Currently Browsing: Career
Apr 9, 2010
Posted by admin on Apr 9, 2010 in Career | 0 comments
Career Myth #1: You can’t make a living doing something you really, truly love
This is the grand-daddy of career myths, the belief that you can’t have a “practical” career doing something that you were passionate about. It has to be one or the other.
This myth is rooted in fear. Fear that we have to sacrifice our happiness to make a living. Don’t buy the myth that you can’t earn a living by doing what you love.
When I first started coaching, I heard from plenty of people that it would be very difficult to make a living doing this work. I just decided to find coaches who were successful, and to learn from them (simple, eh?).
If you find yourself buying into this myth, consider this question – As you look back on your life, what will you regret more? Following your passion or following your fears?
Career Myth #2: It’s a tough job market/economy
Even when the newspapers and other news sources say that unemployment numbers remain steady, that job growth is at a standstill, or that we’re experiencing slow economic recovery, not to mention downsizing and outsourcing, don’t believe it.
It’s a myth because it doesn’t reflect the whole story, the fact that that it’s a different job market today. It’s a changing economy. How we transition from job-to-job is different. Hiring practices have shifted. So the job market has changed, but that doesn’t necessarily make it tougher. What makes it tougher is that we’ve been slower to change. We’ve held on to old practices and old behaviors. That’s not to say that old ways still don’t work, but they’re just not as effective.
So I challenge you to just believe that it’s a perfect job market for you to find work. I’ve had my college students try this, just for a week, and, more times than not, several of them find job leads or make important connections during the week.
Career Myth #3: Changing careers is risky
What’s riskier than leaving what you know to pursue the unknown? Changing careers means leaving behind a piece of your identity – your “I’m a lawyer” response to the “what-do-you-do?” question. It might mean admitting to yourself that you made a mistake with an initial career choice. Or it might mean acknowledging that you’re unsure of what’s next. And smart people always know what’s next, right?
Nope. Successful career changers often don’t have a plan. In Working Identity: How Successful Career Changers Turn Fantasy into Reality by Herminia Ibarra, she provided evidence that waiting until you have a plan is actually riskier than just doing and experimenting.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, is riskier than not changing careers if you’re longing to do so. Here’s why: The longing won’t go away. It will always be there, under the surface, waiting for you to do something about it.
Career Myth #4: Always have a back-up plan
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Apr 8, 2010
Posted by admin on Apr 8, 2010 in Career | 0 comments
It used to be the case that people could get a job and expect to stay there for as long as they wished. That is no longer the case and we should realistically anticipate 3 or 4 job changes in our working lives.
When we are faced with redundancy, we often feel as though we are out of control. Something is happening to us that we don’t want and we feel hurt, sad, anxious and resistant to that change.No matter what our thoughts about it are, we have to deal with it.
I often speak to people who are faced with this issue .What makes it much worse is when people feel that they have given their work and I quote “their all” ,”the best years of their lives”. There are those amongst us who focus too much on work related aspects and neglect personal areas of their life .In these situations, the void that redundancy creates will be so much greater.
Tips
1.Ensure that there is balance between your work and personal life.
2.It can be useful even when you are employed to periodically check out what other employment is available. Send off for job specifications as this may indicate to you what prospective employees are looking for. You will also become clearer about how marketable you are.
3.Have some contingency plan.
4.After the shock has worn off, try to look at your situation as an opportunity for positive change rather than as a problem.
5.Take control by taking action, rather than ruminating and worrying which tends to exacerbate situations.
6.Do some brainstorming exercises to generate ideas about what else you may be able to do.
7.Explore whether your skills and experience to date are transferable to other areas.
8.If you can afford to, it can sometimes be helpful to go away for a few days where you are removed from the situation and may be able to see things more clearly.
9.Sometimes sharing your concerns with others is useful as they may have had similar experiences and will be able to empathise with you and perhaps share ideas about how to manage this change.
10.Optimise your ability to cope with this change by paying attention to your general health .Ensure you eat properly, take regular exercise and have adequate sleep.
Mar 30, 2010
Posted by admin on Mar 30, 2010 in Career | 0 comments
Many people who choose to explore the culinary arts sometimes have a pre disposition for Culinary Arts Training, and some do not discover their interest and talents for this field until later in life. It is necessary to have creativity if you want to be a chef. You will need to be creative with the recipes and ingredients as well as plate presentation. One thing a chef is responsible for is coming up with new and exciting dishes. A great sense of creativity can help accomplish this and help you find new ways to prepare old standards. You will also need creativity when dealing with your staff. It is often the responsibility of the chef to manage not only his kitchen staff, but front of the house staff as well.
The only real way that you can become a good chef is to put a great deal of effort into honing your culinary skills. To do this, you must obtain professional Culinary Arts training from an accredited school. You will need to study the art of cooking, preparation, and presentation. In Chef School you will learn from books and practical Culinary Training.
No chef even became “great” without spending a lot of time mastering his craft. Chefs are always mastering new skills with constant practice. As a budding chef yourself, you need to be prepared to put effort into learning the craft, as well as spending a great deal of time doing so. If you want to make the kind of money that goes with any successful profession, you will need to spend long hours to get the experience you need to become a great chef.
Mar 29, 2010
Posted by admin on Mar 29, 2010 in Career | 0 comments
Accounting is the study of how businesses track their income and assets over time. Accountants do much more than the generic presumptions; they compute costs and efficiency gains from new technologies, participating in strategies for mergers and acquisitions, quality management, developing and using information systems to track financial performance, tax strategy, and health care benefits management.
The career is a highly momentous and versatile. The field is usually divided into three broad areas: auditing, financial/tax and management accounting. Audit: Work in audit involves checking accounting ledgers and financial statements within corporations and government.
Budget Analysis:
Budget analysts are responsible for developing and managing an organization’s financial plan.
Financial:
Financial accountants prepare financial statements based on general ledgers and participate in important financial decisions involving mergers and acquisitions, benefits/ERISA planning and long-term financial projections.
Management Accounting:
Management accountants work in companies and participate in decisions about capital budgeting and line of business analysis.
Tax:
Tax accountants prepare corporate and personal income tax statements and develop tax strategies involving issues such as financial choice, how to best treat a merger or acquisition, deferral of taxes, when to expense items and the like.
Various levels of skill are apportioned dissimilarly amongst the divisions which implies that depending on your position their will be specific demands on your adeptness, while average
speaking skills are requisites for all areas; the ability to synthesize varies from throughout each. Audit accounting requires a medium level of skill, tax and financial demands a low level of skill, and Management accounting a high level of proficiency.
Entry level accountants can expect a very team oriented environment. Often they will start as a junior member of a team responsible for auditing an important account or preparing financial statements. It is imperative that junior members learn to pull their weight, and function as a capable, effective, and useful member of the unit. Anyone interested in the field can prepare for a bright career.
According to the bureau of labor statistics their have been considerable increases in job openings, reflective of the fields growth and competitiveness. With the right skills and education this growth establishes the possibility for an incredibly profitable career.
Top firms include KPMG/Peat Marwick, Ernst and Young, Deloitte and Touche, Arthur Anderson, Price WarterhouseCoopers, Grant Thornton, BDO Seidman, and McGladerly and Pullen. College graduates seeking entry level positions should consider employment with these firms. Most people do not make partner at public accounting firms but the experience and training can be excellent.
From there, many move on to careers with an accounting focus in business or government. Ambitious talented accountants can advance their career with the acquisition of skills and experience along the way and subsequently enjoy a very successful career.
Jan 6, 2010
Posted by admin on Jan 6, 2010 in Career | 0 comments
What do employers look for in potential employees? That was the question that was posted recently on a career discussion forum online. Naturally, for each different position, the particular answers to that question would be different. However, there are some common skills that employers look for in all employees, whether the employee happens to be a network engineer or a fry cook.
In-Demand Skills for Success
1. BASIC SKILLS‚ Reading, writing and arithmetic! Believe it…
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What do employers look for in potential employees? That was the question that was posted recently on a career discussion forum online. Naturally, for each different position, the particular answers to that question would be different. However, there are some common skills that employers look for in all employees, whether the employee happens to be a network engineer or a fry cook.
In-Demand Skills for Success
1. BASIC SKILLS‚ Reading, writing and arithmetic! Believe it or not, a good portion of high school graduates (and some college grads) do not read at an 8th grade level and cannot do multiplication in their head. Employers are seeking employees who can read well, can write coherently, and who can calculate mathematics in a business environment (fractions, percentages, etc.) Add to that the modern basic skills of keyboarding skill, basic computer knowledge, and ability to use most computerized tools (e.g. fax machine, basic word processing program, etc.) to round out the basic skill sets needed for employment success.
2. PERSONAL SKILLS‚ Can a potential employee speak well? Can he/she answer questions of customers in a positive, informative manner? Can the prospect provide good customer service? While not everyone has an outgoing sales’ personality, successful employees can communicate in a non-confrontational, positive manner with their coworkers, team members, subordinates, management, and customers. Being able to work well with others is a vital skill for success in all jobs.
3. JOB ATTAINMENT‚ Job search is a process that requires a great deal of dedication and attention to be conducted successfully. It follows the old principal that many veteran programmers refer to as GIGO ‚ Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you put lousy effort in, you will receive lousy results. Employers are seeking employees who know how to present themselves in a positive manner and who display enthusiasm and knowledge about the companies they approach. Not only do candidates get evaluated on their skills and experience, but also on how they are approaching the job search. Enthusiastic candidates with fewer skills have an even chance of getting the job as dull candidates with better skills.
4. JOB SURVIVAL‚ Now there’s a hot topic in this period of layoffs. Who gets the ax and who doesn’t is often a matter of numbers, but it is also often a matter of performance. Employees who have consistently demonstrated their worth, taken initiative, and made themselves a valuable asset to the company have lower incidences of being downsized than employees who put forth mediocre or average effort in their jobs. Surviving within a company through layoffs or moving up the career ladder is a success skill that is learned and is consciously cultivated among successful professionals.
5. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT‚ As all high tech and engineering pros know‚ it’s learn or burn in today’s work environment. Attaining new skills, applying new concepts, updating established skills is an absolute necessity to succeed in today’s work force. The successful individual is constantly attending seminars, taking classes, attaining training on new products or releases, and otherwise learning new skills that will keep them marketable in their careers. Successful people are lifelong learners. Employers are looking for people who have the training necessary to fulfill their needs.
6. CAREER DEVELOPMENT‚ Career Development differs from Professional Development. Professional Development is learning while Career Development is a planning and goal setting process. Successful individuals design a career plan with written goals for short term and long term. They lay out the steps needed to move their careers from Point A to Point B within Time Frame C and plan how they are going to achieve those steps. Successful people have someone to whom they are accountable for their progress and who will monitor their success in achieving their goals. Employers are seeking individuals who (believe it or not) wish to commit to the company for a long period of time. Good career progression is a high selling point of candidates to prospective employers.
How do you measure up? Do you have the 6 In-Demand Skills for Success? Feel like you need some help? Give us a call!
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