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How to Manage Your Career Like a BusinessLook upon yourself as a company with a product or service to sell. Understand your market and devise a dynamic marketing campaign, remembering that companies hire employees who offer them the best results and the best value for money. Begin by identifying your skills, qualifications, and accomplishments. Adopt a customer-focused approach. What benefits and results can you offer employers? Are your skills marketable and up-to-date? Employers are in the market for team-players and problem-solvers. They want to see evidence in your CV or resume of specific, quantifiable accomplishments. Determine what additional skills you need to develop to make yourself more marketable. Take advantage of all opportunities for continuous learning and professional development. Successful businesses win customers by developing a unique selling proposition. To give yourself a competitive advantage, analyse what other employees in your field are offering. It is not enough to emulate them; you must strive to differentiate yourself by offering something extra, something unique. Try to assess yourself as objectively as possible in order to identify your marketable features. Analyse your performance appraisals and, if possible, enlist the help of a trusted friend or colleague to help you evaluate yourself. Define and prioritise your short-term and long-term career goals. Study recruitment websites and the appointments pages of newspapers to familiarise yourself with the current requirements of employers. Your CV/resume should be fine-tuned regularly and kept up-to-date to enable you to make a swift and targeted response to any suitable job opportunity that arises. Learn all you can about job search strategies, job-specific resumes, and professional interview techniques. By adopting a planned and proactive approach, you will maximise your chances of landing the job that best fits your skills and personality, and increase the likelihood of achieving your long-term career goals. Gerard McLoughlin, author of 'Four Minutes To Interview Success', has contributed career-related articles to hundreds of recruitment companies, websites and publications throughout the world, including: USA Today, JobBankUSA.com, US-Recruiters.com, etc. To receive FREE career tips on a regular basis, sign up today for The Assignments Plus Newsletter. |  | | | RELATED ARTICLES Showing Appreciation to Workplace Un-Sung Heroes Millions of Un-Sung Heroes are born every minute! They are found everywhere-on street corners, in our homes, offices, and communities-wherever there are people in need of rescue. These special people, whose positive actions and initiatives are performed to benefit others, are not famous or in the news for what they are doing; but their efforts affect, enrich and touch countless lives. Genes and Work Ethic If you have good genes, you are blessed. If they are exceptional, you might be successful on that alone. 5 Steps to a New Job The economy is picking up, budgets are new, positions are open and companies are hiring. Now is the time to rev up your job search efforts. Use these tips to dramatically improve your results. The 10 Biggest Career Change Mistakes - And How to Avoid Them Career change is no walk in the park. Match, Meet, and Mesmerize at a Job Fair Are you considering another trip through the career maze? Attending a job fair can make you feel like you are playing a losing game unless you have a clear understanding of the rules. Here are a few suggestions for making the most of any job fair, and gaining a competitive edge. American Idol Syndrome I like Simon, one of three judges on American Idol. I find his feedback refreshingly honest. And while his words startle me with their ego wounding potential, the traditional feel-good, let-you-down-easy, sugar-coated feedback is not much of a gift. It's hard to tell someone they're not good enough and their dreams are not going to happen, at least in this venue. But not telling them is no gift either. Some contestants rise to the challenges he throws at them. Some don't. And, some can't. Which one are you? The people who influenced me most in my career were those who gave me the hardest critiques. Stricken with a bruised-ego for days, or on occasion for months, inevitably their feedback helped me make the right life choices to improve, change direction, or stay the course with intensity. In fact, the boss who was the hardest on me is the one I thank the most. Good was not good enough if I was capable of better, and she was quick to point out when that was. No sugar coating from her. And the funny thing? When I was honest with myself, I knew she was right. Being honest with yourself is one of the challenges to winning at working. We all have talents and abilities, but they're not always in the areas we pursue at work. Too many people I've run across in my career have American Idol Syndrome (AIS). Like Idol contestants auditioning with little or no singing ability, these people believe they are good at what they do. They can't understand why they don't get the promotion, the outstanding review, or the highest increases. They view themselves as varsity team material, but they play with junior varsity skills. When I was a freshman at Stanford, I got a D in biology. Stanford graded on a bell-curve, so an 84% that might traditionally put me in a B category, was near the class bottom. Accustomed to A's, first quarter grades woke me up. At first, I rationalized a D at Stanford was an A or a B at most any other school. But, reality prevailed. I wasn't at another school. If I was going to compete at the school I was at, it was time to use more than high school skills to bring results. Are you applying yourself? Are you as good as you could be to get the raise, the promotion, or the more interesting work? If these are things you want, don't suffer from AIS. Give yourself some Simon-esk feedback. Ego aside. A Simon-esk answer to the questions, "how good are you?" and "are you in the right field?" offers you a chance at becoming happier and more successful at working. The answers give you choices: you can stay the course; find a playing field at your skill level; improve your skills to compete where you are; or change directions. (c) 2004 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved. Taking Job Loss Seriously Anyone reading this article and hassuffered a job loss recently IStaking the job loss seriously. Thestages often are: Effective Resume and Cover Letter Writing - Part One To begin, make a decision to discard any former knowledge learned about the "rules" of resume and cover letter writing. People commonly become stuck in "bad" writing habits from a time gone by. The Inevitable Job Interview Question: ?Why Did You Leave (Are Planning To Leave) Your Last Position This is a question that you can almost count on being asked at your next interview What the interviewer wants to know is, "Why are you available?" Five Qualities Employers Want More than ever, employers want employees who can produce results! Here are five qualities employers seek in such employees. 5 Tips for Customizing your Resume Gone are the days of the bland, generic one-page resume. Employers these days are more impressed by a resume that is customized and they tend to give jobs to interviewees that have a bit of knowledge about the company. Job Interviews: Six Steps to Acing a Telephone Interview Telephone interviews are becoming more popular these days. Whether that's good or bad depends on how you handle them! Making The Best Of Yourself At Interview You are just about to leave university You are just setting out in the job market You have a number of hurdles to get over before you have the job you have been dreaming of. You find the thought of an interview daunting. You want to make a good impression and succeed! Build New Habits -- Payday Will Come -- Feeling that it never works is not a good excuse. You may even remember last year not getting past February. GOOD intentions. NO success. Don't quit! Every year has a new beginning for each of us. Keep on working at it. Writing Resumes Use a resume as a foot in the door Consulting: A Different World I won't say I have a vast array of knowledge as a consultant...collectively I've only been doing it about 8 years. However, there are some things that I have observed that I think will be helpful to those of you who are new to the profession. We will first dispel the myths and address the realities associated with being a Consultant, then we will address the commandments of being a good and valued consultant. How to Prepare for A Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal should be treated as an ongoing developmental process rather than a formal once-a-year review. It should be closely monitored by both employee and reviewer to ensure that targets are being achieved. By preparing yourself diligently and demonstrating a willingness to co-operate with your reviewer to develop your role, you will create a positive impression. Career Transitions: Creating Complementary Careers in a Day Down-sized? Outsourced? Burned-out? Wizened up? That's what I said. Wizened up! Now is not the time to be depressed. Now, is the perfect time to assess your life and what you want to do with the rest of it. One easy way is to explore career options that are complementary to you. Whether you are leaving by choice or have been asked to leave, you probably have more courses of action then you think. Working In Iraq: Is It For You? The US Army Corp of Engineers and numerous private companies are still looking for people to help rebuild Iraq's infrastructure. In fact, one Web site reports that there are currently 60,000 jobs available in Iraq for US citizens. And the pay can be very good. Some civilian contractor jobs start at $80,000. Others pay even more. A truck driver earning $30,000 in the US may be able to get a job in Iraq paying $70,000, $80,000 or even $90,000 a year. 10 Tips For Writing A Professional Résumé 1. Start with an attractive layout. Use bold and italics to highlight key points. |
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