|
How to Reach Outside Yourself to Advance Your CareerWhen flipping the channels of your TV, you are bound to come across a Public Service Announcement (PSA) endorsed by a celebrity asking children to approach their parents, teachers, or someone they trust when they are at a crossroads. Through these PSAs, children are told that asking for guidance, encouragement, and support is a sign of strength. They don't have to go through a transition alone-help is just around the corner. As adults, we tend to forget the value of reaching out to others when we are in need of assistance. There is this unwritten rule that we should be able to make decisions without the guidance of others. The reality is, however, that children and adults share a common ground: we are all humans who encounter situations that are challenging from time to time, and it doesn't make sense to go it alone. Signs You Should Reach Outside Yourself ? You find yourself asking the same questions over and over because you can't find a resolution. ? You find yourself in a career transition and aren't sure which direction you should take. ? You need someone who can act as more than just a sounding board, someone who can provide thoughtful and constructive feedback. When reaching out for assistance with your career, you have the following options: ? Friend. Friends can be sounding boards, have intimate knowledge of your personal and professional life, and may be able to offer objective and subjective advice. ? Career Mentor. Find a mentor within your company who is experienced and willing to guide you in your professional development. Your mentor should want to share their knowledge and professional experience, and expose you to new ideas and perspectives. ? Career Coach. This is someone who is willing to meet you where you are and assist in getting you where you want to go. A career coach can ask questions that inspire self-awareness and renewed enthusiasm for your professional outlook. Be in a State of Mind to Accept Assistance Regardless if you choose to work with a friend, mentor, or career coach, you should be open to new ideas. ? Fall in Love for Just 15 Minutes. It is easy to pooh-pooh an idea when it is first presented by saying something such as, "I tried that. It doesn't work." Instead of dismissing someone's idea out of hand, try to take in what they are saying and make the decision to love their idea for 15 minutes. Listen and participate in the discussion and buy into it, no matter how crazy you think the idea is. You may be surprised at the progress you can make by being open to others' thoughts and suggestions. ? Let Go of Resistance. If you find that you are resistant to change, it may be because your purpose isn't clear, you fear failure (or success), and/or you lack trust in your own ability to make decisions that are in your best interest. A good friend, mentor, or career coach will be able to help you through your resistance. Final Thought Your advancement is limited only by your commitment to your own career development. Involving others in your quest will get you one step closer to who you want to be, personally and professionally. Career Coach Inc. is run by Linda Matias and Bryan Cadicamo where their objective is twofold: to coach professionals through the interview process and those who are in a career transition and are looking to reawaken or discover their life's passion. To learn more visit http://www.careercoachinc.com or send an email to coach@careercoachinc.com . |  | | | RELATED ARTICLES How To Find A Job As A Copy Editor Jobs for copy editors may seem like they are hard to find, but really you can find them and you can do so with many of the qualifications you already have. But, if you do not have any qualifications, this may be the first step in finding the copyediting job that you have been looking for. Jobs in this field are available, but it takes a good, solid portfolio and set of skills to get them. Here are some things to get you going in the right direction though. One Cover Letter Secret You Cant Afford To Miss Suppose you were the hiring manager, your desk piled high with cover letters and resumes to sort through. Which of the following cover letter greetings would grab your attention? Tips for Handling On the Job Setbacks If you've chosen a business career, you will inevitably experience some type of setback. And whether your pet project is canceled, your performance review is a bust, you get turned down for a promotion, or you're asked to leave the company, setbacks hurt big time. Nevertheless, if you start thinking of yourself as a victim or allow yourself to lapse into prolonged negativity, you won't be hurting anyone except yourself. Worrying until you get sick, abusing drugs or denying that you've reached an impasse won't help either. The best strategy for making a comeback is to recognize the reality of the situation, acknowledge your feelings and find a way to cope productively. Here are some other tips you might find helpful: Make em READ Your Cover Letter Using This Killer Secret! Got your attention? Great. That was my intention. Who wouldn't want to read on when the title promises a 'killer secret.' How to Improve Your Work Situation buWhy are so many people unhappy in their work situation? Why do people, who are successful at one career, have such difficult times coping with their new career? These problems frequently occur, because conflicts exist in their work relationships. Becoming A Police Officer Just Became Easier As many law enforcement candidates can vouch for, taking the police entrance exam can be a stressful and highly competitive experience. I decided to research some preparation web sites and purchased several E-books on the topic to get a better understanding of what it takes to become a police officer. One thing that I quickly realized was that there were plenty of sources of material available for anyone seriously interested in a future in law enforcement. Seven Success Tips For Recent Graduates Entering the Professional World 1) Build a Relationship With Your Boss 5 Things You Need To Know Before Deciding On A Certification Training The right certification training Seven Tips to a Job-Winning Interview These days, interviews don't come easily. When you get The Call, make the most of your time -- and go for it! 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! Little Mistakes That Keep You Unemployed If your job search is dragging on and on, you might want to look in the mirror. Because the person looking back may be sabotaging your efforts. Supplement Your Skills and Improve Your Work Position It is often said that the majority of people are but a few checks away from homelessness. Without a consistent income, this may be a true statement.Some ability to multi-task can get you through a temporary employment down-spell. Ten Tips to a Job Winning Interview These days, interviews don't come easily. When you get The Call, make the most of your time -- and go for it! Tackling Your Unemployment Creatively Are you unemployed or been laid off? You are not alone if that is any comfort to you. Worldwide millions of people are in the same predicament as you are. Unemployment and lay offs are stark realities of the downsizing, reengineering, restructuring, and automation in a sluggish global economy where corporations are trying every trick in the book to reduce costs, increase productivity and keep the organization lean, mean and profitable. Every one of us has gone through the phase of being unemployed once or more in our careers. What is My Calling? "What is my calling?" Do any of us really have complete clarity about our life calling? Even those of us with the knowingness we must teach, write or sing may often ask, "What direction am I to go, now?" How do we answer these soulful questions? Get That Job: Mastering Job Interviews I've heard it said?in fact, it might well have been me that said it ? there are few things more excruciating in professional life than the job interview. Job interviews are awful! Throughout my career I have attended many and conducted many more, and the truth is whether you are the candidate or the interviewer, job interviews are challenging and confronting and difficult ? but you can not only survive but learn to be a masterful interviewee by developing an understanding of what it is the interviewer needs to see and learning to conduct yourself with clarity and confidence. Image and Style Count When I was a child, there was a pool nearby and every year my parents bought us season tickets. My brother and I swam there everyday. One day we were swimming the length of the pool underwater. As I came up at the edge of the pool gasping for air, the lifeguard was there to meet me. He asked if my brother and I would join the swim team. We were so excited; we talked about it for days. Certification for Freelancers and Home-Based Business Owners When we think of technical certification, most of us think of the seemingly endless jumble of letters that follow the names of information technology experts-MCSE, MCSA, A+, CCNA, etc. These certifications serve as standardized, objective validations that the person holding them possesses a certain set of skills and a certain level of professional competency. Pebbles in Your Shoe Dont Only Hurt your Foot But Cause Back and Hip Problems! CIO Magazine ran an article entitled, "Ten Mistakes CIO's Too Often Make" written by Susan H. Cramm, former CIO and vice president of IT at Taco Bell and CFO and executive vice president at Chevys, a Taco Bell subsidiary. Want to Work for Yourself? Those Dream Jobs Dont Just Happen, Theyre Created While traveling in northern California last October, I happened to tune into a local newscast. The newscaster was telling his co-anchor that the speaker at that morning's Rotary Club meeting had to cut his presentation short because he was being flown down to Disneyland to carve elaborate Halloween pumpkins for the park festivities. The newscaster wrapped up the story with the familiar quip, "Nice work if you can get it." He got the first part right. For a creative kid-at-heart, being a professional pumpkin carver is a dream come true. It was his serendipitous "if you can get it" thinking that missed the mark. The fact is, people rarely "get" great work; they create it!Despite all the emphasis on growth in the "job sector" I am continually amazed at just how many fascinating alternatives there are to the whole 9-to-5 schtick. And just as traditional job seekers can't wait around for "Mr. Job" to knock on the door, people who want to do satisfying work ? and call their own shots ? need to be proactive as well. Francis Bacon defined a wise man as one who "makes more opportunities than he finds." Here's a couple of other wise entrepreneurs who made it by going for it.Sports-lover Don Shoenewald was just 18 when he went to the Philadelphia Eagles management wearing a homemade Eagle costume and asking for a mascot job. They weren't interested. Undaunted, Shoenewald kept showing up at Eagles football games. Pretty soon the fans adopted him as the unofficial (meaning, "unpaid") mascot. Thirteen paid team mascot jobs, four mascot character creations (including ones for the New Jersey Devils and the San Jose Sharks), and 18 years later, Shoenewald started Mascot Mania, the only professional training school for mascots in the world.Despite what your high school guidance counselor might have told you, showing up invited in a bird costume isn't the only route to self-employment. For Dan Zawacki it all began when he was working as a sales rep for Honeywell and decided to give away 120 live lobsters as gifts to his customers. Dan was so bowled over by the response that he decided to open a small side business shipping live lobsters complete with pot, crackers, butter and bibs to crustacean-lovers from coast-to-coast. That is until his boss heard him pitching Lobster Gram, Inc. on a local radio station and promptly fired him.In the beginning, Dan worked out of his bedroom, storing his lobsters in a used tank in his father's garage. His first year he netted only $4,000. Ten years later, his company sells about 9,000 lobster packages a year for $99 plus shipping. All and all, not a bad tale.If you dream of making the transition from employee to self-bosser, the first thing you need to do is belief that you can. Then, the next time you see some entrepreneur doing what they love, try thinking: "Nice work ? now, all I have to do is get it! |
|
|
Copyright © Advancing Women (TM), 1996- 