Tag Archives: Career & Jobs

New Year, New Career?

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Clarity

Get clear. First of all, be really sure about what you want to achieve in your career. Is it the next step on the corporate ladder, more work-life balance, running your own business or something else? Even if you want to stay doing what you are doing, you need to be clear on the type of business that will suit you. Think about what works for you at the moment and what you want to change over time.

Design

Get a plan. Once you know what you want, you can start building a plan of attack. What are your options in terms of career steps and how can you make them happen. If you think the answer is a new career, find out about it in detail, don’t assume the grass is always greener. If it’s a new company or step up, what are the options to help you achieve what you want – think broadly before you decide on a track.

Capability

Get real. How good are your skills for what you want to do in the future? Remember being great at what you do now, doesn’t automatically mean you are ready for the next step. Look at people a step or two ahead of you in your career and start studying what they do and how they behave. Get yourself some feedback from people above, below and on your level and listen to it. Also think about some external views – many people get stuck into a certain style of behaving within their current role or business and it can be difficult to shift from that.

Implementation

Get going. Your perfect career move won’t just land at your feet. Many people assume that given the market right now, that there are no jobs out there. For quality candidates, there are! Make sure your CV, job approaches, networking or just your plan to set up a new business marks you out from the crowd so you will get noticed. Again, try and get some external views on this – most people are too close to their own experiences to think about what they really need to say.

Sustaining

Keep going. Careers are long term things – sometimes you have to see the long term to get what you want. Certainly you won’t get there overnight – you need to keep going, keep making progress and keep your eye on your goal. Think about it this way – wouldn’t you want to spend the next holidays saying how much you enjoyed and felt valued in your work?

And if all that sounds like hard work? You only get one working life – don’t give up too easily on something that is so important.

Click here for advice and coaching on how to move your career up a gear in 2012.

Changing Your Career Tips and Advice

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Changing careers is a part of life. As young adults we consider what we want to be when we grow up. We might even go through college with that same goal in mind, but sometimes reality just doesn’t live up to our dreams or we find that we are better suited for something else. Invariably through life we have many jobs as we learn and train to become the person we want to be. A change in career can liven up our lives again or bring us to something we like better. There are a few things you might want to consider before changing your career.

Do you find your job dissatisfying? There are aspects of each career you will have that you don’t like. It could be the manager you must deal with, the co- worker, the changing rules, or certain tasks you are asked to perform. There are literally hundreds of reasons you might find your career is in a rut. What you need to ask yourself is if the entire career is the problem or just certain aspects? Consider for a moment that your current career is very rewarding. You are a child psychologist, but there is paperwork that you must do after seeing your patients. This is just part of the job. It may seem like you are in a rut as nothing changes, but really you’ve just lost focus. A lot of individuals who want to change careers tend to find they love their job after visiting a workshop. Sometimes it just takes a different perspective.

If this is not the case then you need to find what you want to change to. You will probably want to take an aptitude test to find out what you like most. Do you like working with numbers, ideas, around people? What are your interests or hobbies? Can these interests become the career change you want?

The next part of the agenda is actually making a move. Fear often holds individuals back when it comes to changing careers. They are too afraid that they will not excel at the new position or that it will not be enough income, etc. There are hundreds of reasons for the fear.

Once you can find the confidence to change careers little will stop you. You will need to look at various areas for the new job. Is where you live going to provide you with the right career change? Do you have to move? Can you afford to move?

Whenever you change careers you need to have the required experience. This can be obtained through volunteering, going back to school, etc. By following some of the questions above you can determine if you are really ready for a career change or just a change of pace.

The fact is it is never too late to change your career. Even if you have a family and a steady life, if you are unhappy with your career you can still change it to find happiness again.