Quo Vadis Opinions

TD Olwyn Enright will not be standing for re-election for the next Dail, citing pressures of a political  life and a young family. The life of a politician is not for those who want to have some kind of balanced life.
A friend who was once a politician told me  people expect you to be available all of the time even on Christmas day for the most mundane of matters. It got to her eventually as did the amount of time spent in endless meetings where nothing was really achieved.
I think this is one of the reasons why the economy is in the mess it’s in. People working very long hours tend to lose the ability to question the status quo, and notice something’s badly wrong. In the politicians case they seem to be disconnected from the reality of many people’s lives with their ongoing claims to unvouched expenses and failure to see the Dail and Seanad needs urgent reform. (Watch or read any Dail proceeding and it will prove this point)

A political example
Dermot Ahern, Minister for Justices is obviously suffering from the long hour’s syndrome as he called for higher fees for ATM transactions to discourage bank robberies, only to retract when saner voices protected. (Incidentally I ended up withdrawing €500 cash this week to make a payment because the electronic payment had not been processed by my bank within the standard 3 working days. In England a similar payment can be in the other person’s bank account within twenty minutes! Maybe addressing this issue will go towards solving the high cash levels in circulation)
Anyhow I know when I worked seventy to eight hour weeks my decision making ability became weaker and weaker.

A medical example
A really tragic example of the impact of long hours is this week’s medical council review of the Stewart/Conroy case where a consultant (Martin Corbally) noted incorrectly that the left kidney was to be removed on a then eight year old boy rather than the diseased right kidney. Despite the parents raising concerns on four different occasions, the operating doctor (Sri Paran) removed the healthy kidney, without reviewing the X-rays.
Both doctors worked very long hours of up to 80 hours a week. Both come across as caring and responsible professionals who immediately admitted the mistake and are now putting together a joint document to see what lessons can be learnt from this fiasco and to prevent it happening again. The Medical Council review does not appear to have addressed the issue of doctors working long hours though.

Impaired decision making
If you are working very long hours over an extended period of time, be aware your decision making ability is probably impaired not just in your working life but in your personal life. If you’re stuck in a rut and don’t feel able to take action to change the long hours seek professional help. If this is not an option do make sure to get some physical exercise at least 3 to 4 times a week as this is known to help. 

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Been a while since I posted, … time just flies.. sorry

Hopefully these links will be useful
The “activation measures” to help the unemployed
45 new courses for the unemployed seeking to enter college
Listing on Learning Ireland website
Geographic listing on Aontas website
Free courses on DIT website.

Profile of volunteers is changing as recession hits
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Top mistakes made in job interviews
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Less excuses for being late, but they are more creative
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Retrain in science, IT and sales, say experts
According to a panel of recruitment and academic experts the areas the long-term unemployed should be considering re-training in are science, accountancy, sales, information technology, biotechnology and pharmaceutical services. Ed Walsh, founding president of the University of Limerick, has advised people to re-skill as much as they can and to leave the country if they still can’t find employment. (Irish Examiner, 07/08/10)
Go to article

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The latest expert skills report is out.  Not a major amount of new change since the last one was issued. It reports a further reduction in the number of people employed with the biggest losses in construction, traditional and modern manufacturing, agricultural, retail and wholesale.

The report confirms the trends of employers having difficulties in recruiting only in a small number of certain high skills specialised areas.
These include
Engineering Specialists within an occupation
Pharmaceutical industry,
Medical devices,
Water purification,
Quality control,
Validation pharmaceutical and medical devices,
Wind energy
 High voltage electrical engineering.

Senior specialists
 Senior software developers, experienced marketing managers with specialised industry knowledge
Niche areas
 Nordic languages with telesales, scientists & science technicians with specific R&D experience

A specific skill mix
e.g. ICT with business

Financial
actuaries, risk managers etc with some difficulties  reported in recruiting multilingual accounting clerks.

Assuming the economy returns to growth and the various financial issues are resolved the authors believe 96,000 jobs made up of 44,000 replacements due to retirements and deaths with 52,000 through the expansion of industries will be created between 2011 and 2014.
The full report can be read here

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College fees to return?
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Taster of college life
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More adults looking to return to education
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A good free quiz to test your motivation to get work done
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I coached a client recently, who had been sacked from a job for poor performance, after reporting a fraud. Unfortunately because she was less than a year in the job, she had no rights under employment law.
Hopefully you will never be in this very stressful situation, but here are some pointers  just in case. 
What can you learn from the experience?
Generally there are usually some indications that all is not well, prior to the sacking. Did you notice these indications? If not does this indicate you are not tuning in well to communications between you and your boss or co-workers?

Good communications?
If there were no indications, that you could reasonably have seen, was there good communication between you and your boss? If not maybe this is an area you need to improve on in your next job.

Looking for the next job
In looking for your next job, you need to establish whether there is any chance new employers will find out you were sacked from a previous job. If they are likely to find out, then be upfront about it and immediately state what you have learnt from the experience.
If relevant, explain why you may not have been a good fit for the organisation and position it as strength. For example if applying for a position in a very control orientated employer you could state “well it was a go-ahead young entrepreneurial company, and I’ve learnt I prefer to work in a company where T’s are crossed and I’s dotted, so I understand why I was not a good fit, as they wanted to act fast, where I insisted on the paperwork first then act.

Never criticise
Never ever criticise your previous employer, as this just makes you look bitter and no employer wants to employ bitter people.

Fixed Term contract?
 If you were only with the company a short time, is it reasonable to say it was a fixed term contract?

If you feel you are in danger of being sacked, don’t wait till it happens, but start looking around.

What  did my client  learn?
My client has learnt a lot from the experience and has now been shortlisted for a new position, so hopefully they’ll be back working soon. In the meantime they are keeping busy, with exercise, socialising and also completing additional training courses. One thing they have learnt though is  it is not enough just to be good in your specialist area and follow the legal advice you’re given.  There’s also a need to build working friendships with other managers that you deal with in other departments, as this may have made a difference in their case.

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“What if you broke both legs, and doctors only treated the left one? You certainly couldn’t run any marathons, right? In fact, you’d probably have trouble just standing up.
That’s what life is like for those suffering from both mental illness and substance abuse. Often times, only one of their legs is being treated, causing them to stumble and fall on their journey through recovery”

It sounds crazy, being treated for one broken leg but not the other. Yet every day this is exactly what happens to people with addiction problems in Ireland.

The charity I do volunteer work for, Dual Diagnosis Ireland, is looking for volunteers with skills in web site management and design and digital marketing.

More details here.  If you’re interested, please contact us or if you know of anybody who is interested please pass onThanksCarol

I’m getting an increasing number of clients considering a degree, so today’s post is about the general routes into college for people 23 years old on or before 1st January 2010. (such applicants are known as  mature student)

There are a number of routes into 3rd level colleges to complete a degree as follows

1. Direct entry to a 3rd level college.
If you are likely to have the leaving certificate points for a particular course which does not have restricted access (e.g. a portfolio or interview application process), you still have up to the 1st May to apply for a course starting this September. So in this case normal CAO timetable dates apply as you are not applying as mature student.

There is no standard CAO timetable for mature students. Confusingly each college has it’s own timetable and even within a college different deadlines apply for different courses.
The deadline for applying for entry in September 2010 as a mature student has passed for most 3rd level colleges in the greater Dublin area. Only Maynooth is still accepting applications for some 3rd level courses for September 2010 from mature students.

2. A Post Leaving Certificate  course (PLC)
These are generally of one year’s duration, though some are two years, usually they have a FETAC certificate and are available in a wide range of areas and colleges, including FAS. A FETAC certificate with a distinction can often be used to gain entry to a 3rd level college. Some of these courses are excellent; others have very little substance so do your research and make sure to talk to past students of your specific course. Many of these courses are currently processing applications now.

3. Pre University Access courses
Generally these courses are run by the 3rd level college or in partnership with a PLC college. Their specific aim is to prepare mature students for progression to a degree. Sometimes satisfactory course completion leads to automatic entry into a 3rd level course. This can be an excellent option as it means you can obtain a taste of college life in a course with other mature students. As these courses can often be very broad, it means you can also defer a decision on which specific course you select, when you have more information to make a more informed decision.
The deadline for application to Trinity’s access course  for september 2010 has now passed, but other colleges are still accepting applications e.g. DIT

Sometimes these courses, give access to full time degrees  but sometimes the degree option available is only part time, which means fees will be payable. So you need to know exactly what options are available at the end of your access course.

There are many more issues to consider when considering a return to education, so you will need to do your research to find out what’s right for you.

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Sean Mc Loughney’s new book, “slave to a job master of your career” has a nice catchy title and makes some excellent points. There’s a section on how to know when you are a slave to your job and a very good checklist to see when you have an “employee mindset” on page 12.
Chapter one is about managing your career the way you would manage your own business. You need to take responsibility for your own career and not expect your employer to lalways look after you.

Great advice which I give to all my clients. There’s a nice table on page 18 highlighting the entrepreneur mindset versus the employee mindset.
For example
“I’m passionate about my clients” versus “I do my job well”
Or
“I take pride in my appearance” versus “Sure I’m fine the way I am”
Or
“I earn my wages and give value for money” versus “They should pay me more for what I do”. 

Or
“I love to smile and bring energy to my workplace” versus “First thing I do is smile to get it over with”.
However I can’t agree with
“I love to wear bright colours” versus “I wear grey, that way I won’t stand out”.   This won’t work in some workplaces, for example if you work in an undertaker.
A business slant  runs throughout the book, which can be a little grating. For example- “build your business empire around delivering extraordinary results”.  But what if I don’t want a business empire, what if I just want to make a living and enjoy my job?

 There are interesting chapters on networking and developing your personal brand which would be useful to anyone developing a career. Unfortunately the business language will put off a lot of people not working in business, which is shame, because otherwise it’s well presented  and is a useful reference book, particularly for anyone at mid management  levels  wishing to develop their career further.

Disclosure
Sean is a Chartered Accountant as am I, and this book is published by Chartered Accountants Ireland, who are a client of mine, but I do not know Sean and am not being paid for this post.

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A good article on getting your employer to fund your course
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HPAT
Students can now appeal the HPAT test, which is essential for entry into medicine. Heard of students with excellent leaving points but not so good HPAT results are repeating the HPAT this year so this is good news. Maybe they do listen to us bloggers!
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Education
US firm calls for overhaul of Education. This is interesting and reflects what many educationalists feel. Will anything change though?
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Also good on the education front was that RTE series on St Peter’s school Dunboyne. very inspiring. The students were great. Of course they only showed the good teachers and not the minority of poor teachers in every school who drag the staff room and students down.
They were very strict on the school uniform, thought school staff redoing pupil ties had gone out with the ark. Interestingly none of the girls wore trousers, just that icky green & white kilt. Many schools now allow female students to wear trousers, if the school is mixed as one of the Irish equality opportunity bodies found against Bewleys cafe when they made female staff wear that appalling pinafore & hat whilst the lads could wear trousers.
If you missed the show you can also catch it on the RTE website.

College applications
College applications up by 10% with 3 weeks to go
Go to website article

Also be aware of two new pathways to help school leavers with a  disadvantage or a disability to get to college. This is real progress and it is good to see very transparent requirements being put in place.

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career guidance Ireland

 Institute of Technology Tallaght: Taster Course
“The Institute of Technology Tallaght have a limited number of vacancies on their “Taster Course” - this is a preparatory course for third level college. The course is free of charge and begins at the end of November. If you have any queries, please contact  Dept. of Life Long Learning at 4042101 or email lifelonglearning@ittdublin.ie

 Women in Technology and Science  are  offering free membership to unemployed  until June 2010. They’re also looking for volunteers as well so get networking! 

PS it’s open to Men as well!
Link to more details

Institutes launch programme aimed at postgraduate students
“A programme of graduate education has been launched by the Institutes of Technology Research Alliance which provides targeted skills development for students undertaking MSc and PhD degrees. The programme is fully accredited by Hetac and gives a more structured approach to masters and PhD programmes. It is the first of its kind in the Irish educational system. ”
Link to article