Today's Career Arena - the world of work - is tough!

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Browsing Archive: August, 2009

Taking the Plunge!

Posted by Dorothy Wilson on Wednesday, August 26, 2009, In : Your Own Business!

Most of my clients are business managers who work in the corporate environment. Some though, generally after experiencing difficulties in the corporate world, have gone on to set up their own businesses. So let me tell you about Joe*.

He has minimal educational qualifications and, when he first came to see me he was working in a garden sundries warehouse. As a first step out of that I guided him towards a job selling garden equipment. He then moved on to work for a company providing floral dis...

Some basic career development tips!

Posted by Dorothy Wilson on Wednesday, August 19, 2009, In : Developing Your Career

Journalist. Lawyer. Diplomat. Academic. Doctor. These were some of the career choices of a group of students from Leicester University whose presentations I helped to assess a few weeks ago. The students were taking part in Leicester Uni’s excellent Employability Programme and I was there are part of my volunteer commitment as a Business Champion for the East Midlands Development Agency. The standard of the presentations was excellent and a tribute to the university.

The purpose of this Em...

That Vital Handshake!

Posted by Dorothy Wilson on Thursday, August 13, 2009, In : Developing Your Career

So what gets you that dream job? Experience? Skills? Qualifications? Research by the University of Iowa suggests that your handshake is a key factor.

100 students were put through mock interviews and were introduced to 5 handshake "experts" posing as prospective colleagues. Their assessments of the "candidates" were then compared with those of recruitment specialists. The students with good handshakes were perceived to be sociable, friendly and dominant. Those with weak handshakes were ...
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About Me

Dorothy Wilson

Loughborough

So that you know who you are dealing with let me tell you a little more about myself. A broad-based business career, which includes working for both small and large companies, a spell in the City of London as well as running my own business has given me a deep understanding of the inter-relationship between people and organisations. The expertise I have developed in career development over the past couple of decades is under-pinned by a Diploma in Management from the Open University and an MA in HRM, with career development as the dissertation subject, from Nottingham Business School as well as a coaching qualification. Wearing another hat, I have had a long connection with an international exchange programme and am very proud to have served as European President of the alumni association. My connection with this programme has given me some tremendous experiences. One of those was presiding over a meeting held on the side of an alp in Switzerland - one step back and I could well have tumbled down into William Tell's lake. Another was giving one of the key-note speeches at a conference in Manila. Then there was being stuck on the side of a Swiss mountain, knee-deep in snow in the middle of a hailstorm not to mention being horrendously sea-sick on a trawler off the Swedish coast and being faced with a dinner of barbecued pig just after making to the shore. I also managed to beat a hasty retreat from some head-hunters in the Philippines. However, after all that, I'm now back in the village where I grew up, working from my home office where I can look over the fields towards the Wolds - gentle rolling hills - that straggle the borders of Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. And from there I hope to share some of my knowledge and experience with you - and to have the pleasure of getting to know some of you.