Building Careers, Building Confidence LM10594 Designed by Learning Materials

Building Careers, Building Confidence Aim: To improve the employability confidence of students looking to take their first steps into the workplace and to encourage positive thinking and resilience. Objectives: By the end of the session students will be able to: Define what self-confidence means. Recognise in themselves and others when they are lacking in confidence. Know what steps to take to improve their self-confidence. Remain positive in the face of adversity.

Rate Your Confidence Right Now On a scale of 1 to 10 (one being low confidence, 10 being high confidence), where are you on the scale right at this moment?

What Do We Mean by Self-Confidence? “A feeling of trust in one’s abilities, qualities, and judgement: I feel terribly tired and completely lacking in self-confidence”trustjudgementterriblytiredlacking (

Signs That You Might Be Lacking in Self-Confidence Questioning yourself – (‘I’m not sure I have the right skills’) Expecting the worst – (‘I will probably fail my driving test’) Holding back – (‘I need to wait until I have more experience’) Scared of failure – (‘If I don’t pass, I know I will have let people down’) Using negative language – (‘I can’t, too hard, unlikely’) Using negative body language - (Shoulder shrugs, sighs, no eye contact) Putting up barriers / obstacles – (‘Too expensive’) A feeling of ‘what is the point…?’ Being negative about your future – (‘I will never achieve that as I’m not good enough’) Changes in appearance – (You don’t spend so long thinking about your image and have an ‘anything will do’ attitude)

Signs That You Are Feeling More Self-Confident Positive talk / self belief – (‘I know I can do this because I have studied hard and have plenty of good skills and knowledge to offer’) Feeling you can do anything – (‘I will need to work hard, but becoming a Vet is what I have always dreamed of’) Having faith – (‘I have lots of good skills and experience, eventually someone will want to employ me if I keep working at it’) Increased motivation – (‘I need to get onto this straight away, otherwise I might miss out’) Positive language – (‘I can, I will, I am capable of…’) Positive body language – (Head up, shoulders up, eye contact) You like yourself – (‘I am a good person to know’) Changes in appearance – (‘I feel good in that outfit so I am going to wear that to my interview’)

Types of Thinking We Should Try to Avoid “All or nothing thinking” – You see everything in black or white, if you are less than perfect you see it as a total failure (e.g. you get a merit rather than a distinction) “over-generalising” – You see a single event or bad experience as setting a permanent trend (e.g. You had one bad interview and because of that you have decided you are ‘no good’ at interviews.) “Exaggerating” – You blow things up out of all proportion. You react to a situation that is difficult or upsetting as though it was a major disaster (e.g. You miss a deadline for a job you wanted to apply for and it feels like a major disaster) “Should statements” – Automatic thoughts that contain the words ‘should’ ‘ought’, ‘must’ or ‘never’ (e.g. “I should have got a job by now”) “Filtering” – You magnify all the negative aspects of your situation and ignore all the positive ones (e.g You are excellent at maths but your spelling is poor so you will never get a good job as you can’t spell!)

Techniques to Maintaining a Positive Outlook and Build Confidence Look for the small, good things in every day. Know that your thoughts are producing your feelings. Avoid the negative self-talk trap. Be aware of how you are feeling. Can you change your thinking patterns to be more positive? Make sure you spend time with positive people.

Confidence for Job Searching Don’t let the competition scare you. Always focus on what you can do. See yourself as the answer to someone’s prayers. Remember that the interviewer may be nervous. Practice, practice, practice for interviews. Use positive body language; walk tall, lots of eye contact. Smile! (It releases feel-good chemicals and boosts your mood.) Wear appropriate clothes you feel comfortable in. (If you look good, you will feel good!) Don’t talk too much or too little. Nerves can affect this but the only way to control it is to practice. Make sure you know why you are the right person for the job and tell them that!

Pause for thought… Your thoughts affect your feelings so if you change negative thoughts for positive thoughts your mood will improve and you will start to feel more confident. “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it” (JM Barrie; Peter Pan) “Believe you can and you’re halfway there” (Theodore Roosevelt) “Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it” (Dorothy M Neddermeyer)

Re-scale Your Confidence Where are you now on the 1 to 10 confidence scale. Has it changed at all?