Volunteering for Career Change
Posted by CathyG in 21st century, career advice, career change, career planning, workplace politics on 08 9th, 2010If you’re considering a career change, your career counselor or coach may encourage you to take a volunteer position in your new industry. Alternatively, you may be encouraged to take up volunteer work when you’re between jobs, as a way to update your resume.
(1) Non-profit organizations often have a history of transitioning volunteers to full-time careers. For-profit organizations rarely do.
If you seek a job in a for-profit organization, be cautious about offering to work for free or for a deeply discounted salary. Instead, try to leverage your skills to a new position. For instance, an IT professional who wants to move to marketing could apply for tech jobs in marketing firms.
(2) Recognize that volunteer positions often differ dramatically from the paid positions.
This difference works in both directions. Once I met someone who volunteered for a social service job. She was horrified: heavy workload, depressing conditions, and ineffective supervision.
“Social work? No way!” she declared.
I suggested she talk to professionals with degrees who worked in the field. I also suggested she investigate different agencies.
At the other extreme, volunteer workers often miss the political hassles and informal job requirements that are critical to surviving in a paid position.
(3) Volunteer work may be a bridge when you are in transition.
Career change articles often urge workers to build up their resumes with volunteer work. Sometimes you can pick up skills that will be transferrable but don’t assume you’re building your resume. The gap between for-profit and non-profit can be enormous and career direction typically goes one way: from for-profit to non-profit.
If you are not working at all, I first recommend investigating some form of self-employment or freelance work, preferably in your field. I’d also be open to short-term jobs that bring in cash.
Volunteer work may give you some structure and introduce you to new people. It’s better than sitting on the couch at home. It’s usually better than working in a low-paying retail job (unless, of course, you seek a retail management career).
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Posted by CathyG in career advice on 08 7th, 2010Career Books:
Harvard Business Review Career Book
My link to Amazon
This unassuming book actually packs a solid punch. The book promises to help executives guide careers through turbulent times. Articles are taken from the fabled Harvard Business Review and all are useful. Most career changers will benefit from the article on how to be fired gracefully. I’d recommend reading the article on being a corporate hero – i.e., when to refuse to condone an activity that’s unethical or illegal. In today’s environment, this knowledge will be essential. If you’ve been following the story of Mark Hurd of Hewlett-Packard, you’ll be sensitized to this information.
The book also includes the classic article by Herminia Ibarra, turning the world of career change upside down. It’s a good book to give anyone who wants some novel insghts on corporate career change.
How to Find a Job on Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace and Other Social Networks
by Debra Schepp and Brad Schepp
My link to Amazon
Beware of career stereotypes
Posted by CathyG in career advice on 08 5th, 2010Recently I heard a talk from a life coach. Her topic was prosperity. She said, “I used to be a college professor. I was trying to live on $40,000 in New York City. I spent thousands of dollars getting my degree…”
So it’s easy to conclude:
College professors don’t make a lot of money.
You have a HUGE investment in a doctoral program.
In fact, college professors in business and law schools make excellent salaries. They usually enjoy great benefits and perks. They have more freedom to use their time than their industry counterparts. Some don’t own suits. This speaker came from an overcrowded arts field. It’s not clear whether she was a tenured or tenure-track professor or whether she was part-time.
The more prestigious the school, the more income you can expect to earn – up to a point – but you are also expected to invest long hours conducting and publishing research.
Many doctoral programs award stipends to full-time students, especially in the professional field. I paid zero tuition for my doctorate; in fact, I taught outside the university and saved money!
You’ll hear similar stereotypes. Accountants aren’t good with people. Librarians are introverted. Flight attendants are young party-goers.
In fact, any profession carries a wide variety of opportunities. Some accountants are active in client development, so they spend time giving talks and attending meetings. Some librarians are actively engaged in fund-raising. One of my college classmates became a children’s librarian, specializing in storytelling performances. She expanded her outreach to broader entertainment venues. Just today I saw an article about airlines that hire older flight attendants; JetBlue likes to hire retired cops and fire fighters who don’t exactly fit the party image.
Too many people make career decisions based on talking to one or two people – or even just a rumor that “everyone knows.” It’s important to do your research. Interview at least half a dozen professionals in the field you’re considering.
Government moving backwards on jobs and job creation
Posted by CathyG in career advice on 07 12th, 2010I try to stay out of politics, but this article caught my attention. Don’t be misled by the title: it’s not an anti-Obama diatribe but actually a good analysis of health care for small businesses. See
http://bit.ly/aQOGEX
Why should you care?
Many years ago I read an excellent book that should be required reading for eveeryone in the US: JobShift by William Bridges. Brirdges argues that we no longer can count on jobs. We have to think of ourselves as entrepreneurs who occupy jobs that could disappear at a moment’s notice. We need to think of ourselves as crafts people who belong to guilds, whether or not we are emplooyed, and whether or not we work for a particular company.
Bridges was wise. Today, companies are cutting back on employees and staging layoffs. Unemployment insurance was designed to fill a gap for workers who were laid off seasonally. Today’s workers get laid off with no hope of returning. Often a whole industry disappears.
In many states, to claim unemployment benefits you must look for a job. In reality, you may never get a job. You may have to consider working as a “temp”: for a long time or start your own business. Those options are not allowed by most states when you collect unemployment.
Bridges’s book points out yet another element of distancing health care from employers. These days employers have become intrusive in the lives of their employees. They hire and promote based on factors not related to an employee’s productivity but on their beliefs about the employees’ effect on health care. That’s why they instituted weight loss and exercise programs. As far as I can tell, the effect on health care comes from discounts from insurance companies, not from real savings on employee health costs. It’s a little too Big Brother for me.
The WSJ article points out that the health care bill will actually harm small businesses, rather than giving them greater access to more health care options. Buried in the bill are provisions to increase the paperwork and hassle for small business, imposing requirements that are almost impossible for solo-preneurs to meet, while offering no benefits in return.
http://bit.ly/aQOGEX
My recommendation is to read this book and write to our legislators.
Guest Post: Find the Feeling Place of Success
Posted by CathyG in career advice on 06 11th, 2010Guest Post From Chrisina Merkley:
Every so often I see an article that is so good I want to share with my readers. Today’s Guest Post comes from Christina Merkley, a life coach who has a down-to-earth approach to the Law of Attraction. Learn about Christina here, via my affiliate link.
While I make my way up the wait list, I’m taking group lessons with Mac and Carl, the fun teaching duo from Nucleus Golf. This week we were on the putting green – getting instruction on our short game. I’m the rookie in the group as all the others are seasoned golfers. So I’m in the weird position (but invaluable because it stretches me) of having to be a beginner at something again … those of you who have been trained in Interactive-Graphics by me can take heart that I’m having to ‘suck it up’ and go through the newness stage in something too! “I’m Gonna Do It”:
Finding the Feeling Place: In order to manifest something we first need to find the feeling place of achieving it – or, on the flip side … have no ‘resistance’ to having it. The Abraham-Hicks material also tells us that we can also manifest if our desire is really strong — as that desire will counter or trump the resistance we have. Might be a bit bumpy or prolonged process, but with strong desire we’ll get there too. So, in this article I’m talking about golf. But the same premise goes for anything you to want to create. First, you need to develop the ‘feeling place’ of having it. One way to do that is to start with and affirm the success of what you can do and believe (what is already a reality for you) and then stretch yourself bit by bit until you expand to a greater range. Appreciation of the Success We Do Have: So many of my clients don’t appreciate what they already have and what they have already accomplished (I’m guilty of slipping into this too). We denigrate where we are instead of celebrating it. And negatively compare it to where we want to be. The trick is to appreciate where we are. That we are manifestors and creators already. And that we are on an incremental, step-by-step journey of extending our ‘I’m gonna get it’ reach. When I started my career I obviously wasn’t where I am today. It has been a step-by-step journey. Just like my golf skills will be a development over time too (I’ve taken up both golf and painting recently as things I can do for the rest of my life – taking a long-term approach). Both will be a step-by-step, incremental journey. And that is totally normal, natural and ok. Gentle, steady, and soft change is good. It sneaks up on you (just as the greater distances sneak up on you in putting too, when you aren’t so focused on how far you are hitting by on the joy and contact of the hit). Visualize It:
Mac also told a story of how he uses visualization to improve his mental/emotional game – which many athletes do nowadays (it’s not so woo woo as it used to be). Going to sleep at night he would do the same putting exercise in his mind, stretching himself to go, in his mind, beyond his natural ‘I’m gonna get it’ line. The funny thing was that even though he was imagining he at first imagined that he missed! He was so programmed to think/feel that way. He gave his head a shake (if one can do that when they are visualizing) and focused in his mind so he made the shot from the longer distance. Making himself get used to that new identity. Acclimatizing to it. Making it ‘but of course I sink it from this distance, that is just me’. Can you see how this applies to anything that you want? We all have natural comfort or familiarity zones, where beyond that zone our doubt and uncertainty kick in – because it’s not natural for ourselves yet. Frankly, that is what my SHIFT-IT coaching work is all about – is acclimatizing people to their new selves. Our self-identity is comfortable only with certain things – the things we know we can do or have. In order to move beyond we need to stretch our comfort and familiarity zones. Sure … to begin with it, what we are stretching into feels weird and foreign, even strange. But the more we stretch into it our self-concept changes. We feel what it feels like to have more and for that to just be normal to us. Integration Activity:
I look forward to hearing of your experiences with this. My thanks to Carl and Mac for their fun and effective golf instruction … and for the creative inspiration for today’s article. Hopefully this has been helpful to you on your manifestation path, even if you aren’t a golfer! =================================================================== |
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Want To Light a Fire Under Your Career in Just 30 Days?
Posted by CathyG in career advice on 06 5th, 2010
Career planning: Light a fire under your career.
Now…almost anything can be a Business! Check out this article about hiring a…dating assistant?!
Link here.
That’s some out-of-the-box thinking. And for some really creative thinking about your career…
I just opened the doors to a totally awesome new 2-step program. Here’s how it works:
Who?: Any executive, professional or solo-preneur who wants to make some radical new plans and take some specific action steps in the next 30 days.
What?: This is Summer fireworks for your career. We get right to the point, identify what you need to do immediately to create sparks and surprises…even some razzle-dazzle if appropriate. It’s not about sprucing up the resume; it’s about making some noise and shaking things up in a construcdtive way.
This is a structured program. We are not going to just get on the phone and chat about what’s happening in your career. We are going to find out what’s causing some things to fizzle and why the spark is missing. If you are struggling with ONE tough decision, we will work to bring you to a resolution that works best for you.
You get:
- 2 60-minute one-on-one calls
- Questions to answer before each call (but you will be asked to call even – or especially – if you haven’t answered them)
- A structured process for each call that helps you move quickly into action and clarity
By way of analogy, think of visiting a fitness trainer to get a couple of sessions to jump-start your exercise program. You’ll get inspiration and instructions and you will know exactly what to do when you walk into the gym next time. Instead of a room of machines, you will see a series of steps to increased fitness.
Where?: At your desk, on your living room couch, in a coffee shop…any place where you have a phone and auditory privacy. . I’ll take care of telling you what number to call and (with your permission) record the call for you to download as an mp3 file.
When?: Over the next 30 days. Well, if you aren’t ready yet, no problem! I guarantee to make room in my schedule for anyone over the next 30 days, if you have a challenge that fits my expertise and experience. After that, I will promise to do my best to fit you into my schedule at this rate.
Why?: There are several reasons I’m doing this:
First, several readers have emailed to say they are having trouble finding a resource to help with a career challenge. They don’t want a full-blown program: just a couple of calls.
Second, I’m going through a change myself. After I sold my house in New Mexico I vowed I would never be a homeowner again…but found a fabulous deal on a condo that seemed to be designed with my name on it. I love my current apartment but after a year of living with a leaky ceiling, I was ready to move.
Third, people are rebelling against coaching that seems to go on forever. You get solid value and info in all my calls.
How much? Just $275 for two one-on-one calls. You pay any long distance charges. You get recordings of the calls and at least one Special Report that seems best suited to where you are coming from.
So…here’s the deal. It’s fast, affordable and accessible. To register, please send me an email with (a) a brief summary of your current challaenge that you want to discuss – be as specific as possible; and (b) a list of three dates/times for your first call. Best times are weekday mornings 11 AM – 3 PM Eastern/NY OR Saturday morning 11AM – 3 PM Eastern/NY.
Email to: midlifecareerstrategy (a) gmail.com with “Career Fire Special” in the subject line. If you don’t hear from me within ONE business day, send another message. You can also leavea comment here; comments are not visible until I moderate them and of course I will not reveal messages about calls.
Career Change Calls For A New Style of Time Management
Posted by CathyG in career advice on 05 31st, 2010Time management is an important topic for busy executives. However, when you work for a company, you often find that your schedule somehow fills itself. You have meetings. You respond to questions from your subordinates and complete projects assigned by your bosses.
Most important, you have a sense of what you need to do to succeed.You know how to set priorities and, in many cases, priorities are set for you.
All this changes when you decide to change careers. I like to say that career achievement is like professional football, where success often depends on being in the right place at the right time. Career change resembles playground basketball: no rules, no paid coaches (though lots of advice from the sidelines), and no game plan. Your old style of time management usually won’t work.
Here’s where conventional wisdom fails. You will never have enough time to do everything you need. Your biggest challenge will be setting priorities. Sometimes what seems to be an obvious priority is actually something that should be deferred.
Example 1: You get a call from a company, demanding an immediate phone interview at 3 PM today. You have an informational interview scheduled at the same time – an appointment you made several weeks ago.
Your prospective employer may be testing to see if you really want the job enough to move your schedule around. She may be assessing your ability to respond quickly to new situations. Or he may be an unreasonable, demanding manager who doesn’t realize you don’t work for him yet.
Example 2: You feel exhausted. You’re stressed and drained by a week of fruitless activity. Every action seems to land you at a dead end. You have six more things on your list, including calls that could be important.
You need to explore your own feelings and needs. Are you so stressed and resentful that you’ll blow any opportunities that might arise from these calls? Are you too tired to think clearly? Often in a stressful situation the most sensible thing you can do is take time out and do something you will really, truly enjoy.
Check out my irreverent guide to Time Management: http://www.midlifecareerstrategy.com/timebook.html
Time
Get career information you need for your career change
Posted by CathyG in career advice, career change on 05 29th, 2010Career changers often realize they need information before making a commitment to change, but its not always clear what career information will be critical to your unique challenge. You need more than answers: you need questions.
For example, consider a career changer we can call Suzanne. Suzanne outgrew her stuffy finance job after ten exhausting years. She was ready for a new career and she wanted to write a novel.
Of course, she realized, the market for novelists was on the thin side. So she signed up for a one-year program at her local college with the goal of becoming a mental health counselor.
Like all new students, Suzanne talked with an Enrollment Manager, formerly known as Admissions. He was very encouraging.
You will have no trouble getting a job, Suzanne was told. Suzanne also talked to her former college roommate who was in the health care field. She visited a few professors who taught in the program. Nobody raised a red flag.
Then Suzanne got a major reality shock. As she finished her year in the program, she was piling up debts but no interviews were offered. What was going on?
Suzanne hadnt realized that her enrollment manager was more like a salesperson than an advisor. He gets compensated by the number of people who enroll in the university after meeting with him. Suzannes future professors had been warned to say only positive things; the university needed students who would pay tuition.
Suzannes friend knew the field but didnt know this particular program. She wasnt a good source of information because her info was outdated.
In any case, Suzanne was different from other students. She was a senior executive experiencing a career transition. The young college graduates with no job experience were viable candidates for entry level jobs. Some of Suzannes senior classmates were already established; they obtained degrees to advance with their current organizations. This goal was fine and the program may have been fine too. The question is, did Suzannes goals fit this program?
Career change requires getting interviews from a variety of people. One approach is to use the Rule of Six. Ask six people, who resemble you as much as possible, at least six targeted questions. If possible, talk to a dozen or more people.
Most career changers stop after interviewing just one or two people. They get a misleading idea about a career field. If just one person presents a negative, they can rule out a whole field, although the information might be biased or even wrong.
Caree
Career Myth: “If you are not happy here…”
Posted by CathyG in career advice on 04 16th, 2010Here’s a familiar scenario. You get frustrated with your job (or maybe your whole career). You tell a few friends. They shake their heads and say, ”If you can’t be happy here, you can’t be happy anywhere?”
There are two reasons this myth can be wrong.
Reason #1: You really landed in a miserable job that’s going nowhere.
Let’s face it: some jobs are pretty awful. They can be meaningless, frustrating or even degrading. They sap your strength. You begin to think they destroy your soul.
Some bosses are toxic. Some companies are toxic. Some signs that a company is toxic:
- A lot of people are sick a lot of the time.
- You are physically ill more than you used to be, typically with colds or headaches.
- You lose interest in things (on and off the job) that formerly got you excited.
- The place has high turnover, sometimes even during a recession.
- People seem to quit or get fired for no reason or for bizarre reasons.
- Your family and friends say, “You’ve changed…and not in a good way.”
Of course, sometimes you just don’t fit. There’s nothing wrong with the job but it’s not a good match for you. For example:
The company places high value on conformity and you are a maverick.
They dress up; you dress down (or vice versa).
No one of your race, ethnicity, religion and/or gender has ever been taken seriously. Women who get taken seriously tend to look like models.
Reason #2: You’re totally in the wrong career.
You bounce around from company to company, thinking, “The next one will be a home run.”
You may like the job but just have no talent for it. Sometimes you can develop your talent over time. Sometimes you are under pressure to perform immediately so you will never know what might have happened.
The job may have requirements that clash with your own temperament and style. You like the work, but…
- The action starts at 7 AM and you are an evening person.
- You have to travel and your highest priority is home and family.
- Most of the jobs are in big cities and you have a rural soul.
You may be unsuited to a field even though you always wanted to be in that field and you invested huge amounts of time. Many lawyers want to leave the legal profession, even though they’re talented. I met a physician who trained as a surgeon for two years before realizing he hated the lifestyle: pressure, late nights, long hours. He is now a very happy anesthesiologist in a group practice, happily married and living the life he’s always wanted.
For more info, click on the “Services” link above. I also
offer a $97 introductory 30-minute consultation. Email me with “30-min
consultation” and 3 dates/times when you will be available. If you don’t hear
from me in 2 business days send another email.
How To Handicap Your Career With Too Much Information
Posted by CathyG in career advice, workplace politics on 04 6th, 2010Today’s Wall Street Journal features an article on the dangers of TMI: sharing Too Much Info with colleagues at work.
See When Oversharing Invades The Office by Elizabeth Bernstein. Some examples from people interviewed for the article:
- A young man shares that he shaved his entire body for a bike race.
- A woman blurts that she conceived her son on a first date in high school.
- A man tells his marketing consultant he needs a lawyer because his wife sued for divorce after he had visited a prostitute.
Apparently reality shows and TV talk shows have blurred the boundaries between private and public. When Dr. Phil listens patiently and kindly to a sordid tale, we somehow get the message that the situation is normal…and so is talking about the situation.
Age related? I don’t think so. My 50-something creative art teacher liked to talk about her ex-husband, housing problems, financial stresses, and even visits to her “therapist.” We didn’t need to know.
Employment related? Not always. I’ve attended online teleseminars where class leaders said, “Time to end. I have to go pee.” Or they dropped details of their personal lives, often with the well-intentioned goal of appearing human and accessible in an invisible medium. I’ve had neighhors who shared every detail of…well, let’s not go there.
In all fairness, these days many of us spend more time at work than anywhere else. We have very few purely personal relationships that don’t overlap with work. And we’ve bought into the idea that sharing is a good thing.
The first of those two sentences are true. But sharing is not always a good thing. In a workplace or business situation, I believe the following should be shared very carefully or not at all:
Medical problems or exams Sharing could come back to bite you: you might be considered too weak for a plum assignment and clients may be nervous about your ability to do the job.
Family. As far as the world is concerned, you have a happy, functional, loving family. Of course, what’s normal in one family will seem bizarre or cruel to another. Many years ago a colleague talked about the way he disciplined his young daughter…a detail we absolutely did not need to know and one that raised suspicions about his temper and his moral character.
Grooming and personal habits. Again, these tidbits can backfire. What seems reasonable and appropriate to one person will seem negligent or egotistical to another.
Bottom line:
When you are in a business environment — any environment where you are getting paid to be there — you are performing on a stage. Inevitably you will slip every so often. However, on a day-to-day basis, come up with some topics you feel comfortable sharing. Sports, music, and gardening seem pretty neutral.
If you’ve got a workplace culture where everybody comes in on Monday and talks about “how I spent my weekend,” come up with just enough harmless stories to be part of the group. Or (my favorite ploy) claim you need to make a phone call and disappear. Most people are more interested in hearing themselves than in your stories anyway.
Remember that anything you say can be used against you by someone who’s out to get you. For example, one man talked a great deal about his anorexic daughter. His colleagues privately speculated that his personal style probably contributed to the daughter’s psychological problems. Fair? No. True? Yes.
Be sensitive to leaks through Facebook. Keep one account that’s accessible only by personal friends and family members. If you don’t want the hassle of password protection, identify yourself and family members by private names that would not appear if someone googled you.
Encourage younger colleagues, friends and family members to be sensitive to oversharing. Often these twenty-somethings have become accustomed to sharing in a college dorm. Nobody bothers to tell them the workplace is different.
If you believe you need to share or “vent” for your own psychological benefit, choose a confidante who is not connected to the workplace. It’s no accident that CEO’s have long employed consultants who are now called coaches. Ideally, you will find a friend or family member to listen. Alternatively, an investment in a coach or therapist can pay dividends for your career growth.
Finally, don’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake. If colleagues want to destroy you, they will find a way. That’s another topic.
