opinion INTERIM MANAGEMENT
www.thehrdirector.com
WEAR MANY HATS ‘Portfolio career’ is a phrase that is increasingly used, but its meaning is often still a little murky.
Defined as having several part-time jobs at once rather than one full-time role, it has the potential to be very flexible, varied and immensely satisfying for HR directors looking for an alternative way of working outside of corporate businesses. So why aren’t more people doing it?
ARTICLE BY ALLY MAUGHAN, CEO - PEOPLE PUZZLES
The best portfolio HR directors have usually left a busy, often national or international corporate role, and want to work in a different way, whether that is to facilitate more time with the family, a better work-life balance, or is the start of a journey into retirement. An ideal portfolio of clients for someone who really enjoys variety often looks like working with between six and ten different companies, working with each between three and six days per month. It definitely doesn’t suit everyone, but for those with the inclination, drive and right personal approach, it can be the best career they have ever had.
The best place to start is always why someone wants to build a portfolio career. It certainly is not the easy option; imagine trying to find five jobs at the same time instead of just one! Recruiters don’t typically work in this market, your CV is usually designed for a corporate role, and you are often offering services to people who don’t have a budget, don’t know they need what you have to offer, or have never heard of someone working in a portfolio way. That’s why the ‘why’ is so important. You have to be absolutely committed to this way of working, you need to value flexibility usually over income in the short term, and sometimes in the long term. And you often don’t get a benefits package, paid holiday or sick leave. What you can get is lucrative work, full flexibility, more availability in school holidays, and such a variety of work that no two days are the same. Not every personality type or behavioural approach is suited to portfolio working. There is a lot of juggling, switching attention between your different roles and responsibilities, which are usually in different locations meaning every day is in a different place. How do you react when there is a problem at one of your clients? Can you quickly prioritise, act and problem solve? How do you manage working for three or more different bosses without going quietly mad? Portfolio working can
BUILDING A PORTFOLIO IS A TIME-CONSUMING BUSINESS. IF FINDING ONE JOB NORMALLY TAKES A COUPLE OF MONTHS AT A SENIOR LEVEL, FINDING THREE, OR EVEN UP TO TEN CAN TAKE A YEAR OR MORE. YOU WILL NEED TO BE OVERFLOWING WITH ENERGY
often work best when you have expert skills to offer, you can keep the roles you have long term, and you can quickly build and maintain relationships in each role. Seriously consider if this describes you and the way you approach work, otherwise a permanent full or part time job may well suit you better.
Building a portfolio is a time-consuming business. If finding one job normally takes a couple of months at a senior level, finding three, or even up to ten can take a year or more. You will need to be overflowing with energy, enthusiasm and optimism to build your portfolio. This will also help you to land opportunities, as in our experience, people buy a smiling, positive person over a glass half empty kind of person. What is it that you are really selling? Who will buy it? How much will you charge? Having left a career as an employee, moving into selling your services in a different way can take some careful thought, development and testing (there is a reason there are so many Focus Groups on The Apprentice!). Think about what makes you different, what value you deliver and what problems you solve. Buyers typically want problems to be solved rather than pie in the sky dreams to be fulfilled, so take a day out and really hammer this out if you are going it alone. Any good marketing strategy covers how your buyers will find you. If you are starting a portfolio career the easiest and cheapest way to get started will be to go and join someone else’s business that is already offering this. Of course you will have to share the fees, but this is often very cost effective when you consider the costs of a website, blogs, networking, setting up a sales function. And if you are committed to trying it on your own, think about how you will meet your clients, what events to attend, and whether digital marketing is going to deliver you good opportunities.
FOR FURTHER INFO
WWW.PEOPLEPUZZLES.CO.UK
46 thehrdirector SEPTEMBER 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
