition in your particular field. In the High Street of Anytown, there are two greengrocers about half a mile apart. Both businesses, Johnson’s and Robinson’s, are traditional family-run outlets catering for the needs of people living in the local area, many of whom have shopped with them for a long time. Almost exactly halfway between them a supermarket chain, PriceCut, has taken advantage of land becoming available and opened a new store with a fresh fruit and vegetable department. Owing to economies of scale, its prices are lower than either Johnson’s or Robinson’s, and both shops begin to notice their takings decreasing. Johnson’s decides that it should fight fire with fire. It lowers its prices and reduces its range of produce in order to compete on what it considers are basic purchases: onions, potatoes, carrots, apples, etc. This strategy seems to work as some customers start to return and shop there. Robinson’s takes a deep breath and carries out some market research to find out what its customers think of PriceCut. It asks them what might encourage those who have started shopping at PriceCut to return, and what might help them to develop new customers. Robinson’s discovers that older customers like the friendliness of its shop and that new customers might be tempted in if they were to offer local and organic produce, acting as a kind of neighbourhood farmers’ market. Which of these businesses is more likely to succeed, and which to fail, in the face of the new competition from PriceCut? There is no right answer to this simplified case study but it is worth bearing in mind a few thoughts. Johnson’s has chosen to compete on price, but you might question such a strategy when supermarkets are always likely to be able to exercise their superior buying power, cut their prices and outlast the competition. In addition, reducing the range of produce sold may backfire on Johnson’s as there is evidence that people prefer to buy all their goods in one store rather than have to make several separate trips (even though they might have to pay more for some goods). Robinson’s, by contrast, appears to have identified some key facts about its customers. Firstly, they seem to value individual face-to-face contact, which is difficult to replicate in a large supermarket. Secondly, there seems to be an untapped market for local and organic produce, for which customers might be happy to pay more. PriceCut would find it difficult to compete in these areas and will also, as part of a large chain, be constrained by the corporate philosophy of ‘pile-it-high and sell-it-cheap’. Activity 4 demonstrates, through the simple case study, that understanding the competition can be a very helpful method of deciding on strategy. In the case of Robinson’s, the emergence of PriceCut as a competitor forced them to think about what they were offering to their customers and to find out whether there were other avenues that they might profitably explore. Essentially, what Robinson’s was doing was looking at the competition to assess its own strategy and, in doing so, identifying and exploiting its unique selling point. You will look at this in more detail in the next section. Oxford Dictionaries defines unique selling point (commonly abbreviated to USP) as ‘a distinctive feature or characteristic of a particular product, used as a marketing tool to improve sales’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). This is something that a product or organisation possesses, marking it out from the competition and giving it an advantage, or a competitive edge, with customers. Activity 5 Examples of unique selling points Allow about 5 minutes Think of three successful products or organisations that you know about and identify their USP in each case. An example has been provided to give you a start. Table 4 Examples of unique selling points

Product	Unique selling point (USP)
Dyson Ballbarrow	Replacing the front wheel of a wheelbarrow with a ball to make it easier to operate

Most successful products or organisations have a USP of some kind, even if it is just a modification of an existing feature. Identifying and developing the USP of a product often requires investigation of products currently in the marketplace and the needs of customers, plus further investment in research and development before a product can be released. Identifying and developing the USP of a product or an organisation takes time and effort, and many large companies spend considerable sums of money – on research, development, testing, advertising, etc. – to ensure that their strategies are successful. Identifying the USP involves a number of important steps: Understanding what customers value in particular products or organisations. This will involve conducting market research to find out what customers think, including customers of competitor products or organisations. This will enable a list of key criteria to be drawn up to define what customers want and value. Ranking the organisation and its competitors using the key criteria identified in the first step. This requires some honesty and self-knowledge, but the ranking should be based on external data gained from market research so that the results are objective. Establishing, on the basis of the second step, the USP for the product or organisation. This might be something that the organisation is already doing or producing, or it could be a product or service that could be developed in the future. For example, in Activity 4, Robinson’s discovered that its existing USP was the individual service that it provided to customers, which it could exploit to differentiate themselves from PriceCut. It also found out, however, that there appeared to be a gap in the market for a shop selling local and organic produce, so it was able to develop this as a further USP. Activity 6 Identifying my organisation’s USP Allow about 10 minutes Think of your own organisation – or one in which you have worked or would like to work – and how it compares in the market with its competitors. Can you identify your organisation’s USP and those of its competitors? Look back at the results of Activity 1 to help you think of competitors. Can you use this knowledge to suggest a future direction for your organisation based on what you now know about its products and its competitors? Table 5 Identifying my organisation’s USP

Organisation	Unique selling point (USP)	Future direction?

This activity should have started you thinking about your organisation in the context of its competitors and to identify what makes it different – i.e. its USP. You should then be able to use this information to think ahead about how this advantage might be maintained or even strengthened. This section has enabled you to investigate your organisation’s USP, which provides it with a specific edge in the marketplace. The final piece in the jigsaw is an organisation’s supply chain, and you will look at this in the next section.

Figure 4 Several links in a chain.

Think of a factory making car parts, a bakery producing loaves of bread or even a hospital treating patients. None of them has everything on hand all the time to do its core business and, in at least two of the examples, the process of getting goods or services to the customer does not finish on the premises. You will now look at these examples in more detail. The factory turning out car parts will have to buy in various raw materials – metals, plastics, glass, etc. – plus the machinery and equipment required to fabricate the higher value parts its customers might want for their cars. The bakery, similarly, will have to obtain flour, salt, eggs, water, fillings such as fruit and meat, and other raw ingredients that can be used to create various baked products. Even the hospital relies upon supplies of many products to perform the various medical functions that it undertakes. These will include specialised machinery and equipment, beds and furnishings, food, drugs and medicines, uniforms and many other items – and that’s before considering things such as blood, serum and replacement body parts! What links all these examples, however, is that they all rely on supply chains – sequences of suppliers – to furnish them with the raw materials they need to function effectively. Oxford Dictionaries defines a supply chain as ‘the sequence of processes involved in the production and distribution of a commodity’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). Many supply chains will comprise a variety of organisations, each adding their particular element to the overall mix before the final products – whether these are car parts, bread and cakes, or even the good health of the population – are complete. Activity 7 Stages in the supply chain Allow about 10 minutes Consider the example of a child’s plastic football. Think about all the stages involved in its production, from raw materials to final sale, and list as many as possible below. The first and the last stages are provided for you. Stage 1 Oil extraction
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5
Stage 6
Stage 7
Stage 8
Stage 9 On sale in shop The answer below is not intended to be definitive, just an example. You might have identified more than nine stages – if so, well done. You may also have spotted that the transport necessary to move the plastic and, eventually, the ball from one place to the next are also important stages in the supply chain. Stage 1 Oil extraction Stage 2 Refining of oil Stage 3 Conversion of oil into plastic Stage 4 Transport to factory Stage 5 Moulding into ball at factory Stage 6 Transport to warehouse Stage 7 Storage in warehouse Stage 8 Transport to shop Stage 9 On sale in shop The supply chain is an important element in the operations of an organisation and paying attention to this will affect an organisation’s overall performance and well-being.

Have a look at the following statement: Customers are the most important people in the marketplace because they buy your products and services, and competitors, who can influence whether or not you actually have any customers, are key to understanding your sector. But suppliers merely provide an organisation with materials and services, so are arguably of less importance. What do you think – do you agree with this? Can you think of arguments you could raise against it? You might think of the following: Many of an organisation’s costs are locked up in its supply chain. We tend to think of an organisation’s immediate labour and production costs as being key to its well-being. If the supply chain is complex, however, substantial transport, labour, warehousing and other costs may be incurred by suppliers and passed on to the organisation higher up the chain. This means that it might be mutually beneficial for organisations in a particular supply chain to share information on costs and processes with the intention of reducing these to achieve the most cost-effective production possible. Examples of such collaboration include liaising with suppliers to reduce bottlenecks, using just-in-time techniques to smooth the flow of manufacturing, relocating factories and warehouses to reduce transport costs, and analysing transport and delivery routes to find economies. Ethical and transparent business practices are becoming more important, with consumers demanding to know more about how a particular product is produced and distributed, along with the human, environmental and other costs involved in doing so. As a result, many large organisations are incorporating codes of conduct and guidelines into their own cultures and systems, and are insisting that their suppliers do likewise. In these circumstances knowledge and understanding of the supply chain and the elements within it are essential. It is important to recognise that suppliers might also be customers for the final product. In the case of the plastic football in Activity 7, it is not ridiculous to speculate that the children of an oil worker who extracted the oil, later converted into plastic, might end up playing with a football produced from the same oil. An organisation therefore has a real self-interest in ensuring that it understands the nature of the businesses forming the supply chain. Building lasting relationships with these will enhance its reputation and its brand. Activity 8 Identifying my organisation’s supply chain Allow about 10 minutes Consider your organisation and the products or services it provides. Take one of these as an example and list the stages necessary for its production from raw materials through to its final sale, as with the example of the plastic football in Activity 7. You could talk to someone that you work with in order to generate ideas for this activity. Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 5

Stage 6

Stage 7

Stage 8

Stage 9 This is not necessarily a straightforward exercise, particularly if your organisation is involved in providing services rather than a product, so well done if you have persevered. Once again, grasping the principle behind Activities 7 and 8 is more important than the answers you provide. All organisations have supply chains of some kind and they are an important element in understanding your sector. Having a good knowledge of the supply chain allows you to show your current organisation that you have the motivation and commitment for more responsibility. It also helps you to identify where potential might exist for career progression elsewhere.

Well done – you have reached the end of Week 3 and can now take the weekly quiz to test your understanding. Week 3 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new tab or window (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link). This week you have looked at the immediate business context of an organisation and the ways in which that will affect its operations. You have considered how these factors – customers, competitors and suppliers – set the context within which an organisation functions. You have examined important concepts such as customer satisfaction, and how this might be measured, the unique selling point (USP) and the supply chain. You have learned how businesses ignore these areas at their peril and have also been able to apply these concepts to your own organisation, with benefits for both the organisation and yourself. You should now feel that you can: identify how the immediate business context – consisting of customers, competitors and suppliers – affects how organisations operate outline what is meant by ‘customer satisfaction’ and how this might be assessed outline the strategic importance to an organisation of understanding its competitors describe what is meant by a USP (unique selling point) and apply this concept to your own organisation identify why organisations need to engage with their supply chain and whom this might involve. Next week you will look at the background to your organisation and job, including the other structures and bodies that help to underpin and reinforce people’s employment. This will include professional and sector organisations, central and local government, and trade associations and trade unions. You can now go to Week 4. Week 4: Who else is involved in your sector? Last week you investigated your organisation’s immediate business context in order to gain a more detailed understanding of the sector and its important elements. You examined three main areas – customers, competitors and suppliers – in order to appreciate what influences your organisation and why it operates in the way it does. You were also introduced to concepts such as customer satisfaction, the unique selling point (USP) and the supply chain. Finally, you were able to apply some of these ideas to your own organisation and situation. This week you will be asked to consider the background to your organisation and job. This includes the other structures and bodies that help to underpin and reinforce people’s employment, including professional and sector organisations, national and local government, and trade associations and trade unions. As part of this, you will explore the role of professional and vocational qualifications and how these might help you to develop your career. Watch Lynne Johnson as she introduces Week 4. LYNNE JOHNSON Hello, and welcome to Week 4. Last week, you thought about customers, competitors and suppliers in order to gain a better understanding of some of the things influencing your organisation and the way it operates. You considered customer satisfaction, unique selling points and supply chain, and started to apply some of these ideas to your own situation. This week, you will explore the main functions of professional and sector bodies and see how qualifications in these areas can help your own career progression. You’ll also explore how national and local government are an important source of information, policy and support for organisations and how to use the services and resources provided by trade unions and trade associations to research your own sector in more detail, so that you can develop your own career.

As with previous weeks, you’ll need the Toolkit or your notebook to jot down your thoughts and responses to the activities. By the end of this week, you will be able to: describe the main functions of professional and sector bodies outline how professional or sector qualifications can help your career progression explain how national and local government are an important source of information, policy and support for organisations use the services and resources provided by trade unions and trade associations to research your sector in more detail.

Figure 1 A doctor and a young patient.

In Week 1, profession was defined as ‘a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification’. Think of doctors, accountants, architects, teachers, engineers and others. These are all regulated by law and typically by a professional body. Sometimes known as professional organisations, associations or even societies, professional bodies exist primarily to further the interests of that profession and of individuals within it, and to defend the public interest. They oversee professional practice and often have an important role in monitoring and maintaining professional standards, together with developing and awarding professional qualifications. They may also have an important regulatory role in making sure that professionals are doing their jobs properly and in investigating complaints against their members. Very often, membership of the appropriate professional body is necessary for an individual to practice in that field; a good example of this in the UK is the Law Society, to which all solicitors must belong before they can practice. Activity 1 Identifying professional bodies Allow about 5 minutes Think of as many professional bodies as you can from your own experience. You may already belong to one, know someone who does, or have been provided with professional services by a member. This happens every time you go to the doctor or dentist! See if you can come up with at least five. There are well over 200 professional bodies in the UK alone, covering most areas of employment or professional practice. Here are a few of the more commonly known ones:

Professional body	Professional body
Association of British Travel AgentsAssociation of MBAsAssociation of Taxation TechniciansBritish Horse Society Chartered Banker InstituteChartered Institute of JournalistsChartered Institute of LinguistsCollege of Teaching	Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and WalesInstitution of Chemical EngineersInstitution of Civil EngineersInstitution of Mechanical EngineersThe Law SocietyRoyal College of NursingRoyal College of General Practitioners

And here are a few possibly less well-known ones:

Professional body	Professional body
British Guild of Travel WritersInstitute of Asphalt TechnologyInstitute of Corrosion	Institute of GroundsmanshipInstitute of Tourist Guiding Royal British Society of Sculptors

Is your job regulated by a professional body? If so, this could be a good starting point for your research and could help you with the activities that occur later this week.

The overall functions of professional bodies vary widely according to how they are set up and organised, but the following list is fairly comprehensive: set and assess professional examinations provide support for continuing professional development (CPD) publish professional journals or magazines provide networks for professionals to meet and discuss their field of expertise issue a code of conduct to guide professional behaviour deal with complaints against professionals and implement disciplinary procedures represent their members in lobbying government about relevant legislation promote fairer access to the profession to people from all backgrounds provide careers support and opportunities for students, graduates and people already working in the profession. (Source: TotalProfessions.com, n.d.) If you look at this list closely, you should be able to identify a number of areas where a professional body might be useful to people who are not members of the profession but are interested in finding out more. Understanding more about a particular profession – how it is regulated, the qualifications required for entry and progression, the networks that exist and the support provided – can be hugely valuable to anyone thinking about entering that profession. Visit the Law Society’s website, the independent professional body for solicitors, to discover what is provided in addition to elements devoted to professional practice and policy. What do you notice about the range of topics covered? The range of topics is very extensive and include: events and training publications research and trends communities including women lawyers, ethnic minorities and lawyers with disabilities campaigns and consultations news including social media careers including how to become a solicitor for the public – advice including common legal issues and frequently asked questions. Activity 2 The uses of professional bodies Allow about 15 minutes Think about the various sections of the Law Society website listed above. If you were considering a career in law, how might some of these sections help you? Make some notes in the table below. Table 1 Possible uses of the Law Society website

Section of website	Possible uses
Careers
Campaigns and consultations
For the public
Events and training
Research and trends
Communities
Publications
News

The ideas listed below are not meant to be complete – you might well have thought of more. What they demonstrate, however, is that the Law Society can be a very important resource for anyone wanting to find out more about the legal profession, how it works and what its current concerns are. The same is also true of other professional bodies in other fields. Table 2 Suggested uses of Law Society website

Section of website	Possible uses
Careers	Advice on entering the professionQualifications requiredUseful tips
Campaigns and consultations	Insight into what is happening in the law currently and what matters to the profession
For the public	Insight into how the profession presents and explains itself at a public level
Events and training	Information about events that the public can attendInsight into how training can help with career progression Insight into areas of training popular with solicitors
Research and trends	Insight into legal issues and what is happening in the law generally
Communities	Helpful information for people who might be members of particular communities
Publications	Background reading on different areas of the law and research undertaken
News	Current issues in the lawThe legal profession’s response to issues of public interest

In addition to the many professional bodies, there are a number of sector skills councils and bodies set up by the government to support employers in developing apprenticeships, reducing skills gaps, and boosting the skills and learning of the workforce. There are 20 of these bodies, led by employers and overseen by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. They exist to plan for future skills needs in their industry, contribute to the development of national occupational standards, design and approve apprenticeship frameworks, and devise qualification strategies. Sector bodies cover 80 per cent of the UK workforce. Some examples of these are: ConstructionSkills – construction Creative Skillset – TV, film, radio, interactive media, animation, computer games, publishing, photo imaging, advertising, and fashion and textiles Financial Skills Partnership – finance, accountancy and financial services Skills for Health – health Skills for Justice – courts services, custodial care, forensic science, fire and rescue, police and law enforcement. You can find a full list of all 20 bodies on the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards website. Although these bodies are primarily set up to meet the needs of employers, many also see their role as being to publicise careers to the general public, educating them about the benefits of training and gaining skills and qualifications. Learning, training and qualifications are the focus of the next section.

Figure 2 Graduation day, with graduates in gowns and mortarboards.

In the previous section, qualifications were highlighted as being a significant area of activity for professional and sector bodies. Life would be very difficult without the existence of professional qualifications, i.e. any qualification that confers a right to practise, whether as a solicitor or as a carpenter. How would you be able to choose the right person to mend a burst pipe if there were no universally accepted plumbing qualifications? Of course, just having the right qualifications does not automatically mean that a professional is supremely competent at what they do. Professional qualifications, however, allow us to have some confidence that an individual has received training up to a level sufficient to indicate their competence. Understanding qualifications, and the training required to achieve these, is fundamental to understanding your sector. Take the example of a doctor. All doctors do a certain amount of core training, normally two years pre-clinical and three years clinical training during their first five-year degree course. They then follow a two-year foundation programme covering general medicine and surgery, but also more specialised fields such as anaesthetics, paediatrics or general practice. After this, they will probably opt for a particular field of medicine requiring further specialist training and the gaining of more qualifications over many years. There are also opportunities throughout a medical career to do continuing professional development in order to keep up to date with new techniques and advances. Those medical students at the start of their first degree will be expected to have some understanding of this progression and, while their plans may understandably be uncertain, they will be asked about these at interview. In other words, they will have to demonstrate an understanding of their sector before they begin. In the same way, it is important for you to understand the qualifications within your own sector and how these can shape your future progress and options. They might not be as difficult to achieve as those of a doctor, but they will almost certainly be as important. Activity 3 Identifying qualifications in my sector Allow about 10 minutes Think about your own sector, or one that you have previously worked in or would like to work in. Are there any professional or vocational qualifications that apply to this sector? Does obtaining these qualifications help you to progress within your sector or organisation? If you cannot think of an example in relation to your own sector, can you think of one in relation to another? Table 3 Identifying professional qualifications and progression in my sector

Sector	Job or profession	Required or desirable qualifications	Progression

There is no single specific answer to this as it will depend on the sector that you are involved in or are considering. The example below of a motor mechanic will give you an idea of a possible response. Table 4 Example of professional qualifications and progression

Sector	Job or profession	Required or desirable qualifications	Progression
Engineering	Motor mechanic	Institute of the Motor Industry Accreditation: Light Vehicle Maintenance and Repair	Service Maintenance Technician (2 years)Diagnostic Technician (3 years)Master Technician (5 years)

So, knowledge of the training and qualifications that apply to any particular field or sector can be fundamental to planning your future career path and may also indicate other routes for you to follow. For example, in the case of the motor mechanic in Activity 3, gaining these qualifications allows them, and their employer, to be listed on a professional register open to the public. There may also be opportunities to use these qualifications with appropriate experience to move into more senior management roles within the industry. There is, in fact, a national qualification framework in the UK (covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland) based on the Regulated Qualification Framework (RQF) and the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ). It has nine levels incorporating vocational qualifications such as NVQs and BTEC, and academic qualifications such as GCSEs, AS/A levels, degrees and postgraduate-level qualifications. To find out more about this framework, you should visit the GOV.UK website. Use this framework to identify your highest level of qualification but also the level of any vocational or professional qualification that you have. You may find that these are very different; it is not uncommon to have a level 6 vocational qualification but to be working towards a professional qualification at level 3. The national qualification framework will give you a good understanding of the range of qualifications available and how they match against each other. Of course, you also will need to find out more about the specific qualifications available in your sector and their level in the national structure but contacting the appropriate professional or sector skills body should be a useful first step in this process.

Figure 3 The Houses of Parliament in London.

Another important source of information about business and the economy is the government, both national and local. Several national government departments are responsible for supporting, advising and liaising with business and employers as well as implementing government policy decisions. Since July 2016, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has the primary authority in this area and describes its responsibilities as ‘developing and delivering a comprehensive industrial strategy and leading the government’s relationship with business’ (BEIS, 2016). It has a plan and set of priorities linked closely to that of the government, works with 47 agencies and public bodies, and is, therefore, a key agent in setting the context within which all UK businesses and employers operate. Visiting the BEIS website reveals much about this policy and implementation framework but also allows you to access BEIS research into different areas of the economy that might provide you with an insight into your particular sector or issues that affect it. BEIS is not the only government department, of course, and many others will have policy responsibilities for different areas of the UK economy. It is worth consulting these if you want to find out more about the legislation or policy that might affect your particular sector. Bear in mind, however, that a significant amount of responsibility for policy and implementation has been transferred to the regional administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so if you live in these areas you might need to widen your search appropriately. Activity 4 Identifying the responsibilities of government departments Allow about 10 minutes Table 5 lists possible areas that you might want to research about your sector. See if you can identify which government department would be best to consult in the first instance. A good place to start to find your way around government departments is the GOV.UK website . Table 5 Identifying the responsibilities of government departments

Area of research	Government department
Health and safety
Pensions
Taxation
Qualifications and training
Housing and local services
Culture and history
Secondary education
Higher education
Climate change
Law and justice
Roads and transport

Table 6 lists the main government departments with responsibility for the areas in question. It is worth noting that sometimes more than one department or agency will cover the same territory. Table 6 Suggested government departments and their areas of responsibility

Area of research	Government department
Health and safety	Department of Health (also Health and Safety Executive)
Pensions	Department for Work and Pensions
Taxation	Treasury (also HM Revenue and Customs)
Qualifications and training	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Housing and local services	Department for Communities and Local Government
Culture and history	Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Secondary education	Department for Education
Higher education	Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Climate change	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Law and justice	Ministry of Justice
Roads and transport	Department for Transport

Local government in the UK, consisting of unitary authorities, counties, districts and boroughs, is also a useful source of information about your sector. As this information will be relevant to your local area, this might actually be more immediately useful than the general overview provided by national government. Although many levels of local government are largely responsible for putting national government policy into practice, power has been transferred to them so that they retain some discretion about implementation and will make decisions based on local factors and context. Depending on whether such councils are single tier (for example Leicester City Council), upper tier (for example Leicestershire County Council) or lower tier (for example North West Leicestershire District Council), they will have different responsibilities for functions, including roads and transport, education, waste, police, fire and rescue, housing, strategic planning, education, libraries, social services and many others. In the context of understanding your sector, however, it is important to remember that such bodies will normally consult with local businesses and conduct research on the local economy before making major decisions. This information may be valuable to you when researching your sector and provide you with insights from a different and more local perspective. As an example, if you look at the business section of Leicester City Council’s website, as well as useful links to information about health and safety, business courses, trading standards, business rates and so on, you will find links to an initiative to provide a safe and family-friendly city centre, the Leicester Economic Plan, and support available for employers to develop apprenticeships. These give a useful insight into the business priorities of Leicester City Council and their possible impact on local businesses and organisations in the near future. Activity 5 Identifying support available from local councils Allow about 15 minutes Imagine that you work in a local catering business in Leicester that’s looking to expand its operations. Identify three links to pages on Leicester City Council’s website for local businesses that contain information that might be useful to you in thinking about how you might develop your business or attract more customers. List these in the table below. Table 7 Finding useful business links on Leicester City Council website

Link	Content	Value or interest

Table 8 contains possible pages that you might have identified. If you found others, then fine – there is no single right answer! Table 8 Suggested useful business links on Leicester City Council website

Link	Content	Value or interest
Connecting Leicester	A vision to create and provide a connected, safe and family-friendly city centre	Greater number of people visiting Leicester as families and wanting to eat good local food
Support for employers	Support and advice available to businesses in training staff through, for example, apprenticeships	Potential source of funding for investing in staff development
Apply for a licence or permit	Advice for businesses on the licensing and registration requirements required by law	Helps the business to comply with the law in relation to food/alcohol service and entertainment

Knowing about this support, advice and information can help a business, and the individuals working within it, to understand the priorities of their local council and to seize opportunities as they arise. All councils will provide services similar to those detailed on Leicester City Council’s website so are worth investigating in your local area. While government policies, at national and local levels, might seem remote from most people’s lives, they have a huge impact on the context within which organisations operate. Understanding more about these will help you to make sense of what is happening within the local and wider economy, and to anticipate developments. You can use this knowledge to consider how this might affect your career progression and opportunities.

Figure 4 A trade union protest, with the people holding banners and placards.

In this section you have considered the crucial part played by professional bodies, as well as national and local government, in setting the context within which people are employed and earn their living. These are very important agencies that in different ways plan and regulate how the economy functions. They also oversee the role of business and other organisations within this, and the working conditions that affect the lives of individuals, allowing them to progress and develop. There are other bodies that also play their part in this overall process. It is important for you to know about these, even though their impact on your life may be less obvious than the ones you have considered so far. These are trade unions and trade associations, which you will look at in turn.

Trade unions have been around for many years in the UK, having their origins in the early nineteenth century and growing stronger until they reached their peak membership in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, especially in the private sector, their influence has waned somewhat, but they still represent around 6.5 million workers and are particularly powerful in the public sector. Unions represent the interests of their members, who normally work in a particular industrial or business sector of the economy, and provide them with a collective voice in protecting wages and working conditions. Unions affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) range in size from those such as Unite, representing engineering, manufacturing, science, finance and media workers; and UNISON, representing local government, health and public service workers; to smaller ones such as the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Association of Stable Staff. Trade unions tend to be in the news when their members vote for industrial action during a dispute with employers. Their lower profile work in conducting economic and industrial research is less well-understood. Unions also provide financial, legal and health and safety advice to members, and play an important role in education. For example, Unite provides a range of online lifelong learning courses, including ICT, English for Speakers of Other Languages, basic English and Maths, and many specific courses aimed at union officials. In addition, their research department provides research briefings for members covering a range of topics and responds to government consultations on areas related to the interests of its membership. These various services will provide different benefits to you. The advice provided on aspects of working life, such as pensions and health and safety, can help you to improve your understanding of, and control over, your immediate working environment and that of your colleagues. At the same time, the lifelong learning courses will enable you to learn new skills important for developing your career, while the research briefings might help you to understand better the background to developments within your industry or sector. Obviously, all these services will only be open to you if you are a union member so the first step is to find out whether there is a union presence in your workplace and to decide whether or not to join. Activity 6 Identifying support available from trade unions Allow about 10 minutes If you are a union member, spend a few minutes looking at your union’s website to explore what services they provide by way of advice, education and research. Select three that you think will be useful to you in understanding your sector better and state why below. If you are not a union member, visit the TUC website to identify the union that would represent people in your organisation. You might even think about joining! Table 9 Identifying support available from trade unions

Area of union provision	Potential use to you in the future

Different trade unions provide a different range of services depending on their size and the membership they represent. They all represent an important voice in the economy, however, and can play an important part in helping you to understand your sector. The examples in Table 10 are taken from the Unite website mentioned earlier in this section. Table 10 Suggested support available from trade unions

Area of union provision	Potential use to you in the future
Policy statement on pensions	Understanding the importance of effective pensions provision and how this can be secured
Health and safety at work guide	Ensuring that you are safe and secure at work and that you understand your rights in respect of health and safety
Responses to government consultations	Understanding how unions play a part in ensuring that the UK government takes into account the views of union members

Trade associations – sometimes called trade bodies and employers’ associations – are organisations funded by businesses operating within a specific industry. Their primary focus is to promote their specific industry and its views to government, other legislative bodies and the general public, to provide support to their member companies, and to foster collaboration between their members with the broader interests of the industry in mind. Their main activities centre on public relations and advertising, but they are also involved in lobbying, education, publishing, running conferences, networking and charitable events, and providing education. In the UK, there are many trade bodies and associations and you may sometimes see their representatives being interviewed in the media. Some of the best-known UK trade associations include: Association of British Insurers Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry British Bankers Association National Federation of Builders Oil and Gas UK. As with trade unions, these organisations provide a wide range of services to their members. For example, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has over 150 members who are ‘the large majority of pharmaceutical companies in the UK … both large and small companies that research and develop prescription medicines’ (ABPI, 2016). The ABPI website lists the ways in which the association works with, and on behalf of, its members. As the pharmaceutical industry is research based, the ABPI supports its members by contributing to debates and consultations on areas that include drug safety, animals and research, manufacturing safety, electronic health and others. It works closely with the UK government and the NHS on drugs value, pricing and access. The ABPI provides a significant amount of careers information for anyone interested in a career in the pharmaceutical industry. It also oversees a patient organisation forum to ensure that the views of organisations that engage with patients using drugs (such as the Teenage Cancer Trust, the Epilepsy Society and the Liver Trust) are taken into account. Finally, it produces information for schools on the pharmaceutical industry and provides a publications library that lists reviews, posters, guidelines and industry information. For anyone working in the pharmaceutical industry and seeking progression within it, this is a massive resource providing insights into the industry, reflections on the past, thoughts about the future and, through membership, contacts for networking purposes. The ABPI is just one example of a trade association and many others will provide similar services and benefits. The Trade Association Forum website lists over 100 trade associations with a searchable directory of its members. If you are not sure whether your organisation belongs to a trade association or which trade association this might be, visiting this site would be a good starting point. Activity 7 Identifying support available from trade associations Allow about 10 minutes Find out which trade association your organisation belongs to. Investigate the range of services it provides and pick three that you think might help you to understand your sector better. Enter them into Table 11 and state why you think they can help you. If your organisation does not belong to a trade association, or you don’t know which one it belongs to, visit the Trade Association Forum website to identify the association most appropriate to your industry. Table 11 Identifying support available from trade associations

Service provided by trade association	Potential use to you in the future

Trade associations perform an important function in the economy by bringing different organisations together in a collaborative way, providing them with a voice to represent their interests, and by representing the industry to people outside the industry. By using their research and information, you can gain significant insights into your sector. The examples in Table 12 are taken from the ABPI website mentioned earlier in this section. Table 12 Suggested support available from trade associations

Service provided by trade association	Potential use to you in the future
Knowledge hub	Key facts and figures about the pharmaceutical industry providing an insight into its influence and activities
Education and skills	Showing how member companies interact with educational institutions in order to develop the skills and expertise of their staff
Corporate responsibility	Demonstrating how member companies can operate in an ethically responsible way

Trade unions and trade associations, therefore, although they might not be uppermost in your mind when considering how to find out about your sector, represent a very important source of information, advice and support. Both types of organisation have a very specific perspective on the employment world and will approach it from this particular standpoint; so bear this in mind when you research their resources. Now all that is left for you to complete this week is the first badge quiz.

It’s time to complete the Week 4 badged quiz. It is similar to previous quizzes, but this time instead of answering five questions there will be fifteen. Week 4 compulsory badge quiz Remember, this quiz counts towards your badge. If you’re not successful the first time, you can attempt the quiz again in 24 hours. Open the quiz in a new tab or window (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link). This week you have investigated some of the background to your organisation and job. By looking at the other structures and bodies that surround and underpin the employment world – professional and sector organisations, national and local government, and trade associations and trade unions – you have been able to access rich sources of information, advice and contacts to help you develop your understanding of your sector. In addition, you have considered the role of professional and vocational qualifications in supporting career entry and development. You should now feel that you can: describe the main functions of professional and sector bodies outline how professional or sector qualifications can help your career progression explain how national and local government are an important source of information, policy and support for organisations use the services and resources provided by trade unions and trade associations to research your sector in more detail. Next week you will look at professional networking and how to make the most of your contacts so that they become active networks of support for your career goals You are now half way through the course. The Open University would really appreciate your feedback and suggestions for future improvement in our optional end-of-course survey, which you will also have an opportunity to complete at the end of Week 8. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others. You can now go to Week 5. Week 5: Professional networking First of all, congratulations for getting to the second half of this course – you have done well to reach this stage! Over the first four weeks of the course, you have investigated your sector from several perspectives and identified how to research it and access information, advice and support in doing so. You are now halfway through this process and should understand that the more you know about your particular job in its wider business, industrial and economic context, the better prepared you are for making changes and furthering your career. This week, you will be looking at professional networking and considering the practical steps that you can take to make the most of the contacts that you establish so that they become active networks of support for your career goals. Watch Lynne Johnson as she introduces Week 5. LYNNE JOHNSON Welcome to Week 5. And well done for reaching the second half of the course. So far, you’ve explored your sector from a number of perspectives and know that the more you understand about your particular job and its wider business, industrial and economic context, the better prepared you are for making changes and furthering your career. This week, you will be considering networks and networking, identifying the networks that you already have around you, and exploring how networking can help you understand your sector better. You’ll find out what could help to make your networking more effective, including the importance of establishing a good relationship, and consider good networking practice. You’ll also learn the increasingly important area of managing your online profile and understand how best to use professional networking sites effectively.

As you have done in previous weeks, use your notebook or the Toolkit to jot down your thoughts and responses to the activities. By the end of this week, you will be able to: define networks and networking, identify the networks that you already have around you and how networking can help you understand your sector better describe what can help to make your networking more effective, including the importance of establishing a good relationship explain good networking practice, including preparation and follow-up, the ability to open conversations and the elevator pitch outline the importance of managing your online profile and explain how to use professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, productively.

Figure 1 A map of the London Underground.

When we talk about a network, what do we mean? It’s easy when referring to physical things – such as computers – that are connected and might communicate with each other, but in this context we are talking about people. Which of the following would you consider to be a network? A department in a company A five-a-side football team A reading group A group of conference delegates A family A research group in a university Oxford Dictionaries defines a network simply as ‘a group or system of interconnected people or things’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). So, by this definition, all the above are networks of some kind. This definition neatly reflects the sense of a network as a group of people who are connected in some way. Networks are nothing new and, in essence, have existed almost since people could communicate. All human networks are basically social networks; think about the role of families, tribes and churches, and later, of guilds, clubs, societies, etc. It is only more recently that we have begun to identify their uses for business, career and personal development. Activity 1 Mapping your network Allow about 5 minutes Create a map of the various contexts in which you meet and interact with groups of people: work, social, interests, family, academic, etc. Try to be as specific as possible; there may be more than one group in your workplace, for example. The Toolkit has a Mapping your network tool to help you with this activity. Alternatively, you can draw your network in your notebook if you prefer.

Figure 2 Your network A mind map, with a box titled ‘You’ in the centre, and arrows pointing outwards towards eight blank boxes.

How did you get on? Hopefully, you will have identified a reasonable number of these and your diagram might look something like the one below. You might even have had to add more boxes!

Figure 3 Suggested network A mind map, with a box titled ‘You’ in the centre, and arrows pointing outwards towards eight titled boxes. From left to right: ‘Work: team colleagues’, ‘Family’, ‘School/college friends’, ‘Work: other teams’, ‘Shared interest groups’, ‘Social networks’, ‘Club members’, and ‘Sports teams’.

When you start to think about this, you will probably find that you already belong to more networks than you might have thought. Not all of these will be useful for work or career purposes, however, but you may not know this until you begin to look at them more closely.

All the networks you identified in Section 1 also have the potential to be useful in finding out about your sector. This is captured in a further definition of a network, from the same source, as ‘a group of people who exchange information and contacts for professional or social purposes’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). The kind of network that you will be considering in this section must have a purpose, and that purpose is one that you must define. Networks can be used for many different purposes in developing your career, for example: to find out more about what a particular job or career involves on a day-to-day basis to find out about how someone’s career has developed over time to receive early notice about possible future vacancies to see if you can arrange a work placement or visit to a workplace. These are just a few purposes and you may be able to think of more. In short, using networks can be a powerful way of researching your sector and of widening your knowledge about opportunities within it, giving you access to other people’s experience and perspectives. Now you have defined networks, what is networking? Oxford Dictionaries says that to network is to ‘interact with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016), meaning that networking is a very deliberate and conscious act; it does not happen by accident. It also means that networking is not about selfishly looking after your own interests and pursuing your own agenda. The definition above uses the word ‘exchange’ carefully; good networking is a two-way process and is as much about answering the question ‘How can I help?’ as it is about ‘What can I get?’ Networking sometimes has negative connotations reflecting suspicion about the motives behind it. You may have heard people make comments such as ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ and ‘the old boys’ network’. These express the doubts that some people have about networking and its role in merely extending privilege. This may well be the case but, even if we accept this, there are many reasons for networking. Listed below are a few to think about. Networking increases the number of people you know and who know you. You can turn to more people for help and advice. Networking keeps you in touch with opportunities. Networking may be very useful at the start of your career when you are less well connected. Effective networkers are more likely to be offered opportunities. Networking allows you to contribute something to others – the principle of reciprocity. In the next section, you will investigate how to network successfully.

Figure 4 Two men shaking hands in a work environment.

When you think about people networking, do any of the following kinds of behaviour spring to mind? Enthusiastically accosting strangers at a conference Mechanically repeating a ‘summary of my career to date’ Forcing a business card into people’s hands Asking people for favours Bombarding people with emails Ruthless self-promotion You will not be surprised to hear that these fall into the category of practices to avoid. In his book Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi, an expert in professional relationship development, talks about ‘using the power of human relationships for mutual benefit’ to demonstrate that effective networking starts with thinking about the needs of other people rather than selfishly pursuing your own agenda (Ferrazzi, 2014). Activity 2 Two approaches to networking Allow about 10 minutes The following short case studies illustrate two different approaches to networking. Which do you think has more chance of being successful? Make a note of your thoughts, either in the box below or in the Notes tool in the Toolkit. John John is at a business conference where he would like to find some new clients for his fledgling company selling kitchen appliances. He starts by approaching everyone in the room and trying to give them all the sales pitch that he has specially prepared for the day. This lasts five minutes, at the end of which he then quickly moves on to the next person. Realising that he is running out of time to meet everyone, he dashes round those he hasn’t spoken to and thrusts a copy of his product brochure into their hand. Selina Selina is at a conference on care for the elderly. She is keen to move into this type of work but feels she needs to get some advice first. She does some homework on who else is attending the conference so that she can focus on those people with the right kind of experience. She then approaches them and gently asks them about themselves and their work before telling them something about herself. After the short conversation, she asks if they would mind exchanging email addresses for further contact. Selina shows greater sensitivity towards the needs of others and has worked out exactly who she wants to speak to, so is more likely to get a sympathetic response. She also gets them to talk about themselves first rather than bombarding them with information about herself that they may not want to hear. John, conversely, has done no preparation and thought only about what he wants to get out of the relationship. His approach appears to lack empathy and foresight. Good practice in networking relies upon a few key principles: thinking of what you have to offer others identifying the best person to talk to thinking about what you want from the relationship being prepared to listen to others being generous with your time and attention taking a risk sometimes going outside your comfort zone following up connections made. The important principle here is that, until you actually establish a relationship with another person, it is very difficult to work out what you might be able to provide for each other. Moreover, it is very difficult to establish a relationship with someone unless you listen to them and find out what makes them tick. This implies taking time over the early stages of a relationship and risking that this might be ‘wasted’ because it leads nowhere. Bear in mind that some people are probably natural networkers; they are more socially at ease with people they do not know and welcome the opportunity to begin conversations with – and ask questions of – strangers. People with an extrovert personality, for example, need a high level of stimulus in their lives and tend to act swiftly without too much forethought. They also show more of their personality more readily and are energised by interacting with others, having a wide range of interests and personal networks. Those of a more introverted nature, by contrast, prefer less crowded environments, like to think before they act and appear self-contained and even reserved. They tire more easily of too much interaction with others and prefer fewer but deeper interests and a smaller group of friends and acquaintances. Which of these extremes do you feel drawn to more? What might this mean for your networking?

It is worth considering a couple of concepts in relation to networking: psychological distance and an emotional bank account. Psychological distance The concept of psychological distance suggests that it is easier to establish relationships with people we regard as similar to us and, conversely, more difficult with people we perceive to be unlike us. Moreover, we may make more allowances for those closer to us while adopting more stereotyped views of those further away. The implication of this is that you will need to take more time and put more effort into nurturing relationships with people who are socially more remote. However, this hard work might ultimately be more rewarding, as such people might have something new or different to tell you. For example, sticking close to friends and family for networking purposes will probably be simpler than contacting people outside your immediate circle, but this might just reinforce the ideas that you currently have rather than help you to think more creatively. Emotional bank account The concept of an ‘emotional bank account’ was first put forward by Dr Stephen Covey (2009), an American educator, author and thinker. In this context, it refers to how, when we first establish relationships with other people, we can make deposits into and draw on a notional ‘bank account’ of emotions. Being polite, smiling, remembering names and personal details, and sharing information are all the equivalent of making deposits, while being rude, interrupting, sharing too much, and demanding leads and information are the equivalent of withdrawals. Dr Covey argued that this concept underpins all human relationships and that we need to be clear about what deposits and withdrawals we are making at any time. Perhaps, as financial advisers might argue, we should always make deposits before we seek to make withdrawals! Activity 3 Reflecting on your experience Allow about 10 minutes Think about a recent occasion when you met somebody for the first time and found the experience challenging or unrewarding. Why do you think this was the case? Does it suggest anything about you in terms of your being more introvert or extrovert? Was it a reflection of psychological distance? Could you have handled the encounter in a different way? Does the concept of the emotional bank account help to explain why it was such a challenge and would building up ‘deposits’ first have helped? Using these questions as a guide, record your thoughts about this encounter in your notebook or the Notes tool in the Toolkit. This is not an activity with a right or wrong answer but it will hopefully have helped you to think about the nature of networking, and how forethought and some basic emotional intelligence can make these encounters more fruitful. In the case of the encounter that you have just considered, try to think about what you might do in a similar situation in the future. Having looked closely at the concept of networking and what makes networking more or less effective, you will now think about how you might approach networking in a practical and productive way.

Figure 5 A presentation on a large screen in a populated hall.

So, how do people actually go about networking? The first thing to say, in this context, is that networking really needn’t be very different from what you are probably doing already. It just takes a bit more forethought and effort, plus a more conscious decision on your part that you are going to introduce networking into your armoury of strategies. You’ve looked already at what makes networking effective, so you’ll now investigate this process in more detail concentrating on three key areas: preparation and follow-up introductions and getting a conversation going the elevator pitch.

It will be no surprise that, as with many things in life, preparation and follow-up is often the key to success. If you are about to attend an event, say a conference, a work meeting or even a social gathering, it’s worth spending some time anticipating who will be there and whether you feel that they might be a useful contact for you. This might be a senior manager from your organisation or, perhaps, a conference speaker that you have read about who has interesting views or experience. Alternatively, it might simply be someone from your own organisation, or another similar business, able to offer you a different perspective on your sector and opportunities within it. Think this through first, and work out a strategy, to ensure that you use your time effectively when at the event itself. This might possibly involve contacting such people beforehand in order to set up a meeting. While at the event, you should also leave time for chance encounters; after all, you can’t prepare for everything! Make sure that you attend meals and social events, if these are included, so that you can meet new people. Try not to spend all your time with colleagues or people that you know well – tempting though this might be – and make sure that you leave space for just chatting and seeing where the conversation goes. When you meet new people and strike up a relationship, remember to leave them your contact details and to record theirs so that you can follow them up later. If you promise to get in touch afterwards, then make sure that you keep your pledge. It can be very wasteful of time and effort, and destructive of a fledgling relationship, not to keep in touch if you have agreed to do so! Remember also to make some notes on anything that you pick up during these conversations that you think might be useful either immediately or in the future. You should also think carefully about where you are going to store this information – in a file or on your PC, for example – so that you can easily access it later.

Let’s think about introductions and getting a conversation going. How do you go about starting to talk to someone you don’t already know or have only just been introduced to, say at a conference or business meeting, or even at a party or other social event? As mentioned in Section 2, networking is not just about finding out information from other people but about offering something in exchange, so the best way to begin is probably by providing some information about yourself: ‘Hi, I’m John. I’ve travelled down from Leicester today. How far have you come?’ This short opening is not very original, certainly, but it combines information about you with interest in the other person. It also invites them to offer up information about themselves in a non-threatening context and gets the conversation going, possibly as follows: ‘It’s nice to meet you. My name’s Pamela. I’ve come down from Glasgow so I had to stay over last night. I couldn’t get a wink of sleep as the hotel was so noisy.’ Once the conversation has started, you need to think about how you will keep it going, at least until areas of mutual interest emerge and the process becomes more natural and less self-conscious. This is where the concept of small talk comes in. Oxford Dictionaries defines this as ‘polite conversation about unimportant or uncontroversial matters, especially as engaged in on social occasions’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). Small talk gets a bad press because it is associated with mindless and inane chatter but it need not be so. Importantly, it allows you to get to know the other person and for you both to establish a relationship based on some mutual trust. It doesn’t have to be tedious by any means and can focus on the news, interests, travel or anything that makes sense in that context. Moreover, there are skills to small talk that you can learn. Here are a few suggestions: Use open questions that invite a longer answer rather than merely ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, for example:‘What are you working on at the moment?’‘Why did you decide to come to the conference today?’ Practise active listening to show that you are engaged; for example, by nodding, smiling appreciatively, standing openly rather than shrinking or backing away, and giving small verbal cues such as ‘Aha’, ‘Uhuh’, etc. that demonstrate you are listening and that will prompt people to say more. Reflect back what the person says using their own words. This acknowledges that you have heard them but also implicitly encourages them to continue talking. For example:Them: ‘I have been with the company for about five years following a few years at Smith and Co.’You: ‘Smith and Co.?’Them: ‘Yes, I was a junior manager there working in sales.’ Listen for the meaning and emotion in what people say, rather than just the words, so that you can pick up on topics that are more important to them. People will often reflect how important a subject is to them by the emotion in their voice or animation in their face. In this way, you can steer the conversation into areas that interest them and about which they will say more. These are just a few tactics to practise in order to get the conversation going. Clearly these need to be used with some care so that it is not obvious what you are doing, but it is surprising exactly how much of this you are probably already doing without really thinking about it! Once you have begun talking with someone and feel that you have made some progress in establishing a relationship, then you can move the conversation into particular areas of interest or, perhaps, agree to exchange contact details and talk further later. Activity 4 Preparing for an event Allow about 10 minutes Think ahead to an event that you are planning to attend where you might be able to do some networking. Remember that social events and chance meetings with others can also provide opportunities to network. This is particularly important if you are not currently working, and therefore have fewer work events to go to. Use either your notebook or the Toolkit to note any preparation that you might want to do in order to get the most out of networking. If you can, think about the people you want to meet and why. An example has been provided to guide you. Table 1 Preparing to network at an event

Event	Preparation required	People to talk to	Why
Regional training day	Find out the agenda.Who is speaking/leading the training?Who else will be there?	Ray Jones – training managerRachel Perkins – regional sales manager	Ask about possible training courses open to me.Find out about the key factors affecting future sales.

This may seem very contrived but it need not be so. It is merely a way of making the most of the opportunities that occur when you meet people who might be able to provide you with useful information about your organisation or sector, or helpful ideas about the future. Some of this information may not be immediately valuable to you but store it away anyway.

The practical tips outlined in Sections 3.1 and 3.2 will provide you with useful ideas about making the most of situations where you might be able to do some networking. Imagine this scenario, however: You find yourself in a lift whose only other occupant is Sir Richard Branson, someone you admire for their entrepreneurial spirit and success. You are keen to start your own business but also know that you have two minutes before he will get out of the lift. How do you use this time as effectively as possible to impress him and establish a relationship that might be professionally valuable to you? This is the concept known as the ‘elevator pitch’, which, as the name implies, comes from the USA. It is based on the notion that you have a short space of time in which to make an impression on someone who might be able to help you. The idea is that you should always have a short piece about yourself – that encapsulates and sells you – ready to bring out at short notice if the occasion demands. It shouldn’t look rehearsed or be delivered in a formal way, but it should say something about you with important facts that you want people to remember. The key principles of an elevator pitch are: keep it short – no more than a minute or so have a hook – get their attention by telling them something interesting about yourself target it appropriately – think about your audience and what they will find arresting practice makes perfect – make sure that you know the details by heart so that you don’t stumble. Essentially you should be telling people: why they should listen to you why they should believe you what special knowledge/expertise you have that will interest them. An elevator pitch is a technique to use sparingly in situations where you have limited time and with people whom you need to impress quickly. It is not something that you would trot out on every occasion when you are networking, as it would not be appropriate in many situations and would be as likely to repel people as to attract them. Remember that the aim of this technique is to capture the attention of a particular person with a view to securing more of their time, either immediately or at some point in the future. The following is an example of an elevator pitch that takes about 30 seconds to deliver, but which would hopefully grab the attention of its intended audience. Hi, my name is Eleanor Podmore and I am a client manager at Impact Marketing Solutions. I have ten years’ experience of working with commercial clients to identify their needs and to create exciting and memorable campaigns for them. You may have seen the TV adverts we designed for Big Panda sportswear and FiveaDay fruit smoothies that boosted their sales by over 30 per cent each. I am looking to develop my career by starting a social enterprise focused on helping recycling companies to market themselves more effectively. I wondered if I could have five minutes of your time to talk through a few ideas. Activity 5 The elevator pitch Allow about 15 minutes Spend 10 minutes devising a short personal elevator pitch. The following list indicates the type of information you might include, although you should try not to include too much detail: your name something interesting about you that is relevant to them the last project/assignment/job, etc. that you worked on and its results the impact of your work on others – colleagues, clients, customers, etc. why you are a good person to know/work with/employ what you want from your audience. Try to reduce your pitch to something that can be delivered in about 30 seconds to 1 minute; any longer and you will lose your audience’s attention. Practise your pitch on someone you know well until it becomes something that you don’t need to think too hard about. As indicated earlier, an elevator pitch should be used in very specific circumstances. It is also a technique that doesn’t come easily to many people as it seems rather egocentric. Try to devise a set of words that seem natural and will appear unrehearsed. In this way, you will be more likely to come across to your audience as sincere and compelling. With practice, these techniques should enable you to be more effective when networking. So far, the discussion has assumed that your networking would be face to face and, of course, this is very often the case. Increasingly, however, people are networking online and the next section deals with some of the issues related to this growing area.

Figure 6 A woman using a smartphone.

Have you ever googled yourself just to see what comes up? Unless you are frequently in the news, it’s likely that if you are a user of Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter it is these references that will be top of the list. Your use of social media will be reflected in your digital footprint. This means that people who don’t know you might be able to find you fairly quickly online through just a few searches. There are a couple of important implications of this. Firstly, you will also be able to find many other people by using the same techniques, including people with whom you might wish to network. Secondly, if people do locate your online profile, you should consider exactly what they will think of this. Does your Facebook page give the right impression about you or does it let you down in some way? Most social media work on the basis of connections. You may have heard of the concept of ‘six degrees of separation’ (Wikipedia, 2016), which reflects the notion that anyone on the planet can be connected to anyone else through six or fewer personal connections. Whether or not this is true, it remains the case that social media connect us in ways that would have astonished previous generations. In early 2016, Facebook calculated that its users were separated by an average of 3.57 steps. On Twitter the average is slightly more at 4.67 steps. The professional networking site, LinkedIn, describes its members’ connections as: 1st-degree – People you’re directly connected to because you’ve accepted their invitation to connect, or they’ve accepted your invitation. 2nd-degree – People who are connected to your 1st-degree connections. 3rd-degree – People who are connected to your 2nd-degree connections. (Source: LinkedIn, 2016) This all means that the people you need to know might be closer than you think! LinkedIn We’d like you to concentrate on LinkedIn, as this is a dedicated professional network with about 400 million users rather than a social network like Facebook. At its most basic, you can use LinkedIn to connect with other people that you know professionally and to keep in touch with them, but it is worth exploring whether it has any other uses that would allow you to network more proactively. At the root of the system are the many millions of personal profiles that users have placed on the system about their jobs and careers, their qualifications, their skills and interests, and their colleagues’ endorsements and recommendations. These provide the bedrock of the system and your professional presence online is one that you can control and update whenever you wish. The profiles are the reason why employers are also interested in having a presence on LinkedIn; it allows them to keep in touch with many potential employees, clients and customers. LinkedIn can also help you to research career paths by joining professional interest groups where you can post comments and discuss topics of mutual interest with others. By doing so, you will establish a professional presence on LinkedIn that may gain you credibility with other users. This will help you if you then decide that you would like to connect with these people for networking purposes. Many of these groups are connected to, or even organised by, the kind of professional and vocational bodies that you looked at in Week 4. In addition, LinkedIn allows you to find out about companies that you are interested in. By searching on a company name, you can access statistics and other useful information including job vacancies, and by following a particular company, you can receive updates including job notifications. Conversely, employers, job agencies and headhunters can use LinkedIn to search for suitable applicants for their job vacancies. Finally, LinkedIn has a news feature that allows you to keep up with the latest developments within your industry or sector. These often take the form of emails from LinkedIn containing news about the contacts and companies that you might be following. You have control over these features so you can manage the type and frequency of these messages. Activity 6 Exploring LinkedIn Allow about 15 minutes If you are not already using LinkedIn, spend a few minutes thinking about the potential uses of the following features that it contains. If you are a user, then consider how you might use it more effectively. When was the last time you updated your profile, for example? Table 2 Using LinkedIn effectively

LinkedIn feature	Potential use/more effective use
Professional profile
Connections
Professional groups/networks
Company profiles
News updates

If you are not already using LinkedIn, then why not try it out to explore how it might help you to connect with others in the interests of your career progression? If you are already a member, then think carefully about how you can use such social media more proactively in order to get the most out of it. While LinkedIn is not the only network available, it is the biggest professional network specifically designed for career planning and progression purposes. Other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter can be used, to some extent, in a similar way to make connections, to follow people or organisations, or to keep up to date with news and developments. On these sites, however, it is important that you manage your online presence and reputation. In particular, as so much of the information you put online is publicly available, you should think twice before posting material, photographs for example, that you would hesitate to share with an employer. You may argue that your private and professional lives are separate but others will not see things this way and will judge you on this basis. There is research to indicate that many employers use social media to check applicants’ profiles before making job offers. So you should ensure that nothing that exists online about you – those fun photos from your last holiday in Ibiza, perhaps – is likely to make an employer reconsider their decision. This is equally important if you are contacting an employer for information or seeking advice from someone. Make sure that there are no skeletons in the online cupboard! Well done – you have reached the end of Week 5 and can now take the weekly quiz to test your understanding. Week 5 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new tab or window (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link). This week you have looked at the ways in which you can use networking to find out more about your sector. You considered the nature of networks and identified the networks that you already have. Following this, you investigated how you can make your networking effective and listed some practical tips for face-to-face networking. As part of this, you looked at the concepts of psychological distance and the emotional bank account, and practised devising an elevator pitch. Finally, you thought about online networking through the professional platform of LinkedIn and managing your online profile on social media sites. You should now feel that you can: define networks and networking, identify the networks that you already have around you and how networking can help you understand your sector better describe what can help to make your networking more effective, including the importance of establishing a good relationship explain good networking practice, including preparation and follow-up, the ability to open conversations and the elevator pitch outline the importance of managing your online profile and explain how to use professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, productively. Next week you will be looking more closely at different types of job market and how they work, providing insights into the different ways in which employers advertise vacancies and recruit staff. You can now go to Week 6. Week 6: Understanding the job market within your sector Last week you explored the ways in which you can use networking to find out more about your sector. You identified your current networks, investigated how to make your networking more effective and gained some practical tips for doing this face to face. Finally, you considered online networking and the professional platform provided by LinkedIn, and how to manage your online profile on social media more generally. This week you will be looking more closely at different types of job market and how they work. Having this understanding is crucial to navigating through the different ways in which employers advertise vacancies and recruit staff. It adds detail to the larger perspective that you have started to develop through your work in previous weeks. Watch Lynne Johnson as she introduces Week 6. LYNNE JOHNSON Welcome to Week 6. Last week, you considered your own networks and how you can use networking to find out more about your sector. You also thought about how to manage your online profile on social media. This week, you’ll be looking more closely at different types of employer, highlighting the pros and cons of these employers from your own perspective and identifying which is right for you. You’ll also explore how and where jobs are advertised, find out what is meant by the hidden job market and consider the advantages and disadvantages of speculative applications. Finally, you’ll look into the area of self-employment and think about whether this might be something which appeals to you.

As with previous weeks, you’ll need your notebook or the Toolkit to jot down your thoughts and responses to the activities. By the end of this week, you will be able to: describe the distinctive types of employer, differentiating them by size and characteristics identify the advantages and disadvantages of these employers from your personal perspective outline the main sources of job vacancies and how these are used by different types of employer explain what is meant by the hidden job market and speculative applications, and the pros and cons of the latter describe common features of self-employment and evaluate whether it is an option that might appeal to you.

Figure 1 Tall office buildings in a city.

Employers come in many shapes and sizes; that much is fairly obvious. We all probably know someone who runs a one-person business locally – a shop or a trade perhaps. Most of us have used such people for various reasons: buying a newspaper, fixing the plumbing, doing some rewiring or even walking the dog! At the other extreme are huge corporations such as Walmart, Volkswagen, McDonald’s and IBM, which employ millions of people between them across the world (Statista, 2014). It would be surprising if these organisations used the same recruitment methods as a small local plumber. In between these extremes there are many different types of employer, so how do you begin to try to understand this range? One way, which you have begun to explore already, is by size. Businesses with fewer than 250 employees are commonly referred to as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), while those with fewer than 10 employees are known as microbusinesses. Businesses with more than 250 employees are defined as large. Activity 1 Different types of employer Allow about 5 minutes Spend just five minutes thinking about the range of employers you know about. Try to think of three examples for each category in Table 1. Table 1 Identifying different types of employer

Microbusinesses (fewer than 10 employees)	SMEs (10–249 employees)	Large businesses (more than 250 employees)

This activity might seem quite straightforward to begin with, as most of us would have little difficulty thinking of examples in the first column (from local knowledge and experience) and the last column (from knowledge of the world around us). However, the middle column probably presents more of a challenge. Interestingly, it is precisely this middle column that accounts for the majority of employers in the UK and for most employment opportunities. The Federation of Small Businesses reported recently that 99.9 per cent of all UK private sector businesses at the start of 2015 were small to medium sized and that employment in SMEs represented about 60 per cent of all private sector employment in the UK. These employers range from small local businesses to those of up to 250 employees and operate across many industries and services (Federation of Small Businesses, 2015). Size is not the only way in which different types of employer can be distinguished, however. They can also be looked at in terms of how they are structured, and their broad remit and responsibilities. In this way, it is possible to divide them into the following categories: public sector private sector third sector or not-for-profit. Activity 2 asks you to think about the differences between these categories in more detail. Activity 2 Public, private and third sectors Allow about 10 minutes Table 2 includes an example from each of the three categories. Try to complete the final box, indicating what you think distinguishes this organisation in terms of its category. Table 2 Distinguishing between sectors

Category	Example	What distinguishes it?
Public sector	NHS
Private sector	Tesco
Third sector	Oxfam

Table 3 Suggested distinctions between sectors

Category	Example	What distinguishes it?
Public sector	NHS	Funded through public finances
Private sector	Tesco	Controlled privately by shareholders
Third sector	Oxfam	Relies on volunteers and is responsible to trustees

You might have put something slightly different in the final box, but the essential differences between the categories are as follows: public sector – financed from the public purse and accountable to central or local government private sector – largely financed privately, run for profit and accountable to share holders third sector – run to help the community and not for profit, often relying on volunteers and sometimes has charitable status. The two ways in which employers are categorised, by size and by sector, cut across each other. Each category in Table 3 – public, private and third sector – contains examples that are both very large and very small. The NHS, for example, is one of the biggest employers in the world, employing some 1.3 million people according to the Health and Social Care Information Centre (NHS Digital, n.d.). This is more than the combined workforces of Volkswagen and Tesco! Some private sector employers, however, are very small and employ few people. Third sector organisations can be modest in size, too (for example a small charity serving a particular local community), or large and worldwide – think of Oxfam, which has over 10,000 employees across the globe (Oxfam, 2015). Having distinguished between organisations by their size, structure and remit, you will now move on to thinking about how these differences can help to characterise organisations, and how this might affect you.

Figure 2 A hospital.

Clearly the different types of organisation that have been identified so far have different characteristics and operate in different ways. Understanding how big companies are different from SMEs, or how the private sector is different from the public sector, can be useful in helping you to think through where your own career goals might lie. Characterising organisations in this way must be accompanied by a note of caution, however. Just because two organisations are both private sector does not mean that their values and way of operating will necessarily be the same. In the same way, two third sector organisations can be very different in their cultures and practices. Nevertheless, it is possible to draw out some distinctions as follows. Public sector The public sector includes the civil service, the NHS, the armed and emergency services plus the majority of education, community and social services, and the BBC. More locally, it includes councils responsible for public housing, waste management, libraries, roads and traffic, planning, environmental health and consumer protection, and the arts and leisure. Not surprisingly, the culture tends to reflect the aim of providing services to the public and meeting national and local needs. Private sector This consists of a variety of businesses and services across all areas of the economy that are generally run for profit. It ranges from sole traders through partnerships and small companies to large multinational corporations. Private sector organisations compete with other businesses to sell goods and services in order to generate profit, both for reinvestment and to provide a return to the owners or shareholders Third sector This is a growing area of the UK economy comprising non-governmental and non-profit-making organisations, including charities, voluntary and community groups and cooperatives. These often operate in areas of social and health care, education and community justice. Their culture is similar to that of the public sector but, crucially, they are not funded from public money through taxes but rely on selling goods and services. Activity 3 Advantages and disadvantages of different sectors Allow about 30 minutes The following links will take you to resources where people in different sectors of the economy describe their work and what attracted them to it: Why work in the public sector? (The Guardian, 2014) Where is it better to work – the public or private sector? (BBC, 2010) Working for a small charity (Graduate Prospects, 2016) What’s it like to work for a charity? (Total Jobs, 2015) Bearing in mind the descriptions given above and the opinions in the links, identify what you think might be the advantages and disadvantages for you personally of working in each sector. Table 4 Advantages and disadvantages of different sectors

Category	Advantages	Disadvantages
Public sector
Private sector
Third sector

Do you feel particularly drawn to one area rather than another and, if so, why? Think about this for a minute or two and make some notes in your notebook or the Toolkit to reflect your thoughts. This is obviously a very personal judgement and your responses will vary according to your personality, your interests and your outlook on life. The following table indicates some commonly held ideas about the differences between working in the public, private and third sectors; how you feel about them will be completely up to you. Table 5 Suggested advantages and disadvantages of different sectors

Category	Advantages	Disadvantages
Public sector	Providing public servicesHelping people and making a difference to their livesLess competitiveMore secure employmentBetter conditions of employment	Lower payMay be involved in work that is emotionally demandingProgression can be slowCan be criticised by the hostile media
Private sector	Higher payProgression can be swift according to resultsLess constrained by legislation and ‘red tape’Can see results in sales figures, profits, etc.	Less secureVulnerable to commercial pressuresCan involve high pressurePoorer conditions of employment
Third sector	Providing worthwhile goods or servicesFeeling of making a difference to people’s livesCan link work with personal valuesSome support available from government	Can rely heavily on volunteersMay be involved in work that is emotionally demandingJobs can be vulnerable to commercial pressures

Thinking through how you might feel working in each of the sectors will give you a better understanding of your preferences and will help you to decide which areas to focus on when researching different fields of employment. In addition to the differences that have been identified in the broad characteristics of different types of organisation, there are also differences in the way in which they recruit employees. The next section will help you to understand how organisations in different sectors go about getting the staff they need.

Figure 3 A jobs section of a newspaper.

There are many ways in which jobs are advertised nowadays, and it can be confusing for the job seeker to navigate their way around them. Much will depend on the sector in which you are seeking work and the type of employer you are targeting. For example, a local electrical company will advertise their vacancies in a different way from a national financial services organisation, and a large charity will adopt different methods of recruitment from a public body such as the NHS. Activity 4 Identifying where jobs are advertised Allow about 5 minutes Think of as many avenues as possible through which employers advertise vacancies. How many can you come up with? Start by thinking about how you found out about your last job, or jobs that you have recently applied for. Write these down in either your notebook or the Toolkit. The following list is fairly comprehensive. You may have thought of more – if so, well done!

where jobs are	where jobs are
Employer websitesAdvertisements in shop windowsProfessional/trade body websitesSector-specific websitesJobcentresNewspapers – national and local	Professional/trade journalsRecruitment agenciesExecutive search agenciesCollege and university careers servicesSocial media, e.g. LinkedIn

It takes some time to work out which are the best sources for your field of interest, but it is well worth your while spending this time. For example, would you look at The Times newspaper – either the paper itself or the online version – every day in case there are any local vacancies for teaching assistants? This is unlikely – you would need to look in other places, probably more locally. If you can concentrate your efforts on the most appropriate sources, then you are more likely to come across the vacancies that will interest you, and you won’t waste time in fruitless searches of less rewarding avenues. In turn, this will increase your motivation and improve your chances of impressing employers. Activity 5 Different sources for different types of job Allow about 15 minutes Look at the five jobs listed below. Think about the results of Activity 4 and use your judgement to work out where you might find vacancies for each job. The first example has been done to guide you. Table 6 Identifying potential vacancy sources

Job	Potential vacancy sources
Retail assistant (large supermarket)	Employer websitesShop windowsLocal newspapersRecruitment agenciesJobcentre
Electrician (local electrical business)
IT technician (large hospital)
Accountant (national company)
Sales manager (regional car parts company)

You will probably have come up with a list similar to the one in Table 7, perhaps with some slight variations. Table 7 Suggested potential vacancy sources

Job	Potential vacancy sources
Retail assistant	Employer websiteShop windows Local newspapersRecruitment agencies Jobcentre
Electrician	Employer website Local newspapers Professional/trade journalsProfessional/trade body websitesSector-specific websites Recruitment agencies Jobcentre
IT technician	NHS websiteNational/local newspapersProfessional/trade body websitesProfessional/trade journalsSector-specific websites Recruitment agencies Jobcentre
Accountant	Employer website National/local newspapers Professional/trade body websitesProfessional/trade journals Sector-specific websites Recruitment agencies Executive search agencies College/university careers services
Sales manager	Employer website National/local newspapers Professional/trade body websites Professional/trade journals Sector-specific websites Recruitment agencies Executive search agencies College/university careers services

There is no precise correct answer for each case, and much will depend on other factors such as the local job market, the health of the particular sector or the wider economy, the particular requirements of the job and so on. For example if an employer sees that there is, for some reason, a shortage of skilled electricians in the local area then they are likely to look further afield for staff, perhaps using a recruitment agency rather than just the local newspaper. A good starting point for researching common sources of job advertisements is the OU Careers Advisory Service. You have now looked at common sources of job vacancies and how these relate to different types of job. In Section 4 you will look at speculative applications and the hidden job market.

Figure 4 An iceberg.

Think about all the jobs that are advertised every day of the week in different ways in the UK. What proportion of all job vacancies does this represent – 90 per cent, perhaps, or maybe 80 per cent? Many job vacancies are never advertised. This is often called the ‘hidden job market’, and means that the job advertisements that you see in the newspapers or Jobcentre are merely the tip of the iceberg. There are various reasons why this is the case, but perhaps the most common, as you discovered earlier, is that the UK employment market is dominated by SMEs. Many of these companies would not be able to afford to commission agencies for expensive advertising campaigns, nor will they have dedicated HR departments tasked with staff recruitment. Instead, they will use word of mouth to publicise the fact that they are looking for employees, or rely on interested applicants contacting them directly. This method, while having some disadvantages, also keeps the number of applications manageable and thus reduces administration. In times of recession or economic difficulty, arguments in favour of this approach are persuasive. In these circumstances, what is the most sensible way to find out about and apply for job vacancies? If you apply only for those vacancies that you see advertised, you are probably already fishing in a crowded pool with lots of competition. The answer is to think about the potential benefits of making speculative applications, i.e. not waiting to see a vacancy advertised by a specific employer but contacting them to market yourself. The intended outcome is that they will be impressed enough by your motivation to consider you for a vacancy that might come up in the future, or even that they will create a vacancy for you. The following case study illustrates what could follow from a speculative job enquiry. Case study: Ruth Ruth is a project manager who has worked for a financial services organisation for seven years and feels she needs a change. She has been applying for advertised jobs without success for about six months. Last week Ruth spotted an article in the local newspaper about new businesses coming to a local business park. These included an insurance company, so she looked up their website and found out about them and how they operated. She sent them an email introducing herself, outlining her experience and enquiring about opportunities. Impressed by Ruth’s initiative in contacting them, the insurance company invited her to their head office for an informal discussion, and subsequently offered her a formal interview for a project manager post at their new premises. Activity 6 Job advertisements vs speculative applications Allow about 10 minutes Part 1 Think about the two scenarios that have been outlined: replying to an advertised vacancy (on the internet, for example, or through an agency) making a speculative application to a company. For the latter, think also about the example featuring Ruth, and the way in which she proactively made contact with the company moving into her local area. Use Table 8 to organise your thoughts on what you see as the pros and cons of these two approaches to applying for a job. Table 8 Identifying pros and cons of different application methods

	Responding to a job advertisement	Speculative application
Pros
Cons

You may have identified some of the pros and cons listed in Table 9. You can see from this example that there are advantages and disadvantages to each approach, but remember that you don’t have to choose between them; you can use both in different circumstances. Table 9 Suggested pros and cons of different application methods

	Responding to a job advertisement	Speculative application
Pros	You know the vacancy exists.The job details are clear from the advert and the job description.The whole recruitment process is clear, so you know what to expect.The employer has to comply with recruitment legislation.	There is less competition if you are lucky and a vacancy is about to become available.The employer could be a useful contact, for information perhaps, even if there is no vacancy.You can tell the employer exactly what you want about yourself rather than having to complete an application form.Even if there is no vacancy, the employer might refer you to another or keep your details on their files.You feel more in control of the process, which is good for your confidence.
Cons	Competition could be high.If the employer gets lots of applicants, they might take shortcuts to reduce the number.If you get a few rejections, this may be bad for your confidence.	You don’t know that a vacancy exists so it could be a waste of your time.The employer has no obligation to respond to you, which might affect your confidence.

Part 2 Reflect on how you have applied for jobs in the past – what has been successful? Have you tried a speculative approach – if so, what happened? Record in your notebook or the Toolkit whether or not you feel that making speculative applications would be appropriate for you and the area in which you are seeking work. As you have discovered, the job market can vary between sectors and even employers, and it is not always the case that a particular job vacancy will be advertised. Making a speculative application can, therefore, be a very powerful method of presenting yourself to an employer and convincing them that you are a credible candidate. You need to go about this in the right way, however, and be clear about what you are trying to achieve. You will need to do your homework first so that you know something about the employer. You need to be able to demonstrate that you have the skills and experience they might need and that you have thought about how you might fit into their organisation. This is usually more challenging than responding to an advertised vacancy. This article from The Guardian (Whitmell, 2012) is a helpful introduction to making speculative applications.

Figure 5 A man working on a laptop.

So far, you have been considering the job market in terms of getting a paid job with an employer – but there are alternatives. One of the most important of these is self-employment. Growing numbers of people are self-employed these days, with the Office for National Statistics estimating in 2014 that (of the proportion of the total workforce) the self-employed was 15 per cent compared with 13 per cent in 2008 and 8.7 per cent in 1975 (Monaghan, 2014). A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research in 2015 indicated that 40 per cent of new jobs created in the previous four years had been on a self-employed basis (Hatfield, 2015). The option of self-employment appeals to many people, despite some evidence that people can be pushed into self-employment by circumstance rather than choice, resulting in low pay and limited training. For parents seeking more flexible work regimes or older workers looking to top up their pensions, however, working independently can provide an easier route into the labour market than traditional employment. Whether this is the case for you will depend on factors such as your personality type and the business or area in which you are, or are aiming to be, involved. If you prefer the security of an employer who will pay you a regular income, organise your work schedule and take care of HR issues, such as pensions, tax, sickness and holidays, then you might struggle having to look after these areas for yourself. If, however, you are self-motivated and like to take control of your working day, enjoy organising your time and are happy with the administration involved in dealing with HMRC and other government bodies, then you might decide that self-employment is an option to consider. It is worth thinking through the advantages and disadvantages of self-employment from your personal perspective. Certain business areas or industries are more likely to have self-employment opportunities than others, so you need to carefully research the potential within your chosen field. Many traditional skilled trades – for example electricians, plumbers and hairdressers – are characterised by self-employment, as are some artistic and creative fields such as interior and graphic design. More recently, emergent areas with self-employment potential include IT consultancy, financial advice and web design. With the more widespread use of communications technology, such as the internet and social media, there are growing opportunities for people to work from home at the times that most suit them rather than being tied to a particular employer. Activity 7 The pros and cons of self-employment Allow about 10 minutes Think about the pros and cons of self-employment in the context of your own situation. Go to the Self-employment questionnaire tool in the Toolkit, read the statements listed there, all of which might apply to self-employment, and select the numbers that are closest to how you feel. Then read the comment below. These factors will almost certainly be part of your life as a self-employed person, so you need to be comfortable with them. If the majority of your responses are above seven or eight, then you might seriously consider self-employment, other things being equal. Too many responses at the other end of the scale, below five for example, and there would seem to be some doubt about your ability to manage or enjoy the challenge. Of course, you may answer differently in several years’ time, in changed circumstances, so self-employment may be an option you reconsider in the future. Self-employment in the UK is increasing as a way of earning your living and for many people has considerable advantages, including flexibility and autonomy. It is an area that you might not have considered before and could be worth investigating. It is not appropriate for everyone, however, and should be considered alongside other, more traditional, employment options. Well done – you have reached the end of Week 6 and can now take the weekly quiz to test your understanding. Week 6 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new tab or window (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link). This week you have considered how the job market operates in different ways in different sectors. In particular, you have thought about employers in terms of their various sizes, but also in terms of their structure and remit. In the light of these distinctions, you have considered which you feel most drawn to and why. These differences have implications for the ways in which employers advertise their vacancies, and you have started to think about the various methods employers use and to apply this to your own situation. With this in mind, you have been introduced to the concepts of the hidden job market and the speculative application. Finally, you have looked at self-employment as an option and evaluated whether you feel this is appropriate for you at the moment. You should now feel that you can: describe the distinctive types of employer, differentiated by size and characteristics identify the advantages and disadvantages of these employers from your personal perspective outline the main sources of job vacancies and how these are used by different types of employer explain what is meant by the hidden job market and speculative applications, and the pros and cons of the latter describe common features of self-employment and evaluate whether it is an option that might appeal to you. Next week you will be asked to think through the knowledge and understanding that you have so far gained, and to reflect on how this information can be used in different ways depending on your circumstances and aspirations. You can now go to Week 7. Week 7: How does understanding your sector help you? You have now investigated your sector, or the sector that you wish to work in, from several perspectives. You have looked at the differences between jobs, professions, industries and sectors, thought about global and international factors that affect economies and sectors, and analysed the impact of customers, competitors and suppliers. You have also considered the role of organisations such as professional bodies, trade bodies and trade unions in contributing to your understanding of your sector, and how you might make contacts and network effectively. Finally, you have thought about how job markets in different sectors and industries vary. This week, you will use a tool called a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis to help you think through how this knowledge and understanding will help you. You will reflect on how this information can be used in different ways depending on your circumstances and your aims and aspirations. Watch Lynne Johnson as she introduces Week 7. LYNNE JOHNSON Welcome to Week 7. You’ve done a lot of work already and have thought about your sector from a number of different perspectives. This week, you’ll be thinking again about your current situation by starting to identify gaps in your knowledge, experience, qualifications and contacts. You’ll use the SWOT analysis tool introduced in Week 3 – that’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats – to help you to fill in these gaps. You’ll also discover ways of finding help and support and devise a personal action plan, which will help you establish a realistic time scale to achieve your aims and aspirations.

As with other weeks, you’ll need to use your notebook or the Toolkit to jot down your thoughts and responses to the activities. By the end of this week, you will be able to: describe the concept of a SWOT analysis and how this can help you to understand your current situation undertake a SWOT analysis on your current situation using what you know about yourself and your sector identify how you might improve your performance in your current job describe possible steps you could take in order to (re)train or gain further qualifications outline how a job or career change might be beneficial for you personally.

Figure 1 A diagram of a SWOT table, where ‘S’ is for ‘Strength’, ‘W’ is for ‘Weakness’, ‘O’ is for ‘Opportunity’, and ‘T’ is for ‘Threat’.

You have now built up considerable knowledge and understanding of the sector within which you work or want to work. This has provided you with various perspectives from which to view your current situation. How can you use this knowledge to assess and possibly change your situation? An effective way of organising and exploring this knowledge and these insights is to conduct a personal SWOT analysis. This will help you to identify your personal strengths and weaknesses, and to uncover the opportunities you may have missed and the threats that may have slipped beneath your radar. Look at and think about each of the elements of the SWOT analysis in turn.

Strengths are the assets that you have under your control and that you can use to your advantage in any situation. They are not set in stone, as they can always be supplemented by new ones, nor are they always immediately apparent so they may take some thinking about in order to unearth them. The following questions should help you with this. What do you think you do better than others?This may be based on your personal judgement but also on the remarks or assessments of other people you know and work with. The latter are particularly helpful as it is easy to be harder on yourself than other people are, and their views can provide another perspective. What attributes do you possess that others don’t?These might be particular skills, technical approaches or ways of working. Perhaps you have specific qualifications that are rare in your field or contacts that you can draw on. Which of your achievements are you most proud of?These may be work-related or not, either will do. Whatever they are, they say something about you as an individual that you can use to demonstrate your skills, values or approaches. Do you display particular values that help you at work?This might be the way that you treat other people or behave with customers or, perhaps, a specific approach that you bring to your work. Try not to be too modest about your strengths to begin with. You can always alter the list later when you reflect on it; the important thing is to write positive things about yourself.

Weaknesses are the areas where you feel less well served by your natural talents or skills. As a result, you might avoid them because you lack confidence or fear failure. Again, the following questions may help you to identify these: What do others say about you that might be interpreted as a weakness?Again, as with strengths, sometimes the views of others are helpful, even if occasionally this might be painful. These might reflect areas considered during work appraisals, if you have had these. Are there tasks that you avoid because you are not confident about them?Think about areas of your work that you always leave until last or prefer to hand over to someone else. Is this because you don’t like them or because you fear that you can’t do them properly? Do any of these relate to your lack of training or qualifications?Perhaps you don’t like using spreadsheets because you’ve never been properly trained in how to use them, or maybe you leave anything requiring maths to someone else because you didn’t achieve your GCSE in that subject. Are there areas of your personality that you think might be holding you back?This is a little like the tasks that you avoid, but insight might be more elusive because the question relates to your personality. Do you shy away from confronting others, for example, or talk too much in meetings to no great effect, or are you poorly organised? Be as honest as possible about these and take into account the views of others; you may, of course, need to ask them.

This is where all your knowledge about your sector can come into play, as it will inform your perspective on potential opportunities and, later on, threats. From the different elements of the course so far you should be able to address some of the following questions to help identify potential opportunities in your sector. Are there technological advances on the horizon that might help your sector? Are there political decisions in the offing that might affect your sector? What is happening in the world economy that might influence events in your sector? Is the world changing in other ways? Are social developments opening up new opportunities or markets, for example? Are your customers (or clients or patients) telling you anything about your industry that might provide you with an insight leading to change? What about your competitors? Are they developing new approaches that you can learn from? Are their shortcomings instructive in some way? Are there staffing changes – or shortages, perhaps – within your organisation that provide an opportunity for you to develop your skills or raise your profile? Is your organisation moving in new directions that open up possibilities for you to develop a new role or take on new responsibilities? Are there events that you could attend or people that you could network with about any of the above or about possible developments?

Threats represent events or developments that are not welcome but which might provide you, or your organisation, with a chance to take action or develop new thinking in order to meet these challenges. Sometimes such threats can stimulate creative thinking from which profitable ideas may emerge. Think about the following questions to help identify potential threats. Are there major world factors – political, economic, social or technological – that might have negative consequences for your sector? Is your sector or industry changing in ways that threaten the viability of your organisation? Are your competitors changing in ways that might affect your organisation’s profitability? Are your customers changing their behaviour in ways that might have damaging implications for your organisation? Are there specific obstacles to how effective you are at work – colleagues, structures, management, etc.?

The following example of a SWOT analysis has been completed by Lucy, a marketing assistant in a company that manufactures and sells walking boots. Table 1 Lucy’s SWOT analysis

Strengths	Weaknesses
I am a good communicator with both colleagues and customers.I can organise my time efficiently.I contribute effectively to teams I belong to.I take the lead where this seems appropriate.I enjoy my work and get on well with my employer.I have three reasonable A levels and a vocational qualification in marketing.	I can be easily discouraged by negative feedback.I am not very good at using IT effectively.I can lose my temper if roused.I am nervous when in front of an audience.Many of my work colleagues have a degree and therefore have more potential opportunities.
Opportunities	Threats
There are new markets opening up in the Far East.Technological change is bringing down production costs.Customers are very loyal to our brand.Our competitors have opted for the popular end of the market leaving a gap for us.Health trends are making walking a popular pastime for many, especially older people.There is a major industry conference soon where I can make new contacts.	There is growing competition from cheaper producers in the developing world who sell online.The company is still family owned with a very traditional culture.There is a lack of good designers with the right skills in the organisation.My line manager would like to leave his job and I am uncertain about his possible replacement.

It is now time for you to do a SWOT analysis on your own situation. As you work through Activity 1, think about the kind of evidence that Lucy has drawn on for each element of her SWOT analysis. Some of it is personal but some of it relates to the wider context within which her organisation operates. Activity 1 Conducting your SWOT analysis Allow about 20 minutes Conduct a SWOT analysis of your current situation, drawing on some of the questions outlined in Sections 1.1–1.4. Try to use the knowledge of your sector that you have developed over the last few weeks in order to inform your thinking. The Toolkit has a SWOT analysis tool to help you do this activity. Alternatively, draw up a table like Lucy’s in your notebook and fill it in. This activity should help you to view your personal situation from a new perspective. Once you have identified and written down important factors they often become more concrete. As a result, strengths and opportunities become more real as assets that you can exploit and draw on while weaknesses and threats become less challenging to address and overcome. Having conducted your SWOT analysis, what do you do next? It should not just be an academic exercise with no practical outcomes but a launch pad for action, designed to improve your situation based on your analysis and research. The rest of this week will be devoted to identifying what action you might take to do this.

Figure 2 Three people posing with a performance award in their workplace.

Using Lucy (from Section 1.5) as an example, look at how her SWOT analysis has provided her with some ideas for improving her work performance. For example, she has identified the following weaknesses in her performance: I can be easily discouraged by negative feedback. I am not very good at using IT effectively. I can lose my temper if roused. I am nervous when in front of an audience. Many of my work colleagues have a degree and therefore have more potential opportunities. These are an interesting mix of factors. Being discouraged by negative feedback is, arguably, a personality trait that many people would admit to, while not using IT effectively is a weakness that could be overcome, to some extent at least, through a training course. Similarly, although Lucy might never lose her nerves when appearing in front of an audience, with the right training she can learn how to minimise the impact of them. There is also the time factor to consider. While the concerns about IT and presenting in front of an audience might be remedied quite swiftly, her lack of a degree might require a longer-term strategic plan. Lucy’s analysis of opportunities and threats also present her with potential ideas that might help her organisation; this is arguably another way of improving your work performance. For example, Lucy has recognised that ‘there are new markets opening up in the Far East’. She could offer to research this area for the company in order to develop some options for possible expansion. She has also spotted that ‘health trends are making walking a popular pastime for many, especially older people’ and this might present a rewarding topic for market research among her company’s older customers. Finally, the ‘major industry conference’ represents a good opportunity for her to network and obtain new contacts and ideas. Among the threats, Lucy has identified that there is a ‘lack of good designers with the right skills’; could she investigate why this is the case or see whether this is an area in which she might seek to retrain? Her uncertainty about her manager leaving his job and his ‘possible replacement’ is clearly a worry but knowing that he is leaving gives her a chance to make some plans. Any of these suggested actions would constitute ways of improving her performance, admittedly with different time frames. As they are based on Lucy’s analysis of both herself and the sector within which she works, they provide a useful illustration of how this knowledge can be used. Table 2 shows what actions Lucy can take now that she has identified areas where she can improve her performance. Table 2 Actions Lucy can take to improve her performance

Factor	Possible improvement	Timescale
1. I am not very good at using IT effectively.	Go on an online training course.	Short term
2. I am nervous when in front of an audience.	Go on a company presentation skills course.	Short term
3. There is a major industry conference soon where I can make new contacts.	Ask to attend the conference and possibly link it with factor 4 (the new markets in the Far East).	Short term
4. There are new markets opening up in the Far East.	Talk to line manager about the possibility of researching this area.	Medium term
5. Health trends are making walking a popular pastime for many, especially older people.	Conduct market research among older customers to seek their views.	Medium term
6. My line manager would like to leave his job and I am uncertain about his possible replacement.	Discuss this with line manager; is there any possibility of promotion?	Medium term
7. There is a lack of good designers with the right skills in the organisation.	Talk to line manager about researching this area and the possibility of retraining.	Long term
8. Many of my work colleagues have a degree and therefore have more potential opportunities.	Investigate degree courses relevant to my job.Research whether company would fund this.	Long term

Activity 2 Identifying opportunities for improvement Allow about 20 minutes Look again at the SWOT analysis that you did in Activity 1. This should have helped you to identify a range of factors affecting your current situation. Think about each of these, and assess whether or not you feel they provide an opportunity for you to improve your work performance in the short, medium or longer term. Record your thoughts in the table below, in your notebook or in the Toolkit. The example showing the actions Lucy can take has been provided as a guide. Table 3 Actions you can take to improve your performance

Factor	Possible improvement	Timescale

Hopefully, you will have been able to select a number of factors from your SWOT analysis that might provide you with opportunities to improve your work performance, either fairly quickly or over a longer period of time. You may not be able to pursue all these, so think about how you might prioritise them in terms of: ease of implementation, potential impact, whether or not you need your manager’s or your organisation’s permission and so on. Some of the statements that you made in your SWOT analysis might not lend themselves immediately to ways to improve your work performance. Instead, they might signal areas where you have identified possible training needs or qualifications that you might obtain; you will be looking at this area in the next section.

Figure 3 A person on graduation day being awarded with a diploma.

If you look closely at the weaknesses section of Lucy’s SWOT analysis, there are several areas where she has identified a possible need for her to develop her skills in some way, possibly through training. In particular she makes the following statements about her weaknesses: I am not very good at using IT effectively. I am nervous when in front of an audience. These are both areas that could be addressed by training, and give Lucy the opportunity to practise new skills developed through such training. In the case of Lucy’s IT skills, she probably needs to define exactly which of her IT skills needs improving. For example, does she struggle with particular packages such as Excel or PowerPoint? As Lucy works in marketing, it is clear that both of these applications would be relevant to her role and lacking confidence in using them is likely to hold her back in terms of her career progression. Alternatively, Lucy may feel that social media is increasingly important in her role but she lacks confidence in using it appropriately. Similarly, her reservations about her nerves in front of an audience possibly stem from the fact that this it is an important part of her job, or likely to be so, and she lacks the strategies to cope with her anxiety. A starting point for Lucy with both these cases would be for her to discuss her concerns with her line manager and seek advice on how to fill the gaps. Her line manager should be able to help her understand the likely importance of these skills in her role and whether or not they are a priority for her. If they are, then the company has a responsibility to ensure that Lucy is trained adequately and should ensure that she goes on appropriate training courses, possibly through in-house or online provision. This being said, Lucy also makes other statements in her SWOT analysis including: There is a lack of good designers with the right skills in the organisation. Many of my work colleagues have a degree and therefore have more potential opportunities. My line manager would like to leave his job and I am uncertain about his possible replacement. These concerns are not quite so easily addressed by merely talking to her line manager, although this might be a useful first step. They also have potential implications for Lucy’s training and development but over a longer timescale than the previous examples. To address the first statement, Lucy would benefit from doing some research into footwear design courses and how the company recruits designers. This might reveal shortages of trained designers in the UK or the fact that the company does not have the right contacts with vocational training courses in this field. Ideally, Lucy would conduct this research with her organisation’s agreement but she might also do this in her own time. The outcomes of her research might link closely with her second statement. The second statement is very much concerned with Lucy’s future career and she is right to be attentive to this. She might begin by looking at her company’s policy on supporting staff wishing to gain further qualifications of this type. They might have specific courses that they insist their staff follow that are in the interests of the company. Lucy also needs to think about where she sees herself going in the future – would a degree help this process and, if so, what type? Seeking some objective careers advice at this stage might also be helpful. This is clearly a longer-term process but letting the organisation know that she is ambitious will not harm her chances and may even open doors for her. Doing some research and then having a conversation with her line manager would be a good strategy. The third statement, while reflecting her uncertainty about the future, is also linked to Lucy’s career aspirations. It is possible that she’s worried she may not like the new line manager as much as her current one. She might also calculate that their leaving could present a promotion opportunity for someone such as herself (or maybe a colleague with a degree!). Her line manager might be happy to have a confidential discussion about these possibilities and to give Lucy some advice but she needs to be alert to the possible implications for her training and development. It is clear, then, that these last statements all have a bearing on each other and that Lucy can’t look at them in isolation. It is also evident that research is going to be a key part of her strategy so that her knowledge and understanding of her organisation, industry and sector can inform any decisions that she has to make. Activity 3 Identifying your next steps Allow about 15 minutes Return to your SWOT analysis and pick out any statements that you made that refer to, or have implications for, training or gaining new qualifications. Using Lucy’s experience as a guide, decide what specific action you need to take. This could include making training applications, doing further research or seeking advice – try to be as specific as possible and to put a timescale on these actions. Table 4 Identifying and meeting your training needs

SWOT statement	Specific action required	Timescale

This activity has no correct answer apart from the one that is appropriate for you. However, you should be able to make use of the thinking that you did about this topic in Week 4 and to begin to make some concrete plans based on your SWOT analysis. You have now looked at improving your work performance and the training and qualifications you could undertake as outcomes of your SWOT analysis. You might also have identified the possibility of a new job or even a career change so this will be the final area you’ll investigate.

Figure 4 A person filling in a job application form.

Look again at Lucy’s SWOT analysis and examine her statements; there are a number that could be useful if she is considering a career change. First, consider her strengths: I am a good communicator with both colleagues and customers. I can organise my time efficiently. I contribute effectively to teams I belong to. I take the lead where this seems appropriate. I enjoy my work and get on well with my employer. I have three reasonable A levels and a vocational qualification in marketing. While these are fairly generic, and would be very relevant to her current career in marketing, they are also the kind of attributes that employers seek in many areas of work. The National Careers Service website lists the following ‘soft’ skills as being the most highly prized by employers (National Careers Service, 2016):

Skills	Skills
communicatingmaking decisionsshowing commitmentflexibilitytime management	leadership creativity/problem-solving teamworkaccepting responsibilityworking under pressure.

Lucy’s strengths match several of these skills and there is no reason to suppose that she might not possess more of these but chose not to list them. This suggests that she could legitimately consider new jobs or a career change if she wished. Her lack of a degree, as she acknowledges, might hold her back, but she has a vocational qualification, A levels and work experience that would redress some of the balance. In addition to these strengths, Lucy also refers to several opportunities and threats that have implications for her future. In particular, the following statements are worth examining: The company is still family owned with a very traditional culture. There is a lack of good designers with the right skills in the organisation. My line manager would like to leave his job and I am uncertain about his possible replacement. There is a major industry conference soon where I can make new contacts. The first of these statements suggests that Lucy might feel stifled by her current employer and that the opportunities for her might be limited. Moving into a similar job somewhere else might allow her talents to flourish and provide her with greater potential to forge a successful career in marketing. The second statement indicates that she has done her research and identified a problem for her organisation that might present her with an opportunity. Lucy doesn’t mention that she has any design talents but, if this were the case, she might be able to make a sideways step into a new career as a designer with her current employer. This would probably depend on their recognising her interest and supporting her through the necessary training, possibly via a degree or BTEC course in footwear design. This would also have the advantage for Lucy of filling the gap in her education that she acknowledges exists when she states that ‘many of my work colleagues have a degree and therefore have more potential opportunities’. The third statement could be read as a sign of Lucy’s ambition to move into a position of greater responsibility. Her concern about the replacement for her line manager, who she feels is going to leave his job, might be mixed up with her perception that maybe she would be the person to fill the vacancy should it arise! As suggested earlier, there is no harm in Lucy letting her employers know that this is in her mind; leadership, showing commitment and accepting responsibility are all on the list of employers’ preferred attributes, after all. It is possible also, that if she harbours ideas of promotion, then these might be realised with another employer so looking outside her ‘comfort zone’ might be productive. Lucy’s final statement indicates her shrewd understanding of her sector and how it operates. While this could be construed, in the context of networking, to further the interests of her organisation, such a conference would also present Lucy with a golden opportunity to do some networking on her own behalf. It would allow her to find out whether job openings exist elsewhere and potentially meet the people who influence decisions about recruitment. Lucy, therefore, has options for change that could include getting a new job or even changing careers. Her statements about herself and her sector, based on her research and investigation into the ‘bigger picture’, have revealed to her some possibilities that would probably have remained hidden otherwise. Activity 4 Thinking about changing your job Allow about 15 minutes Return to your SWOT analysis and select any statements that, as with Lucy, could be useful if you are considering a career change. These will not be realisable immediately, of course, and will require a great deal of thought, and possibly taking some objective advice; however, they may provide you with a starting point from which to carry out further research. You might also want to look back at the results of Activity 7 from Week 1 in this context. Table 5 Thinking about a career change

SWOT statement	Implications for job or career change

There is no right answer to this activity but it should reveal how researching your sector and using the results to inform a SWOT analysis of your current situation can be helpful. This can bring factors to the foreground that may have remained hidden, providing you with resources that you can use to your advantage. This week, by using Lucy as a case study, you have been able to combine your knowledge of yourself with an understanding of your sector or industry to construct a powerful analytical tool – the SWOT analysis. There are two final comments to make in this context. Firstly, your circumstances – and your attitudes and priorities – will change, so updating your SWOT analysis at regular intervals is a useful habit to adopt. Secondly, it may be helpful to involve someone else in this process who can provide you with an objective perspective and ask you the right questions about your analysis. This might be a friend or colleague that you trust or an outsider such as a careers adviser or mentor (to be discussed in Week 8). Well done – you have reached the end of Week 7 and can now take the weekly quiz to test your understanding. Week 7 practice quiz Open the quiz in a new tab or window (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link). This week you have looked more closely at how to make use of the knowledge that you are gaining about your sector. In particular, you have been introduced to the concept of the SWOT analysis and how this can help you to analyse some of the factors relating to your sector, and assess how these might affect you personally. You have done this in three specific areas: improving your current performance; retraining or gaining new qualifications; and progressing your career through a new job or career change. You should now feel that you can: describe the concept of a SWOT analysis and how this can help you to understand your current situation undertake a SWOT analysis on your current situation using what you know about yourself and your sector identify how you might improve your performance in your current job describe possible steps you could take in order to (re)train or gain further qualifications outline how a job or career change might be beneficial for you personally. Next week you will look at planning action in relation to your goals based on what you have learned over the past few weeks. Your practical action plan will contain realistic aims and objectives to guide you as you take steps to make these aspirations a reality. You can now go to Week 8. Week 8: Taking action Well done, you have reached the final week of the course! Last week, you thought about how you can make use of the knowledge you are gaining about your sector. More specifically, you explored the concept of the SWOT analysis and how this can help you to analyse factors relating to your sector. You then used this to investigate three key areas: improving your current performance, retraining or gaining new qualifications, and progressing your career through a new job or career change. This week you will decide what actions you need to take based on the goals you have identified and what you have learned over the past few weeks. At the end of this week you will have a practical action plan containing realistic aims and objectives to guide you as you take steps to make these aspirations a reality. Watch Lynne Johnson as she introduces Week 8. LYNNE JOHNSON Welcome to Week 8. And congratulations on reaching the final week of the course. Last week, you used SWOT analysis to consider how best to make use of the information you’ve gained about your sector and improve your current situation. This week, you’ll be building on your practical action plan and identifying steps you can take to make your aspirations a reality. For you, this could mean progressing your career by gaining a promotion, considering a career change or starting to think about applying for a new job. In this final week, you’ll also start to think about how a mentor might be able to support you in taking your action plan forward, and find out how to identify people you feel could be suitable and effective mentors for you. I hope you enjoy your final week of the course and wish you well in your future career endeavours.

Once again, please use your notebook or the Toolkit to jot down your thoughts and responses to the activities. By the end of this week, you will be able to: outline your current situation in the light of work completed during this course define the important elements that make up an action plan list the key points that you have learned from the various elements of this course construct a personal action plan based on these key learning points explain how a mentor might be able to support you in taking forward your action plan and identify people whom you feel could be suitable and appropriate mentors for you.

Figure 1 A woman sitting and reflecting.

When you began this course you were asked to think about your current situation and your aims with respect to this. You were introduced to several scenarios including: I’m working in a job that I dislike and would like to change. I’m working in a job that is OK for now, but which I would like to leave soon. I’m working in a job that I enjoy and in which I would like to progress. I’m not working at the moment and I am seeking a particular type of employment. I’m not working at the moment and I’m not sure what I will do next. The object of this exercise was to help you to place your growing understanding of your sector into the kind of personal context that would make it more meaningful for you individually. Although developing your knowledge and understanding of your sector for its own sake might be rewarding, you will find it even more valuable if you are able to use it to progress your career. This will be the case regardless of your current situation. If you are working but seeking to progress or change your career, then this knowledge will provide you with the context within which to do this and the confidence that you have researched your sector thoroughly and considered your options. Similarly, if you want to move on from your current employer, you will have a deeper awareness of the sector within which you work and the possibilities it contains, plus the confidence to apply for alternatives with conviction. Finally, if you are currently looking for work, imagining yourself in your preferred work environment will improve your confidence in making effective applications and handling interviews. Of course, that may well have been several weeks ago, so perhaps it is timely to take stock of your current situation to see if anything has changed since Week 1. Activity 1 Revisiting your first thoughts Allow about 10 minutes Think back to when you started the course and your situation then. Perhaps you were trying to progress with your current employer or thinking about moving into a new career completely. Has your situation changed at all? Have you learned anything in the intervening weeks that has made you see things differently? Are your aspirations still very much the same or have they changed at all? If you were new to thinking about your situation in this way, you may have used the Personal awareness tool in the Toolkit to help you think about your goals and aspirations. If this is the case, or if you feel this would be helpful at this point, then take some time now to visit (or revisit) this tool and see how your ideas have developed during the duration of this course. Make some notes on this in the table below. Table 1 Has your situation changed?

Situation at start of course	Current situation	Reasons for this change, if any

This activity is to help you to refocus on your personal situation so there is no single correct response. It is likely that some things will have changed in the last few weeks and it is useful to establish where your current thinking places you. This activity has allowed you to reassess your current position so that you have a baseline from which to start. You are now ready to go ahead with some action planning.

Figure 2 A person skiing.

We all make action plans, very often in our heads if not actually written down. Action plans are simply a list of all the tasks that you need to complete in order to reach an objective or a goal. You may be familiar with writing a ‘to-do list’, but an action plan differs from this in that a to-do list is simply a list of necessary tasks to be addressed that may be completely unrelated. An action plan, by contrast, implies that the tasks are unified by all leading to the same objective. We use action plans in order to ensure that: we have a framework for considering how we will meet our objective nothing is overlooked, for example a key step or item tasks are tackled in the right order, at the appropriate time and deadlines are met we have a record and sense of what we have achieved in the pursuit of an objective. Even very small projects require some form of action plan, although this might be fairly minimal. Bigger projects – such as career planning – clearly require more thought and monitoring so building an action plan is a sensible approach to adopt. Activity 2 Writing a simple action plan Allow about 10 minutes This short activity is designed to help you think about the key aspects of an action plan. Imagine you are planning a surprise birthday party for your sister. You have listed a number of tasks that you feel you will need to accomplish but this does not yet amount to an action plan.

Tasks	Tasks
Look at potential venuesBook venueInvite guestsBook cateringDraw up guest listBuy present	Book bandBuy invitation cardsOrder cakeBook photographerDecide what to wearBuy cake

Create your action plan by considering the tasks, who else you might need to involve and the timescale (short, medium and long term) in which everything needs to be done. Table 2 Planning a surprise birthday party

Tasks	Who else is involved	Timescale
Look at potential venues
Book venue
Invite guests
Book catering
Draw up guest list
Buy present
Book band
Buy invitation cards
Order cake
Book photographer
Decide what to wear
Buy cake

There is no absolutely correct answer to this problem but the following is a possible solution. Table 3 Suggested action plan for a surprise birthday party

Tasks	Who else is involved	Timescale
Look at potential venues	Venue managers	Short
Book venue	Venue manager	Short
Invite guests	Sister’s friends and family	Medium
Book catering	Venue; catering companies	Medium
Draw up guest list	Ask sister’s best friend	Short
Buy present	Shop	Medium
Book band	Band agent	Short
Buy invitation cards	Shop	Medium
Order cake	Bakers	Medium
Book photographer	Local photographers	Medium
Decide what to wear	Partner or friend	Long
Buy cake	Bakers	Long

The difference between your initial list and the action plan above is clear; the action plan gives some indication of task priority, timescale and others involved. As a result, it probably has a greater chance of success in meeting your objective of organising a memorable birthday party for your sister. Having identified the important features of an action plan, and in particular the fact that it must have a unifying objective, you can now begin to construct one for progressing your career.

Figure 3 Students writing in a classroom.

The overall aim of this course has been to help you to understand your sector better in order to progress your career. You have done this in various ways over the last few weeks and now is the time, if you haven’t done this already, to bring this learning together so that you can construct an action plan tailored to your circumstances and requirements. Take a few minutes here to remind yourself how recruiters explore your understanding of the sector at interview and the different areas you would need to understand for employers in the private and public sector. Listen to Rebecca and Charlie from Gradconsult discussing what they, as recruiters, are looking for in an applicant. REBECCA If I give you some examples of how I would test somebody's understanding of a sector, when I was a recruiter, it would be very simple. And for me, it's about their curiosity and their understanding of basic things like, who are our biggest competitors? What we think about our most recent products that we've launched? What do you think the biggest challenges are for our sector in the next three to five years? Those three questions would indicate to me that they have done some reading, that they understand what's happening, what current thinking is, and that they've scratched below the surface of just our website. CHARLIE The kinds of questions that I might ask, as a recruiter in an interview, about the sector would be, can they give me an overview of what they think the sector challenges are, what the wider environment-- how that's affecting the different things in the sector. I might I ask them to give me some specific examples of how their knowledge of the sector could influence the way that they're going approach the job. And so getting them to tell me how much they know about that sector, but also how much they've thought about that knowledge being important in the job that they're then going to do. REBECCA If you're in the public sector and you are looking for an understanding of the sector as a recruiter, you'd want to talk to people about policy that's affecting your area or policy that's currently being developed-- white papers, green papers, practise, guidelines that are being published by whatever standards might be applied to that particular area of public policy, but also looking at best practise within the sector, as well. So, within public sector itself, clearly there isn't competition, as such, but there are significant differences from one region or one area to another. So, what's happening in other areas? What are the good things? And how would you apply them to our region or our area of policy? And those are exactly the type of questions I'd be asking, if I were recruiting for the public sector.

Let’s just recap now on the different avenues that you have explored during the course: the global and international factors that affect your sector including political, economic, social and technological influences the key elements that comprise your sector, most importantly your customers, competitors and your suppliers sources of information and support that exist within and around your sector including professional and sector bodies, national and local government, trade bodies and trade unions the benefits of networking and how to do this effectively job markets and how these vary between sectors and industries a SWOT analysis of your knowledge of yourself and the learning that has helped you to identify the implications for future options, including improving performance, gaining new qualifications and changing jobs or career. You should be pleased that you have come so far and deserve congratulations for all your hard work! If you have been tackling the activities included in each week’s section, you will have been compiling some thoughts and ideas already about all the above areas and their impact on your sector and, indirectly, on you. Even better, in your notebook you may have recorded other reflections to add to this collection. Pause now and revisit your responses to all the activities by consulting your notebook or the Toolkit. What have you learned over the last few weeks about your sector that you feel might have implications for your career progress and planning?

The following case study illustrates the key learning points that are possible from studying this course. Case study: Phil Phil is a customer services assistant working in a busy call centre providing support to customers of a large energy supplier. He is currently not very happy in his role, but is torn between seeking another role with his current employer, changing to a different employer in the same sector or line of work, or completely changing his career. Phil has looked back at the activities he has completed and his reflections in his notebook and decided that his key learning over the last few weeks has been as follows: Global and international factors Changes in the global energy production market Political events in the Middle East and Russia International environmental agreements and legislation Globalisation of labour markets The economics of renewable energy Political support for renewable energy suppliers Customers, competitors and suppliers Customers’ overall energy usage Customers switching to ‘greener’ energy sources Tariff changes by competitors Advertising campaigns by competitors Suppliers changing pricing structures Increasing levels of dissatisfaction registered by customers Outsourcing of customer service functions leading to changes in conditions of employment Other sources of information and support Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy policy statements Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy research into energy supply and usage Local government support for businesses switching to greener energy sources Availability of training (NVQs and higher level qualifications) in customer support IT training offered by his trade union Networking Friends in other employment sectors Alumni from college on Facebook Family contacts with experience in retail management Forthcoming conference for trade union representatives Job markets Other opportunities with current employer including supervisory posts Opportunities with other employers in same sector Change of career using skills and experience gained from current employment SWOT analysis I can see ways to improve turnaround times in handling customer enquiries There may be opportunities for further in-house training and possible promotion Maybe now would be a good time to look at more ambitious options like a degree course Employer has a graduate training scheme that would be an option post-degree My interpersonal and teamwork skills are excellent so I could consider a career change There are gaps in my attributes that I may need to address At the moment, this is just a list of areas that Phil has learned about – in greater or lesser detail – that might have an impact on his future career. Activity 3 Your key learning Allow about 30 minutes Go back over the last few weeks and look at some of the activities that you completed. Look back also at the reflections you have recorded in your notebook. See if you can complete the table in a similar way to Phil so that you are capturing the key learning points as you go along. Table 4 Identifying your key learning

Global and international factors (Week 2)
Customers, competitors and suppliers (Week 3)
Other sources of information and support (Week 4)
Networking (Week 5)
Job markets (Week 6)
SWOT analysis (Week 7)

Your response to this activity will be completely individual and there is no right or wrong answer, except what seems appropriate for you. You may have left some boxes completely empty and put more details into others. That’s perfectly understandable as we are all individuals with different mindsets and circumstances that will dictate which areas we find personally interesting and valuable and which we do not. The important thing is that you have made the effort to sift through and analyse the information you have collected. You should now have a stripped-down version of all the research and thinking that you have done during this course. This should represent the key information for you personally that you have gleaned and which will form the basis for your personal action plan. Some of it may require further work or activity; for example, something interesting on the government website may have grabbed your attention but you have not looked into it properly yet. That’s fine – this can be included in your action plan as a task to be completed in the future, perhaps as a priority.

Figure 4 A person performing repairs on a building.

When constructing your action plan, there are four main dimensions to consider in order for it to be as comprehensive as possible. Information What extra information do you need before you can make a decision? What areas do you feel unsure about? What knowledge might give you the edge when you are applying for other jobs? People (or possibly an organisation/agency) Who might help you with information about opportunities with your current employer? Who do you need to talk to or consult in order to find out more about career ideas or training opportunities? Who might be able to offer you impartial advice or guidance? Experience What skills or expertise do you need to develop before you can make a particular move? What experience will make you more attractive to a future employer? Timescale Are there some tasks that need to be completed before others can be tackled? Are there any deadlines that you must meet in order to progress? What are realistic time frames within which you can achieve your objectives?

If you again take Phil as an example, he might decide that he needs to research more information about: the global energy production market and how this might affect his employer climate change agreements and legislation that might affect his employer the strategies and practices adopted by his company’s competitors and the impact of these on his employer wider career opportunities using his skills and experience possible degree courses that would widen his options. Phil may also decide that he needs to talk to a number of people in order to achieve the above, including: his line manager about possible training and other opportunities with his employer his HR department about the company’s graduate training scheme his trade union about possible IT training friends and contacts from college about their career paths family contacts about other career opportunities an impartial career adviser to help him review his options. More broadly, Phil may decide that he lacks experience in particular areas and needs to plan how he will fill these gaps, including: IT skills to broaden his overall skill set team leadership if he wants promotion or a better job networking if he wants to make the most of his contacts. Having considered these ideas, Phil realises that some things need to be tackled as a priority before others, so he puts a more specific timescale on them. This is in order to make clear what actions need to happen before others and to impose some sort of discipline on himself to ensure that he carries them out. Eventually, Phil’s personal action plan could look like Table 5. Table 5 Phil’s action plan

Action to obtain information and/or experience	People	Timescale
Arrange interim appraisal meeting to discuss training opportunities	Line manager	Within month
Find out more about employer’s graduate training scheme	Company HR officer	Within month
Look into effective networking techniques using LinkedIn	LinkedIn	Within month
Find out more about specific jobs that I am interested in	Friends/college alumni	Within month
Talk to family contacts about careers in retail management	Uncle Fred	Within month
Talk to trade union representative about IT training	Trade union representative	Within two months
Investigate changes in energy production market	International Energy Agency website	Within two months
Check latest climate change agreements and legislation through appropriate websites	UK government and EU websites	Within two months
Investigate competitors’ strategies via websites	Competitors’ websites	Within two months
Find out about availability of careers advice through National Careers Service	National Careers Service website	Within three months
Investigate potential degree courses through UCAS website	UCAS website	Within six months

Just like Phil, start thinking about how the knowledge and learning you have gained over the last few weeks can be turned into an action plan for your career progress. Activity 4 Writing your action plan Allow about 20 minutes Return to the table of key learning that you put together in Activity 3 and think about how you might develop some of this learning into an action plan. Also bear in mind the four dimensions: information, people, experience and timescale. Remember this action plan must all be done within the context of your career aspirations. These may be well formed and specific at this point, or perhaps they are more vague and uncertain. This doesn’t really matter since, whatever stage you are have reached, your action plan should reflect this. Table 6 Your action plan

Action to obtain information and/or experience	People	Timescale

You should now have written down some key actions that you want to take in order to progress your career, based on your learning over the last few weeks. Your plan may contain many tasks or just a few; it doesn’t matter as long as the plan seems right for you and you are committed to it. You can always add extra tasks as you proceed and remove those that no longer seem relevant. The final part of this week involves thinking a little about who you might enlist to help you keep on track with your action plan – your mentor.

Figure 5 Two people looking at a laptop screen.

Making plans is the relatively easy part of the process; achieving these plans is more challenging. One way to try to ensure that you do this is to enlist the aid of someone else who will help to keep you on track. Such a person is often known as a ‘mentor’, defined by Oxford Dictionaries as ‘an experienced and trusted adviser’ (Oxford Dictionaries, 2016). Mentoring can be very valuable in a careers context. A mentor can become a trusted adviser and guide who will encourage and support you by asking the right questions, making appropriate suggestions and giving helpful feedback on your ideas and reflections. The overall objective is to help you to achieve your career goals and your action plan is a key element of this process. First, however, you need to think about whether or not you actually want or need a mentor. You may be very independent and feel that you don’t need anyone to act as an adviser or a critical friend to you. You may feel that, at the moment, you are capable of making decisions and plans for yourself without the need to discuss toothese with anyone else. Alternatively, you may have had a mentor in the past and this relationship didn’t work well for a number of reasons. There is no requirement for anyone to have a mentor but it is an approach that you should consider, even if you decide against the idea. Activity 5 The mentoring relationship Part 1 Allow about 20–30 minutes Take a look at this video from Duke Graduate School in the USA, in which mentoring staff talk about what they think constitutes a good mentoring relationship. As you watch, make some notes about your thoughts and reactions to the views of the people interviewed. The interviewees explain how the mentoring relationship can vary depending on the people involved and the situation. Although the context is an academic institution, many of the points made would apply to other settings and should give you a sense of the benefits that you might obtain from having a mentor. Part 2 Allow about 5 minutes Having listened to the staff at Duke Graduate School, take a few minutes to think through whether having a mentor would help you as you tackle some of the issues involved in this course. How would you feel talking to someone more experienced about your plans and ideas? Would you be happy doing this and seeking feedback from them? Would it help you to put things into context and to get a second opinion? Would it help you to focus your thoughts and prioritise your ideas? Perhaps you have had a mentor in the past – how did this relationship work for you? Did it help you to achieve your goals? Did you feel in control with someone else to bounce ideas off and with whom to share your thoughts? Would a different choice of mentor have been more productive? Try to think of this in terms of the pros and the cons so that you create a kind of balance sheet, as below. Table 7 Having a mentor

Pros	Cons

The results of this activity might not be clear-cut and you may still be unsure about whether to seek the help of a mentor. You may decide not to take forward this idea at the moment, but at least you have thought about the pros and cons meaning that you can always return to the possibility at a later stage. If you have decided that having a mentor might be a good idea, then you will need to think about which person might best perform this role.

The success of the mentoring relationship relies on trust and openness, so it is very important that you ask the right person to take on the role of a mentor for you. Make sure that you ask someone whom you are sure will have your best interests at heart and will not have any interests that conflict with yours. If you have had a mentor in the past, think about the person who performed this role and whether you felt they were an appropriate choice. Certain people may spring immediately to mind, such as your line manager or a member of your family. But if you think about it, the former has an interest in your performance at work and is possibly also mindful of his/her line manager demands. Will they be able to put all this to one side and think solely about you and your interests? Family members, too, might present you with problems. They may have preconceptions, based on knowing you for many years, about what you like or are capable of and may find it difficult to leave this ‘baggage’ behind. Similarly, you may have expectations of them based on experience, which may not prove very productive. Family dynamics are very interesting, invariably complicated and not always helpful in these situations. Friends are slightly different. They may have known you for fewer years and be more objective but the demands of friendship can sometimes make complete frankness difficult. Also you don’t want to risk a friendship being harmed by the dynamics of this new type of relationship. The best type of person to choose is someone who has experience that you respect and value. They will probably be older than you – although this need not necessarily be the case – and will be prepared to spend some time with you on a regular basis. They will not judge you for your ambitions and ideas but will act as a ‘critical friend’ and will help you to achieve your action plan through questions, suggestions and feedback. You should also think about exactly what you are asking them to do and how much time this will take, as you need to be sure that they have the time to spare for this activity. Activity 6 Identifying a possible mentor Allow about 10 minutes Think for a few minutes about possible people who could act as a mentor for you. They don’t necessarily need to be people that you know well or even at all. They might be someone at your place of work, perhaps in another department, whom you respect and feel would be able to help you. Start by writing a few names in your notebook or the Toolkit so you have some ideas to work with. You need to choose your mentor carefully, so spend some time thinking about the people on your list and consider: Have they the appropriate experience to support me? Will they be interested enough to take this on? Will they have the time to devote to this task? How will I approach them and what will I ask of them? Your list is very personal so there is no right answer to this activity. The important thing is that you consider your choice carefully. You have now thought seriously about the pros and cons of having a mentor and, if you decided to take up this option, who might be an appropriate person to ask. Whatever your decision, you will benefit from having thought about the issues involved and your plans and decisions are likely to be better formulated as a result.

Congratulations on getting to the end of the course successfully. You will have put in a huge amount of effort to have reached this point and will have learned a great deal along the way – well done! Now it’s time to complete the Week 8 badged quiz. It is similar to the badged quiz that you took after Week 4, with 15 questions in total. Week 8 compulsory badge quiz Open the quiz in a new tab or window (by holding ctrl [or cmd on a Mac] when you click the link). This week you have reviewed much of the work that you have completed during this course and reassessed your current situation in order to identify whether or not your aspirations have changed. You have put together an action plan containing key tasks that will contribute to making these aspirations a reality. You have also considered the possibility of asking someone to act as a mentor to you, providing you with support and advice as you take forward the various elements of your action plan. You should now feel that you can: outline your current situation in the light of work completed during this course define the important elements that make up an action plan list the key points that you have learned from the various elements of this course construct a personal action plan based on these key learning points explain how a mentor might be able to support you in taking forward your action plan and identify people whom you feel could be suitable and appropriate mentors for you. Now you've come to the end of the course, we would appreciate a few minutes of your time to complete this short end-of-course survey (you may have already completed this survey at the end of Week 4). We’d like to find out a bit about your experience of studying the course and what you plan to do next. We will use this information to provide better online experiences for all our learners and to share our findings with others. 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Graduate Prospects (2016) Working for a small charity [Online]. Available at www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/job-sectors/charity-and-voluntary-work/working-for-a-small-charity (Accessed 14 October 2016). Hatfield, I. (2015) Self-employment in Europe [Online]. Available at http://www.ippr.org/publications/self-employment-in-europe (Accessed 12 October 2016) Monaghan, A. (2014) ‘Self-employment in UK at highest level since records began’, TheGuardian, 20 August [Online]. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/20/self-employment-uk-highest-level (Accessed 14 October 2016). NHS Digital (n.d.)Workforce [Online]. Available at www.hscic.gov.uk/workforce (Accessed 14 October 2016). Open University Careers Advisory Service (2016) Advertised jobs [Online]. Available at www2.open.ac.uk/students/careers/job-seeking/advertised-jobs (Accessed 14 October 2016). Oxfam (2015) Annual report 2014 – 2015 [Online]. 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Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tUZycQolIA (Accessed 14 October 2016). Whitmell, C. (2012) ‘The art of making an effective speculative job application’, The Guardian, 19 September [Online]. Available at www.theguardian.com/careers/speculative-applications (Accessed 14 October 2016). National Careers Service (2016) What are the soft skills employers want? [Online]. Available at https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/ (Accessed 14 October 2016). A Good Mentor Is … (2015) YouTube video, added by Duke Graduate School [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCF97xYxmcY (Accessed 14 October 2016). Oxford Dictionaries (2016) Mentor [Online]. Available at https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/mentor (Accessed 13 October 2016). This free course was written by Martin Pennington. 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