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).
read comments (0)Relocation Stress: A Couple Moves From NY To Houston
Posted by CathyG in career change, relocation on 05 30th, 2010Today’s New York Times featured an article about a couple who moved from New York to Lubbock, Texas, and finally ended u in New Orleans. The wife began as a trailing spouse and found her way to a new career.
Look up my Report on dealing with the stresses of relocation.
Listen to my comments on the recording below:
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
Another career myth: Career change is a straight line.
Posted by CathyG in 21st century, career change on 04 18th, 2010Most career change comes about through serendipity, not linear planning. Research shows that nearly every career choice and career change includes an element of luck or chance. For example, you run into an old college friend who tells you about a job opening in his company. You hadn’t considered this field but you take the job and discover you have an aptitude.
True Story: A medical social worker moved to a small town with his significant other. Finding no demand for his services, he accepted a clerical job with a real estate agency. He grew restless, so he studied for his real estate license to become an agent. He found his first client when he overheard a conversation in a coffee shop.
Three years later, he was the top real estate agent in the county – a career he would never have anticipated by logical planning. He would have scored near the bottom on any test measuring interest in real estate and aptitude for sales.
Another example:
Following a long job hunt, an attorney reluctantly accepted a job in the finance field. She had never been interested in finance and scored low on math aptitude. To her surprise, she soon realized she enjoyed the job. Her firm encouraged her to take finance courses and one day she realized she loves what she’s doing. She has received bonuses and promotions.
Both these examples are true. Many of us find our new careers by answering an ad we stumbled across by accident. That’s certainly what happened to me.
After years of working in corporate jobs, I answered an ad to teach in a small private college. I had taught part-time in a community college but hadn’t considered a full-time teaching career. Teaching came naturally to me and I found myself thinking, “Why not?” So I enrolled in a doctoral program and embarked on a 20-year career.
Career Change Book: Recommended
Posted by CathyG in 21st century, career advice, career change, career planning on 02 10th, 2010So far I’ve found two career books to recommend: Working Identity (Herminia Ibarra) and Finding Your Own North Star (Martha Beck). Now I’m adding this one to the list. Beck focuses mostly on choosing what you want; Ibarra talks about the search process. Now I recommend The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention by Pamela Mitchell.
Mitchell doesn’t have a lot of soul-searching exercises, like “What should be on my tombstone.” She invites readers to heed their intuition. Like Martha Beck, she believes the body knows more than the mind: if you find yourself feeling ill when you contemplate a type of work, it’s time for a move.
Nor does she spend a lot of time on the trappings of a career search, such as resumes. If you need to writea resume, she invites you to download samples from her company’s website.
Some useful points:
Career reinvention takes chronological time. She points out that many career-changers think “six weeks” when they should be thinking “six months.” I would agree more with Ibarra in Working Identity, who says three years is not unusual.
Besides chronological time, you need time during your week. One of my own clients said she could talk to me on Sunday evenings at 6 PM Eastern. Her weekdays were completely taken. She was too busy to change careers; she needed to take an interim job that would free up her hours.
Functional fear versus dysfunctional fear. Functional fear is based on realistic situations that you have to deal with.
Real qualifications versus negotiable qualifications. To be a doctor, you need an MD. For other careers, you may be able to substitute experience for academics.
My only quibble is that Mitchell can be a little too firm on some points. The term “laws” in the title sets the tone. For instance, on page 27, Mitchell suggests that “Patty” who dislikes a marketing job will not find happiness by moving to Google, which is after all an onlne advertising company. Yet in fact the culture of a high-tech company will be so different that a job with the same title might be transformed. I’ve seen people change their whole attitude to a career when they switched companies or even moved to a new geographic location. It’s not always easy to pinpoint the source of discomfort.
Similarly, researchers find that serendipity plays a key role in both career change and career success. By staying active and following the steps Mitchell lays out, you are more likely to experience the kind of serendipity that propels you forward. But I’ve met few people who logically chose a career and then took a linear path to get a job in that field. Mitchell undoubtedly understands the zig-zag pattern of career change, but she doesn’t highlight it the way Herminia Ibarra does in Working Identity.
Still, this book is one of the best career books I’ve seen in a long time. I’m surprised it hasn’t gotten more publicity. The long, awkward name and bland cover might have something to do with it. The blurbs on the back cover don’t really convey excitement and the subtitle is a yawn that doesn’t even describe the book.
Considering self-employment? Find a new career with these 3 guides.
Posted by CathyG in career change on 02 9th, 2010Several of my readers have asked about resources for moving from corporate life to self-employment. I just discovered one book, published about 7 months ago: Career Renegade by Jonathan Fields
This is one of the most realistic and up-to-date books I’ve found. You can get it from the library, your bookstore or Amazon. The link to Amazon is http://bit.ly/av7v6Z
Additional Recommendatiions to Supplement this Report
I also recommend two online ebooks you can download. Of course, no one can guarantee results, but in my opinion these are helpful and accurate. I’ve bought and learned from them myelf.
http://www.ReachDesperateBuyers.com
While Fields suggests you study a market, this report actually walks you through, step by step. It’s the single best guide to online marketing I’ve found.
20 ways to make $100 a day:
http://www.GrabOnlineIncome.com
This Report also supplements Career Renegade, with more details of how to implement such techniques as selling books on the Internet. It’s not a get rich quick scheme. Each technique requires a lot of work. I like the way the Report gives you a range of options so you can decide what you would like.
Almost all my recommendations, anywhere, are made through my affiliate links. I do get a commission when you buy through my links. However, you do not pay any more by going through a link rather than visiting the site directly.
Back to School as a Professor (Adjunct Style)
Posted by CathyG in academic career, back to school, career advice, career change on 02 5th, 2010If you are involved in a mid-life career change or a long job search, you may be getting advice to expand your horizons and try new fields. Recently the New York Times suggested that career changers explore the possibility of adjunct teaching. Read the full article here.
The article makes some good points.
First, teaching won’t pay a lot but it can broaden your resume. You’ll have some answers to a prospective employer’s question, “And what are you doing now?” Almost any paid employment will be better than staying home.
Second, you don’t always need an advanced degree or teaching experience. Some departments will welcome you when you just bring successful experience and at least a BA degree. You get support in putting your course together. Some schools even assign you a mentor to help out when you are new.
Third, you may be able to find new contacts and even clients.
However, I would add a few points.
First, never assume anything. Go ahead and apply. Well-meaning friends will say, “They won’t hire you” or worse. Find out for yourself. Informal networking is less effective in academia than any place I know (except maybe government jobs).
Second, tailor your resume to emphasize related experience in the field as well as any teaching, training or even speaking experience. If you’ve got somespare cash, you can hire a coach for an hour or two to help you revise your resume.
Third, you may decide you like teaching and want to pursue a full-time job. It’s very rare to move from adjunct to full-time in the same school. Ask around to see if others have made this move at a particular place where you are teaching. If few people have made this move, build up a portfolio of good course evaluations and apply elsewhere.
Fourth, if you are interested in higher ed teaching, you can’t afford to assume that all degrees are created equal. Academics are selective about degrees and credentials. Some non-traditional degree will be helpful when you stay within your company or even change jobs in your field but will not be recognized by academic institutions.
Finally, I often recommend adjunct teaching as a helpful activity during a job search or career change. If nothing else, doing something new will bring a new perspective to your life and career. Many professionals are energized by novelty.
However, teaching can be exhausting, especially at first. My first days teaching at a junior college left me wiped! After years of experience, teaching a night course left me both tired and too “up” to go to sleep right away.
And yes, you can make contacts but I wouldn’t count on them. Some adjuncts have had great luck: students hire them as consultants and colleagues expand their professional network. Others have zero success: their students are too junior to do much good and colleagues can be aloof and clique-y.
All in all, though, adjunct teaching is a useful addition to your between-jobs activity and I’d recommend checking it out. I made a major career change this way.
For information about returning to school as a student, go here.
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Mid-Life Career Strategy: Does an MBA Make Sense For Career Planning?
Posted by CathyG in back to school, career change on 01 31st, 2010Mid-life career changers often consider returning to school. Here are 3 reasons why you might consider getting an MBA… and when you might consider doing something else.
(1) Supplementing skills in a field where you are already successful.
An MBA degree has become extremely popular as a second degree to supplement an existing specialty. For instance, nurses and doctors are seeking business knowledge in such large numbers that some universities have created special programs for them.
This option makes sense if you can use the knowledge immediately and you can pay for the program comfortably. If you are not self-employed, make sure your employer or the employment marketplace will reward your efforts.
(2) Using an MBA degree to find a new career in a totally different field.
“Nathan,” was employed by a firm that marketed business seminars. He wanted to work for a nonprofit firm that promoted green business. He couldn’t see how to make the leap so he thought, “Why not an MBA?”
Nathan needs to talk to at least 6 people who work in firms like the one he wants to join. He needs to target employees at sufficiently high levels in this firm, asking how they achieved their positions. He may find that firms in this field look for MBAs from specific schools, with specific majors and/or with specific experience.
Most important, if you choose an MBA for career change, make sure your program allows networking with other students. Once I taught a class in an Executive MBA program when one participant lost her job. Her resume landed on the desk of a classmate who recognized her and moved her application to the top of the pile.
(3) Using an MBA to get promoted within your own company.
“Susan” worked for a medium-sized company. She couldn’t understand why her promotions were blocked. Her bosses told her she needed marketing courses. When she completed her marketing courses, they said she needed finance…and maybe an MBA.
Susan needs to figure out if she really needs all this training or if her bosses are finding creative ways to turn her down, over and over again.
Generally you need to look at your company’s history. Sometimes an MBA from just about anywhere will give you a leg up the corporate ladder. But you have to think more broadly. Even with an MBA, you are not protected from company politics and downsizing. Consider what you would do if you had to take your MBA elsewhere. Would you still be recognized?
An MBA will be just part of your career planning challenge. To learn more about career change, visit http://www.MidlifeCareerChoice.com and sign up for the FREE 12-week Midlife Career Strategy e-course: 12 lessons delivered to your inbox. Do the suggested assignments and you’re guaranteed to get an “A” in midlife career strategy.
Or download my Report: Back To School For A Mid-Life Career Change.
Is your career feeling sluggish and unmotivated?
Posted by CathyG in career change, career coaching, career management, career planning on 01 3rd, 2010Could your career use a 30 day “Wow it’s time to do something different and I want to get out there and start winning games….instead of sitting on the sidelines and watching others score the points?”
I just opened the doors to a totally awesome new un-program. Here’s the concept:
Who?: Any midlife, mid-career professional or executive who needs to add some cometitive edge to your career game…in the next 30 days.
What?: This is Get It Done for your career. . In this totally awesome un-program we will analyze everything that’s currently involved in the complex game called your caree. We identify and refine your goals and create a plan to reach those goals without taking unnecessary, time-consuming, expensive detours.
This is a structured program. We are not going to just get on the phone and shoot the breeze about your career. We will chat about what’s keeping your career change from happening and how you can get out there and kick some serious butt. .
Just as you’d work on drills to improve your game, you will have some things to do. You will get questions before each ONE-ON-ONE call, I will walk you through a process and we will come out at the other end with a model and a plan that will help you get a head start on your career change. J
Where?: From your office, living room, patio, coffee shop, bar…Anywhere! . All you need is a phone with long distance access. I’ll take care of the rest like telling you what number to call, recording it for you, and sending you worksheets so you say things like, “Good grief…I may make a 3-point shot after all.”
When?: Over the next 30 days. Well, any 30 days that you pick over the summer. We don’t have to start right now (but my schedule gets filled up so call when you decide go get started).
Why?: There are twol reasons I’m doing this:.
One: I’m getting messages from people saying they’ve just been frazzled by their careers and don’t know what to do next. Or they spent a chunk of change on career tests and feel like they’re chasing their own tail.
And I realize that some folks are nervous about investing the going rate for career consulting because they’re nervous about layoffs or they’ve been frustrated with career planning sessions that led nowhere.
How Much?:
Like I said, I like to see a game that’s played well. The current WNBA season has inspired me. That’s why you are going to get 2 one-hour sessions with me for just $1000 dollars. NO, NO, just kidding. . Seriously you are going to get 2 one-hour ONE-ON-ONE sessions with me for $275.
Sounds like a chance to elevate your game, right?
If you want to register, all you have to do is send a message to me:
midlifecareerstrategy (a) gmail.com with the subject: Career Special
Tell me a little about you and your situation and we’ll see if It’s in my scope. If it is, you can sign up.
Spaces are limited – I can only work with a few people each month at this rate. So go ahead and sign up. It’s cheap, it’s effective, and you’ll be glad you did.
Mid-Life Career Change: Feeling So Stuck You Want To Do Nothing
Posted by CathyG in career change on 12 27th, 2009Mid-life career changers often feel stuck when they consider finding a new career. They aren’t sure what they want to do next and often they don’t want to do anything at all.
Usually this happens when executives have experienced a series of frustrations. They think they have found a new career so they feel a burst of hope. They get energized. Then something goes wrong. The new job goes away. Or it turns out to be dreary and depressing, even worse than the first career. For this I gave up what I enjoyed before?
What do you when you don’t feel like doing anything? Here are a few suggestions to get started.
What do you find yourself doing effortlessly? Keep doing it.
You never know where these activities will take you. I started writing reviews of books and music for an online bookstore. To my surprise, this activity opened up all sorts of opportunities. My reviews attracted clients. Publishers sent me books. Today I sell products to help others write book reviews as a path to professional success.
Avoid sharing your frustrations with family and friends. Definitely don’t discuss career issues with colleagues, bosses and business associates.
You’ll be most likely to find a new networking resource when you come across as confident and satisfied. More than once, I’ve heard, “I was impressed by X and was ready to recommend him for an opportunity that seemed perfect for him. But when X started telling me about his doubts, his lack of motivation and his frustrations, I hesitated. He doesn’t seem to know what he wants to do.”
Don’t hide. Keep talking to everyone you meet in a strong, positive way.
Most career changes don’t follow a straight line. One study after another shows that career change tends to follow from a serendipitous event that could not have been anticipated. Your success depends on being available and open to recognizing a new opportunity. Chances are it will come whe you least anticipate it, from a source you hadn’t seen as related to your career.
To learn more: Sign up for my 12-session Career Strategy E-course. Get started at http://www.midlifecareeerchoice.com
