How to Figure Out Which Skills You Need to Learn to Improve Your Career

By Scott H. Young

In my course I teach with Cal Newport, we encourage students to cultivate rare and valuable skills in order to improve your career.

Among the countless ways you could potentially improve your career, we focus on this approach for a few key reasons.

First, actually increasing the value you provide employers, clients and customers directly impacts your bargaining power. While many other suggestions (networking, resume building, credentials) also matter—they tend to change how you are perceived. Learning rare and valuable skills changes what you are.

Second, the more valuable you are the easier other parts of career development become. If you have a really useful portfolio of skills, networking and office politics becomes a lot easier. We like to associate with top performers, and so those who have rare and valuable skills tend to also have more allies and contacts.

That being said, this often raises a challenging question, which skills should you learn to reach this kind of enviable position?

Figuring Out The Skills You Need

In our course, we cover an in-depth method of interviewing people ahead of you to do this basic kind of research. However, in this article, I’d like to cover a few simpler methods you can use to get a relatively decent answer about which skills you should learn.

Method #1: See What Bosses/Clients Complain About

A good way to assess which skills are both rare and valuable is to see which problems are not getting solved (even though people struggle with them) in the actual marketplace.

Talk to employers and clients who work in your career space. Now ask yourself, which problems do they complain about, but struggle to solve?

If you can answer this, the skills you need to build are the ones which solve those problems.

This resolves two possible failures when trying to identify career skills to learn. The first is picking skills nobody really wants, or ones which they aren’t willing to pay for. If people never complain about something, chances are they don’t really value it fixed all that much.

The second failure is picking skills which are too competitive. Again, if people aren’t complaining about a problem, chances are they have no problem finding people to solve it at a reasonable price, indicating that the skill of solving that problem may not be all that rare.

 

Method #2: Ask What Top Performers Do (That Normal People Can’t)

 

Pick someone whose career you admire in your field. Now ask yourself what this person can do, that you cannot. What do you notice?

If you took over the job of the person you admire, what things can this person do that you don’t know how to do, or you think you wouldn’t be able to do as well?

Sometimes, this will point to readily available skills you need to master. Technical skills, social skills, industry experience and knowledge. Other times it will point towards assets that this person has built over time that you may need to cultivate—reputation, client networks, success track records.

Given the things this person seems to possess, you can then start working backwards and ask yourself what you’d have to learn or cultivate to match them. What would you need to get a lot better at, to do as they do?

Method #3: Do a Career Inventory

 

The final method isn’t to look at employers or top performers, but to examine yourself.

Write down a list of all the things you bring to the table when seeking a job in your field. This should include the core things you’re able to do, in terms of work, and also the secondary skills which support the main ones (people skills, reliability, organization, etc.).

What could you change about yourself to make that portfolio of skills more valuable to a potential employer or client?

Many professions have a common pattern whereby the early part of career development involves cultivating direct skills (programming languages, design software, writing talent) and the later stage involves cultivating supporting skills (leadership, networking, reliability). This is often because when you start, you are a resource to be managed, but as your career grows, you spend more of your time managing and connecting the resources in other people.

Doing a self-assessment can often help you identify gaps in your current skills which would cause you to be overlooked. You may also notice areas where you have decent skills, but not high enough to make them a strong selling point to a potential employer or client.

Now Learn Those Skills!

Once you’ve gone through the above three methods, you’ll find a few skills worth exploring. Now you actually have to go out and learn them.

Source of this Article :
Thanks to Mr  Scott H. Young for the article who is the author of this article

 

5 Steps to Job Search Magic

The successful job search all boils down to one word -- synergy.

Synergy is defined as the interaction of two or more agents so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.

Synergy explains the difference between John, Paul, George and Ringo (individual musicians) and The Beatles (a magical combination).

Most job seekers apply for positions haphazardly -- sending out an email resume for this opening, a printed resume for that one, sometimes following up and most often not. (Admit it -- you've done this!)

But you'll get far better results -- and create synergy -- if you first write out a job search calendar, to schedule your efforts over the next 60-90 days. Then, follow your plan and systematically use as many tactics as possible for each job you apply for. Organizing your efforts this way will focus your job search, like sunlight through a magnifying glass.

Here's how to create synergy and job search magic, in 5 easy steps.

Step 1 -- Choose your target job

You can do so by picking a job title (example: Sales Manager) or skill set to shoot for (example: sales, marketing, management). No target job = no results in your job search. Because you can't score if you don't have a goal.

Step 2 -- Choose your tactics

There are many. Among the most effective is networking with your personal and professional contacts. Let people know you're in the job market and tell them what you're looking for. Then ask this question: Who do you know that I should be talking to? This one question can double or triple the size of your network.

Other job hunting tactics include submitting your resume to online job postings, the newspaper classifieds, recruiters and temp agencies. But try to spend 80% of your time networking.

Step 3 -- Plan your work

Create a job search calendar. This time of year, you can get free wall calendars from many stores and businesses. Any calendar will do, so long as there's room to write brief notes for each date.

Map out the next 30-90 days with specific goals for every day, such as visiting 5 Web sites, calling 10 networking contacts and mailing 7 resumes.

Post your job search calendar prominently. Then

Step 4 -- Work your plan

Devote at least 3-5 hours a day to your job search if you're currently employed, and 5-8 hours a day if you're unemployed.

Recognize that your job search is a job in itself, the most important one you have right now. And that means you look for work EVERY day, Monday through Friday. Because just one day skipped per week equals a 20% loss in output. You can't afford that.

Step 5 -- Fail your way to a new job

As you follow your job search plan and contact all those people every day, you're going to hear one word more than any other: No.

Learn to embrace failure like Thomas Edison, who failed 10,000 times before inventing the light bulb. He said: Every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.

Everyone you hear in your job search is another step closer to the one yes you need to get that position you really want. It's simply a numbers game -- take heart!

--- By following this five-step formula, you can create synergy, magic and the job offer you're dreaming about this holiday season.

Kevin Donlin 

Career advancement by the numbers --Steps to help your career in the new year

Let your voice be heard at least 1 time in every meeting.

How many meetings are you in every month? I’ll bet it’s too many to count. And in how many of those meetings can you honestly say you added value? If you are silent, you may as well not even be there. Or worse, if you speak up after the meeting—in the hallway, or among your friends—you are actually undermining the purpose for the meeting.

You may not think you have anything to contribute, or you may be intimidated by other people in the room. But the only way to get past those self-effacing fears is to start talking. Knowing you are going to say at least one thing in each meeting is going to make you listen harder, because you are going to offer an opinion, or ask a question.

When you begin to contribute in meaningful ways to the daily events and decisions, your credibility will grow. You will become someone others turn to—and listen to. This is particularly relevant if you are a minority member of a group. For example, research has shown that women in a predominantly male environment tend to get talked over and their ideas end up being attributed to someone else, because they don’t speak up with enough frequency and they don’t hold the floor long enough to make their point, or pitch their idea.

Get visibility and build credibility by leading 3 initiatives.

If you are a manager, step up and propose something new. Perhaps there is an archaic process that needs to be overhauled; or a sticky personnel issue that needs a better policy; or a quality improvement measure that needs to be created.

If you are an independent contributor (a specialist with no direct reports), assert yourself and get involved in a project that will improve a product or service. Reach out to colleagues in other areas and collaborate on ways to work better across departments.

Regardless of your job title, stand up and offer to lead an effort to make an improvement—whether it’s on your own job, or something beyond your job description, such as recommending a new office supply ordering system.

Speak in front of a group at least 2 times.

It doesn’t have to be a large group, but standing up and speaking in front of any group is one of the best career builders there is. Perhaps you can be invited to speak to your own team, to share what you learned at a conference you attended. Or, maybe you can speak at a department meeting to give a project update. You may be able to speak at an outside professional meeting—introducing the speaker, or announcing upcoming events. Any time you speak, you build more confidence.

If you are a manager or senior executive, presentations are a part of your job. If you are not happy with your performance, why aren’t you doing something about it? It is so important to your credibility, it’s foolish to erode your own reputation. Resolve to get some feedback and work with a colleague who does it well, to polish your slides and your delivery. You may even want to get some professional coaching to take your performance to a whole new level.

Name 5 people you would turn to for help if you lost your job.

Having trouble thinking of anyone? Look around…how many of your friends and relatives were caught by surprise when they lost their jobs? They didn’t think it would happen to them—but it did. Be smart and cultivate contacts long before you need them. Start by thinking like you’re unemployed. Who do you know in your field who has a good reputation and is well-connected? If you called a former boss, would he or she introduce you to others and give you a good reference? If you decided to start your own business, do you have any connections to people who could help you?

Reach out now and schedule a get-together in the new year. Find out what they are up to and be proactive about providing them information or introductions to people who may be able to help them. Good networkers know that you should give before you get. Don’t wait until you need help—offer it first.

Successful careers aren’t built by getting the perfect job in the perfect company. They come from taking the small steps, day after day, year after year. When you look back, you’ll see how far you’ve come—even in one short year.

Your career is your responsibility. Create your own job security by acting more like an entrepreneur at work. 

By Joan Lloyd 

Find the Courage to Leap To a Great New Career

It takes courage to pursue a career you're passionate about when you're already immersed in one you dislike.

When I started my first marketing job in Manhattan in the early 1980s, I loved the pace, big-city excitement and the high salary I was earning. I excelled at my job. Wall Street was booming. As my career progressed, I ran sales and marketing programs for large and small companies. But gradually I began to feel as though I was turning into a corporate emblem.

I'd chosen a career in sales and marketing because I was a "people person," fascinated by how people behave and what motivates them. Yet I found myself in a system where making decisions took so long that an eternity looked short. Day after day I took my assigned place, to work according to rules created by others for endless hours that belonged to others, to achieve the goals of others. I was slowly becoming invisible.

As a symptom of my discontent, I began job hopping. Friends and colleagues would ask, "What's wrong with you?" I asked myself: "Why can't you be happy?" and "Why can't you stay in one job for an extended period of time?" I'd start each job with good intentions, telling myself, "This is it. I'm staying here forever." But a month or two later, I would feel unhappy again. I longed for a better career but had no goal and therefore no plan to implement a change.

When I finally decided I'd had enough, I signed up for a class to learn a new profession, and I switched careers. Suddenly my next professional move seemed clear to me, and I made it happen. Now I love what I do and can't imagine doing anything else.

You can have a career with purpose and passion, too. If you already have the know-how and skills, you may need only the encouragement to follow through on your dreams. Here are three ways to push yourself toward securing a more meaningful career:

Dream again.

Remember when you were young and knew what you wanted to be when you grew up? Are you doing this now as an adult? If not, why? Why didn't you go after what you wanted? What got in the way?

Many professionals who are unhappy in their careers say they can't envision their dream jobs. But when they're pushed to write their dreams on paper, they remember their childhood fantasies.

Be creative.

A businesswoman I know with a schedule that moves at the speed of light speaks regularly with clients who have built multimillion-dollar empires. She loves what she does, but she says if she doesn't find time to be creative, the day has gone to waste. Being creative makes us happy and fuels our soul. Creativity allows us to express our talents and skills to their fullest capability. It takes us away from our problems and makes room for new ideas and perspectives.

To unleash your own creativity, begin paying attention to the inner voice that urges you to paint, write, fix your car or engage in another activity that gives you pleasure. These are clues to where you belong in your career.

Keep moving no matter what.
Countless professionals on the brink of success fail only because they stopped trying too soon. Life can be difficult. We sometimes forget this when the going gets tough.

For example, many executives use the sour economy as an excuse for not moving forward. They've decided that their career goals are too hard to reach, and so they wait for the marketplace to improve on its own. This is the worst decision a professional can make.

Those who are successful in their careers don't give up. They're no different from you or me. The distinction is that they keep moving no matter what. They have good and bad days, but they don't stop trying.

Move forward even if you don't feel like it. Do one thing every day regardless of whether you think it will make a difference. Waiting kills your momentum and spirit. Progress will make your career goals a reality.

By Deborah Brown-Volkman

Bridge Your Employment Gap!

Large employment gaps in your curriculum vitae are very dangerous. And this goes equally for both- the employee as well as the employer. No matter what all the reasons are, the majority of employers will right away dismiss these resumes, giving no second thought. This may seem hard to digest and unfair, but it is a true fact. All this can demoralize anyone but it is also true that the so-called gap can be managed to reflect positively.

So to deal with such a problematic and unpleasant phase in life, here are some effective tips you can use:

Educate Yourself

Grasping from tutorials or getting a certified IT qualification can help you to acquire those skills that employers might be looking for. Whether it’s from online or any local community college, further education always does the needful despite your unemployment.

Is Monetary Problem Coming Your Way?

Various sources give free seminars along with certified training and theory classes, solving financial worries of serious learners.

Gain Experience

Getting a permanent job is something what you always search for. But until you get it, don’t hesitate in doing freelancing or part-time jobs. This will keep your technical skills intact as well as fresh. You will gain on-hand experiences on various aspects of professionalism.

But you must remember that the chosen activity mentioned in your curriculum vitae must reflect why you have done that along with its relevance to the job that you are aspiring for. Also, it is equally important that it must add a great value to yourself as a bright candidate. And for a truly motivated job seeker, there can’t be any such terminology like ‘Employment Gap’. Such experiences and learning processes will anyway take you on a long ride of success sooner or later!

Baby Boomers, Beware! Don’t Let Your Resume Date You!

If you’re a job seeker of the Baby Boom generation, you may be feeling a little left out by the job market. You’re certainly not ready to retire, but the young recruiters you send resumes to don’t seem to respond to your skills and experience. If you’re feeling symptoms of age discrimination, you should know that your resume could be the culprit, categorizing you as out of date and over the hill.

There are three ways your resume can put you in the over the hill category.Your resume is due for an update if it contains:

1. Outdated technology skills
2. Outdated industry or occupational terminology
3. Outdated resume trends

Don’t despair if your resume is out of date. You can perform an extreme resume makeover by using the tips below.

1. Make sure you are up to date on your industry’s technology. Check multiple job descriptions within your industry to see what technologies employers really want. Determine which technologies are missing from your resume. Then decide what you need to learn or do in order to fill that technology gap. Consider adult education classes, college classes, or even online learning.You should be aware that technology terms are often used as keywords to filter the best resumes from electronic databases. If your resume doesn’t have them, it may never be seen. Make sure your technology skills aren’t leaving you behind.
2. Make sure your resume is using current terminology. If you have just been adding to the same old resume over the years, then your early entries may be using outdated terms. One way to bring your resume up to date is through publications from your industry’s professional associations. If you don’t belong to any professional associations, you might be missing out on the latest industry-speak.Another good resource is job descriptions. Search job descriptions in your field for recurring terms. Learn to use the current terminology for your industry correctly and effectively.
3. Make sure your resume reflects today’s trends in resume format and style. Ten or fifteen years ago, the old-fashioned reverse-chronological format may have worked for you. But now that you have more experience, it may not be the best choice. The more advanced hybrid format may be much better at promoting your skills and expertise, providing you with a more professional presentation. With the hybrid resume, potential employers will form an impression of you based on your best accomplishments, not just your most recent job description.

You should also realize that some of the old resume rules just don’t apply any more. For example:

• Limit your resume to one page.” This is a really old idea that limits your ability to show all of your skills and expertise.
• “End your resume with References Available Upon Request.” You don’t need to say that; it’s assumed.
• “You should show every job you have ever held and give each equal importance.” Your employment history should only go back as far as it related to your current employment objectives. Think of your resume as a marketing piece that highlights the best parts rather than as a tell-all.
• “Your resume should go back no more than ten years.” Don’t use an arbitrary number to determine how much to include on your resume. Use the rule of relevancy to decide how many of your jobs to include.
• “One resume should handle everything.” Not anymore! In addition to tailoring your resume to different fields or industries, you’ll also need to tailor the way that you save it.

You’ll want to have (1) a standard Word format (for printouts and as email attachments), and (2) a Plain Text version for online forms. This will save you a lot of time in repairing lost formatting, which often occurs when cutting and pasting a Word document into a text-only form.

Let your experience work for you rather than against you. Using these tips to update your resume can make a noticeable difference in interest from employers. And your new resume will be a better reflection of your hard-earned skills, talents, and expertise.

- Deborah Walker

How to Get Hired When You Are Over Age 40

"We'd like to offer you the job." Those are wonderful words, words that every job candidate wants to hear. Employers need talented workers, but when you are over 40, they have concerns - serious concerns - about whether you are up to doing the job and giving them their money's worth. 

Today's job market is most likely quite different from the last time you went after a new job. The process has changed. The younger competition is growing, and self-marketing is more important than ever before. 

If you want a new job, you can find one. You will change your approach though, because you need to move out of the pack to get noticed.

 

You must be proactive in your efforts. In today's job market, these three things need to happen:

• Know the exact job you want to be hired for. You must advertise what you can do for the employer and not expect them to figure out where you would fit in.
• Tap into the "hidden job market" in order to find better job opportunities
• Use proven ways of better self-promotion that will get a prospective employers' attention.

Here is some key guidelines to point you in the right direction:

• Networking is a must-use component for success. Gone are the days when you were sent to events and told "to work the room". Networking is now very strategic and effective. 63% of all jobs last year were found through contacts according to the Department of Labor. Cultivate your network. Join LinkedIn and post your professional profile. Attend professional meetings and conferences. For more strategy on building your network, listen to Robin's networking audio program. 
• Discuss RESULTS! Employers care most about the results you've achieved in your most recent positions. Documenting these accomplishments and results achieved will demonstrate to hiring managers you got a lot of initiative and you apply it daily -not just 8 years ago. Use some enthusiasm in your voice when you discuss your skills and past accomplishments. Be sure resume is loaded with past results, process/systems improvements, and ways you may have saved time or made money for your previous employers.

  By Robin Ryan

 

 

Five resume writing strategies from a career coach's secret toolkit

Ever wonder how career coaches transform ordinary resumes into wow documents. Career coaches and resume writers, depending on their training and background, use a variety of techniques to add “punch” to their clients’ resumes. I am going to share a few commonly-used techniques in this article.

1. Speak the employer’s language Every profession has a unique set of buzzwords (keywords). Using the right keywords will not only add credibility to the resume, but it will also make your resume searchable. How? Most companies use electronic storage and retrieval systems to manage the large volume of resumes they receive every day. Whenever an opening arises, HR professionals use keywords to search through their database. Only resumes with matching keywords will show up during these searches.
   
   
2. Focus on your accomplishments Most resumes use statements like “Responsible for sales and marketing.” What does this tell the employer? Nothing. Hundreds of resumes on the employer’s desk would be saying the same thing.
   
   How about this: “Generate sales in excess of $500,000 every month by targeting client base of 1,900 accounts.”
   
   Even better: “Propelled market share 12% by driving over $500,000 in sales every month. Achieved results by delivering powerful presentations and influencing challenging decision makers. Ranked #1 from sales force of 2,000 employees nationwide. Won Top Salesman of the Year award for capturing 80% of competitor’s accounts.
   
   
3. Highlight benefits, not features If car manufacturer XYZ says, “Our car is red,” that is a feature. When the same car manufacturer says, “Our cutting-edge car will deliver record-breaking 80 mpg and save you at least $350 at the pump every month” -- that is a benefit. Your resume, too, must use similar language, especially to showcase your work at past employers. In the above example, “Responsible for sales and marketing” is a feature but “Propelled market share 12%” … and “Captured 80% of competitor’s accounts” would be benefits.
   
   
4. Format effectively An effectively-formatted, well-organized resume can reduce reading time dramatically. Imagine how pleased the hiring manager would be to review a resume that highlights key quickly.
   
   
5. Stay focused The modern workforce is multi-skilled and cross-functional in the truest sense of those terms. Flat organizational structures have necessitated cross-training and have created a new breed of workers who can adapt to newer roles very quickly. Even if you are qualified for multiple positions, don’t try to create one resume for every job on earth. Staying focused is the key.

By Nimish Thakkar is a sought-after certified career management coach. He has helped thousands of clie

Top Three Mistakes That Could Keep You Unemployed

Technically, there are hundreds of ways to sabotage [literally] a job search campaign, but for the purpose of this discussion, I will restrict myself to three common mistakes most job seekers make. 

Over the past few months, I have observed a steady (and measurable) increase in the number of candidates finding “meaningful” employment opportunities. This is certainly a refreshing change from the horrendous unemployment stories we have heard since the 2008 Financial Debacle. Though positive, the outlook for the economy is still volatile and everything that goes into a job search campaign must be perfected to the nth degree.

As an experienced career coach and resume writer, I would rate the following four factors as being critical in determining the success of any job search campaign: Demand-supply dynamics, a candidate’s background, quality of resume, and job search strategies. 

With this introduction, I rate the following job search mistakes as being unequivocally disastrous: 

The “I-hunt-from-my-recliner” strategy

 

Don’t get me wrong. I love my recliner, but I liken any passive job search campaign to the “I-hunt-from-my-recliner” strategy. A job seeker who does not incorporate active networking into his portfolio of job search strategies is, most likely, a passive job seeker. 

Making “connections” is the key to securing valuable face time with hiring managers. From career fairs to networking tools offered by online job boards, there is absolutely no scarcity of networking avenues for a serious job seeker. 

My friend just found a job, his resume will work for me

As a part of my free resume evaluation service, I review thousands of resumes and often come across needless “resume fluff,” verbiage that does nothing more than fill, nay waste, resume space with hyperbolic adjectives. Copying portions of someone else’s resume or simply pasting content from online resume samples will not produce results. 

Viewed from a hiring manager’s perspective, that is simply “lazy writing”. You might as well put your resume in a bottle and hope that someone at the other end of the shore will pick it up and call you. 

Powerful accomplishments, career stories, branding statements, and other cutting-edge resume writing strategies could transform an ordinary resume into a masterpiece, one that positions you as the perfect solution for the employer’s needs. In fact, in today’s cut-throat environment, your resume must be so powerful and compelling that the hiring manager must start day-dreaming about having you as the next employee. 

If you don’t measure results, you are wasting your time

Analytics are not just for businesses. Every time you post your resume, make a determined effort to track and measure results. How many views did your resume generate? How many calls did you receive? Which strategy is producing the best result? Which version of your resume do employers find more appealing? How many hours did you spend on your job search? How many calls did you make? Get the point. Track your job search activities meticulously and make appropriate changes as you move forward. 

It is imperative that you assess, reassess, tweak, and perfect your job search campaign dynamically. While you may not be able to control market dynamics, there are several areas that are absolutely within your direct control. 

By Nimish Thakkar

How to Be Happier at Work

By Leonard A. Schlesinger, Charles F. Kiefer, and Paul B. Brown

It would be nice to think that you're going to be just as excited about going to work tomorrow as you were on your first day on the job.

But between increased workloads caused by your company's reluctance to hire more people, or a change in management that has put less than stellar people in charge of your little corner of the universe, or maybe the fact that you have done the same job for a while now, you may be feeling....well, not exactly burned out, but fatigued.

What to do?

* Telling yourself to get more excited about the same old thing isn't going to work. (It never does.)

 
* Retiring in place and simply going through the motions is not an option. (You'd be replaced a week from Thursday by someone who might not be better, but by a person who certainly has more enthusiasm.)

 
* And while looking for another job is clearly a choice, terrific jobs are hard to come by in this limp-along economy and you may not be ready to undergo that kind of disruption.

Let us suggest another alternative: Start something. More specifically, start something outside of work.

It could be a new company — or at least something that could lead to starting your own company — but it also could be something artsy like writing a book, composing music or doing something for the betterment of your community (such as developing an idea for a new after-school program). Heck, it could even be something you've always wanted to do — like learning to play the piano or speak a new language — with absolutely no possibility of financial reward. You simply want to do it for the sheer enjoyment of it.

It doesn't matter what it is. The key is to start, to take a small step toward what you think you want. You don't have to make a commitment to see this fledgling notion through to the end. That would be silly — you simply don't know if this new thing is something that you are really going to like.

The key is to get moving without much cost (either in time or in any other resource.) As with all new ventures, you want to stay within your acceptable loss. 

Once you take that small, inexpensive step, see what you've learned. If you're happy with the results, take another step toward your goal. Pause again to see what you've learned this time and, if it feels right, go take another step.

How is this going to make you happier at your job? That's simple. Some of the enthusiasm you have for your outside venture is going to carry over into your work. Making progress on things you care about elevates your mood. You'll come to work pleased with yourself and you'll be less dour. 

Guaranteed. That could be enough to get you out of your funk — which is certainly a good thing both for you, your colleagues and your company.

And if it doesn't cure your job fatigue, or it doesn't for long, that's not necessarily bad, either. By taking the step toward creating something outside of work, you have done two things, both of them good:

First, you may have started down the road that could lead to you starting your own business.
Second, because you have done it, you are in the process of proving to yourself that you know how to create something new. That will be a valuable skill to have no matter what you do next — start your own company, look for a new job or try to carve out a new sort of position in your current company.
Of course, there is an alternative, and you've probably met this person before. It's the person who tells you about all the things they might do, but who never seems to take the first step toward any of their goals. You offer an idea. You offer encouragement and support. But nothing happens. Somehow this person seems more comfortable and even (ironically) pleased with dreaming about possibilities while remaining unhappy.

The remedy for this malaise is simple (although not often taken). It is to act. Every action causes a change in reality. Every action carries the potential for learning. Learning about your next step. Learning about what you like or don't like. Every act can build momentum. Small desires grow. A small talent or expertise can be developed and honed. Before you know it, you can be on a new course. But only if you act.

So, as counter-intuitive as it seems, to be more excited about your job, go do something great outside of it.

Only 140 Characters To Help Your Job Search

By Cheryl Palmer
 
You're engaged in a job search, and you're on Twitter. What should you say in 140 characters or less that would help you reach your goal?

First of all, you have to identify your target audience and surmise what your target audience would be interested in. As a job seeker you primarily have two audiences: recruiters/hiring managers and colleagues who can refer you to openings. Fortunately for you, recruiters/hiring managers and colleagues have one very important thing in common. They are both looking for the best and the brightest.

 Recruiters/hiring managers want to identify the cream of the crop when searching for the ideal candidate. Colleagues also want to refer those who will make them look good in the eyes of the company that they refer people to. So your task as a job seeker is to demonstrate you are on top of your field.

Simply advertising the fact you are looking for a job is not sufficient, and if overdone, can prove your undoing. Instead you need to devise a job search strategy that reaches your target audience effectively. One method that you can incorporate into your strategy is tweeting the URLs of articles that discuss new trends in your industry and/or profession.

This subtly shows that you are savvy about what is going in your field. This is especially important for people who have been unemployed for awhile because it is easy for employers to assume that if you have been out of work for some time that you are not current with your field.

Another part of your overall job strategy can be to maintain a blog and comment on different aspects of your field. You can tweet the URLs of your different blog posts along with a very brief description to entice your followers to go to your blog. (Using a URL shortener such as bit.ly will give you a few more characters to share more information with your followers.) In addition, you can highlight information that you receive at professional association meetings or professional conferences on your blog, again directing your target audience to your blog posts.

Yet another tactic is to provide links to news videos that are related to your field. For example, if there is a news story about how the proposed financial reform of Wall Street will impact the financial services industry, you can share that video via Twitter. Your audience will appreciate the timely information and also view you positively as a professional because you are sharing useful information.

In order to increase the likelihood of your tweets being found by the right people, you should use hashtags that relate to your field. You may need to do a little research by using variations of different keywords related to your field to find hashtags that are commonly used, but it will be worth your while to do so if hiring managers and recruiters find you as a result.

Lastly, you can increase the visibility of your tweets by connecting your Twitter account to your LinkedIn account so that your tweets automatically show up in your LinkedIn status bar. LinkedIn and Twitter can be used together effectively in a social media job search since they are complementary in nature. Twitter's brevity is its strength, but LinkedIn allows you as the job seeker to go into much more detail about your professional background.

Thanks to Cheryl Palmer, M.Ed., CPRW / Carrerealism

http://www.careerealism.com/job-search-help-characters/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+careerealism+%28CAREEREALISM%29

Find Your Dream Career: Reinvent Yourself

 
Author: Adrian Koh

Although she was 23, and unemployed along with 12.8 million other Americans, Jamie Varon was not about to give up on her dream to work for Twitter, the online micro-blogging service. When her application and references from Google failed to secure an interview, she set up a website and blog at twittershouldhireme.com which included her resume, testimonials and – very soon after – a strong web following. 

This story, featured on CNN Money shows how individuals like her were able to land jobs by reinventing and repositioning their personal brand, which is what Stepcase Lifehack suggests. She and other successful job seekers played the role of detective, consultant and salesperson: They demonstrated intimate understanding for the work, gave insight into their area of expertise, and created raving fans out of their potential superiors while doing so.

If anything, this proves the clichéd idea that the global crisis can be an opportunity for those who know how to take advantage of it. What we need to do is frame this crisis correctly, as John Baldoni writes at Harvard Business blog. He believes that organisations should use the crisis to make drastic changes not possible before. The crisis should also be used to spur individuals in the organisation to focus on personal leadership and ownership, and to engage them in the company’s long-term direction.

However, if employment is not your cup of tea, you will be delighted to know that the financial crisis could be the perfect time for entrepreneurship. The result of massive lay-offs means that companies have lost certain capabilities and competencies which may never be replaced. Hence, if you have a product or service that can solve problems for them, this could be the best time to build a viable business out of your expertise, as Peter Bregman says in CNN.

Reinventing yourself requires the courage to evolve and stand out to meet the new demands of your business, while retaining a strong sense of values, as the Slow Leadership blog Slow Leadership blog instructs. Believe in yourself and your abilities and you will show yourself to be indispensible wherever you are.

Source of Article :

http://www.whakate.com/emonitor/find-your-dream-career-reinvent-yourself/

What is your Title?

By Vinod Bidwaik

“I have completed three years in the organization, what is the further career growth for me?”  You must have encountered with such questions, if you are a manager. When they join the company, they take six months to adjust with the team, understand the business; it takes further one year to contribute in the organization. Their question is right, but they also need to ask the question, what they contributed to the organization during these three years. There are number of employees in the organization and off course, it goes very difficult to the organization to plan everybody’s career. In fact, most of the organizations are struggling to address the issue.

There are certain employees and off course Indian psychology supports another pseudo-satisfaction of getting promoted. It is the title change. Manager is promoted to Sr. Manager, without change in role.  The visiting card, holding the higher designation gives the social status to employees. Nobody in the society bothers actually what role he handles.

One youth approached me from one of the service organizations. He gave me his visiting card. His title was Regional Manager. I thought he may be responsible for some regional territory. I was quite happy to know that today’s’ youth are progressing fast. I asked him his territory. He told that he was responsible for specific area of the city and they used to call area as region. In his organization, there were almost 50 regional managers in one city!

Is promoting merely by designation improves the engagement? I don’t know the answer, but definitely people are fascinated by the fancy designations. AVP is one of the designations in baking, service and BPO industries. I had one friend working in one of the well known BPOs in Pune. He was AVP there, but working in shift. I was envious his designation. After working there for 1 year, he joined in manufacturing company as Manager-HR!

Candidates negotiate for designations. They want higher title. Manager wants to be Sr. Manager and Sr. Manager wants to be AGM. They totally ignore the role and job description. There can be DGM without freedom in one organization and Manager with lot of empowerment in another organization. MNCs have flat organizational structure and job responsibilities play important role in career development in such organizations. Roles are based on job evaluation methods like Hay, Mercer or Hewitt or simply internal designed methodology.

When you see the job, it is better to check the role and level in the organization. The purpose of the job, span of control, impact of the job, contribution expected by that job and salary offered are the important factors than mere designation.

Career development and career planning is not only the responsibility of organizations, but also employees’ willingness to learn more, their accountability and commitment towards job. If you follow this, mere title change will not satisfy you.