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New Year’s resolution ideas can hang in the air, floating just out of reach, or you can turn them into goals that you’ll feel energised and motivated to achieve! If the latter sounds good to you, keep reading!
We spoke to Linda Murray of Athena Coaching who offers ten tips on staying the course in 2019 to achieve and exceed your professional goals.
Successful sports people and their coaches know you can’t move forward until you know exactly where you are in the game. That’s why they spend so much time reviewing their game plan and performance before they prepare for the next match. It should be no different for any of us who have a goal in mind.
The process of self-assessment is a vital part of defining your way forward. It’s a process which builds skills you’re going to use all your life. It reinforces the mindset which tells you that you can improve, learn more and develop new skills. In other words, it reminds you that you can change; your current situation or abilities do not limit you.
Self-assessment also builds your resilience because you learn to reflect on strategies and techniques you’ve used in the past and choose how to apply them to your new challenges or directions.
If you haven’t worked out where you want to go, you won’t get there.
I can’t emphasise enough the importance of setting goals. This is where your New Year’s resolution ideas start to take shape.
If you haven’t done it, set aside some time to think about where you want to head. Write it down. Describe your perfect future. Brainstorm with yourself – don’t set limits. Just write it all down. Research has shown that you are 42% more likely to achieve your goals simply by writing them down.
Once you have written them down, it’s time to work on your game plan.
Moreover, importantly, where will you get these things? Remember you’re designing a strategy and it probably won’t take you instantly to your goal. It’s a process – a journey. Be patient. You are planning the best way to position yourself to take a step closer to your goals.
When setting goals, it’s important to keep realistic expectations, especially if your goals will require months or years of effort and hard work to achieve. The best goals are those that prompt us to grow.
They cause us to reach just outside of our comfort zone and skill level. They require some effort to achieve but are neither too difficult or easy to accomplish.
When setting medium range and long-term goals, keep your motivation high by breaking larger goals into smaller ones. This allows you to more easily measure your progress and take corrective action if you need to along the way.
When defining your goal, it’s important for you to understand your true reason for setting the goal in the first place. Where did these New Year’s resolution ideas come from? Important questions to ask yourself are why does this goal matter to you?
What do you hope to accomplish? What is the true, “higher” purpose that you are working towards by setting this goal?
Defining your why and keeping it at the forefront of your mind, will help to strengthen your resolve as you push towards your goal.
Another way to strengthen your resolve and make it easier to achieve your goals is to recruit an accountability partner. Enlist the help of a close friend, mentor or coach with which you can share your struggles and wins.
Simply having someone to listen to you is invaluable for remaining motivated over the long term. An accountability partner can offer you unbiased insight and advice, but most importantly they will encourage you and spur you on when your energy levels fall, and your motivation begins to flag.
One way to remain enthusiastic about your goal is to hold yourself accountable on a regular basis. Hold regular monthly meetings with yourself to review your performance.
Reflect on the progress that you’ve made towards accomplishing your goals during the past month. Have you had any big wins? Or Setbacks?
What could you have done differently to make more progress? Is there anything that you’ve learned in the past month that will help you as you move forward?
As you wrap up your monthly review, don’t forget to set yourself up for success for the next month. What actions do you need to do, moving forward, to achieve your goal? Focus your attention and effort on those smaller goals to help you remain motivated and advance your cause forward.
If you’ve ever watched nature shows, you’ve probably seen how persistent an animal can be when hunting another. It’s amazing how strong a motivator hunger is. If you’re hungry for your goal, you’ll fight for it. Persistence needs discipline, and discipline is a habit. Set up routines to remind you to keep your eyes on your goal or track your progress. Persistence is about not quitting. Those habits will help you keep going.
Nothing goes 100 per cent to plan no matter how carefully you prepare. It’s important to be adaptable so you can change tack when you need to. People who can’t adapt will be left stranded with nowhere to go. There are many roads to your goal. Be prepared to take a different route if circumstances change.
Take advantage of your natural energy cycles to help you reach peak performance. Pay attention to the way your body and mind performs during the day. There will be peaks and troughs in your energy levels.
For example, are you a morning person? Then plan your important tasks for early in the day. When you identify your best times, you can take maximum advantage of your energy levels. Working ‘in the flow’ is much easier than fighting it.
Successful people can bounce back after a setback. They know it’s a temporary thing and won’t have lasting consequences. No matter how bad they feel at the time, they understand the feeling will pass. Instead, they look for the learning they can pull from the situation and give it a positive result.
You may need to remind yourself to look for the positive in your setbacks, but the more you do it, the stronger your resilience will become.
Are you ready to take the next step towards success? Get these attitudes and behaviours in place and off you go. Your New Year’s resolution ideas can come to fruition in 2019!
Have you considered online courses to help achieve a big professional goal? You might want to change your career, apply for a promotion or even start your one business. These New Year’s resolution ideas are possible if you take smaller steps and break goals down into more manageable mini-goals.
If you’re looking for an online training provider that offers quality content, reasonable course fees and superior student support, choose Australian Online Courses for your professional development.
Visit online to discover hundreds of industry-approved, flexible, online courses covering almost every industry sector. Alternatively, you can contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
The social media experts at Search Engine Journal emphasise, ‘you need to have some sort of social media presence. After all, the statistics have proven how important social media networks are for a business.’ In today’s digital landscape, social media has become more than just a platform for sharing; it’s an essential tool for connecting, engaging, and building relationships with your audience. For small businesses, choosing the right social media platform can significantly affect how effectively you reach your target market, establish credibility, and, ultimately, grow your brand. With each platform offering unique ways to engage, the key is to identify the one that aligns best with your business goals and the customers you want to attract.”
Consider:
Facebook has an average of 2.23 billion monthly active users, 1.15 billion daily active users on mobile, over 1.47 billion daily active users, and five new profiles are created every second!
Twitter has 330 million active users and hundreds of millions of tweets every day!
LinkedIn has over 500 million members in 200 countries and territories, including 7 million Australian members.
Instagram has 1 billion users! That’s more than double the monthly active users of X.
In choosing what to put on your business’s social media list consider which platforms your customers use most. If your business is service-based, a platform like Instagram might not be the best fit. But, if you have a highly visual product, then Instagram would be an ideal place to promote your business.
The great thing about social media is that it can be highly targeted to your customers, and there are many options for building your brand organically or via paid advertising.
The Queensland Government states that social media marketing, “presents great marketing opportunities for businesses of all sizes. You can use social media to:
Social media platforms for business are not one-size fits all, and each has its strengths and weaknesses. It’s crucial that any efforts to promote your business’s products, services and brand are carefully considered to eliminate wasted finances and resources.
If you want to learn more about social media platforms for business, consider taking a short, professional development program such as the Certificate of Social Media Marketing with Australian Online Courses.
If you’re looking for an online training provider that offers quality content, reasonable course fees and superior student support, choose Australian Online Courses for your professional development.
Visit online to discover hundreds of industry-approved, flexible, online courses covering almost every industry sector. Or you can contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
Your mind is a muscle, and just as you need to build strength in your legs to be a runner, you need to use your mind regularly to improve your ability to learn and retain new information.
If you haven’t studied for a long time and you’re considering enrolling in an online course, you may worry that you won’t be able to focus on or remember new content to pass assessments.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone!
Many students worry that they will have trouble passing assessments, but because there are no deadlines in an online study program with Australian Online Courses, you can take your time and take your tests when you feel ready.
However, if you’d like to improve your focus fitness before you enrol in an online course, the following mind-gym and study techniques will help.
Puzzles
If you want to enhance your cognitive skill, give puzzles like Sudoku and crosswords a go to challenge your logic and memory. If you commit just ten minutes a day to these mind-gym activities, you’ll build your memory muscle and be better prepared for online study.
Reading
If you love to read this one’s an easy one to incorporate into your day. If you’re not fond of novels, find something you are interested in and read about it. It doesn’t matter what you read as long as you commit to reading something. Why? Because reading books, magazines or news content uses language, cognition and comprehension skills which strengthens memory, which is essential if you’re planning to embark on an online study program.
Board Games
Board games are a great way to connect with your friend and family, but it’s also an excellent way to sharpen your cognitive abilities! All boards games are helpful, but Scrabble, Monopoly and Chess are particularly useful as games of skill.
Dancing
If you keep fit, you help your mind too! Why not sign up for a dancing class? According to research, it’s the only physical activity associated with lower risk of dementia. So, whether you’re into hip-hop or ballroom dancing, get those dancing shoes on for better physical and mental health benefits.
Play an Instrument
If you’ve always wanted to play the piano, it’s never too late to learn. Learning to play an instrument enhances your memory and language skills. So, whether you can or play an instrument, or you want to learn, start making music to improve your memory and language skills for a better chance at passing your online study program with flying colours.
Cooking
Do you love to cook? If so, do more of it to improve your memory and focus for online study. When you cook or bake you activate all five senses which light up multiple sections of the brain to keep the mind muscles healthy.
Craft
Artistic? If you have a creative streak in the arts, make sure you make time for it. Craft and creative activities like knitting and painting give your mind a workout and can help enhance your memory and focus fitness for an online study program.
Setting study goals is essential to improve your focus for online study. The goal doesn’t need to be difficult, in fact, it’s critical to set SMART goals. They should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
Even if you set aside an hour a day to focus on study, you will feel more focused knowing you’ll be rewarded with a break at the end of this study block.
A study ritual puts your mind in study mode and can be helpful in focusing your mind on retaining new and important information during online study. It could be as simple as lighting a candle when you sit down to study– studies show that rosemary is particularly beneficial when it comes to memory.
If you’re studying with your smartphone within reaching distance, this could be detrimental to your productively in online study. Because online study requires you to be self-motivated, it’s important that you block distractions like Facebook and other social media or email apps to give 100 per cent attention. So, if you can’t put your phone in another room at least make use of apps that help you block distraction and stay focussed when it’s important.
Scheduling downtime is just as necessary as fitting in study time to avoid burnout. Make sure you break study blocks down into hour-long shifts and then reward yourself with a walk or a smoothie or meditation to refocus and refresh your mind. It’s also important to take days off during the week to engage in your hobbies or catch up with friends and family.
It can be challenging to fit it all in, but exercise should be a non-negotiable when it comes to maintaining a healthy body to support a healthy mind. You can start with a 20-minute walk and build up to full workouts at least three days per week.
If you’re working in a cluttered and untidy work environment how can you expect your brain to focus for online study? Declutter your work area to declutter your mind. You’ll feel more zen and less zany it the long run – trust us!
We’ll help you maintain your focus to graduate faster. When you choose Australian Online Courses as your online education provider, you will receive quality content, reasonable fees and unsurpassed student support.
Browse hundreds of industry-approved, flexible online courses covering a variety of industries today. Simply visit us online or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants on 1300 762 221.
If you have a friend or family member who’d love to further their education, why not spoil them with a gift that keeps on giving?
Australian Online Courses has Gift Vouchers available in any dollar amount towards all online professional development courses.
Simply click here or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants on 1300 762221 to purchase a voucher today.
If you’re considering a career in aged care, you’ll need patience, empathy and a desire to help older Australians to live their life to the fullest by providing personal, physical and emotional support either in their own homes, a residential care facility or hospital setting.
You must also be able to work in a team environment, as most jobs in the aged care sector support a larger team of health workers, including doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.
You will also need skills in domestic duties, such as cooking and cleaning as these are everyday tasks that older Australians need help with, particularly if you work as an in-home support person.
Other important tasks include helping elders with high care needs to shower, dress and eat meals. Or you may work as a companion to assist with social outings, activities, shopping and other daily tasks that require assistance.
Government studies indicate that there is likely to be a significant shortage of aged care workers by 2020 (Job Outlook). So, job prospects are high for this career going forward.
If you’re considering a career in aged care, there are many pathways you can take to become qualified, such as tertiary education, work experience and mature-age entry.
If you’re unsure about this career path, it’s worthwhile to pursue a professional development course, such as the Certificate of Aged Care and to gain voluntary work before you commit to lengthy and costly training programs.
After all, this isn’t a career for everyone, and it takes a special kind of person to excel in an aged care position.
If you study aged care online or through an on-campus training provider, make sure you also gain certifications or training in the following areas to secure employment and work safely in your aged care role.
Acquiring first aid and CPR training is essential if you plan to work with older Australians, as many clients will have severe health conditions, making an emergency a high possibility when they are in your care.
First aid situations relevant to aged care clients include tending to clients who have strokes, falls or choking incidents. You’ll also learn how to manage first aid for patients with dementia and life-limiting illnesses.
You may need to transport clients to social activities, appointments or the local shopping centre as part of your aged care support role. So, having your drivers license is essential in an aged care career.
Most aged care employers will run a police check to ensure carers have a clear record to ensure the safety and wellbeing of older Australians.
If you study aged care, you may become an aged carer, but many titles describe aged care careers; but most fall under the following categories unless you are a trained nurse working in aged care.
The aged care sector is one of Australia’s fasted growing industries and opportunities abound for dedicated, empathetic and caring professionals.
If you’re considering studying aged care online, a professional development course with Australian Online courses is an ideal introduction to this rewarding and in-demand career.
The Certificate of Aged Care is an online professional development program that will prepare you for work in the aged care sector to provide the personal, physical and emotional support for a rapidly ageing population.
This aged care online program will provide you with the knowledge and skills required to understand the structure and profile of the residential aged care sector, home and community care sector.
You will learn the key issues facing older people in the community and learn how to support older people to maintain their independence. This aged care course will also teach you how to provide services to the older person with complex or special care needs under the supervision of a relevant professional.
On completion of this course, you will feel confident to work in partnership with older people and their carers to implement interventions in the context of an individualised care plan.
If you’re looking for an online training provider that offers quality content, reasonable course fees and superior student support, choose Australian Online Courses for your professional development.
Visit online to discover hundreds of industry-approved, flexible, online courses covering almost every industry sector. Or you can contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
It’s difficult to compete with massive marketing budgets afforded by big business, but with a smart marketing strategy plan that won’t send your small business broke.
As a small business owner every dollar counts which is why it’s important to be smart about how you implement a marketing strategy plan. The secret is to minimise your expenditure while maximising your exposure.
The following small business advertising ideas can take your business from zero to hero.
Content marketing will have a substantial commercial impact on your small business. When you create and distribute valuable, relevant, and consistent content, you will attract and retain a clearly defined audience who may become loyal customers.
Content marketing is a long-term investment which will, with time, bring new visitors, customers, leads and can carry a business alone.
You must have quality, relevant, SEO (search engine optimised) optimised, consistent and promoted content to effectively use content marketing as a marketing strategy.
You can even contribute your experience by writing blogs for external websites. This valuable link building strategy is vital to improve your business’s SEO and SERP on Google.
Having a social media account for your small business is non-negotiable in today’s fast-paced, online digital marketplace. You need to grow your online presence by engaging social audiences.
At the very least, you’ll need a Facebook page for your business.
A combination of organic (free) and paid social media marketing can accelerate growth and boost presence – as far as a small business budget allows.
Organic social media marketing helps small business develop and maintain a brand persona. Facebook advertising is particularly helpful in promoting your brand’s personality.
A content-driven experience, which involves regularly posting useful content via social media platforms, is one of the most effective ways to organically increase engagement and establish loyalty.
Make sure you include a descriptive ‘About’ section and include professional images for the profile picture and cover photo on your Facebook page.
Facebook advertising is an inexpensive, effective way to market your small business to almost any audience. You can target your advertising message and content to a specific audience based on interests, internet activity, psychographics and demographics
You can set your Facebook ad to address three objectives: awareness, consideration, and conversion. These objectives are meant to attract attention, establish loyalty and convert them into customers. If you’re new to Facebook advertising, begin with awareness to build a relationship with your audience. You can then gradually progress to consideration and conversion Facebook ads.
When creating your Facebook ad, make sure you include a great visual, a clear call-to-action and a hard to refuse value proposition.
A smart marketing strategy plan includes email marketing. Email marketing is considered the cornerstone of digital marketing and can be a lead nurturing, high-conversion tool for any business. It’s also low cost, has the capacity for worldwide reach, is easy to automate, track and optimize.
If you haven’t established an email list for your small business, don’t delay. You can get help from platforms like MailChimp where the entire process can be automated.
Google My Business (GMB) is one of the most powerful marketing tools you can use to attract local business customers. It gives you high visibility and credibility.
This tool is particularly useful if your small business relies on local customers.
You can request Google reviews from your best customers to increase your credibility in the local marketplace.
Coupon-led advertising, such as Groupon, is another small business advertising idea. This type of advertising gives you access to a large local audience and directs conversion. Again, if your small business is reliant upon local custom, a coupon-led advertising campaign is an effective way to grow your customer base.
Discover more helpful small business advertising ideas by enrolling in a short, professional development course with Australian Online Courses.
If you’re looking for an online training provider that offers quality content, reasonable course fees and superior student support, choose Australian Online Courses for your professional development.
Visit online to discover hundreds of industry-approved, flexible, online courses covering almost every industry sector. Or you can contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
You don’t need to give up your day job to start your own business.
We’re not saying it’s easy; in fact, it will make you time-poor and will break your bank account and heart if you let it.
You’ll have less time to trawl Netflix.
You’ll feel stressed at times, and will lose sleep over it.
You’ll have less time with your friends.
So, why would you start your own small business while continuing to work full-time?
There are many reasons: you can’t afford to quit your day job, you love your day job, you only want a side business, you want to test the water before you dive in head first and you have a passion for the business.
Perhaps the most important reason you’d do this crazy thing is that you have a passion for a side business and it just won’t leave you alone.
We spoke to two people who manage a full-time business and started a successful side business.
Here’s what they said about making their business dream a reality.
This passion is the best reason to start a business even when you must commit most of your time to your current job.
It was a passion that led Carly Evans to start her business as a life coach while working full-time as a corrections officer.
Her ability to juggle her side business while still being present in her a full-time job is made possible by squeezing tasks into any spare blocks of time.
“I write my blogs and newsletters while on the train to work. I coach clients before and after work and teach Reiki on Saturdays.
“I also use time spent waiting in queues to create quote images for social media and use Post Planner to schedule all my social media.
Elle-May Michael started her side business In.cube8r and kept working full-time in charity fundraising to service her small business loan.
“I run a gallery in Fitzroy, where I manage a space filled with 107 Melbourne artists who rent cubes and exhibit their work and keep 100 per cent of their sales.
“I couldn’t survive without my day job as the loan takes up all the business profit each month.
“Always remember that your business is your priority. If you plan on doing it full-time eventually and living off that income, you need to invest in its success.
Michael says it’s okay to have a full-time job and a side business, and that it’s important to embrace opportunities that a permanent job offers, such as courses and learning, and to spend your annual leave on your business – and yourself!
“Always schedule days off, even if you don’t end up taking them. Sometimes you need to step away to be able to reflect.”
It’s important not to rely on income from your business, said Michael, instead invest this profit back into the business, keeping your full-time earnings for living expenses and day-to-day costs.
It’s also wise to choose the staff for your side-business wisely.
“If you have staff, make sure they can work autonomously, so you’re not always working in your business.”
If you’d like to start a side business, small business courses online are a great way to educate yourself while not infringing on a full-time job.
The benefit of taking a small business course online is the flexibility to study and take assessments when you have free time.
Certificate of Small Business – Start-Up
Certificate of Small Business Management
If you’re looking for an online training provider that offers quality content, reasonable course fees and superior student support, choose Australian Online Courses for your professional development.
Visit online to discover hundreds of industry-approved, flexible, online courses covering almost every industry sector. Or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
If you’re a project manager, or if your role requires project management, it’s important to understand how to engage critical stakeholders successfully. Identifying and engaging essential stakeholders and interested parties, including external, internal, senior and influential stakeholders, will ensure the best possible outcome for a project.
A project stakeholder is an individual, department, organisation or group that may be affected by the results of a project or influence the outcome of the project.
There are three main categories or levels of stakeholder interest or involvement.
A project’s success is often reliant on stakeholder expertise to impart knowledge that helps achieve project outcomes.
When stakeholder management is useful not only does it engage a wide range of stakeholders but it’s also instrumental in identifying and reducing risks that may hinder a project.
Finally, effective stakeholder management and engagement will exponentially increase a project’s success.
Setting up a stakeholder engagement and liaison committee is helpful to the engagement of external stakeholders and large groups. This committee will also be involved in distributing minutes to other vital stakeholders within an organisation. A committee or working group will enable active collaboration with stakeholders of varying importance and will improve communication overall.
Important stakeholder groups are best engaged through focus groups or consultation forums. A focus group is crucial to discover quality, rather than quantitive, data that will be instrumental in a project’s success. A focus group also ensures critical stakeholders feel and stay involved in essential decision-making processes that will influence the project ’s outcome.
Inviting experts to speak about and explain more complex information about a project is useful to engage and educate stakeholders and other interested parties, especially members of the public or groups. When you properly advertise an expert ‘speaker’, you can reach large numbers of people and facilitate face to face feedback.
Talking on the phone is beneficial to inform, educate or give feedback to key stakeholders on the project. A mailing list can also be set up to send via email to stakeholders to circulate information on project progress.
For priority, key and influential stakeholders, or those who need particular attention, individual briefings in the form of formal or informal meetings are essential to review project goals and outcomes. Informal meetings can also be set up to engage active parties and stakeholders.
Posting project updates and information on a website, either on the internet or a company’s intranet and via social media is an ideal way to provide fast and regular communication with stakeholders. Media releases are an essential way to report on the achievement of significant project milestones. Depending on the budget of engagement activities, it may be advantageous to run radio, television and online advertising campaigns to target large groups of stakeholders such as the public.
When stakeholder engagement is effective it encompasses a wide range of project stakeholders. When a stakeholder group is large, it is useful to gather information and opinions on a project via a well-structured survey or interview. There are many ways to deliver a stakeholder engagement survey, including the web, mail or in person.
Stakeholder engagement can be achieved by making use of marketing and advertising collateral that can be distributed to inform stakeholders on project progress. This engagement strategy can be via newsletters, posters or advertisements in print media such as newspapers, magazines, or on noticeboards. This stakeholder engagement tactic can provide the necessary visual representation of a project’s progress in public venues.
Where community stakeholders are an essential part of stakeholder engagement, public meetings and forums are useful to educate and inform large groups on project progress, future goals and expected outcomes.
When stakeholder engagement is effective, project managers can expect the following outcomes:
Improved relationships with stakeholders
No one stakeholder engagement strategy is useful for all stakeholder groups, and each has its pros and cons. The most helpful approach may be to combine many strategies, ensuring each is appropriate to the interests and influence of the individual stakeholder or group.
Australian Online Courses is an education provider offering hundreds of unique online professional development courses covering a variety of industries. To find out more visit us online or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
Certificate of Project Communications and Stakeholder Engagement
Teachers who support children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can benefit from undertaking autism courses and autism training to facilitate engaging and inclusive classrooms.
A lack of funding for specialist autism training in mainstream schooling is a common barrier to accessing autism resources. But overcoming these obstacles is important to improve school attendance, behaviour and academic engagement in children with ASD.
Children with ASD are individuals with unique learning needs, but there are general classroom strategies that can reduce stress and help increase learning opportunities for these students.
Jesse Diggins, a school-based, child psychologist, says strategies incorporating language, environment, strengths, communication, visuals, physical, relaxation, social, and thinking tools can help teachers create an autism-friendly classroom.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers (SDAC), an estimated 164,000 Australians, approximately 1 in 150 people, are affected by ASD.
The survey also found almost all children with ASD had some form of educational restriction with a small number unable to attend school and almost half needing specialist classes in a mainstream school.
Of the children in school, 83.7% reported experiencing difficulties, including fitting in socially (63.0%), learning difficulties (60.2%) and communication difficulties (51.1%).
Over half of young people with autism needed special tuition and 41.8% needed help from a counsellor or disability support person, while 20.7% didn’t receive any additional assistance (excluding attending a special school or special classes in a mainstream school).
More than two out of five (44.1%) children indicated they needed more support or assistance at school then they were receiving.
If you’re looking for an online training provider that offers quality content, reasonable course fees and superior student support, choose Australian Online Courses for your professional development.
Visit online to discover hundreds of industry-approved, flexible, online courses covering almost every industry sector. Or you can contact one of our friendly Course Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
Certificate of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Certificate of Education Support – Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
There’s at least one ‘bestseller’ in all of us (so they say). Could you be the next Liane Moriarty? There’s only one way to find out – write!
There are many ways to switch on your ‘novel-writing’ brain, from taking creative writing courses to joining a writer’s group, but these creative writing prompts are sure to get your story started.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So, what better way to kickstart your creativity than to put pen to paper (or fingers to keys) by writing about a photograph.
You can choose any image or photograph that grabs you. It could be a picturesque, snow-capped mountain in the Himalayas or a white sun-soaked beach in the Whitsundays – whatever inspires you to start a story. It doesn’t even need to be idyllic, it can be just as thought-provoking to glean inspiration from a rundown village in the middle of nowhere.
Think about what happens in this beautiful (or desolate) place. Creative writing prompts like this are perfect for coming up with the settings for your novel. Some of the bestselling authors have drawn their inspiration for whole novels from a place they have visited. Think Picnic at Hanging Rock, inspired by Hanging Rock, Melbourne, Victoria.
Cut out photos of people that spark your imagination from magazines, newspapers or print from websites; next pin them up in your office or stick them to the fridge where you can see them every day. This will help you create three-dimensional characters for your novel.
Creative writing prompts that focus on people and faces are an excellent way to create interesting yet relatable characters. Try describing these people in detail – not just how they look, but also their personality, likes and dislikes, family, interests and their career.
This can be the beginning of your character map (a graphic document that illustrates the personality elements, flaws, relationships and journey of a fictional character in a novel) – simply find inspiring photos and make a collage.
Open a dictionary, or any book, and choose a word at random from six different pages. This often works best with the most obscure words so don’t worry too much if they’re completely unrelated or strange.
Now use each of these words to start a new paragraph and you’re on your way to finishing the first chapter of your book. Creative writing prompts like this one can sometimes spark a completely different idea for a novel and that’s okay – just run (write) with it!
Have you ever woken up from a bizarre dream and thought it would make a great book, only to forget it a few hours later? Often dreams are the best creative writing prompts, as they’re thoughts and ideas unencumbered by our conscious mind. When you’re asleep your subconscious state-of-mind takes over and the most imaginative characters and plots develop.
Keep a notebook beside your bed to record any dreams that you think might inspire a book. You never know, your next nightmare might make the next thriller or horror genre bestseller list. Now there’s a silver-lining!
If you’ve been keeping as secret – your own or someone else’s – this could be the start of a great novel. Be sure to change names to protect the people surrounding the secret of course. After all, creative writing prompts shouldn’t be the catalyst for losing friends before your literary career even begins. That can wait until after you’re a famous writer (joking)!
It’s amazing what you hear when you’re out in public. Next time you’re at a coffee shop, bar, playground, on a bus or train, at work – anywhere really – listen carefully to what people say – there’s a wellspring of inspiration at all watering holes!
Write down a conversation that sparks your interest and see where it leads. You may like to keep a good-quality notebook handy for those occasions when creative writing prompts strike.
Combine three random things (objects or people) as creative writing prompts. Such as, a stolen necklace, a fear of snakes, and a crazy fiancé. Now use these three random phrases and try to incorporate them into a plot for your book or first chapter.
This creative writing prompt is perfect when you’re stuck for ideas, whether it’s finding a great idea to start a novel, or you need a bit of extra drama to add some spark to a plot line that’s gone stale.
What’s going on next door, across the road or in that creepy old house on the corner? It’s probably best if you don’t know the occupants – there’s something imagination-igniting about the element of mystery!
You could also pick up a brochure advertising a new hotel or resort as a creative writing prompt! Could the entire novel be based on someone’s holiday? Or perhaps one day in the life of a staff member who works at a five-star hotel!
Creative writing prompts that focus on a place can be the foundation of your novel and may spark sensational plot lines and fascinating characters –simply let your imagination run wild!
You know they (also) say real life is stranger than fiction. So true! A real-life story could be the catalyst for a bestselling novel. In fact, creative writing prompts like this one have already inspired famous novels, including Jaws and Murder on the Orient Express (also major movies), which were both loosely based on real-world news stories!
Don’t copy the events of a news story verbatim but do use some of the details to infuse some ‘real life’ drama into your novel. So, next time you’re reading the news think about how a fictional world could be based on this narrative.
They say there’s at least one great novel in all of us. Could yours be the next bestseller?
The Certificate of Creative Writing is an introductory professional development program that will provide you with the knowledge, skills and techniques required to create compelling fiction and creative non-fiction.
Australian Online Courses is an online education provider offering hundreds of professional development courses covering a diverse range of subjects and industries. A state-of-the-art eLearning platform combined with friendly tutors and helpful learning consultants is the ultimate in flexible learning.
Contact Learning Consultant today on 1300 76 2221 for more information or to enrol in an online professional development course today.
The health and wellness sectors are growth industries, generating billions of dollars every year in Australia, so it’s a profitable career choice. But to be successful you’ll also need a passion for improving the lives of people through fitness and nutrition.
So, if you do have the passion what are your career options? There are many, but we’ve listed 5 to get you thinking about your future in these exciting, health-promoting professions!
If you’re unsure where to start, you can enrol in many short online training courses to get a taste of whether a health and wellness career is for you.
If you have an interest in the science of food and how it can help promote health and manage disease, a career as a dietitian or nutritionist is an ideal choice.
These health professionals are experts in the use of food and nutrition and advise people on their diet to maintain a healthy lifestyle, meet specific health-related goals, or manage disease.
Dietitians and nutritionists can work for hospitals, nursing homes, meals on wheels, hospitality and catering or can be self-employed in private practice or as consultants for a variety of organisations.
Online training courses, such as the Certificate of Human Nutrition or Certificate of Nutrition and Dietetics Assistance, will provide you with a taste of what it’s like to work in this career without making the financial and time-commitment associated with a degree.
If you want to join the retail sector and have a passion for health and wellness there’s no place better than in one of the many health food and organic stores popping up around Australia.
You will join other health-conscious people who have successfully combined their passion for the natural and organic industry with a challenging, fun and rewarding job in retail.
You will also enjoy being part of a sustainable, positive work environment that promotes people’s health and the environment. If you’d like to add to your professional development in retail, online training courses like Certificate of Retail will help you find out if you are a perfect match for career in this health-promoting industry.
If you’re seeking a support role in the nutrition industry, then an allied health position in nutrition is perfect for you.
As an allied health professional specialising in nutrition, you will assist nutritionists to ensure patients receive the best care through building meaningful relationships and implementing healthy eating programs.
If you’re empathetic with a customer-focused mindset, you’ll be a valuable addition to the nutrition industry as an allied health professional.
Online training courses in the health sector, such as the Certificate of Nutrition and Dietetics Assistance will provide insight into this career option.
If you’re interested in health and wellness and have a talent for writing and research, you could be the next blog star or freelance health journalist. As a health blogger or freelance journalist you will inspire and empower people to achieve their wellness goals, and as a result you will motivate yourself towards better health.
If you’d like to pursue this career there are many online training courses that will inspire and inform you, such as the Certificate of Freelance Writing
Personal trainers keep people motivated to achieve their health and fitness goals. This is an excellent career choice for you if you have a passion for fitness with a focus on helping people.
A career as a personal trainer is also an excellent way to maintain your own physical health. You can enrol in online training courses, such as the Certificate of Nutrition and Dietetics Assistance or Certificate Sports Nutrition online training course to prepare you for a career as a personal or group training professional.
Online training courses in health-related fields is an excellent way to discover if your passion is enough to maintain a career in this industry. Online training courses are a cost-effective and time-saving way to explore career options in the food, fitness and wellbeing industries before deciding on your future.
Australian Online Courses is an education provider, offering over 400 unique online training courses covering a multitude of industries. To find out more visit us online or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
If you work, or plan to work, in the health, community or disability sector in a support role, then this list is for you. You may not have all the skills, and that’s okay, but it is important to think about whether you can acquire these skills through professional development if they don’t come naturally.
What is a Lifestyle Support Worker?
A lifestyle support worker assists people with disabilities to actively participate and engage in activities that they enjoy or that are required to live independently in their home and community.
In a support worker role, person-centred care is important to meet the needs, circumstances and preferences of individual clients. In providing positive person-centred care it’s important to understand that what’s important to one person may be undesirable or unnecessary another.
The skills of a support worker are many but having a desire to help others is one of the most important for a lifestyle support worker. After all, the job involves assisting and supporting people with a disability to enjoy a better quality of life.
Do you find you’re the one always asking questions in conversations with friends? If so, you’re probably a people-person which is a trait that’s essential for a support worker role. Having a genuine interest in people will make your client feel valuable and will ensure that you enjoy a support worker role.
Generally, in a support worker role, you’ll be working alone while providing care. So, it’s important that you have a mature outlook, good judgement and the ability to work with little supervision.
One of the skills of a support worker is high emotional intelligence (EI). If you have high EI you are in touch with your own emotions and can connect with the emotions of others. This is important to avoid miscommunication, resolve conflict quickly and build strong relationships with your clients.
If you’re EI quotient isn’t high, don’t worry because you can gain these skills by studying an online course such as Develop Emotional Intelligence with Australian Online Courses.
The ability to use active listening is important in a support worker role, as you will need to understand the needs and preference of your client to develop a good working relationship.
Being able to show empathy, or the ability to understand and share the feelings of your client, will be important in a support worker role. Of all the skills of a support worker role, this one must be intrinsic because it’s difficult to develop or learn empathy.
Your clients are likely to be either emotionally or physically vulnerable, or both, and your ability to build a good working relationships with them will depend on your ability to show empathy while also maintaining personal boundaries.
You don’t need to be an athlete or super fit to fit the support worker role, but you will need the strength and stamina to carry out practical tasks and domestic duties, such as carrying groceries, assisting with mobility and cleaning.
When you work with people that have a range of physical and emotional needs your patience will be tested. So, it’s important that you have a lot of patience for people, especially those who are vulnerable.
In your support worker role, you will be solving problems on a daily and even hourly basis as you navigate the needs and preferences of your client.
If you can’t work flexible hours, then the role of support worker is probably not a good fit for you. This is because it’s not a Monday to Friday, nine to five role. People will need you at different times of day and night and even during weekends.
The skills of a support worker include being organised and efficient to meet a client’s daily and weekly support needs. If you are organised and efficient in the support role you will eliminate stress and manage practical tasks in a timely manner.
When you work in community services, standards of care change frequently so it’s important to be aware of these changes to ensure you comply.
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has informative and up-to-date information on services and community supports.
The support worker role often includes many separate tasks and several clients a day which makes time-management skills so important. To achieve good time-management you’ll need to be highly organised by making lists, taking notes and keeping a work diary.
The skills of a support worker include having strong communication skills, including the ability to write clearly and correctly. This is important in being able to accurately write reports on the wellbeing of your client for medical professionals, allied health workers and family members.
In a support worker role, you will deal with sensitive issues that will necessitate strict client confidentiality. Lifestyle support workers respect that their position is privileged and understand that client information must be kept private.
In addition to emotional intelligence, lifestyle support workers need a high degree of emotional resilience to cope with the demands of the job. Having emotional resilience means you have the ability to adapt to stressful situations and challenging life experiences.
You can build emotional resilience, which involves behaviours, thoughts and actions that can be learned and developed over time.
In addition to these 18 important skills you will probably need a current drivers licence, an up-to-date first aid certificate and a blue card to be a lifestyle support worker.
You can rest assured that when you choose Australian Online Courses as your online education provider you receive quality content, reasonable fees and unsurpassed student support.
Browse hundreds of industry-approved, flexible online courses covering a variety of industries today. Simply visit us online or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants on 1300 762 221.
The following online courses are particularly helpful in a lifestyle support worker role.
Certificate of Community Care and Support Work
Develop and Promote Person-Centred Behaviour
Certificate of Conflict Management
There are many benefits to career as a transcriptionist, including flexibility in working hours, working remotely, starting a business and unlimited earning potential.
And while there are low barriers for entry, it’s not a career for everyone – you need exceptional listening, typing, grammatical, analytical and language skills to be successful.
You can take transcription courses to become a professional transcriptionist, but you’ll also need to focus on typing speed and accuracy to make the job lucrative.
What is a Transcriptionist?
A transcriptionist converts speech, either live speech or audio recordings, into a written or electronic text documents for business, legal, or medical purposes. The audio may include lectures, interviews, podcasts or webinars.
You’ll gain essential skills by learning transcription online or by taking transcription courses at a campus. But if you require flexibility in a study schedule, transcription courses online are practical.
Think about how much time (and money) you’ll save on commuting to and from work when you work at home! Transcription online offers the luxury of working remotely, whether at home, at a café or from the top of a mountain!
A career as a transcriptionist is also family-friendly as you’re able to choose your own work hours, allowing you to work when young children sleep or when older children are at school.
If you’ve ever thought about owning your own business and working only the hours and projects you want, then transcription is ideal.
Transcriptionists can work as independent contractors for major corporations and organisations.
The ability to control your income is a huge benefit to starting a transcription online business. You can work as much or as little as you like, depending on your financial needs.
Transcriptionists, particularly those in the specialised medical and legal fields, can earn a lucrative income if they have fast and accurate typing ability and impeccable time-management skills.
You can choose to be a general, medical or legal transcriptionist depending on your area of interest and the opportunities available. You can choose transcription courses that focus on general, medical or legal transcription. Or you can choose to study transcription online as specialist in all three areas to give yourself the best opportunity of landing a lucrative transcription job.
If you want to supplement your income, why not fit transcription into your schedule around work or family commitments? Likewise, when you’re ready for full-time employment you can step-up your transcription output to a full-time workload.
You don’t need a university degree to be a transcriptionist. The important skills you need can be learnt via transcription courses online. These skills include fast and accurate typing, exceptional listening ability, above average competence in written English (including grammar, punctuation and spelling), as well as a thirst for knowledge and research.
Another bonus of a transcription career is that you don’t need to invest heavily to set up your business as a professional transcriptionist.
Equipment You Will Need:
A computer or laptop.
Healthcare is now one of Australia’s largest industry employers (by employment) and an increase in demand for healthcare has resulted in a shortage of professional medical transcriptionists. So, this strand of transcription courses is excellent professional development.
There is also strong projected growth in the legal profession, which means demand for qualified legal transcriptionists will also continue to rise. Take transcription courses in this specialty to boost your employment prospects.
General
General transcription requires converting audio in any genre or subject, such as webinars, business recordings, interviews, and telephone conversations, into an electronic text format. You don’t need specific knowledge on a subject to be a general transcriptionist.
Medical
This type of transcription involves creating accurate medical records by listening to audio files made by medical professionals, such as doctors, and converting them to electronic text formats.
Legal
Legal transcriptionists listen to dictated legal recordings made by attorneys, paralegals and other legal professionals and translate them into legal documents.
When you choose Australian Online Courses for your leadership training via online courses, you can rest assured that you’ll receive quality content, reasonable course fees and unsurpassed student support.
Browse hundreds of industry-approved, flexible online courses covering a variety of industries today. Simply visit us online or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants on 1300 762 221.
Certificate of Legal Transcription
There are many benefits to online study, but with so many distractions at our digital fingertips these days (Facebook newsfeed, The Iconic sale) it can be hard to stay focused. As a result, finishing an online study course can take longer than it should.
So, how do you remain focused and graduate faster? The following 9 tips are scientifically proven ways to enhance your concentration and eliminate time-zapping distractions.
If you think people who multitask get more done, you’re mistaken. In fact, it’s one of the worst things you can do for your focus, concentration and productivity – so important for self-directed online study!
An online study into multitasking found that it can reduce IQ by as much as 15 points – leaving you with an average IQ of an 8-year-old child. That’s not going to be helpful for your academic performance in online study.
So, next time you’re writing an assignment while simultaneously checking Facebook and eating lunch, consider your inner 8-year-old, and whether they’ve got the smarts to pass your course.
You don’t have to be a master yogi to reap the benefits of meditating or practicing mindfulness. If you regularly practice meditation techniques, you can improve your focus and clarity by altering your brain function, according to Italian neuroscientist Giuseppe Pagnoni.
In the study, Pagnoni found that mediation changes brain patterns and may improve focus and cognitive function.
So, next time you’re feeling particularly frazzled, sit quietly and practise some quick mindfulness exercises to regain focus on your online study.
The simple act of planning has positive psychological effects, including enhanced focus, according to Dr Cynthia Green. List-making can boost your brain power and help you regain focus. Dr Green says list-making will focus your attention more actively on the information you need to remember and help you pay closer attention to it. So, start a to-do list for online study today, and you will ace that assignment in no time.
Let’s face it; there are many great reasons to exercise, both for physical and mental health benefits. But, in a study by the University of British Columbia, researchers found regular aerobic exercise, think heart pumping runs, appears to increase the size of the hippocampus, which is part of the brain responsible for memory and learning.
So, if you’re intent on improving your online study results it might be a good idea to improve your physical fitness too!
Scientists have found that clutter negatively affects your ability to focus. When your study area is untidy your brain will also feel messy, making study difficult. Research1 from brain scans prove that clutter in your environment has a direct impact on your ability to focus and concentrate. So, tidy up your study for improved online study.
Constantly studying without taking breaks will result in mental fatigue. Even just taking a few minutes away from online study can help improve your focus and concentration, according to a University of Illinois study. The study found that the brain’s ability to focus drops after long periods of concentrating on a single task, decreasing our focus and performance.
According to WebMD smart foods are those that improve brain function and cognition. So, if you want to enhance your focus to study smarter, eat more of the following:
Rich in omega 3 fatty acids, essential for brain function.
High in antioxidants, one cup a day keeps oxidative stress away.
High in vitamin E, associated with reduced cognitive decline.
Contains monounsaturated fat, which contributes to healthy blood flow and as a result, healthy brain.
Foods such as oatmeal, whole-grain breads and brown rice are high in fibre, vitamin E and omega-3s, which improve cardiovascular health and blood flow.
Lentils and black beans stabiles glucose (blood sugar), which the brain uses as fuel.
A fruit that’s high in potent antioxidants, which protect the brain from the damage of free radicals.
Contains a modest caffeine content to enhance memory, focus, and mood. Tea, especially green tea, has potent antioxidants, that promote healthy blood flow.
High in powerful antioxidant properties, contains natural stimulants, like caffeine, which enhance focus and concentration, and stimulates the production of endorphins, which helps improve mood.
Research suggests that simply chewing gum may improve brain function, making you more alert, enhancing your mood and reducing stress. So, next time you’re taking a test for online study don’t forget your chewing gum. It can also help you stay focused on a task for longer.
Research shows that getting enough sleep is essential for maintaining attention and the ability to learn new information. If you’re sleep deprived, you can’t focus on large amounts of information over long periods – important for online study, or any kind of study! So, make sure you’re getting your eight hours – or however much sleep you require for optimal function, both physically and mentally.
Hopefully these 9 tips will give you the edge to succeed in your online study by improving your ability to focus, concentrate and self-motivate. Online study can be challenging, so make sure you give yourself the best chance of success to pass your subjects and graduate with a certificate of professional development.
Australian Online Courses offers a comprehensive array of professional development courses, developed in consultation with industry experts to give you the skills and knowledge to pursue new roles or enhance your C.V for career advancement.
Our flexible study timeframes, affordable prices and unmatched customer support are at the heart of what we do. A state-of-the-art eLearning platform means you can study anywhere, anytime.
To find out more, or to enrol in an online study course, call one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
If you want to progress in your career and achieve personal goals, it’s important to have a personal development plan. After all, those who fail to plan, plan to fail!
It’s been proven that those who write down their goals are more successful. In a study, reported by Forbes, only 3% of Harvard graduates wrote down their goals. This 3% was found to earn, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97 percent of the class combined.
A personal development plan is a document that considers your current skills and strengths and also the areas you need to develop in your personal life, career or education.
The personal development plan should include personal, career or educational goals that you want to achieve and include ways to move towards these goals in a set time, whether it’s weeks, months or years.
When you develop a plan for your future you’ll realise your natural strengths, weaknesses, as well as any opportunities and threats that will help you create a plan that helps you meet goals that are important to your self-development and life plan.
We should all set goals for our personal and professional development, but there are times in everyone’s life when a personal development plan is critical. The following are signs that you need to focus on creating a personal development plan.
You can’t stand your job
If you’re unhappy in your job most of the time it’s a definite sign it’s time to start planning your personal development. There’s nothing more energy-sapping than spending the majority of your time – let’s face it we’re at work a lot – at a job that doesn’t fulfil or motivate you.
You may be able to move into a completely new career by investing in self-development courses in an area or industry that’s of interest to you personally or professionally.
You’re stuck in a rut
If you’ve been working towards something, whether in your personal or professional life, and you can’t seem to get past a certain point, you’re stuck in a rut. Ruts are difficult to pull yourself out of, as it means your motivation and energy are stuck on low gear. This is another opportunity to re-evaluate your goals or projects to discover if this is where your energy is best spent.
You feel unhappy in a relationship or in your personal life
The people we surround ourselves with are the biggest influence on our mood. If you are surrounded by people who don’t support you or make you feel uninspired, depressed or stressed it’s time to plan. A personal development plan will help give you the motivation to put space between yourself and those who are zapping your confidence or ambition.
You feel lonely or isolated
If you’re feeling lonely, it’s a sign that the people in your life and/or your life purpose is lacking. It’s time to focus on ways to keep you involved socially and professionally. A personal development plan can give you the practical solutions to lead a more fulfilling, social and meaningful life.
You are often sick or lack energy
If you feel unwell more than most people and lack the energy or motivation to do the things that make you feel happy and accomplished it’s a sign you need to plan to focus more on your health and wellbeing. This doesn’t mean you have to rush and join a gym or jump on the next diet craze heading your way, but it does require you to be mindful of finding ways to focus more of your energy on health and wellbeing. A personal development plan will give you direction and a purpose to work towards feeling healthier and more energetic.
Emma McQueen, Executive Coach and HR Professional, says that throughout life, we are constantly learning and having a personal development plan puts thoughts into action.
“There is something about committing goals to paper that makes it real enough to hold you accountable. The best plans are well-rounded, incorporating career, health and social.”
So, how do you create your personal development plan? The following tips will help you create a practical personal development plan.
Specific: State specifically what you want to achieve. Use the five w’s (what, when, where, who, why)?
Measurable: You should be able to determine if your goal is on track. If it’s a goal that’s going to take months to complete, set milestones by breaking it down into specific tasks to accomplish.
Achievable: Do you have the tools, skills, knowledge and financial means to bring the goal to fruition? Are there any self-development courses you need to take before you can achieve your goal? You need to feel motivated and inspired by the goal, not overwhelmed or discouraged. So, make sure the goals you set in your personal development plan are achievable.
Relevant: Consider if the goal is relevant to your overall personal development plan. How will achieving this goal bring you closer to achieving the overarching goal.
Time-sensitive: Think about the timeline for achieving your goal/s. If the goal or project will take weeks or months to achieve it’s helpful to break the goal timeline into what should be achieved at the halfway point. Setting time constraints creates an important sense of urgency.
So that you don’t forget about your goal, put it somewhere visible. A successful business person once said that he writes his goal multiple times a day because it is the password to his computer!
McQueen says that reviewing your plan often is important. Depending on your life circumstances, goals and aspirations change. Maybe you’ve had a family or developed an interest or a new hobby.
Giving yourself a reward for your hard work in achieving the steps you’re taking in achieving your big goals is a great motivator.
McQueen adds that to achieve goals you need to favour progress over perfectionism. “Just keep moving, it doesn’t need to be perfect. You just need to keep making the steps.” She also says it’s vital to review your personal development plan often.
Personal development means setting effective goals that inspire and motivate you towards a fulfilling future. It’s about taking time and making a commitment to investing in your greatest resource – you! The most successful people in the world have already figured this out. So, what are you waiting for?
If you’re looking for quality self-development courses enrol with Australian Online Courses. A private training organisation, Australian Online Courses offers unique personal and professional development programs that are flexible in delivery. A state-of-the-art e-Learning platform ensures your education fits with your lifestyle and commitments.
To find out more, or to enrol in self-development courses, call one of our friendly Learning Consultants on 1300 762 221 today.
If you’re interested in a recruitment career there are multiple career paths and types of agencies to consider, from person-centred roles to business management positions. But first, the most important decision to make is whether to pursue recruitment at all.
It takes a certain type of person to enjoy and excel as a recruitment consultant and you’ll need to decide if a recruitment career is the right fit for your personality, strengths and skillset.
The ability to be relationship-focused and to build rapport quickly with people of all ages and backgrounds is one of the most essential skills you need to be a successful recruitment consultant, says Leah Lambert, former recruiter and now career coach. She says a successful recruiter will also have the following skills and personality traits:
“To be successful in recruitment you need to be tenacious and motivated by achieving monthly or quarterly targets and getting bonuses.”
“Recruiters need to be intuitive to get a real sense of whether a candidate is going to be the right cultural fit for their client.”
“Recruiters need to have the ability to influence and negotiate as there are many times where they do the negotiation between parties on details of the (job) offer.”
“Recruiters are generally in meetings or on the phone most of the day dealing with people. Therefore, it helps to be an extrovert; someone who gets energy from meeting and interacting with new people for most of their day.”
“Recruiters also need to enjoy working in a fast-paced, energetic and often noisy environment. Most recruiters work in open-plan offices where people are on the phone talking much of the day. If you are looking for a quiet environment … recruitment is not for you.”
“Recruiters need to work well under pressure to meet targets and the expectations of demanding clients.”
If you can identify with most of these traits, then a career in recruitment could be the perfect career for you.
Once you’ve decided a recruitment career is right for you, you’ll need to find your workplace. There are many different types of recruitment agencies to consider if you do decide to take the recruitment path.
The internal or corporate recruitment agency is an in-house recruitment department, often found in large corporate organisations. As an organisational recruitment consultant, you will hire new candidates to fill roles as they arise. Internal recruitment focuses on recruiting from within an organisation before advertising externally. If you value the stability of working on a salary this type of recruitment agency is for you.
The temp, or temporary, recruitment agency fills temporary roles for organisations to cover staff shortages or absences. Businesses seek temp agencies for fast and efficient staffing solutions during busy periods or due to staff leave entitlements. This type of agency will provide a high-volume, fast-paced environment where you’ll meet lots of people on a daily basis.
The traditional recruitment agency is the most common and works on contingency, which means you get paid when a client hires your candidate. As such, you’ll spend a lot of time finding the perfect candidate and will offer support with their application and interview. If you’re self-motivated and results-oriented, you’ll succeed in this agency.
This type of agency is home to the ‘head-hunters’ of the recruitment world. If you decide to embark on a recruitment career in executive search recruitment, you’ll find a highly skilled and experienced candidate for an organisation. In this agency you’ll be responsible for the premier recruitment market, where competition and salary are high.
In the niche or specialist recruitment agency your focus will be on a specific industry, such as digital or technology. The advantage of working for a specialist recruitment agency is that you become highly skilled at filling roles within an industry sector.
The outplacement recruitment agency finds opportunities for employees who are exiting an organisation, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. You will help former employees transition into a new position or career and adjust to the job market. In this role you will offer support, counselling, tools and motivation to help candidates find new careers. You’ll need empathy and patience in this role, as you may even be a shoulder to cry on.
There are many different recruitment careers and opportunities to advance as a recruitment consultant. Generally, you can go in two directions: the ‘people’ or ‘business’ path. These careers are both equally unique and highly respected professions in recruitment.
This is an entry-level recruitment role and is where most recruitment careers begin. You’ll be learning the ropes and discovering your direction in a recruitment career. It’s at this point you’ll know whether recruitment is right for you.
In the next phase of your recruitment career, you will be responsible for attracting candidates and matching them to roles you have available with client companies. You will build relationships with clients in order to find the best possible candidates to meet staffing needs.
This is a senior role in a recruitment agency. If you’re a principal consultant, you’ll be responsible for trainee and recruitment consultants. You’ll also be the main contact between important clients and your recruitment agency. This is still a people-oriented role and will require hands-on recruitment consulting.
This is the position you’ll move into if you take the business route in a recruitment career. A recruitment manager works closely with recruiters to manage sourcing, interviewing and employment processes. This role will see you managing recruitment to ensure qualified employees meet an organisation’s current and future staffing needs.
An associate director is a senior position responsible for leading all recruitment for an agency or organisation. This position involves hiring, training, managing and evaluating the work of other recruitment or human resources staff.
This is the most senior role in a recruitment career and is the result of several years of experience in mid-level recruitment roles. This position is a high-level managerial role, responsible for heading up various departments in a recruitment agency or department within an organisation.
You can start your recruitment career today when you enrol in a professional development course with Australian Online Courses. There are over 400 personal and professional development courses available, covering a multitude of industries. Simply visit us online or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
Recruitment Consultant Training Program
Certificate of Human Resource Management – Certificate of Recruitment
There are many occupations that require continuous professional development to ensure relevancy and safety in the workplace. Arguably, child care is one of the most critical. After all, the responsibility of caring for babies and children is significant.
Continuous professional development is a lifelong process of learning. In education and childcare, it’s important to create a structured pathway to develop, update and specialise for many reasons, including: job security, career promotion, staying informed on childcare best practice, moral obligations and a love of learning.
It is through continuous professional development that you will develop the skills and knowledge to do your job more effectively. You will feel more secure in your job if you are up-to-date with childcare best practice. There are many online childcare courses that can enhance your professional development and increase your knowledge as a child care worker.
The best way to get ahead in your career is through investing in professional development. If you maintain a high level of professional competence throughout your career you’re less likely to be passed over when it comes to a promotion. An online professional development course in child care is an ideal way to keep your skills fresh and enhance your CV.
Providing quality child care requires deepening your understanding of child development and early education. In child care, new developments in how best to support the educational, emotional, behavioural and developmental needs of children are constantly evolving. So, professional development courses play a significant role in keeping early years educators informed.
Child care is an enormous responsibility. The most important competency you can acquire is in child safety and protection. Staying abreast of new developments in how best to care for and support young children and families is a moral obligation.
Creating a professional development plan means committing to lifelong learning. When you embrace lifelong learning you keep your skills fresh and enhance mental stimulation and focus.
If you love learning, it’s easy. If you don’t – think of professional development and child care courses as part of your work commitments.
So, what are you waiting for? Enrol today in an online professional development course with Australian Online Courses. There are a variety of child care courses to support your continuous professional development.
Australian Online Courses
If you choose to study a professional development course, make sure it’s with an education provider you can trust. Australian Online Courses offers personal and professional development courses, covering a multitude of industries, which are industry-approved and flexible in delivery. Simply visit us online or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
The following online childcare courses are ideal professional development for anyone working with babies or children.
Certificate of Baby and Toddler Care
Certificate of Education Support – Early Childhood
Nurture Creativity in Children
Certificate of Education Support – Learning Difficulties
If you’re considering a career in counselling, you should think about whether you’re a good fit for this occupation. Counsellors are professionals who are trained to be objective and whom build a trusting and therapeutic relationship with clients through talk-based therapy.
So, what type of person becomes a counsellor? And what are the traits that make them successful? We spoke with Shane Warren, a professional counsellor and psychotherapist about what makes a great counsellor, how to become a counsellor, what it’s like to be a counsellor and why he loves his job.
The ability to actively listen is integral to a career in counselling; after all, listening to others is how you will spend your workweek. You’ll also need to be able to express your ideas and thoughts clearly. These skills can be improved through professional development, but you’ll need a natural ability to connect with others through listening and engaging to succeed as a counsellor.
As a counsellor you will need an inherent ability to empathise with others. You will be helping people through the most difficult times in their lives, so compassion will be important to connect with clients.
You will not solve your clients’ problems for them, as counselling is about having the skills to help clients help themselves. But you’ll need to be able to problem-solve to identify negative thinking and behaviours that may be contributing to your client’s mental health and issues.
Interpersonal skills are important to be able to build report and develop a trusting relationship with clients. You will need the ability to focus on clients so that they feel heard and understood, as this is essential to building trust.
Having a flexible mind-set, or an open mind is also integral to being a successful counsellor. “I think the best trait for a great counsellor is a flexible mind-set. We all need to be open to new ideas and even allow our clients to teach us,” says Warren.
Being self-aware allows counsellors to understand differences between their experiences and their client’s experiences. Self-awareness is important so that counsellors remain nonjudgmental towards their clients. It is also a trait that helps counsellors better understand their clients.
If you have a passion for helping people and possess, or have the ability to acquire, the traits of excellent communication, empathy, problem solving, rapport building, flexible mind-set and self-awareness, counselling could be the right career for you.
There are many different career paths for counsellors and different types of counselling jobs.
Shane Warren
Shane is a counsellor and psychotherapist with his own coaching and counselling practice. He has worked as a group facilitator, counsellor and coach.
Why did you become a counsellor?
“I fell into it. It was a process but in essence, I did not have this childhood career goal to be a counsellor. My professional life started in community welfare and then moved across into the world of private practice.”
How did you become a counsellor?
“My undergraduate studies are in the social sciences, but not counselling specifically. In postgraduate years I studied counselling and psychotherapy. But I must say the best training I received was from working with people in the community welfare sector – both my peers and our clients taught me many great lessons!”
What do you love about your job?
“At the end of the day, it is very rewarding, and ego fulfilling, which is a nice way to feel when you go to bed at night.”
Australian Online Courses offers many online counselling courses to develop counselling skills for professional development. Whether your job involves counselling skills, or you aspire to a new career in counselling, these online professional development courses will take you there.
If you study counselling online you will enjoy the flexibility of a state-of-the-art e-Learning platform that allows you to work around work and family commitments.
Certificate of Career Counselling
Certificate of Counselling – Certificate of Addiction Support (Drugs and Alcohol) – Dual Program
Certificate of Loss & Grief Counselling
If you have a passion for travel, and can string a sentence together, you could make a living by sharing your adventures with the world. If this sounds like exciting, keep reading to find out how to make this wanderlust dream a reality.
The first step is to set up a place to write about your adventures online, such as WordPress, and create social media handles so that you can share them with your network, family and friends. So, where to start?
The first step to becoming a successful travel blogger is to think of an amazing name. You’ll need to put on your creative thinking cap, as it really is all in the name. You should steer clear of obvious choices and come up a unique and descriptive name. Once you’ve found the perfect name for your travel blog you need to register it, and make sure it’s not already taken, with a domain name registration service. Find out more on the practicalities of setting up and registering your blog name at Business.gov.au.
You don’t need an uber web developer to create an awesome website for your travel blog. Website-building platforms, such as WordPress, make it easy to set up your blog by yourself. Be prepared to embark on a steep learning curve as you take on the tutorials involved in getting your travel blog ‘publish’ ready. If you want to skip this step, you can also use website-builders such as SquareSpace. But if you have time, the effort of learning to use WordPress will equip you with a valuable skillset.
Once your travel blog is created and ready for action, it’s time to focus on writing and publishing quality content. Writing for the web is different to writing for print publications. This is because people read differently online that they do in print. A short online course such as Writing for the Web with Australian Online Courses is an ideal way to ensure your content is engaging and effective in building your online audience.
You don’t need advanced skills in photography to take amazing photos, but it helps to know the basics. A good quality SLR camera to capture beautiful, travel scenery that you’ll want to share is a must. Most cameras come with instructions, and while it might take time to work out the settings, it will be worth it! Great photographs are not usually made by having your camera stuck on its automatic settings.
It’s also a good idea, as you become more experienced, to invest in photo editing software, such as Photoshop, to enhance your shots.
It’s in your best interest to explore (and follow) other travel bloggers to get an idea of what others are doing in this space. There may be influencers (people who have a large online audience) who will be willing to mentor or help you. Then again, maybe not; but, you won’t know if you don’t ask.
Next, you need to carve out your niche, or point-of-difference, to make your mark as an original voice in the travel blogosphere! As an example, do you adore food? If so, you could explore the best restaurants of the world. Maybe you’re an avid camper? You could visit all the best camping sites in Australia and blog about the experience. The ideas are limited only by your imagination and interests.
There’s more to creating a successful travel blog than writing creative content and posting extraordinary photographs. Why? Because no matter how awesome your travel blog, if no one knows about it, it doesn’t exist. This is where social media and digital marketing skills become essential. You can learn a lot from studying how other successful bloggers operate but to educate yourself on digital marketing techniques.
Networking is particularly important for new bloggers. You can network and build links to your new blog by commenting and guest posting on other blogs. Just make sure it’s authentic and relevant to the travel blog you have created. If you provide valuable content you’re more likely to be promoted by other websites. You can also connect to an audience looking for travel inspiration through social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to build your Likes and Followers.
When you have your travel blog up and running it’s time to focus on advertising and marketing. One of the best ways to find those true fans who love reading about your adventures is through building a regular readership. So, how do you do it? You need to build an Email subscriber list by offering something of value. It could be a poster-size photograph of one of the most beautiful places you’ve visited. Or it could be your subscriber-only 100 Things to do In Switzerland. Whatever your giveaway, it needs to create excitement. You can use a marketing automation system like Mail Chimp to help you set up and create emails and e-newsletters to send out to subscribers.
Starting a successful blog is time consuming, so if you fail to plan you plan to fail. Time-management strategies will be your best friend, especially if you’re juggling a full-time job or work commitments. Check out the short online course offered by Australian Online Courses, Successful Time Management, to master the art of managing your time well.
If you create a content strategy and set goals for your blog, you’ll be more likely to stay motivated. Keep in mind that the quality of your content is more important than the quantity you publish. After all, your audience won’t return or share your content if it’s not remarkable.
Australian Online Courses delivers quality online professional development courses covering a variety of subjects from many industries. All online courses are industry-approved and flexible in delivery, so you can study when, where and how best fits your lifestyle. Simply visit us online or contact one of our friendly Learning Consultants today on 1300 762 221.
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