Are you in a job you don’t like or which doesn’t satisfy you? Do you want a more responsible job with your current employer? Do you want to change jobs into a new career area? If the answer is ‘Yes’, then this free course, Understanding yoursector, will help you.Employers seek people who understand their businesses and the factors that most affect these. Working through this course will help you to explore these factors, to gain the inside knowledge to impress in applications and at interviews and to put together an action plan that is tailored for you.TranscriptEnrolling on this course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they are a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn Statement of Participation - which also displays your Open University badge.The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Once you complete the course we would also value your feedback and suggestions for future improvement, in our optional end-of-course survey. Participation will be completely confidential and we will not pass on your details to others. This course is accredited by the CPD Standards Office. It can be used to provide evidence of continuing professional development and on successful completion of the course you will be awarded 24 CPD points. Evidence of your CPD achievement is provided on the free Statement of Participation awarded on completion.Anyone wishing to provide evidence of their enrolment on this course is able to do so by sharing their Activity Record on their OpenLearn Profile, which is available before completion of the course and earning of the Statement of Participation. Â
Overview
Syllabus
- Introduction and guidance
- Introduction and guidance
- What is a badged course?
- How to get a badge
- Acknowledgements
- Week1Week 1: Where are you now?
- Introduction
- 1 What is a sector, industry, profession and a job?
- 2 What are the differences between these terms?
- 3 Why are these definitions important?
- 4 Identifying your sector(s)
- 5 Making time to keep up
- 6 This week’s quiz
- 7 Summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Week2Week 2: Will things stay the same?
- Introduction
- 1 What external factors affect your sector?
- 2 Describing the impact of external factors
- 3 Using a PEST analysis to identify external factors
- 3.1 Questions to ask during the PEST analysis
- 4 How might these factors affect you and your organisation?
- 4.1 Questions to ask during the resource analysis
- 5 This week’s quiz
- 6 Summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Week3Week 3: What else do you need to know about your sector?
- Introduction
- 1 Identifying the different elements within your sector
- 2 Customers
- 3 Competitors and the market place
- 4 Unique selling point
- 5 Suppliers and the supply chain
- 5.1 Your organisation’s supply chain
- 6 This week’s quiz
- 7 Summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Week4Week 4: Who else is involved in your sector?
- Introduction
- 1 What are professional and sector bodies and what do they do?
- 1.1 Functions of professional bodies
- 1.2 Industry sector councils and bodies
- 2 Professional and sector qualifications and their importance
- 3 Government information and support
- 3.1 Local government
- 4 Trade unions and trade associations – information and support
- 4.1 Trade unions
- 4.2 Trade associations
- 5 This week’s quiz
- 6 Summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Week5Week 5: Professional networking
- Introduction
- 1 What are networks?
- 1.1 What is networking?
- 2 Effective networking
- 2.1 Networking concepts
- 3 Practical networking
- 3.1 Preparation and follow-up
- 3.2 Introductions and getting a conversation going
- 3.3 The elevator pitch
- 4 Using social media and presenting yourself online
- 5 This week’s quiz
- 6 Summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Week6Week 6: Understanding the job market within your sector
- Introduction
- 1 Different types of employer
- 2 Identifying which employer is right for you
- 3 Where are jobs advertised?
- 4 Are all jobs advertised?
- 5 Self-employment
- 6 This week’s quiz
- 7 Summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Week7Week 7: How does understanding your sector help you?
- Introduction
- 1 Conducting a SWOT analysis of your situation
- 1.1 Strengths
- 1.2 Weaknesses
- 1.3 Opportunities
- 1.4 Threats
- 1.5 Conducting a SWOT analysis
- 2 Improving your performance in your current job
- 3 Training, retraining or gaining new qualifications
- 4 Progressing your career: new job or career change?
- 5 This week’s quiz
- 6 Summary
- References
- Acknowledgements
- Week8Week 8: Taking action
- Introduction
- 1 Reassessing your current situation
- 2 What is an action plan?
- 3 What have you learned?
- 3.1 Key learning
- 4 Constructing an action plan
- 4.1 Example action plan
- 4.2 Writing an action plan
- 5 Finding support
- 5.1 Choosing a mentor
- 6 This week’s quiz
- 7 Summary
- Tell us what you think
- References
- Acknowledgements
