We have all heard about individuals being given the sack for things they have said on social networking sites and employers checking peoples public profiles before offering them jobs. Suffice it to say, that chartering is similar. You have to expect that organisations that you approach will want to check your credentials and the quickest way of doing this are your online profiles. This way organisations can see the real you and not the CV. With this in mind, if you are going to charter either independently or not, you are going to need to control your public profile. Here are some suggetions from my experience.
The first thing you can do of course is to ensure there are no inappropriate pictures or comments anywhere and I am sure you can ask friends and family not to tag you in things that are inappropriate. The next thing would be to raise your public profile.
Raising your profile is the key to your image. If you can be seen in the right places this will help develop the image of you that you want organisations to see. For example, do you have a Twitter account? Use this to your advantage. Follow people and organisations relevant to the area that you are interested in and re tweet items from there that are of particular interest to you. This way, if anyone opens your profile and looks through your tweets they can see that you are passionate about certain subject areas. This is the same for Facebook. Like and follow pages that are relevant to your interests. If you attend a workshop or seminar for your continued professional development then when you purchase a ticket or receive confirmation click the option (there usually is one) to post to Facebook or Twitter. Let people know that you are active with your continued professional development and your chosen field.
Sites such as Linkedin and Crimspace are also really good sources of PR. Here you can join interest groups and get involved with discussions about topics which will highlight you in the site and in search engines. I have found that particularly with Linkedin, people I have approached have often checked my profile to see what I am about.
Of course there are other ways to raise your profile such as writing a blog on something that interests you (no comment) or good old fashioned networking at all those continued professional development events that you go to.
Now, this shouldn't sound like it takes the fun out of social networking. Personally I feel that it is acceptable to be seen as human and not a one track minded chartering machine so I follow my personal interests as well. If these are positive activities then why not show them. Things like sport and music are great pastimes 'why hide them' is my philosophy. It will be up to you to manage how you use them publicly so insulting an opposition player on Twitter or slating a musical act you don't like may not be the way forward necessarily but engaging with your pastimes in creative and positive ways allows you to enjoy social networking and show potential organisations the person behind the CV.
If you have any further suggestions please feel free to comment below
Until next time........
Thursday 29 November 2012
Wednesday 7 November 2012
Selling your experitse to external organisations
The best advice I was given in starting my Chartership was from a fellow trainee who had almost completed training, 'sell yourself" she said. Add how true this statement is. Whether you are working as a trainee in the prison service or training independently, the only way to gain the breadth of experience required is to approach organisations with an idea and tell them what you can do for them and why are the best person for the job.
I had never considered Psychology as something that would require sales technique and yet here I am offering my services to organisations for the sake of training and experience. One thing I have never been good at is selling myself. This has always been my short fall when writing job applications or in job interviews, I always just miss the mark so the realisation that I was going to have to do this with every organisation I approached was daunting to say the least.
Knowing that this is something that all trainees will need to do at some point as made me reflect on the processes and techniques that I have used to secure opportunities with organisations which so far has been quite successful although I'm sure there are more efficient ways of doing things then what I have done.
First, I designed a proposal document; something formal that I could send out to organisations. This document was split into sections:
•Title
•Rationale
•Aim
•What I can offer
•Plan/Proposal
The only sections I titled and made very clear were the Aim and the Rationale. These are the most important for an organisation as the first questions they will as are what's the point? And how will this help us? In my experience it has been very difficult to sell an idea without a clear rationale.
The hardest part I find, is stating why they want me to do it and not anyone else. What skills and expertise do I have that I can offer them above anyone else? Well firstly, as a trainee forensic psychologist any work that contributes towards my Chartership is FREE and I come with a Chartered Forensic Psychologist supervisor who is able to vouch for and monitor my work. This has the benefit of two for the price of one for the organisation. If you add this to your rationale and your skills and expertise with confidence you should at least be in with a chance.
Secondly, you need to show an organisation that you understand the systems they work within, the constraints on their time and how you can work with those and be an extra resource. How the project can be sustained after you have left and within their organisational structure is really important at this point. This is another way they are benefiting from using you above anyone else.
Thirdly, use the proposal to pre-empt any questions they may have and answer then as fully as you can without making promises you can't keep. This shows that you have considered as many of the barriers and challenges as possible and also implied that you have experience and knowledge of the area that you are selling, that they can use.
Fourthly never say that you are going to advise them if this is an area they specialise in. Really emphasise the role of supporting, helping and collaborating with them. You can only advise if they are branching into a new area where they have little experience and you have more experience.
And finally a lesson that has been learnt by me; you can only volunteer your time for your Chartership after that people should pay for your time as you are well qualified and experienced and need to place value on your capabilities , skills and knowledge. Bear this in mind and also bear in mind that as a trainee you should only charge half of what a chartered forensic psychologist should charge.
Until next time....
I had never considered Psychology as something that would require sales technique and yet here I am offering my services to organisations for the sake of training and experience. One thing I have never been good at is selling myself. This has always been my short fall when writing job applications or in job interviews, I always just miss the mark so the realisation that I was going to have to do this with every organisation I approached was daunting to say the least.
Knowing that this is something that all trainees will need to do at some point as made me reflect on the processes and techniques that I have used to secure opportunities with organisations which so far has been quite successful although I'm sure there are more efficient ways of doing things then what I have done.
First, I designed a proposal document; something formal that I could send out to organisations. This document was split into sections:
•Title
•Rationale
•Aim
•What I can offer
•Plan/Proposal
The only sections I titled and made very clear were the Aim and the Rationale. These are the most important for an organisation as the first questions they will as are what's the point? And how will this help us? In my experience it has been very difficult to sell an idea without a clear rationale.
The hardest part I find, is stating why they want me to do it and not anyone else. What skills and expertise do I have that I can offer them above anyone else? Well firstly, as a trainee forensic psychologist any work that contributes towards my Chartership is FREE and I come with a Chartered Forensic Psychologist supervisor who is able to vouch for and monitor my work. This has the benefit of two for the price of one for the organisation. If you add this to your rationale and your skills and expertise with confidence you should at least be in with a chance.
Secondly, you need to show an organisation that you understand the systems they work within, the constraints on their time and how you can work with those and be an extra resource. How the project can be sustained after you have left and within their organisational structure is really important at this point. This is another way they are benefiting from using you above anyone else.
Thirdly, use the proposal to pre-empt any questions they may have and answer then as fully as you can without making promises you can't keep. This shows that you have considered as many of the barriers and challenges as possible and also implied that you have experience and knowledge of the area that you are selling, that they can use.
Fourthly never say that you are going to advise them if this is an area they specialise in. Really emphasise the role of supporting, helping and collaborating with them. You can only advise if they are branching into a new area where they have little experience and you have more experience.
And finally a lesson that has been learnt by me; you can only volunteer your time for your Chartership after that people should pay for your time as you are well qualified and experienced and need to place value on your capabilities , skills and knowledge. Bear this in mind and also bear in mind that as a trainee you should only charge half of what a chartered forensic psychologist should charge.
Until next time....
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