Career Tips

Are you looking for a new job? Want to give your career a new direction? Do you need help in finding a new job or taking the next step in your career? Many times, people either feel shy or too insecure to take a drastic step in their career. They feel a little lost and nervous about it because when it comes to career, it is hard to know which step is right and which is not.

In order to create a successful career, you should first know your inner thoughts and beliefs. You have find out what you are good at, what you enjoy doing, which are the things that matter to you in life and what motivates you. These are the key questions which must be answered correctly in order to find the right career path. But most of us, feel quite confused while answering them.

Won’t it be easy to have someone to guide you and help you in answering these questions? Getting career advice from a professional can be just the thing you needed to find the right career path for yourself.

Well if you are looking for such a helping hand, then Career Energy is the right place with you. They are pioneers in career advice and outplacement of high rank officials. They can help you in finding a new job, guide you in reaching your career goals faster and more efficiently and will coach you to make your career long and successful.

Their experienced career consultants work with each of their clients on personal level. You can contact them by phone or Skype or visit them in their Birmingham office. The great careers advice will surely help you create a career path that will lead you to your ultimate career objective.

By choosing a career you enjoy, you’re more likely to pay attention to it. You’ll give your career path the care and upkeep it needs. Part of keeping your skills current and in demand is knowing your industry and having a strong personal network – people who serve as a sounding board, give you information what’s going on with other employers, teach you new skills, and set an example you want to follow.

A career network safety net includes people who support and strengthen you in your career, with whom you stay in touch and connect.

Here are 3 tips for keeping your network strong:

1. Don’t wait until you need something to make contact. Try to set up regular contacts – whether through a coffee date, an email newsletter, attending a group networking meeting, or a phone call.
2. Offer to help when someone needs it, even if you think you don’t have time for it or you think they don’t need your help. If someone loses their job or has a personal crisis, try to find a way you can help – even if it’s just a phone call to lend support. You know how karma works…
3. Set a monthly goal for maintaining your network. Whether it is attending a networking function or making one phone call, doing something will keep you from killing the goose that lays the golden egg – your network.

I thought of this topic because over the last few months I’ve heard from friends and colleagues I haven’t heard from in awhile (and with whom I have not stayed in regular contact). It reminded me that in times of crisis and uncertainty, it’s your relationships to people that matter the most. People who listen (who you trust not to share your information with the world) and people who are sources for job search advice and connections. People with whom you’ve built rapport.

I need to improve my attention to my personal and professional relationships – maybe you do too. Let’s remember to regularly reach out to our friends and colleagues in our weekly/monthly/yearly goal setting.

P.S. Having trouble tracking and categorizing your networking contacts? Read this blog post by social media expert Chris Brogan.

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Finally the sun has come out here in the Pacific NW – as the East Coast is being hammered by a huge snowstorm. A little spring fever is just what the doctor ordered for me.

All weekend I’ve been working on marketing and publicity for The Career Key’s new products – a giant hole of time, energy and money – that marketing stuff. But a necessary ingredient to success. If you help run a business, like I do – you know how this works. You plan carefully, do what you can – and hope for the best!

Sounds like running the biggest democracy on Earth, eh? I think I’ll stick with The Career Key…

And to think people still have time to “tweet” on Twitter! But I confess I did get a little Hulu time this weekend. I love 30 Rock…

Stay tuned for our news about Career Clusters, Career Key Canada, and our newest eBook, “2009 What Job is Best for Me?” – that, by the way, is a huge success. Thanks to our customers who have emailed me with praise and suggestions.

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News media is now calling rethinking your career options as “giving up” on the job market. Is the negative spin really accurate? I don’t think so. If you really loved your career path and it was perfect for you, I doubt you would be “giving up” on your job search. And unemployment, should you be lucky enough to receive it for more than a few months, is insufficient to live on. So “giving up” to sit on the couch with your TV is a limited option for most.

You may think, easy for her to be upbeat because she’s employed. But I’ve been unemployed, like most people, off and on during my working life. And I have no better job security now than anyone else in the private sector. There is also no surf and turf Career Key Xmas party in my future.

But I admit, the economy is worse than it has ever been in most people’s working experience – and it’s hard to stay positive. Especially if you have, like I do, a nagging suspicion that most people who profited on creating this mess are still sipping mai tais by a pool somewhere….

An optimistic, activist approach is still more likely to result in long term success. Reevaluating your career options is an investment in your future. As long as you avoid procrastination and disorganization by following this 3 step process to choose a career path, it will be the best time and money you’ve ever spent.

Working with like-minded people, people with the same personality type or compatible types, leads to job satisfaction. I’m sure you’ve seen, either in yourself or in others, how this statement, part of Holland’s Theory of Career Choice, rings true. Even celebrities can serve as examples.

I recently saw Elvis Costello interview Sir Elton John on his great new talk show “Spectacle” on the Sundance Channel. Sir John said that early on he knew he wanted to be involved with music. If he couldn’t make it as a musician, he said, he would work in music publishing, songwriting, or some aspect of the business. And true to his goals, he got his start as a “tea boy” in a famous London music publisher’s office, carrying around tea and gathering up stray sheet music. He said that although the work was drudgery, it was exciting to be around and work around musicians and songwriters. We all know how success has followed him.

To find your best place to work,

1. Read these 6 statements about Holland’s Theory of Career Choice.
2. Learn what your highest two personality scores are and think about the types of people you’d enjoy working with. Past job experience and relationships may help guide you.
3. Brainstorm how your life, both through a career and leisure activities, could incorporate your dominant personality types. In your day job, you might work in one environment (social work) and have fun “off the clock” in a different environment (fixing classic cars).
4. Consider careers that combine your top two personality types. Ideally you would find an occupation that was the best of both worlds. For example, an art gallery owner combines the Enterprising and Artistic personality types. You may be able to create one through self-employment. Like a therapist who counsels businesspeople, lawyers, and other Enterprising people.

Using these suggestions to identify working environments that are compatible with your personality will help you choose a career likely to lead to job satisfaction. Why not work with people you like?

On November 27, 2008, one of our best known, influential and respected vocational psychologists, Dr. John L. Holland, died in Baltimore, Maryland. (photo courtesy of American Psychological Association) We are particularly sad to hear of Dr. Holland’s passing. The Career Key and The Self-Employment Key tests, as well as versions of The Career Key test adapted for use in different countries, are scientifically valid measures of the 6 personality types of Holland’s Theory of Career Choice. Dr. Holland’s contributions have helped and will continue to help millions of people through our website, our licensees, as well as through other scientifically valid assessments based on his work.

In 2008, Dr. Holland received the Award of Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology from the American Psychological Association, “presented to a person … who has made distinguished theoretical or empirical advances leading to the understanding or amelioration of important practical problems.”

According to the November 2008 issue of the American Psychologist magazine, the award citation reads:

“For outstanding contributions to vocational psychology and personality. John L. Holland’s hexagonal theory of vocational interests and his research have shown the importance of vocational environment and vocational personality interactions. His research shows that personalities seek out and flourish in career environments they fit and that jobs and career environments are classifiable by the personalities that flourish in them.

Further, he was a pioneer in work on assessments of university environments and their influence on students and in the development of knowledge about nonacademic accomplishments. He also contributed significantly to research on originality and interpersonal competence. With wit, wisdom, and intellectual prowess, he has for five decades influenced and inspired students, colleagues, and practitioners of applied psychology.” [Emphasis added]

To read the complete citation and biography, please visit the NCDA website page here.

To truly realize the benefits of Holland’s Theory and respect his work, it is important for people using career tests to choose ones that are scientifically valid measures. Unfortunately, most online career tests on the Internet are invalid and can harm you. If you are not sure whether a career test is valid, visit our website or please read this short article.

In “Career Exploration North Carolina Style,” 6th grade Waynesville Middle School counselor Annette Husson, Ed.D., highlights the online career center of an organization that licenses The Career Key, the College Foundation of North Carolina (cfnc.org). They also partner with another of our licensees, XAP.com. The article appears in this month’s issue of the American School Counselor Association magazine, School Counselor. CFNC is a nonprofit partnership between Pathways of North Carolina, College Foundation Inc., and the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority.

Ms. Husson describes CFNC’s career center as “divided into four areas: Work, Learn, Life and My Portfolio. Student have an opportunity to take [The Career Key] that matches their interests with careers…”

After describing all of the career center’s benefits, Ms. Husson concludes, “[a]ll in all, this is one well-developed easy-to-use tool for educating North Carolina’s middle and high school students about career options.”

I also have a personal connection with CFNC, because they made it possible for me to attend Princeton University. In 1989, I graduated from the public school system in Raleigh, North Carolina and received financial aid and student loans sufficient to attend an Ivy League school (along with my parents’ help) – no mean feat. In the 10 years I spent paying off my loans, even after I needed a deferral once for unemployment, they were wonderful. I never felt bad about sending in my monthly check to them.

North Carolina students are very lucky to have such high quality educational resources, not just in career planning and financial aid options but also in its educators like Ms. Husson. I am proud to be a product of them.

It’s hard to find someone who says something new about networking, but I found a new resource from which everyone can benefit. I just finished reading an excellent book by Pitney Bowes executive Keith R. Wyche called “Good Is Not Enough: and Other Unwritten Rules for Minority Professionals.”

Intended for women as well as people of color (but useful for everyone), I found its suggestions unusually practical and useful, especially for Enterprising personalities interested in the corporate world. If you’re thinking about a career in business, you should read this book. It provides a lot of detail about how to succeed in that environment so you can decide whether that career option sounds right to you.

The book is not solely about networking, but includes tips on creating a career blueprint, goal setting, and specific suggestions for excelling in your current job. Mr. Wyche also discusses personality traits and how important it is for your career to match them. He gives an example of someone who switched jobs in a sales career from a supervisory to a non-supervisory position because he didn’t like and wasn’t good supervising people – and as a result ended up happier (and made more money). This person had the good fortune to have Mr. Wyche as a mentor, but also the smarts to sit down and think about his personality traits and what types of jobs matched them. In our words, “Know Yourself.”

I would also recommend this book to Caucasian men for a minority’s perspective on the corporate world in addition to the practical advice. If you haven’t worked for, worked with or supervised someone of color - you will. Being able to work well with different types of people is one of the Foundation Skills (People Skills) described in our article Identify Your Skills. And knowing something about how people approach the world is part of learning that skill. I’m still learning…

Like many across the country, we’ve been snowed in here in the Pacific Northwest. You’d think I’d have lots of time to post to The Career Key’s blog – but my young son has had other ideas. Schools are closed so all of us, husband included are holed up at home. And my laptop is like a magnet for my son so having it open and working is impossible. Unless we’re watching The Muppet Show on the Disney website or YouTube….

This is one of my favorite Beaker skits for those Investigative personalities interested in a science career – The Banana Sharpener.

And for Realistic personalities interested in becoming a professional chef, The Swedish Chef Makes Donuts, is a great introduction.

This gives me an idea for a future post, how about matching Muppet personalities to careers? Dark times call for lighter measures… Stay warm!

For many in this recession, getting a job, much less a family friendly job, is the goal. But for those of you choosing a long-term career path, what does the current economy mean for your future flex-time schedule? Probably not much - time is on your side. While these positive benefits, seen by some executives as “frills,” may be cut back now, chances are they will return .

In her blog post, “Will Family Friendly Jobs Disappear?” NYT reporter Lisa Belkin describes some of the preliminary impacts of the recession on flex-time policies, on site child care, and nursing mom benefits. These types of family friendly benefits are mostly from large employers in the corporate world and some government agencies, not small businesses. See Working Woman Magazine’s 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers. Of course if you’re self-employed, you can set your own rules; the only catch is you need to be self-sustaining.

If one of your primary career concerns is to have a family friendly workplace or flex-time for a favorite hobby, then you should include a strategy for achieving it in your decision-making. This recession won’t last forever.