The following are excerpts from the new book, Building a Winning Career... A complete guide to securing and thriving in your ideal senior role.
We hear much these days about how many jobs you will likely have during your lifetime. We hear less about how to make good job selections. And we hear very little indeed about how you should manage your transition between jobs to build a successful career and thrive - especially in turbulent times when no job is secure.
With so little guidance available, it is easy to assume that, if you are an effective individual, your transition between jobs will be straightforward. This is unlikely to be true. Whether you are a high performer or you aspire to be one, you need to make considered job selections and plan for successful transitions between them.
If you have recently left your job, are unhappy in your current role, considering a portfolio career or entering the professional space for the first time, you need to work through a clear, structured process to identify and secure attractive career growth opportunities. In writing this book, I aim to help you understand this process and then use it to assist you to build a winning career.
Many successful people, at all levels of their career, find it more difficult than they expect to seek out and secure exciting, fulfilling new roles - roles that will help them to drive their careers forward and to excel. Why is this the case? One key reason is that finding a new job requires entirely different skills from the ones you are likely to have developed as a successful executive. If you are a leader, you are likely to be comfortable with and used to being in charge. However, when you are looking for a job, your progress is almost entirely at the whim of others. This reversed power dynamic can be extremely disconcerting for you.
The overarching questions I discuss in this book are:
• What should you do to find a role that will be satisfying and fulfilling, and that will assist you in building a winning career?
• How can you be reasonably certain your jobs and your career will not damage the relationships that matter to you in your life?
This book takes you from the start point of looking for a new (or perhaps even your first) job to being established in a new role and evaluating whether you have selected wisely. Through the chapters in this book, I set out how to manage your job search process and how to address all the challenges that this presents.
Some of the activities and ways of working that I suggest may seem counterintuitive to you. For instance, you may think it obvious that you should be clear with your friends, colleagues and everyone you meet that you are looking for a job. But this is almost always counterproductive if you are a senior jobseeker. Rather than talking about finding a job, what you need to do is to ask them for advice. If you do this, and frame your request properly, you will make much more progress. My mantra is:
Seek a job, and you will get advice.
Seek advice, and you will get a job.
Who will benefit from this book?
This book is written to provide guidance for senior jobseekers. If you are a senior executive, my aim is to set out and explain practical guidelines for successfully managing your job search and transitioning into a new role. You will see that senior executives face numerous complex challenges. You have a lot to think about if you wish to take active steps to maximize your success as a senior jobseeker - and, more than this, to position yourself for a successful subsequent career.
Despite my focus on helping senior jobseekers, it is clear that many of the central principles will help anyone who wants to take charge of their career. You may only be a few years into your first job. You may be happy in your current role but feel the need to rethink your career. You may want to change what you are doing or start a business. You may have had a busy and demanding role, but are now thinking of moving to a portfolio career or starting retirement.
Whatever kind of major transition you face, this book provides signposts to help you. No job these days is secure. So even if you are not considering a move at present, you would be wise to understand how to prepare for the possibility that you will need to tackle a career transition at some stage in future.
About this Book
Thousands of readers have found Building a Winning Career to be practical and easy to read, earning it over 200 five-star reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, with a Goodreads score of 4.97. Available in Paperback, eBook, and Audiobook formats, William Cowan has also shared his insights on Bob Gerst's careers podcast: Preparing Yourself to Manage Your Job Search in the Most Effective Way (https://www.buzzsprout.com/803141/12723735)
According to Bob Gerst, Host of the "PEOPLE IN TRANSITION" podcast:
"William Cowan's 'Building a Winning Career' is an exceptional resource, standing out as one of the most comprehensive and impactful books I've encountered in my 40 years as a senior HR executive managing recruiting and career transitions."
About William Cowan
William has over 30 years of experience in senior management positions. He has served as an advisor to boards and chief executives worldwide, and been the chief executive officer of a number of listed and unlisted companies.
William has held the position of Director, Key Executive Services, at Directioneering for the past 19 years. During his time at Directioneering, William has worked successfully with over 1000 senior executives from every industry, providing them with consulting and advice related to their careers.
During the late 1990s, William was the chief executive of the premier career management firm in Australia. Over the next five years, the firm consolidated its position as a leader in South-East Asia, with offices in five countries. During this time, William worked with some of Australia's and Asia's most senior executives, providing them with career management advice and counsel. In 1998, the firm was voted the best service firm in Australia by readers of BRW magazine.
He was educated at the University of Melbourne where he obtained Engineering and Commerce degrees. He was awarded exhibitions in Economics. In 1970, he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship by the Commonwealth Fund in New York for study at Harvard Business School. This fellowship enabled him to obtain a Master of Business Administration with High Distinction in 1972 from the Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar.
On 26 January 2015, he was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the community through educational, medical research and arts organizations, and to business.
Available for Media Interviews.
Contact: Jo Allison
Phone: 917-207-1039
Email: Jo@MediaAmbassadors.com
Website: http://www.MediaAmbassadors.com
Or, Contact William directly.
Email: williamcowan@bigpond.com
Visit the Book Website: https://buildingawinningcareer.com
Check out the book on Amazon
Media Contact
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