Today's Business Woman 2/08

New beginnings
and learn the company’. Showing you
Make sure you feel
comfortable and
have bothered to put in the time and effort
Successfully
conﬁ dent in your
to research the company you could be interview wear changing career...
spending the next few years with shows
commitment and genuine interest. The ﬁ rst
impression is equally important, ‘People
naturally notice three key things on being
introduced,’ says Morris. ‘Hair, smile and
shoes, so make sure all are immaculate.
Ask market relevant questions and relate
the questions back to your previous
experiences where possible. This will show
an overlapping of skills and enable you to sell
yourself better,’ he says. ‘And learn how to Cathy Rogers, co-founder of Nudo Oils
shake hands, as this can be a deal breaker’. (nudo-italia.com)
‘I decided I wanted a change of life, a
Quick tips to get the
new challenge. So in October 2005 my
partner Jason, our one-year-old daughter
job you deserve
Rosie and I quit our well-paid TV jobs and
moved to Italy to farm olives. From TV exec
1
Start by looking at what you enjoy. If to European peasant in one easy step!
you enjoy your job it is considerably Jason and I had decided we’d work
easier to get out of bed in the morning. together producing and selling olive oil
2
Find out what motivates you. Some – making it on the grove we bought in
people are driven by money and do Italy and selling it in the UK. There were
anything to get it, others enjoy a healthy hundreds of olive oils already on the
work/life balance. market, so we needed a really good idea
3
Know where you want to be. If you are if we were going to have a successful
just starting out, that dream job could business. We soon hit on the idea of
be years down the line, but you can work letting people adopt our olive trees to
towards it. make us stand out in the market against
4
Look at what skills you have. If you are all the others – luckily it worked. The idea
looking for a complete career change Cassani says you should always have your was innovative and timely, tapping into the
ﬁ nd out what skills are required and see accomplishments at the forefront of your current enthusiasm for people knowing the
what is transferable. mind before you go into the interview, ‘You provenance of their food and for wanting
5
should be able to frame what you’ve done in organic produce.
They will have good relationships with
Find a good recruitment consultant.
terms of your achievements because that’s a From our very ﬁ rst Christmas we were
clients in the desired market and will be very attractive thing to employers. They want making money, with lots of people giving
best placed to sell your skills. people who are commited to achieving good olive tree adoptions as gifts. A year later
results in whatever role they take on. If you we were in Selfridges and had opened up
can give examples, all the better.’ shipping to the US and the rest of the world.
It’s been a juggle all along – getting
When the job offers come settled into a new life abroad, learning
Whether leaving your job through redundancy Italian – as well as learning to work with
or resignation, it is very important to leave a Jason. The juggle of motherhood and
good impression. ‘Make every effort not to work is one that any working mother is
alienate anyone, and stay on good terms with well aware of, though we did have the
as many people as possible,’ is the advice advantage of at least being in control
from recruitment website Monster.co.uk. of our working hours and not having to
‘You never know when you might need them travel to work. We’ve also had to learn
again.’ You should explain to management everything from scratch – you suddenly
and colleagues why you’re leaving, and keep realise how many bits there are to a
it as rational and calm as you can. Once business, all of which you suddenly have
you’ve left, don’t ever talk badly of your old to do yourself. But somehow we’ve
company or disclose their secrets. It may muddled through without divorcing!
come back to haunt you one day.
44 TODAY’S BUSINESS WOMAN
T'sBW11 Career moves 2.indd 44 1/12/08 6:35:37 pm
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