Career Development Services

If you do not enjoy the work that you actually do, the problems that you are called upon to solve, or the functions you perform, you are probably not in the right career.  If you are not using your interests, talents, and skills, it may be time to seek out a career that better suits you.

If you are a NEW GRADUATE or will soon be graduating and you are not clear on your career directions, KEEP READING.

Ask Yourself What You Want?                                                                          
   What do you want your life to look like.  Do you want to work inside or out?  Do you plenty of contact with others or do you work best alone?  How much flexibility do you want?  How far are you willing to commute?  Do you want to travel?  Move to another location?  Jobs and careers need not be 9:00 to 5:00 or 8 to late.  You are making a transition, begin by doing a little DREAMING.

Spend Some Time Getting To Know Yourself Better.                                                                           Take some time for self-assessment. Appraise your personal qualities and traits. What strengths and skills do you want to use on the job? 
     You may want to look at your interests, values, skills, and personality/temperament.  Coaches, career counselors, career centers, books, and even the Internet can offer you activities and tests to assess these areas.  But whatever assessment method you choose - NEVER choose a career based on the results of an assessment test!  Consider what you learn on these assessments to be educational or tools that will help you make a good decision.
     Finally, when you have a short list of new careers, maybe three-five; it is time to start talking to people in the field.  Before making a career decision, talk to AT LEAST THREE individuals in each of the jobs that you are considering.  Talk to people that are actually doing the job that you want, not supervisors, the owner, or some one in HR.  Informational interviews can easily be done in 20 minutes.  An informational information is for gaining information.  Do not misuse an informational interview by trying to get a job lead from it.
     Other ways to get the first hand information necessary to confidently decide on a new career include: job shadowing (get all the permissions needed to shadow a person for a day), internships or externships, (all undergrads should do at least one internship in their major or minor before they graduate), volunteer work in the new field that you are interested in (this will eventually help with networking). 

If you have not conducted a job search in several years, you will quickly find that the strategies that worked in the past are no longer effective.  Generic cover letters and resumes whether sent by mail or submitted online will not bring calls for interviews from hiring managers and recruiters.
College placement offices, unemployment offices, and the Internet can help and their services are usually free.

Some Internet services are not free but for a reasonable amount provide organized, helpful information.  ClickBank provides the ebooks of many career coaches and authors.

Career Coaching provides you with more personal service.  With a coach you will plan a strategy.  You choose the issues that are most important for you to focus on and the coach provides accountability.

Looking for a job is WORK and it is TIME CONSUMING, but the process can broken down into THREE LOGICAL BASIC STEPS.    What?       Where?       How?    

      >   What Do You Want to Do?
      >   Where Do You Want to Do It?
      >   How Do You Find the Person Who Has the Power to Hire You and Show Him or Her How Your Skills
           Can Help Them with Their Problems or Challenges?

What Do You Want to Do?
Do you know exactly what type of job you want to apply for?  What various job titles might companies use?  Not sure exactly what job position you should target your resume for? 

Here's a quick exercise.............. Answer this question as quickly as possible.

What three skills are you best at and enjoy doing?

You can "tweek" your answer but trust you intuition that these are your favored skills.  Now go to Monster.com or HotJobs.com and enter your skills.  See what job openings match your skills.  Take note of their titles.

Besides providing job titles, this exercise indicates if your favorite skills are marketable and gives you a clear idea of Your Value.  Knowing your skills and their value is essential for resume writing and networking.

Where Do You Want to Do It?
This refers to more than just geographic location.  Do you want to relocate? In what kind of environment do you want to work?  A large corporation?  A small or medium sized business?  A nonprofit?

Where can you use your skills?  In a medical environment?  In an educational setting?  In a financial institution?  In a research facility?  In a manufacturing environment?  In a government agency?  In the field of transportation?

Accountants, managers, IT personnel, secretaries and administrative assistants, marketing and public relations representatives, security and safety officials work in many job settings.
Which Company Do You Want to Work For?
1.  Make list of 20 companies that you think you would like to work for.  Go to
     the website of each to see what products and services they offer.  
     Check out their current job openings, usually there is a link on the
     home page.
 
2.   Every year Fortune produces a list of the "100 Best Companies to
      Work For." Go to http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/list-bestusa.htm
      to see the list.  Since large companies often have more then one location,
      one of these top companies might be one you want to work for.

3.  Network -  Talk to people about the companies that they work for AND try
     to find out the names of people that you should talk to in the companies
     that interest you.  See if anyone in your network can help you contact
     these individuals, and make sure your networking group knows your
      strongest skills.
How Do You Find the Person with the Power to Hire You?
If you have begun to investigate the websites of companies and have started networking, you have made a start.  Networking, including social networking can also be used to find the names of the individuals that you should make contact with.

Is Age An Issue in Your Job Search?
Past generations may have looked forward to retirement, but many career-oriented Boomers see themselves as working as long as they can.  With children grown up, many see themselves are entering their "Third Age" at time when they can work at what really interests them, contribute to society in new ways, or explore new interests and challenges.  The Boomers do not see themselves as old and ready for retirement.  In fact, they have come up with some new interesting terms for this new stage of life; they are not retiring, they are rewiring or entering pre-tirement or pro-tirement.  If they are starting new businesses, they are Entre-Boomers!

Unfortunately, ageism in the work force is a reality despite the fact that we are living longer and healthier.  With the burden of saving for retirement shifted to the individual, remaining in the work force has become more necessary for many individuals.

If you are an older worker who is seeking employment:
     -  you should see employment in your area of expertise.  Here is where you
         have years of acquired knowledge.
     -   network with everyone you have ever worked with in the past.  If you
         are not already Internet savvy, get up to speed and use LinkedIn.
         Besides connecting you with former colleagues, recruiters and
         hiring managers can find you.
     -   attend industry trade shows.  Before attending try to find out who will
         be there and set an appointment to meet with these individuals.

If your job search is taking a long time consider working as a consultant, contractor, or independent representative.  Starting a home-based business is another option.  Become an Entre-Boomer.

Go For Any Career That You Are Interested In .... BUT ...                                                                  Start off by considering any careers that interest you.  Let your interests, talents, passions guide your considerations.  Don't look at what fields are hiring and what are the current HOT JOBS.  By the time you train for one of them, they may not be hiring or they may not be so HOT.  Then you will again be trying to figure out what to do with your life!  Spend some time considering many options, then you can begin narrowing your options down.  When you are starting off, brainstorm, dream, think BIG.
As you start narrowing your options, some options will have a short life.  There may be something about being a doctor that you like (make a note of this) but there are many aspects of the career that do not match your values or skills or lifestyle.
     Next, do some research. What do people in this career read and write about. Find some magazines or journals from their professional societies and READ.  Does the work they do still interest you?  Check out these career interests on the internet.  What is being said about them?  If you want to know more about the skills needed, education, and money to be made, go to www.bls.gov the Federal government's website, where you can look at The Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Career Guide to Industries. Also go to O*Net  (www.careeronestop.org). 

Targeted Resumes ... Customized Cover Letters ... Networking ... Social Networking ... Job Boards ... Self-Assessment ... Researching Companies ... the "Hidden Job Market" ... Interviewing ...
Salary/Benefits Negotiation ...