Many of our Tribe members come to us feeling trapped, lost, confused and unsure of where to turn. These are all things that can be changed relatively quickly. In most cases, a 1hr coaching session can give a person direction and purpose, and help reduce these feelings.
However, the feeling of being undervalued, or actually being undervalued, by prospective companies and perhaps even your current company takes a lot more work.
Just this week, I spoke to an individual who received three job offers, and the difference in salaries and job responsibilities was jaw-dropping. There was an £80,000 difference between the highest paying role and the lowest. Which is ridiculous.
One company had recognised the value the person could bring to the business and offered her a role to match. In contrast, the other had seen someone with a career break proactively looking to Return to Work and tried to take advantage of the situation.
Whilst I sit here fuming at the ethics of the second organisation, I have to recognise that this was partly down to how the person demonstrated the value they would bring to the job.
This process starts with yourself. If you don't recognise your own value, then, inevitably, employers will also fail to see how much you can do. We talk a lot about self-confidence and value in Module 2 of The Returners' Tribe, but there are simple steps you can take to start improving your confidence and understanding your worth.
The easiest of all is to start keeping a Confidence Journal. In a notebook, start writing down every personal or professional accomplishment and note every time someone says something positive about your work. Pretty quickly, you will have pages and pages showing how good you are at what you do.
Then you need to communicate this to any prospective employer through your CV and in the interview.
Include as many details as possible on your CV to show how good you are at what you
do. Don't write "Increased sales"; instead, write "Increased sales by 48%, achieving 123% of annual sales target". Don't write 'Managed Directors' diaries"; instead, write "Managed complex diaries of 3 Directors including M.D and Finance Director".
To be clear, it is impossible to sound arrogant on a CV if you back up your statements with evidence. A general rule of thumb is that if your CV makes you cringe, you are hitting the right notes.
And it's the same in the interview. Not the cringe bit; you don't want to make people cringe in an interview. But it is very difficult to sound arrogant in an interview if you back your statements up with evidence. You won't sound big-headed. You will sound impressive.
All this will add up to a much more positive impression, and organisations will be lining up to offer you a job with responsibilities and a salary that matches what you are truly worth.
To find out more, check out Modules 2 and 5 in our Learning Hub.
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