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August 19, 2008

Tips On Changing Careers

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 7:09 pm
Careers
Tony Jacowski asked:


A career is not only your livelihood but must also satisfy a person’s emotional and intellectual wants and needs. Very often, people cannot take up a career of their choice due to financial problems or other constraints. However, after a point of time, it becomes difficult to continue working on a job that you do not enjoy. A job change in the same career stream might not be the right solution. Hence, a change in career may be your only alternative.
People tend to change their career when they are bored, fed up, or unhappy with their current one. They prefer looking for a more rewarding profession, one that aligns better with their skills, interests and values.
As changing careers is a major decision, one has to seriously look at the possibilities and opportunities ahead before making a change. A smooth transition between careers is essential or else it can become traumatic. Keeping in mind a few tips will make the transition simpler and lead you in the right direction.
Make A Self-Assessment
This is the most important step to establish a workable career plan. Evaluate your experience, skills and interests in reference to work history, hobbies and volunteer experiences. Examine your likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, and areas of interest. This will help you to discover the direction you want to move in the future. Take online career assessment tests that help you discover the area of interests that you might not have been considered before.
Reason For The Change
After assessing yourself, try to find out why you need the change. There could be various reasons such as dislike for the employer or supervisor, limited growth opportunities, or just boredom of the job. If the problem is rectifiable, then the necessary measures should be taken; otherwise, a career change is necessary.
Create An Action Plan
Carefully map out a detailed action plan. Do not rush into a career change without giving proper thought and due consideration to aspects such as:
-Do you need more education?
-Do you need additional financial resources?
-Would an intermediate job or part-time job be necessary?
A Successful career change requires patience, as it sometimes takes a great deal of time to switch from one career to another.
Set Goals And Objectives
Discover your goals and objectives for the future and set a positive goal for your new field. Consider the possibilities for advancement in achieving your goal.
Make A List Of Possibilities
List careers based on your desires and skills. Seek advice from family, friends, colleagues, and career management professionals. Narrow the list down to a few and begin research on them, as this can give you a better perspective and understanding. Consider the pros and cons of each career type to get a specific choice to pursue. Examine your qualifications to see if you fit into the career you have decided upon.
Learn About The Desired Field
Learn more about the field that interests you. Read magazines, attend conferences and talk to people in the desired field. Find out whether the desired industry has growth potential.
Influence
Do not let others influence you to change your career. Take the advice of other people, but make your own decision if you are choosing a new career.
Choose somebody to help you with the process of changing your career so that you have help when you get discouraged or confused. Preferably, look for a professional who can keep you focused and upbeat. These professionals can help you in identifying new fields and applying for new jobs.
You should keep in mind that you might have to compromise on your salary or job title. Hence, you should be flexible about employment status, relocation and salary.
Changing your career can be an exciting and self-awakening experience, and can help you realize your true potential.

Behaviour to Climb the Stepping Stones to Career Success for Solid Career Building

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 7:02 pm
Careers
Pierre Du Plessis asked:


This “fruit for thought” article is for all human beings, who somehow find themselves in the role of breadwinner and striving to improve their living standards. The heading of this article could just as well have been “How to position yourself for promotion” or “How to position yourself for career advancement” or “How to climb the success ladder” or something similar. Career success for solid career building depends on excellent work performance, combined with good work ethics. The answer on how to cultivate good work ethics is simple. Make yourself one of the linking pins in your organisation. A linking pin is someone to whom everybody turns to, to get information and advice from. It is also someone who can link persons, sections and departments for better co-operation. But most important of all, it is someone who can exert influence upwards, downwards and sideways in the organisation structure. In other words you must be able to influence people around you to carry out the wishes, policies and strategies of top management, by earning respect through your display of expertise and thoroughness. You must also be able to represent the valid wishes and needs of lower levels to top management. You can become a linking pin by striving to attain the following traits: Career builder step 1: Cloak yourself with expert knowledge in your technical field of operation. If you are an electrician, do not only be satisfied with your qualification. Try to gain more in depth expertise in this technical field of yours, to distinguish yourself from other electricians. If you are an accountant, avail yourself of in depth knowledge about bookkeeping practices by studying or reading up on subjects pertinent for your field of technical expertise. You can bluff your way during interviews, but once you have been appointed, people expect from you to perform. This is where the cookie crumbles or you succeed. The point is you must not only perform at an average level, but you must display exceptional or above average expertise, so that others can start to rely on your opinions and advice. Career builder step 2: Produce accurate work. Cultivate a habit to carry out your work correctly with a minimum of mistakes. Sloppiness or tardiness must definitely not be present in your attitude, personal appearance or any of your work outputs, be it notes, memo’s, letters, spreadsheets, conversations or anything related to your work. Imagine what will happen if debits and credits are being processed the wrong way around in a financial department. It will have disastrous consequences. Strive for professionalism in what you do. Career builder step 3: Be quicker than most. This is one of the best ways to demonstrate your superiority and efficiency. By executing duties and tasks speedily, you are being more productive and can entice more important tasks your way and thereby not only increase your merit ratings, but also your ultimate job rating. If you can perform your duties speedily, do not wait and stay idle, but present yourself to your superior for more work. Find a balance to be both quick and accurate. Career builder step 4: Display awareness of productivity. This must start with your own self-evaluation. Ask yourself constantly if you are giving more back to the organisation in value, than what you are being paid every month. Although not easy to calculate, just thinking about it may have enough of an impact. Just imagine for a moment if your organisation were to be solely dependant for profit on the output of human beings only. In other words nothing to sell or produce but labour output. If you can do more, it reflects directly on profit. Luckily a lot of organisations have machines that make up in productivity for what is lost by unproductive employees. But being more productive in what you do as a human being, can contribute significantly to the profits of any organisation. As salaries are one of the highest cost elements in any organisation, this is one of the first cost elements that come under scrutiny during times of cost reduction efforts. You have to show your worth in order not to be included in downscaling of the labour force. But more positively, you have to show your worth to be counted in for consideration for promotion. Career builder step 5: Get rid of time wasters. Arriving late for work, stretching of tea and lunch breaks and elongated private conversations on the phone, are not only wasting your valuable time, but are a reflection of your poor awareness of productivity. Private conversations on the telephone are one of the most abused methods of stealth stealing from your employer. If you cannot be trusted on the use of the telephone, what else can you be trusted with? Are you a role model for getting rid of these time wasters or for abusing it? Are you earning respect for your ethical conduct in eradicating time wasters or are you just one of the crowd? If you discipline yourself and others around you on the economical use of time, you are on your way to earn a respected leadership role. Others must detect a sense of urgency in your execution of duties to begin to respect and follow your example. Do you want to be a follower or a leader? Do you want to stay obscured in the crowd for the rest of your life or do you want to be recognised? There is such a thing as telephone ethics, you know. If you are prepared to pay for your use of the employer telephone, you are not abusing it. Do you really know what you are costing your employer for using the phone? You are not supposed to use it for private purposes in the first place. It is a privileged instrument entrusted to you to help you in your work and not to cause financial loss to you employer. Career builder step 6: Be open-minded and ready for organisational changes. Whenever changes are announced, be positive and display a leadership role in executing the new policies and strategies. If you participated in the planning of the changes, then you were forewarned. But even if you experience unexpected changes, be first to look out for positive reasons for such changes and to influence others around you to accept it with positive attitudes. Defending superiors and higher management will increase your leadership status and trustworthiness. In a political sense it will display your role as siding with management against the disgruntled crowd. Career builder step 7: Arrange and organise your paperwork. A good filing system allows you to retrieve required documents and information fast for own use or for use by other parties. It is a reflection of your efficiency and your ability for sound logic thinking. If you surround yourself with paperwork to impress on others how busy you are, you are making the mistake of your life. It can be interpreted in many different ways, like you cannot cope with the workload, you cannot delegate, you spend too much on time wasters, you are too slow and worst of all you cannot manage yourself or others. If you cannot get rid of papers, you will not find the time to attend to the needs and development of your subordinates. You will also not find the time to liase with colleagues or to discipline your section or department. You will be a walk over and ripe for being misused by subordinates not respecting you. Rather be a reliable source of information with the time for training your subordinates and others. Clean up your desk to make time for others. Career builder step 8: Read up on the principles of supervision and management. Familiarise yourself with the knowledge on how to be a good supervisor or manager. If you can display management capabilities, you will sooner be identified for promotion. It is better to be promoted for your managerial capabilities than for your technical proficiency. It will allow you to perform your managerial duties better. Apart from being technically proficient, prepare yourself in advance for possible promotion. Make yourself ready and available for your employer and the future needs of your organisation. Career builder step 9: Confidential information. Your treatment of confidential information is going to be a good gauge of your character. You only have to make one mistake in this area, not to be trusted ever again. If you have a problem in this area, rectify it quickly. Your superiors and employer have to trust and rely on your discretion with confidential information. Some information must be kept confidential or secret until it is time for disclosure. You must proof your ability for discretion with this type of information, so that they know they can trust and rely on you. Let them know and understand that you are part and parcel of management. Career builder step 10: Show initiative. Make suggestions to improve methods of work and systems. See problems as opportunities for improvement. Do not just report problems, but analyse it wisely and make recommendations for improvement. Recognise opportunities for improvement and development and utilise it. Career builder step 11: Be honest, open and direct. Harbouring a secretive attitude of slyness with hidden agenda’s, will not remain a secret for long. Other persons will eventually detect it and despise you for it. You can just as well fire yourself, because that is where you will end up. Nobody will trust you after you have been exposed. Be open and direct in your communications and handling of conflict situations. Do not be afraid to air your opinions, as long as it is genuine and true. Truthful mistakes can always be remedied later on. Summary: Life is ever so short that nobody can really afford to remain average in the obscured crowd of nobodies. Make yourself stand out as someone with strong principles and work ethics, so that others can rely on your strengths. Qualifications alone, without work ethics, are totally worthless. Make the following words part of your life and your philosophy on your outlook of work: Tenacity – keep on trying Conscientious – keep on thinking about ways to finalise and improve your work Humorous – make life bearable and enjoyable Urgency – you must finalise your work with speed and accuracy Trustworthiness – proof yourself to be a reliable and dependable person Openness and honesty – be a person of honour and proud of yourself Fostering of these principles will guarantee career success in your career building efforts.

Exploring Career Information

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 3:39 pm
Careers
Tony Jacowski asked:


Finding the right career information involves a great deal of research. It includes knowing and learning about yourself, as well as opportunity alternatives for a particular job. It enables you to get to know your preferences and interests in order to select a career in which you can excel.
Consult And Decide
The key to a successful career is to know your calling in life, and then subsequently make a career decision. You can gather information related to your choice of career by consulting career counselors, friends, family, teachers, professionals, by reading books and articles, as well as watching relevant television shows. This helps you to determine your skills, personality traits, inclination and aptitude, so that you can search accordingly and explore job opportunities.
Know Your Areas Of Interest
It is very important to know your aptitude and attitude towards the kind of work you would probably be interested in. It is important to identify what interests you, because that is what will be the chief motivation factor in your chosen career. Your interests will act as a guiding spirit, helping you realize your life’s goals.
Careers And Choices
Every profession requires particular kinds of aptitude to be successful. For example, one must have a certain mindset and a set of particular skills to choose careers such as law, medicine, computers and social science. Therefore, it is very important to explore and understand the significance of the available career information when you begin your research.
The following will help you to choose your career according to your interests, and the various career opportunities in each:
a)Law: Job seekers who are interested in careers in law can explore the following career options: lawyer, court reporter, judge, legal assistant etc.
b)Math: People interested in a career related to math can search for jobs such as becoming a statistician, an engineer, surveyor, physicist, or an actuary.
c)Reading: If reading is what you are interested in, then you could become a writer, publisher, secretary, journalist, or a librarian.
d)Science: Science can make you eligible for the following careers: a chemist, a pharmacist, an environmental scientist etc.
e)Sports: You can become an athlete, a professional player of some sport, a coach, a fitness instructor etc, if you are interested in sports.
f)Computer: If you have knowledge and interest in computer science, then you can become a database administrator, computer support specialist, computer hardware as well as software engineer, webmaster, computer programmer, data entry operator and systems analyst.
g)Social Science: Social science helps you become an economist, human resource assistant, psychologist, urban planner, politician and historian.
h)Nature: If you find yourself interested in nature, and natural beauty fascinates you, then you can become a zookeeper, landscape architect, veterinarian, agricultural and food scientist.
i)Managing money: If managing money is what interests you, you can explore a career as an accountant, financial analyst, loan officer, bookkeeper and real estate agent.
j)Helping People: If helping people is your nature, there are good career options as a teacher, childcare worker, fire fighter, nurse, social worker and doctor.
Information is a very significant factor that empowers you with knowledge in the field of work you want to enter. You can explore various avenues by accessing information about career choices. It helps to gather important information about the availability of jobs and careers relevant to your skills and interests.

Time To Advance Your Career? What You Need To Know About Asking For Promotion

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 11:51 am
Careers
James Utterson asked:


Is the present state of your career leaving you frustrated? Would you like to make a career forward move at work? If the answer to these questions is yes, you might consider trying career advancement by asking for a promotion.

Whether you should ask for a promotion is a tricky issue for your career. You need to consider various factors carefully before you ask your boss for one. It is not something you do on a whim.

A request for promotion can do many things. It may work in your favour, no doubt about that. But it might also do nothing for your career development; worse, it could do more harm than good to your career planning.

An important factor in deciding whether you should ask for a promotion or not is whether there is an opening. Do you really know the human resource requirement of your employers, now or in the near future? Timing, as they say, is everything.

If an open position does exist, it will greatly enhance your chances of getting a promotion. It is imperative that you are aware of the relevant career information at all times. You need to know if there are any open positions in the company, whether from inside sources, online recruitment portals, or even the local newspaper. As soon as you hear of one, you may consider asking your boss for a promotion.

How long you have been with your current employers is another big factor you need to take into account before you make that career forward move. Although a short period with your present employer does not necessarily rule you out, your chances of career advancement would be significantly higher with a longer period of employment. Many employers like to reward with promotions people who have been with them for a longer period of time. So you should always keep your tenure in the present concern in mind when deciding whether to ask for a promotion.

Your career planning goals are another important element that you should keep in mind when you make the decision whether you should ask for a promotion or not. Would you be willing to make a career transition in search of a job that offers better pay, better benefits or better prospects of career advancement? If you are inclined to do that, you might as well consider asking for a promotion.

The fact that you are considering moving on to greener pastures itself means that you have nothing to lose by asking for a promotion. The answer that you hear may in fact surprise you. Many companies will be ready to give out promotions or better terms to retain employees they do not want to lose.

When you are trying to decide whether you should ask for career advancement or not, you need to know the history of such attempts in the company. Getting that information from the office grapevine could be tricky business; you could yourself end up being the subject of workplace gossip. However, it is important for you to know if any other employees have in fact sought a promotion in the past. Did they succeed in their efforts? If not, were there any negative repercussions? Again, rather than gossiping around to get the information, you need to keep your eyes and ears open to get the answers.

A lot of tact and caution is necessary if you were to decide that you would ask your supervisor for a promotion. Your supervisors may not be fully aware of your achievements as an employee or your contribution to the company’s cause. Perhaps you have not worked personally with the decision makers either.

You need to try and get an appointment with those who matter in your quest for career development. Treat this meeting like a job interview and try to sell yourself. Point out delicately your contribution to the company’s success; also mention how important career advancement is for you.

The above factors are important when you finally decide if you are ready to step onto the next level of your career. Should you decide to do so, you need to be tactful and delicate and also confident enough to sell yourself. The bottomline is, do not get upset or feel insulted if your request for a promotion is rejected.

Need a Career Change-apply These 7 Prinicples

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:02 am
Careers
Keji Giwa asked:


2 years ago, we re-packaged our winning formula for helping people attain the career of their dreams and doubling their salaries. The results have been phenomenal with 100% success rate and thousands of people attaining the right career change and getting job of their dreams.

However, before we tell you what this winning formula is, let us establish the key reasons why people develop the need for a career change:

There are two deciding factors for this:

External Factors

A lot people develop the need for a career change due to a number of external factors and these can be related to their working relationships with fellow colleagues, an inability to grow within the company, poor location, an unpleasant environment or family related reasons.

When any of these factors become the need for a career change, there are questions you need to ask yourself before making that life changing decision to change your career.

“Am I sure the problem does not lie with me?”

1. How well do you relate with people? – Would you say your attitude welcomes or drives people from you? If the problem has got to do with your attitude, you’ll have the same problem elsewhere.

2. How competitive are you within your current role? – Employers value employees that help grow their business and will give anything to retain that person. Are you exercising your natural talents at work daily? Your natural energisers (PASSION)! Do you have any for your current job?

3. Location, environment and family related reasons are also external factors that puts us in a position to make life changing choices, but they must never be at the risk of loosing our identity. what makes us whole and fulfilled in life.

Internal Factors

These factors are probably the most valid reason when it comes to experiencing the need for a career change.

It’s battle between what your conscience is telling you, your dreams, hopes, aspiration and your current situation. The need for a better life, a more fulfilling career, the ability to exercise your natural talents and engage your passion.

A Combination of External & Internal Factors

On the other hand, it could be a combination of both external and internal factors, which can be very dangerous because it can lead to a life of frustration, despair. Inevitably leading to envy and jealousy for the progress of other people.

When this happens, you could find yourself wanting the success of others and dedicating your life to getting it.

This is a road that will always lead to a dead end.

Little progress is made when you try to be someone else. Most times, your weaknesses become more evident and people begin to see an incompetent employee rather than a competent one.

So Why Do You Need A Career Change

This is what it’s all about. Finding the answer to your ‘WHY’s in life.

As Stephen Covey once mentioned at one of his seminars, if you can find the answers to your ‘WHY’s in life, you can handle any ‘WHAT’, ‘WHERE’, ‘WHEN’, ‘HOW’ or ‘IF’.

Why do you need a career change?

If your answer to this question falls under the need to attain career fulfilment, enjoy going to work and getting paid a fortune for what you do so naturally, then our successfully tried and tested, easy to apply principles can help you make the right career change today.

Here is a quick summary of the 7 easy to understand and apply principles to changing your career and attaining the job of your dreams:

Step 1: The 12 Laws of Discovering Your Purpose

- Give a dog a bone and you’ve got it working, give a dog your month’s wage in cash and you’ll be working extra hours to make the money back.

“Where purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable”- Myles Munroe

Step 2: Creating Your Unique Selling Point

People will only see you as you see yourself. When you pay to watch a play or a movie, you are not just there to see the actors but to enjoy the characters they portray – 100% of our candidates have potentially doubled their salaries and gotten the career of their dreams because our eWorkshop has taught them how to create their Unique Selling Point (USP).

Step 3: Knowing What The Employer Wants

A doctor never tries to treat a patient without trying to first diagnose the cause of illness. Diagnose the Employer – Joyce attained two great job offers because of this.

This eWorkshop will teach you how to do this in relation to your chosen career.

Step 4: Job Hunting Smarter Not Harder

70% of jobs are never advertised and 1 in 4 jobs are duplicated online at least 5 times out of the 30% of jobs actually advertised. You need to be looking for the 70% of jobs. How you do this requires thinking outside the box.

Step 5: How To Rebrand & Remarket Yourself To Win

80% of employers overlook key details on your Resume / CV and to every job advertised nationally, there are 1000 applicants to each job. If your Resume / CV does not stand out, you might as well stay out. Our sample Resume and CV templates got Joyce a job of a life time. Triple her previous salary.

Step 6: How To Network From The Top Down

If Bill Gates was your best friend, would you need to contact HR? The internet has made networking as easy as a piece of cake. James has been using this concept since he graduated. Today, he is an Investment Banker for one of the world’s Investment banking companies.

Step 7: Selling Without Selling At Interviews

No one likes to be sold to. We like to feel like we are buying for our own reasons. When you go fishing and you want to catch a fish, do you bait the hook with your favourite food or with the favourite food of the fish. Bait the hook according to the fish type. Maria applied this principle and she is earning double her previous salary.

www.careerinsights.tv

Considering A Career Change? The Vital Factors You Must Consider

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 5:08 am
Careers
James Utterson asked:


Are you unhappy with the overall situation of your career? Has it got something to do with your job profile or your company? If that is the case, the thought of career change must have crossed your mind.

Now the flipside is you probably depend on your paycheck to discharge your financial obligations. A career transition has to be pondered over in the right perspective. You want to make sure that a job shift is in the best interest of you and your family. If you have asked yourself these questions before, please read on!

A number of important factors need to be taken into consideration when you start thinking of making a career change. No two individuals are in an identical situation when it comes to relying on your salary. So these factors should be carefully considered, and then you can use them in your own personal situation. This way you can properly weigh out the pros and cons of a career transition.

Your current job’s paycheck is an important factor to be taken into consideration, before deciding if you want a career change. For instance, try to judge for yourself whether the salary you are getting in your current job is a fair salary. To find out, you can start by comparing your current salary with the salary that is being offered in job openings in the local newspapers, recruitment agencies or online recruitment portals. If you do that, you can find out by yourself whether it is difficult for you to earn the same salary elsewhere. Unless you are lucky enough to land a job in the upper tier of an organization, you might find yourself having to work your way up the ladder all over again.

Apart from the crucial factor of your salary to pay your bills and support your family, there is the matter of other benefits too. Health insurance is one such important factor when you are toying with the idea of a career transition. If your current employers provide health insurance benefits for yourself or for your whole family, you should attach a lot of importance to that. You may of course buy health insurance for yourself or an extension of your coverage, but you should keep in mind that it can be quite an expensive proposition.

When comparing the pay packet of your current job with career job opportunities elsewhere that don’t offer health insurance benefits, you should take into consideration the imputed cost of having to buy one. If you still decide to make a career change, you may want to schedule your doctor’s appointments, including the dentist and the ophthalmologist if the coverage permits, before you actually quit.

Another factor that needs looking into when you are on a job search is the current job scenario in your area. Do you already have a firm job offer in your pocket? If that is the case then there is little to worry about. If you haven’t, you will at least want to ensure that there is a good prospect of seeking employment elsewhere.

You need to remember that you might not be eligible for unemployment benefits if you leave your job of your own volition. In such a situation, you may need a backup plan if you have financial obligations like a family to support or bills to pay like rent or mortgage.

When you decide on a career change, you need to have all the career information at your fingertips. Keeping the current job scenario in mind, you have to look at all career job opportunities in your area for any required training, work experience, or education. It is no use realizing too late that you are not qualified for that career dream find. Instead, you should scrutinize the average job requirements by examining all available job openings in the local newspapers or online recruitment portals. If you find yourself lacking the necessary skills, you may consider enrolling in a career training course to improve your chances of finding a new job.

It must be quite clear by now that you should proceed very carefully when you think about a career transition. There are just so many vital factors that need to be considered. Keeping all this in mind, whether you really want a change is ultimately your call.

Careful Career Planning Generates Greater Income

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 2:24 am
Careers
Craig Chambers asked:


What do most of the specialists tell you to do in order to be prepared for a hard drive crash? Be sure to back up your files! Well, it is important to do the same with your career planning. In this changing economy, it’s anyone’s guess which careers will keep growing and which will not. No one could have for seen that white-collar programmers would soon encounter problems in unemployment in the United States after 9/11. We still haven’t been faced with all of the ramifications of the housing meltdown on employment. Will mortgage brokers and people in this business be faced with loosing their jobs? How will they work in their career field if the whole business has been affected?

These are the types of questions today’s workers encounter when career planning. That’s where the second career comes in. The backup career is not your preferred choice of career; it is the career that is pretty much recession-proof and not affected by the changes in global economy. It is the career that can provide money to live on while you advance in your five-year plan. Hopefully, if you’ve prepared for the eventuality of a poor market, you won’t be one of the people facing dead-end jobs at retail stores. It should be a career that requires little training and that you enjoy, which can keep you going when everything else fails.

Your backup career planning can help your five-year plan, if you’ve thought about it carefully enough. For instance, if your career choice is to practice medicine, then you will want a backup career in the area of health service. You can become a home health aide, take a few health and general care classes, and always have a way to make a living. The job cannot be outsourced and will give you income. It can also be put on your resume as experience in caring for patients. When career planning, remember that the backup career can also be used as a second job while you are working full-time. It can be a way to generate income when times are tough.

If you pick the right career field and get the training required to maintain that position, it will be a small blip in your career aspirations that might eventually help you network into your dream job. These are careers that don’t require a lot of training or long hours in the classroom, but can provide a means of support. If you find yourself lost and not moving, then you will automatically be moving backwards. Life has a tendency to take you backwards, if you don’t make a conscious effort when career planning to stay focused and persist in your ambitions. Always keep your feet moving and you will eventually get to where you want to be. Some people start out in these fields and find that they absolutely love them. If the job is right for you, you can keep it and stop there. Or you can decide to use these jobs while on your way to other better and lucrative work while you proceed with your career planning.

What to Consider Before Changing Career Fields

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 1:45 am
Careers
Li Ming Wong asked:


Are you currently unsatisfied with your job or the direction of your career? If you are, you may be interested in changing career fields. While this is more than possible to do, it is important to remember that not all jobs and career fields are the same. For example, just because you may make a great legal security, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are qualified to work as a nurse or another healthcare professional. That is just one of the many factors that you will want to take into consideration, before changing career fields. A few of the other factors that you will want to take into consideration are outlined below.

As previously stated, not all jobs and career fields are the same. That is why it is important that you do not make any assumptions. Assuming is the worst mistake that you could ever make, especially with something as important as your career. Before officially deciding to change careers, you will want to take the time to thoroughly research each career field that you may be interested in entering. These career fields may include medical, automotive, legal, retail, and so forth. This research can easily be done online or at your local library. Important points that you will want to examine include current and forecasted job outlook, as well as pay.

Once you have at least one or two career fields that you would be interested in entering, you may want to start searching for open job positions. The only thing is that you may want to refrain from applying for any of those jobs just yet. Instead, you will want to examine a number of different factors. One of those factors is pay. For the positions that you would be interested in apply for is the pay enough to support your family? While some circumstances may allow you to take a pay cut, you may want to refrain from doing so if possible.

In addition to pay, you will want to examine some of the job openings that you are able to come across to learn as much as you can about average job requirements. These job requirements may include education, training, or previous work experience. What is nice about this information is that it is easy to come across. You will find that most job listings, both in print and online, will outline all of the requirements needed for the job. This will give you a good idea as to whether or not you are qualified for the job or jobs of your dreams. With that in mind, if you have yet to quit your job, you may want to take the time to take a few night or weekend training courses to help improve your training and experience.

In keeping with career training, if you are interested in increasing your chances, you will want to consider taking a few of these training courses or classes. They come in a number of different formats, but they are all designed to help you prepare for a career change. For example, hopeful accountants may learn how to prepare taxes, keep accurate business records, and so forth. In all honesty, the length of training needed or required will all depend on the career field that you are interested in entering.

If you are interested in using career training courses or classes to improve your chances of seeing a successful career change, you will want to use your local newspaper or the internet. Many career training courses are advertised in both locations. You may also want to examine your local community colleges or vocational centers to see what they have available. Yes, you will have to pay to attend a career training course or a class, but it will almost always be worth in the end. Hopefully, the end result will be a successful entrance into a new career field, namely the career field of your choice.

August 18, 2008

Career Change Decision-Making

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 10:34 pm
Careers
Trevor Kronk asked:


Are you facing that career change decision-point?
Do you wish you were? Take it slowly and make sure what you really want to do is change careers.
Remember that career change is a natural life progression. Most studies show that the average job seeker will change careers several times over the course of his or her lifetime.
Use this 6-step plan. This will ensure that you will be on the right footing and on a path toward career change success.
1. Assessment of Likes and Dislikes.
A lot of people change careers because they dislike their job, their boss, their company and so forth. Identifying the dislikes is often the easier part of this step.
You will not know what direction to change your career unless you examine your likes. What do you really like doing when you are working, when you are at home and in your spare time? What excites you and energizes you? What is your passion?
If you are still unsure, consider taking one of more of those career assessments. The key is spending some time rediscovering yourself and using your self-assessment to direct your new career search.
2. Researching new careers.
Once you have discovered your passion, spend some time researching the types of careers that center on your passions. Do not worry if you are feeling a bit unsure or insecure; it is a natural part of the career change process.
How much research you do also partly depends on how much of a change you want.
3. Transferable skills.
Leverage some of your current skills and experiences to your new career. There are many skills that are transferable and applicable to what you want to do in your new career. You may be surprised to see that you already have a solid amount of experience needed for your new career.
4. Training and education.
You may find it necessary to update your skills and broaden your knowledge. Take it slowly.
If the skill you need to learn is one you could use in your current job, see if your current employer would be willing to pick up the tab. Take a course or two to ensure you really like the subject matter.
If you are going for a new degree or certification, make sure you check the accreditation of the school. Get some information about placement successes.
5. Networking.
One of the real keys to successfully changing careers will be your networking ability. People in your network may be able to give you job leads, offer you advice and information about a particular company or industry and introduce you to others so that you can expand your network.
Even if you do not think you already have a network, you probably do. Consider colleagues, friends, and family members.
You can also broaden your network through joining professional organizations in your new field and contacting alumni from your college who are working in the field you want to enter. A key tool of networking is conducting informational interviews.
6. Be Flexible. You will need to be flexible about nearly everything, from your employment status to relocation and salary.
Set positive goals for yourself, but expect setbacks and change. Do not let these things get you down. Besides totally new careers, you might also consider a lateral move that could serve as a springboard for a bigger career change.

Shaping Your Career Towards The New Economy

Filed under: Careers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 9:45 pm
Careers
Tony Jacowski asked:


While choosing your career, the prime criteria should be based on your personal interest and talent. The career path you choose has to be based on what you enjoy doing. It is also one of the most important decisions you will make as it influences your future. It is imperative that you make every effort to define your goals, interests and the life that you hope to live when you pursue that particular career. You must gather information on various types of careers, the eligibility for pursuing them and ultimately the education to fulfill that requirement.
Using The Internet
Once you have chosen your career, you need to shape it. This must be done with vision. Utilize every possible resource that can guide, inspire and help develop your choice. The Internet has become one of the most easily accessible and valuable resources today. Tap into all the information that is available on virtually every kind of career. The more informed your decision on a particular career choice, the more likely that you will stay motivated and interested in following it to completion.
Evaluate Your Options
For students who are aware of the importance of shaping their career towards the new economy, it is essential to get in-depth knowledge regarding career options prior to making a decision. Attending career counseling and checking one’s aptitude and core skills via numerous aptitude tests is also extremely helpful towards making a decision. This helps narrow down options because educators and career counselors are able to evaluate career graphs, statistics and estimates and predict fluctuations in job opportunities in different professions.
In the 21st century, science and technology are showing remarkable growth and progress worldwide at a very rapid pace.
For manufacturing jobs, decentralized flexibility is emphasized in combination with:
The production processes are moving towards computer-integrated manufacturing, which integrates production, computer and telecommunication technology.
These processes are moving away from the traditionally functional organization to one that is customer or product centered.
The trend is moving towards decentralized and integrated product and process development.
The production processes are using multi-skilled job rotation and are cross training with broader job classification and internal career systems to promote worker flexibility, teamwork and continuous worker training and upgrading.
These major workplace changes will require professionals to have stronger academic skills in science and math and stronger technical skills in areas such as electronic and computers.
There are still other jobs involving many different types of skills like visual communications, performing arts, language skills.
For shaping your career in the right direction, one needs to:
Have thorough knowledge of all the aspects of the work one is doing.
Keep updated on the recent developments taking place locally, as well as nationally and globally.
Try to acquire newer skills related to your field.
Study other peoples’ career paths and learn from them.
While shaping your career, you should be aware that not only vertical but also multidirectional growth is responsible for taking it to a superior level.
In summary, the new world demands new professionals with specific skills, wide experience in every field from Information Technology to Dance and Drama. The career choices today cover a whole range of jobs from medical, engineering, computers, civil services, law, commerce as well as offbeat tracks like music, acting, painting, sculpting, writing and many more. Only finding the right path to get there is required for success and prosperity.

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