How to Choose Your Career

By Ngo Vinet

What would you do in your lifetime? Facing these choices, how you can be sure that your way is reasonable? Between the pressures of family and personal desires, to which side you will be inclined? Who you should listen to? Who you should believe? Here are some tips to help you choose your career wisely.

Passion or money?

The first choice is your lifestyle. In fact, passion for the job must be placed over the money, but many people are always ready to do the boring works to have much money. When having money they will buy the lifestyle they want.

Find sincere advice

You are not alone! Around you are networks of acquaintances who are willing to help you, such as, family, friends, teachers, professionals... Everyone are also willing to share their thoughts and experiences to help you.

Personal preference

Let's think about the process of your life. Do not think about the subjects at university or coming temporary works. What interests you have? What you can use word: "Passion" to describe?

Not everyone is happy and lucky, so it's important to find a job you can give full passion throughout your life.

Work environment

Where do you like working? With everyone, in a group or alone? Working in the office or communicate? Let's think about your personality and your conditions to know how to find a best suited job for you.

To pan sand for gold

As more and more choices, working world is increasingly larger. It takes time and effort when you must "swim" in a sea of information about work or career.

Let's begin from your preferences and conditions. Choose the most appropriate career to research and remove gradually.

Tips from the experts

Never use money to listen to the career guidance say"A flood of words" about what is only in theory. When you have some last choices, let's knock the expert to find out the sincere advices.

Talking to those who have succeeded in the field you are about to choose. Ask about lifestyle, working style, the difficulties and development conditions... Find out about this job is suitable for what characters? What did you have? And what do you need more?

As you have a basic look of a career, wonder whether you have enough passion to do it in whole life or not.

Degree

Never study for a degree and then hope to get a job thanks to that little piece of paper. The priceless is what you actually own in your mind. Never cower and narrow your vision in any field.

Experience

Try to get different jobs. The more you do, the more you understand what work is suitable to you in a long time. When you have experience from many different fields, how to reorganize your problem will be more diverse.

Your whole life is choices!

How will your life's journey? Those almost depend on the initial steps.

Wish you luck and success!

job, jobs, career

Is Competition Really Bad for You?

I have noticed a trend in education. The trend is to take competition out of the schools. The crazy idea is, competition erodes a child's self esteem and they don't feel good about themselves if they lose. This ideology is, also, embraced by the new age movement. Their idea, if I understand it correctly, is competition creates the feeling of lack. There isn't enough to go around. Sorry, educators and new-agers. I take issue with that philosophy.

Competition is a great thing to teach children. They will run into it in the "real world". Wouldn't it serve the child better to teach them how to compete and feel good about themselves doing so? If we teach a child not to compete, or that competition is bad, we are handicapping them instead of giving them tools for their life's journey.

There isn't any way to weed out competition Even in a socialistic society there will always be people who rise to the top of the pecking order. Competition is the basis of a capitalistic society. Competition is good. Competition creates new ideas and better ways to do things. We are all reaping the rewards competition has brought to the marketplace. Would our lives have been better if there hadn't been any competition between 

Microsoft and Apple? Of course not!

Could it be, we don't want children to realize there will always be a price to pay? This isn't logical either. Even if someone never wants to compete or work, and prefers to live a life on the government dole, there is still a price to pay. It is cloaked in the disguise of not feeling good about themselves, having a chip on their shoulder, never having financial security, and not being able to do the things for their family and themselves they want to do. 

They pay the biggest price of all!

Humans have always been competitive. Even cavemen competed for food and the right to procreate with the cave woman of their choice. Wouldn't it be best to teach children how great it feels to win?

When I was in school, I wasn't athletic. My field of competition was in music. I hated competition because it gave me a knot in my stomach and I felt sick with anticipation until it was over. I worked hard, practiced continually, and perfected my performance. I felt fabulous when it was over! What I learned, working hard had a tremendous payout at the end. I learned the self discipline to stick with something until I completed it. The rewards lie in doing a job to the best of my ability. I, also, found out, I like me best when I am a winner. These lessons have served me well in the business world.

Champions make the worst losers. They never, ever, get used to losing anything. They always strive to win. I found, in life, the biggest prizes come from paying the biggest price. When I really work hard and sacrifice, it has brought me the biggest reward. It has always built my self esteem. I know that I can, do well, whatever I focus on. My mental attitude has triumphed!

Wouldn't our efforts be better served to teach our children good sportsmanship? Not how to lose, but how to be gracious when they win or lose. We, as a society, will advance when we can teach our children to play full out. Give the best of their ability. When we really work hard and we are really prepared, we develop the expectation of winning and success. Now, that's a great feeling!

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How to Change Careers and Avoid Emotional Decision Making Mistakes

By Keith Tenbrook

What makes a career change so difficult?

For most of us, probably the single biggest challenge in knowing how to change careers is addressing the emotions that are provoked when considering this kind of change.
Emotions can result from both external and internal triggers. External triggers that could stimulate a possible career change include:

• Family needs that require a change in where you live or a change in income
• A job loss
• Approaching retirement
• A company or industry downturn
• Problems with a boss or coworker
• A change in health status
• A change in work content or expectations (work overload)
• A company direction change that conflicts with your personal core values

Internal triggers that might motivate a career change include:

• A change in your personal core values that now conflicts with the company ethics (e.g., you used to be OK with your company's business practices, but have had a recent change of heart)
• Routine or boring work that lacks challenge, meaning, or purpose
• Lack of opportunity for personal or professional growth
• A desire to increase income beyond current career expectations
• A desire to create better alignment with personal core values and/or beliefs

These triggers can lead to fear due to lack of knowledge; knowledge of oneself, knowledge of the environment, and knowledge of how to change careers effectively.

 

Breaking it down using a decision making process

An effective decision making process provides a framework for finding or creating the knowledge needed to make any change, especially one as important as a career change. How to change careers is not an isolated decision. It is part of a set of related decisions that connect in a way that creates the knowledge needed to choose a way forward.

Let's use the list of internal and external triggers above to expose some of the decisions that can be used to help in choosing a career.

Knowledge of oneself could include answers to the following questions:

• Do I have a vision for my life?
• What gives live meaning?
• What are my strengths and talents? What are my weaknesses?
• What fits with my personality?
• What relationships do I value?

Rephrasing these questions as choices would provide the following focusing decisions:

• Choose my life vision
• Choose my personal core values and beliefs
• Choose my talents/strengths
• Choose activities and environment that fit my personality
• Choose my relationship priorities

Knowledge of the environment might address the following questions:

• What income do I need to meet the needs of my family?
• What careers are available that I could consider?
• What skills are needed to succeed in a career?
• Where would I need to live pursue a career?

Using a decision view would suggest these decision success factors for your next career (for each you would consider both your need and desire):

• Income
• Fits my skills / Aligns with my strengths
• Training preparation, time and cost
• Required travel / Daily commute time

Knowledge of how to change careers effectively is addressed by using a reliable process for identifying and making each of the related decisions that will influence or guide your choice of careers.

 

Addressing the emotions as you focus on how to change careers

As you start down the path leading to a career change, you will continue to experience emotions that will bring up new questions and concerns. When using a decision-focused approach, each new question becomes an added decision to be made or provides a potential success factor as you progress toward your new career choice.

If you capture the questions and identify the corresponding decisions to be made or career change success factors, you can now use your emotions as a tool to motivate making the choices needed to progress toward a new career. Instead of being overwhelmed and afraid, this high value life choice is broken into smaller choices where emotions can provide the needed motivation to do some of the work.

Emotions now become a positive motivation for change instead of generating the overwhelming fear that leads to indecision. Here are some additional emotional pitfalls that are minimized when following this approach to how to change careers:

• Choosing quickly without knowing why, and then creating rational explanations to justify a poor emotional decision
• Creating mistakes due to distortions and bias in judgments, sometimes leading to unexpected and reckless action
• Making errors that take place because we are subject to systemic inaccuracy about how we will feel in the future
• Having tunnel vision with too few alternatives due to the desire to rush to judgment
• Experiencing analysis paralysis with too many options that exceed our ability to keep track of them

It is possible to learn how to change careers effectively and with confidence

job, jobs, career

Unemployed And Overqualified For The Job? How to Respond

By Mel Otero

We can all remember looking for that first "real job" and hearing the words, "sorry, we need someone with more experience". These are frustrating and disappointing words to an eager young job seeker. Years later, you are once again a job applicant. Have you been told "sorry, you are overqualified"? For me, the second scenario was more frustrating. As an inexperienced applicant, you almost anticipate that rejection. With years of job stability and sold work experience, it can be quite a shock to hear that these good qualities are causing the "overqualified" rejection.

How can you overcome this obstacle? Before you submit your resume for a position that you know or believe might fall in the overqualified category, review your resume and revise it. Often a hiring manager will toss out resumes that clearly signal too much experience, too much education - overqualified! In this situation, there is no interview. You have been labeled and rejected based on the resume.

Revise your resume to focus on why you are seeking this open position. Emphasize your skills and accomplishments. Include your reasons for interest in this position. For example, you might say that although your previous job was in management, you want a position with more balance and something less intense which would give you more time with family. In your cover letter, you might use the words from the job description to point out how the skills you possess match the employer's needs. Down play any titles you may have held in previous jobs. For example, at one point, in the title insurance industry, I was officially a "Vice-President, Branch Manager". After missing out on interviews because of the overqualified label, I removed "Vice President" from my resume. The purpose of this resume statement is to convince the hiring manager to schedule an interview with you.

In the interview, again down play any titles from previous jobs. Do not mention skills and experience that are not required for the open position. Focus on your ability to be a team player. Point out your loyalty to previous employers which can be validated by your longevity on prior jobs. If you are asked about salary, explain that you are flexible with regard to salary and that your previous salary is not relevant to your current job search.

If the hiring manager expresses concern that you may leave as soon as a better offer comes along, you might consider making an offer to sign a 12 month contract with the company.

The goal, of course, is a job offer. In this situation of "too much experience", the hiring manager needs to be comfortable with your sincerity. No one wants to recommend a candidate for hire that leaves 60 days later. You can be honest without going overboard with your titles and accomplishments. Also, keep in mind, it is quite possible that the hiring manager will be a younger person so be sure you are friendly, relaxed and non-threatening. The overqualified label creates a tricky situation, but it can be successfully handled.

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Quantify Your Accomplishments

By Matt Durfee

Although it may sound trite, the best predictor of one's future success is his or her past success.

Why else do think professional sports teams draft players with impressive statistics? Or the top colleges consider grade point averages for admission? Or why smart employers look for and staff their companies with people with a track record of measurable results?

By not doing so they risk allowing intangibles such as style, appearance and the gift of gab - sizzle over substance - to overly influence those important selection decisions.

In my years as a corporate recruiter, I often encountered salespeople who were able to talk a good game by highlighting their work activities in general, vague terms: "I call on key customers in major markets."

What impressed me more and what I was looking to hear were those statements that quantified one's accomplishments: "I increased sales revenue by 45 percent annually over a three-year period."

Whether it's on your resume or in an interview, look for opportunities to inject numbers that are relevant, substantive and impressive. And while it should be relatively easy to identify individual accomplishments for those in sales or marketing, those in supporting professions may have to defer to broader organizational metrics to make their points.

A human resources manager, for example, may wish to cite the impact an employee retention program he initiated had on lowering overall turnover from 34 percent to 18 percent. A finance manager, on the other hand, might highlight how his outsourcing initiative led to annual cost savings of $250,000.

If your work experience includes employers with large market share, revenues, headcount, transactions, etc., referencing them can infer impressive complexity and scope. This is particularly true if the employer is not well-known.

While skills, experience and education are also important, your demonstrated ability to get measurable results will add significant credibility to your qualifications.

And that quantification can go a long way.

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All Interview Questions Are Fair Game

By Matt Durfee

Near the conclusion of a promising interview, the hiring manager of a small company asked the female applicant if she has children. Relying on information from former employee manuals, she promptly responded, "You're not allowed to ask me that."

Guess what? She was wrong.

Despite comments to the contrary by both Human Resources departments and employment attorneys, it's important that job applicants understand that in the interview process there are no illegal questions.

Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, there are partial or whole exceptions to Title VII, including federally recognized Native American tribes and employers with fewer than 15 employees. There are no provisions for interview questions, however.

Let's suppose there are only two applicants for one job opening and both are asked, "Are you a Muslim?" If both applicants answered affirmatively and one was hired, it would be almost impossible for the other to prove he was discriminated against because of his religion.

Some discrimination is even allowed. For example, The Age Discrimination in Employment Act only forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older. Anyone under age 40 is not protected.

With regards to what can and can't be asked during an interview, in my 25+ years as a corporate recruiter and hiring manager for some of the world's largest corporations, I have yet to see a single law prohibiting specific interview questions - even those that would be considered in bad taste.

Unless an interviewer's questions are so personally offensive as to cause you to withdraw your interest in working for the employer, the safest bet is to answer whatever is asked.

If you don't get hired and believe it was because of illegal discrimination, you have the option of filing a complaint with the appropriate local, state or federal agencies.

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Looking for a Change? Consider Travel Occupational Therapy Jobs

By Maryann Thomas

Medical professionals are always going to be needed and after you've completed your qualifications to become an occupational therapist, there are many options available with regards to furthering your career! One excellent option many new grads are opting for are travel OT assignments. Working as a travel occupational therapist allows you to work in any number of cities all while doing what you love!

Many therapists and medical professionals are choosing traveling assignments to further their experience and skills, as well as to explore the U.S. and work in a city that they have always dreamed of working in. Finding travel therapy assignments can be somewhat difficult, but there are several travel therapy companies that can aid in this process. Many placement agencies have consultants that will provide you with professional and personalized service that will ensure that you receive an assignment that is perfectly suited to you each and every time. Before you begin your occupational therapist job, the placement agency you are working with will make all the necessary arrangements so you will be comfortable on arrival for your assignment and have all that you need.

Many placement agencies have websites where you can gather all of the information you might need to answer your questions and make a decision about your occupational therapy travel job. Some travel therapy companies also have their own online application process which makes everything even easier. Make sure you look for a skills checklist, contact information and any testimonials before making a decision about a company. If you choose wisely, you should be placed in a position that is right for you in every way and after you are done with your assignment, you should be given the option of extending it, applying for a permanent job within the facility or moving on to a new assignment.

Make sure that if you are looking for a change, you consider travel occupational therapy jobs!

job, jobs, career