JobsFair.ie

Our Career Surgeon, Caragh Burns-Sharma, receives hundreds of emails every day about work and jobseeking issues.

"Make the most of yourself. For that is all there is of you". Emerson

Caragh Burns-Sharma is a Director of New Approach, an innovative training and coaching company dedicated to helping professionals make positive changes and improvements in the way they work and communicate.

Caragh is passionate about developing people and helping them to unlock their potential. A Business & Personal Coach, Caragh holds a degree in Business and German.

People have been at the core of her career and as such, she has devoted herself to people-centric roles in Training, HR, Recruitment and Coaching in the both Ireland and the UK.

If you have a career or work-related question for our Career Surgeon, you can email Caragh at editorial@loadzajobs.ie

Question: Advertising Sales

I am in advertising sales and wondered if there are any college courses I could do to improve my skills?

Thanks,

Erin

Answer:

Hi Erin,

Thank you for your email.

Good for you, you are thinking pro-actively about your career!

In terms of improving your skills in advertising sales I would recommend taking a course in Presentation Skills - there are some excellent courses available, if accreditation is important to you perhaps you could take a FETAC level 5 in Sales Presentation or one of the many other excellent presentation skills courses on offer. Up-skilling in this area will make you better at your job so it might be worth asking if your employer will fund some or all of it.

When selecting courses I advise looking at your medium and long-term career objectives – for example do you want to go into man- management or key account management in the future? Think about your objectives and select a course accordingly.

Remember if you don’t know where you’re going how are you going to get there?

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have any further questions.

Good luck!

Caragh

Question: Property Sales

Dear Caragh,

I have been working in the property industry for the last number of years & during the boom have done pretty well. With the change in the market like everyone else I am concerned about what will happen. I am not only worried that I wouldn’t receive the commissions that I have been used to living off but also I fell into this job after my arts degree & have not followed up with formal training. It just never seemed like the right time & now I don’t know if I should spend money on it when my earning potential is plummeting.

What do you think I should do?

Answer:

Hi Frances,

It sounds like you are at a crossroads, good for you thinking about your up- skilling options.

So you ‘fell’ into the property game and benefited from the boom- great it worked out- now is the time to think smart- no more falling into roles.

Make a plan- where do you want your career to go in the next 18 months and the next 5 years- how are you going to get there?

If you decide to stay in property it will be about being better than the competition- improve your sales skills, perhaps look at an auctioneering qualification, maybe courses around the new energy rating rules would give you an edge?

If you hadn’t fallen into property sales, what would you like to have done? Were there any subjects in your arts degree that you particularly loved?

If earning potential is the main motivator for you are there other interesting sales roles that might be more lucrative?

I know you are concerned about spending money but money spent on training is an investment in yourself and there can be no better investment that that!

Anything else you want to ask please email.

Good luck!

Caragh