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Your #Career : #ChangingCareers ? Here’s Exactly What To Put On Your #Resume . And What to Leave Off…

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It’s not that hard to update your resume when you’re applying for the next role up the ladder in your field. You’re an associate operations manager trying to become a senior operations manager? Just show how what you’ve already done qualifies you to do similar things at a higher level.

Things get trickier when you’re trying to change industries. You’ve got to rebrand experiences here as transferable qualifications there. You need to explain why you’re a better hire than the candidate who’s spent their whole career in the field you’re trying to get into. And you’ve got to decide which parts of your experience just aren’t relevant anymore.

Figuring this out is a highly situational challenge–what works for one career changer’s resume might not work for another’s. But Erica Breuer, founder of Cake Resumes, says there are some straightforward dos and don’ts that can point you in the right direction.

DO: INCLUDE GROUP WORK

“I often work with career changers who don’t feel they have the right to include projects on their resume that were a team effort, especially when these projects fell outside of their normal job duties,” Breuer tells Fast Company. But it’s precisely those experiences you’ll want to rely on the most. “Including them, while nodding to the team-based or ‘special projects’ nature of the work is the way to go,” she says. “If it happened, it’s a fact, and it can go on your resume.”

Think of it this way: The tasks that are small, routine, or specialized enough for you to complete on your own may not be that relevant outside your industry. But bigger, collaborative projects tend to involve processes and challenges of a higher order, which draw on skills that just about every employer needs–no matter their field.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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DON’T: FUDGE JOB TITLES

“Many career changers get the advice to tweak job titles on their resume to look like the perfect fit. This almost always backfires,” Breuer explains. “It risks looking dishonest or, worse, the self-assigned titles they create add confusion more than they align them with a new path.”

While you can’t control your past job titles, you can control how you describe what you accomplish while you held them. Breuer’s suggestion? “Add a tagline of sorts to the true job title, one that states experience related to the new career direction, for example; ‘Director of Operations—Global Recruitment & Talent Acquisition.’” This way a hiring manager in the HR field, which you’re trying to get into, can spot right away that your operations role had to do with recruiting and talent.

(SOMETIMES) DO: DITCH STRICT CHRONOLOGY IF YOU NEED TO

For job seekers with a lot of experience, it’s common to truncate anything that came before the past 15–20-year period. But Breuer says this rule doesn’t always suit, especially “when you have an early-career experience that applies to an upcoming career change. Drawing this line is important, but so is sharing the details relevant at this very moment. If you’re not doing that, the resume is pointless,” she points out.

So feel free to shake up the chronological approach if you need to. “There are a number of ways to loop early experiences back into a resume without the kitchen sink-style timeline,” says Breuer. For example, you might try breaking your work history into subcategories like “Technical Experience” and “Managerial Experience.”

DON’T: GO TOO BROAD

A final common mistake Breuer sees pretty often among job seekers hoping to change careers is “expecting their resume to do too many things at once,” she says. “They want to capture their career wins, life story, hobbies, and persona as a whole, when a resume actually functions best when it’s a compelling and concise record of your experiences as they pertain to the role at hand.”

When you’re worried about being under-qualified, you might be tempted to overstuff your resume to compensate. Don’t do that. The key is to give recruiters and hiring managers a clear narrative about why you’re the best fit from the role because you’d be coming at it from a nontraditional angle. No, that won’t be the full story of your career, but it will probably be the most effective one for this opportunity.

To take some of the pressure off, Breuer suggests remembering that your resume–while important–is only one piece of the self-portrait you’re presenting to employers. She adds, “It should stack with other branding platforms, such as a personal website, LinkedIn profile, or even a cover letter, in order to tell the whole story of who you are and the value you bring.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rich Bellis is Associate Editor of Fast Company’s Leadership section.

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FastCompany.com | May 14, 2018 | Rich Bellis

 

Your #Career : #CareerAdvice – 5 Signs You’re in the Wrong Career—And How to Make a Change… Picking the Wrong Career is Not an Uncommon Thing, but it’s Not Always Easy to Tell the Difference Between a Bad Position and a Bad Career.

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While “picking the wrong career is not an uncommon thing,” according to Karen Elizaga, career coach and author of Find Your Sweet Spot, it’s not always easy to tell the difference between a bad position and a bad career.

If you’re unhappy and you know it—but you’re not sure whether you need a new job or a new career path—then read on to find out what the wrong career looks like, and what you can do if you realize you need to make a change.

First, according to two career experts, here are five signs that you’re in the wrong career.

1. You work hard, but your results are unsatisfactory. “You absolutely love the area that you’re in, and you are unceasingly diligent about completing your work,” Elizaga describes, “but you don’t get the results you want or that you see your peers getting.” If this sounds all too familiar, “it’s entirely possible that don’t have the skill or talent that it takes to succeed.”

2. You complain about your work a lot. On the flip side, if you spend a significant amount of time whining about work, you may have chosen the wrong career, warns career coach Hallie Crawford. Another sign you need to make a change? “You spend most of your time at home and at work feeding negative thoughts and expressing them,” Crawford describes.

9 Tips from People Who Made Dramatic Career Changes

3. The industry is antithetical to your beliefs. According to Elizaga, “there might be a job function that you enjoy, or something—like the salary, location, or company prestige—may draw you to make a move in your career.” But, despite those obvious plusses, “ultimately you strongly disagree with the moral or political values of this career,” Elizaga describes.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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4. The career doesn’t make use of your strengths. You want a career that plays to your strengths and avoids your weaknesses. So, “when you don’t utilize any of your strengths, your career isn’t rewarding or fulfilling,” Crawford says, and it may not be the one for you.  

5. You fantasize about quitting. What’s more, you’d even be happy if you were let go or fired. “This is a sure sign that your career choice is not a fit for you,” according to Crawford.

If one or more of these signs points to fact that you’re in the wrong career, take heart: you don’t have to stay in it, and you don’t have to go back to school to get out of it, Elizaga says.

4 Beliefs to Drop When Changing Careers

“First of all, take a deep breath and take an inventory,” she suggests. Ask yourself, “Who are you at your core? What are your skills? What drives you? What actually makes you happy? This is a step that so many people skip because they are focused on what the available jobs or seemingly worthy careers may be, rather than looking at their own intrinsic motivation.”

Next, assess your strengths and the skills you have that are transferable to any career, says Elizaga. “You might be surprised at how adaptable you can be to a new career,” she says.

Once you narrow down a few fields you might like to explore, it’s time to reach out to some people in those industries. “Consider conducting informational interviews,” says Crawford. “Gather information about those possible new directions and find out from people in the field what it takes to transition into the field. Are there certain skills or a specific type of experience required? Do you need to take some classes, or volunteer outside of work to gain additional experience in a certain area? This will help you make a more informed decision about if and how much schooling or money that might be required. You may find that you only need to take a course or two instead of having to fully go back to school.”

Lastly, to gain experience in a new field, volunteer before you apply for a position, suggests Elizaga. “If there is an industry you want to move into, but you recognize that you need to learn new skills, carve out some hours during the week or weekend to volunteer or intern for another company,” Elizaga says. That way, “you will slowly build up your arsenal of tools and ultimately be able to point to your experience in transitioning to a new career.”

 

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Your #Career : These Are The Smartest Decisions I’ve Made For My Career…From #SwitchingCareers to Finding Ways to Add Value to their #Employers , Three Writers from The Motley Fool Shared some of the Biggest Lessons they’ve Learned During their Working Lives.

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A surprisingly high number of Americans are unhappy with their work; some estimates are that more than half of us don’t like our jobs. And while there are always things we have no control over, none of us should feel completely powerless. There are almost certainly things you can do to put yourself in a better situation.

Not sure where to start? Three Motley Fool writers who have lived it offer their experiences below, describing what they say was the best thing they each did for their career, ranging from the bold (completely changing jobs and industries) to the nuanced (taking action to be a more valuable employee). Keep reading below for valuable insight that could help you figure out how to improve your career.

Related:I Changed Careers Repeatedly In My 20s–Here’s What It Taught Me 

 

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I TOOK A BIG CHANCE

In the early years of my working life, my goal was to be a professor or teacher. I started a PhD program, and after a year decided that a PhD and college teaching weren’t for me. I switched gears and became a high school teacher instead. I might have stuck with that, but budget cuts forced me to look for other work, and I ended up getting an MBA, with the goal of switching into a lucrative and satisfying career.

The MBA led to better-paying work, but it wasn’t terribly satisfying. I was soon presented with an intriguing opportunity, though–working as a writer and editor for a very new and small company called The Motley Fool. The prospect of it was exciting, as I’d always liked writing, and the fare I would produce for the Fool would even be educational, scratching my teaching itch. One big downside, however, was the pay–along with the fact that it was a small startup and wouldn’t necessarily be around in five or 10 years.

I took the chance and have not regretted it. Yes, I started out earning much less than I had been, but the company grew and grew, and within a number of years, I was earning more than many writers make. Not every job seeker can afford to take a big pay cut, but if you’re presented with an exciting opportunitythat has one or two drawbacks, give it some serious consideration. If I’d just stuck with typical MBA-type jobs, I don’t think I’d be enjoying my career as much.—Selena Maranjian

Related:My Family Doesn’t Approve Of My Career: Now What? 

I CHANGED MY CAREER COMPLETELY

I landed a job at a hedge fund straight out of college, and while the pay was great, the environment was not. I hated being surrounded by greedy traders who were only interested in making money, and toxic coworkers who were constantly rude to me. But I stayed on for quite some time, not just for the money, but because it was something impressive to put on my resume.

Eventually, however, my unhappiness at work began to impact other aspects of my life, and so with my then-boyfriend/now-husband’s encouragement, I gave my two weeks’ notice to pursue a writing career. It was a risky move, to say the least. Writing isn’t exactly known to be a lucrative profession, and giving up a steady paycheck and health benefits for the unknowns of the gig economy was easier said than done. But once I started writing professionally, I became more content, even though it did mean a pay cut and some lifestyle changes as a result.

So there you have it: The best thing I ever did for my career was to change it completely. I now write full-time, and I’ve never been happier.—Maurie Backman

I MADE MYSELF MORE VALUABLE

In a prior career, I struggled for some time with the fact that I wasn’t particularly happy with my job. And I wasn’t unique: As Maurie wrote last year, more than half of us are dissatisfied with our work. And this dissatisfaction can be due to a litany of things, including pay, benefits, paid time off, opportunity–or lack thereof–for advancement, and satisfaction with the work itself.

For me, it was primarily a lack of satisfaction with the work, and I was letting it affect my job performance. That was further limiting my ability to improve my situation. I wasn’t exactly putting myself at risk of getting fired, but I wasn’t doing myself any favors, either–especially if I wanted to get out of that job and into something that was more rewarding.

So I put on my big-boy pants and started acting like a professional. This included sitting down and making a list of the pros and cons of my job, as well as what steps I could take to improve my situation. I realized that if I didn’t commit myself to being a better employee and partner, I was giving my employer little reason to consider me for career advancement. I also realized that I needed to gain certain skills if I wanted to move up.

By committing myself to the job and investing in my skills, I improved my work performance and earned a promotion into a role that was more fulfilling (and also financially rewarding). While I would eventually leave that industry to pursue a writing career (following Maurie’s suggestion above), my decision and actions to improve my skills and performance paid off in spades for years.—Jason Hall

FastCompany.com | April 25, 2018 | BY THE MOTLEY FOOL 4 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : How To Tell The Difference Between A Career Pivot And A Distraction…When you’re Unhappy at Work, Quitting for Something Else can be Tempting. But here’s How to Tell If you’re Chasing a Rabbit or Heading Down the Right Path.

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Rather than look for a new job, Chon put her energy into volunteering at Dawg Squad, a Los Angeles rescue organization, taking head shots of dogs to help them get adopted. The photos became so popular that pet owners asked Chon to photograph their dogs, and eventually ad agencies sought out her work, too.

Chon soon realized that her side hustle wasn’t just a distraction from her full-time job, but an opportunity for a purpose-driven career pivot into pet photography. “I realized I was at a crossroads when I started have to turn down opportunities because I had a day job,” Chon says. “I started to think, What would happen if I could put 100% of my attention into this side business?”

BE INTENTIONAL

What makes Chon’s experience a successful pivot is she deliberately moved toward something, not away from something, says Alison Cardy, career coach and author of Career Grease: How to Get Unstuck and Pivot Your Career.  When you only focus on moving away from something, such as a job you don’t like or career that doesn’t satisfy you, you’re more likely to jump into something that is familiar and feels secure, such as going back to school or starting a business, and that can be a big distraction, Cardy says.

It’s important to take time to understand what you want from your career, and to consider whether you know what you want to do, or if you’re feeling stymied. “If you know what you want, by all means, go for it,” Cardy says. “But if you’re feeling stuck or confused, that is a good signal that it would be helpful to bring in some support.” But, she says, if you seek assistance from a career coach, be sure he or she specializes in helping people figure out what they want to do, not the just how to navigate the nuts and bolts of a job search, because if you don’t know where you are going, all that information won’t be helpful.

 

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APPLY REVERSE ENGINEERING

We often confuse passion and purpose, says Melissa Bradley, managing director of Project 500. “You might be passionate about something, but will it get you to your goal?” she asks. And what exactly is your goal? Rather than using an activity to determine your goal, Bradley recommends using metrics to define what will change externally when you reach your goal. Bradley started her career working with low-income families in Washington, D.C., and transitioned into policy work but found she couldn’t make as large of an impact on bringing equity and equality to people of color. “Policy work was a distraction,” she admits, noting she is back to working directly with community members. She helps them receive the training and support they need to advance their businesses and improve their communities.

STAY LASER FOCUSED

Distractions are all around us, and it’s easy to follow a job opportunity that looks or sounds good down a rabbit trail, even when it’s not the right fit for us, says Robb Holman, founder and CEO of Holman International and author of Lead the Way. “You want to make the best career decision that is the most efficient and effective use of your time,” he says. Before pursuing a new opportunity, he recommends asking these five questions:

1. Does it help me achieve my priorities?
2. How much time and effort will this take?
3. Will it help me to gain new skills or improve existing skills?
4. Will this opportunity evolve into something I truly want to do?
5. What is the short-term and long-term payoff?

If your answers to these questions aren’t all positive, it might be best to let that opportunity pass, he says.

DISTRACTIONS AREN’T ALL BAD

Don’t discount every distraction, warns Tracey Adams, PhD, founder of ThriveOn Seminars. “Career development isn’t linear anymore,” she says. “You don’t move up, you move to different organizations.” If you’re unsure about your next career move, Adams recommends asking yourself what brought you joy to do as a child.

For instance, when Nerea Gibson, a molecular biologist working in the biotech industry, found she couldn’t get into a PhD program, she went back to an early interest, fashion design, and started designing wallets and bags as a respite from everything else in her life. Gibson decided to leave her full-time job when she realized she was putting equal amounts of energy into her design work as her full-time job. “The passion, design, and potential were too great for me to ignore,” Gibson says. She started her company Aeren Waters last year and was invited to present her designs at London Fashion Week last fall.

We can label distractions as bad, or we can label them as getting more information about who we are today, says Adams.

 

 

FastCompany.com | March 27, 2018 | BY LISA RABASCA ROEPE 4 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : 4 Things Every #JobSeeker Worries About (And What To Do About Them)…Every #JobSearch is Different, but Most are Stressful for the same Reasons. Here’s How to Keep your Cool and Think Strategically No Matter What.

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Kicking off a job search? Or still slogging through one? Until you’ve got an offer in hand, you’ll probably be nursing a few worries and concerns. Dealing with uncertainty is one of the main challenges of any job search, and sometimes it can even derail one. Knowing how to cope with some of the most persistent sources of anxiety is crucial for making sure your job search goes well. 

Here’s how to handle these four common fears:

FEAR #1: YOU AREN’T SURE HOW TO POSITION YOURSELF

The most difficult person to market is yourself. Maybe you don’t understand what you bring to the table. Maybe you do, but you just aren’t certain how to formulate a compelling story about it. Or you just don’t like to brag. Whatever the reason is, you need to become an expert at crafting and articulating a career narrative that will interest employers.

Of course, that’s sometimes easier said than done. The best way to start this process is to find out from others what differentiates you. Get outside your own head. Ask a few coworkers what they think you’re good at. Ask some former colleagues for a coffee and get their opinion, too. Then use this information as the basis of your story–it’s more likely to be both compelling and truthful. But if you’re still stuck, consider hiring a recruiter or career coach to help you position yourself. They can often see your strengths in a light you can’t.

Related: These Methods Can Help You Finally Organize Your Job Search

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FEAR #2: YOUR RESUME WILL DISAPPEAR INTO A BLACK HOLE

Candidates like searching job sites because it’s easy to feel like they’re moving forward: You can sort by date posted and catch up on the latest openings that way. It’s after you apply to a listing, though, that the anxiety typically seeps in–with disappointment following in its wake when you don’t hear back.

The fact is that applying to openings on job sites does have value, but it’s only one part of a successful job search. If you only do that, you’re in for a long, demoralizing experience. Since many jobs are found by networking, one of the most productive ways to allay the fear that you’ll never hear back is by reconnecting with friends and work associates on social media. This might feel like a distraction from actually applying to jobs, but it isn’t.

Be just as specific and targeted in your outreach as you’d be about your fit for a role in a cover letter. Ask your network for referrals to people in similar roles to the ones you’re gunning for. Stick with it, and your path toward a new job will be speedier and shorter if you keep networking.

FEAR #3: TRYING TO CHANGE CAREERS MIGHT BE HOPELESS

After spending time in the job you have now, you may feel ready to move on but aren’t sure exactly how. Should you make a slight adjustment or a radical shift into a totally new industry? Try not to worry about how hard it might be to change careers dramatically. Your first step is to decide for sure what type of move you actually want, and to do that, ask yourself this simple question: Can you see yourself in your industry five years down the road?

Related: Changing Careers? Here’s Exactly What To Put On Your Resume

If the answer is a solid “yes,” stop entertaining thoughts about a dramatic career change–at least for right now. Focus your game plan on jumping to the next level at a better company in your industry. If the answer is “maybe,” that’s fine, too. You don’t have to know exactly what you want, but you still have to think just as strategically about your search: Take an inventory of what you like about your job and seek out positions–no matter the industry–where you can spend more time on the type of work you like. This approach will help you zero in on any “transferrable skills” that can help you make the leap into another field if it comes to that.

If you can’t see yourself in your current career path five years from now, it’s time to widen your lens even further. Consider going back to school or picking up some new training. These tips can help you handle the uncertainty plotting a new course.

FEAR #4: YOU’LL NEVER GET THE SALARY YOU WANT

Money is at the back of most folks’ heads even at the very start of a job search, and it can be a nagging source of concern. Your first step for dealing with it is to figure out what the market is paying for your current position, so you can use that as your base. (Yes, you’ll also want to determine market rates for the jobs you’re applying for, but that’s step two.) Check out the usual sites like PayScale and Glassdoor, and consult with a few recruiters in your field.

Related: How To Land Your Dream Job When You Feel “Overpriced” For It

Once you nail down a salary range for your current role–no matter what you’re actually earning right now–aim for any new offer to leave you with a 10–20% salary increase. Less than that just isn’t worth it unless the new job has really crucial benefits you desire. When it comes time to negotiate your salary, aim for the higher end of your target. This way you can make sure changing jobs is financially worthwhile.

But in the meantime, try not to worry too much about compensation. Once an employer has decided they want you enough to extend an offer, you’ll have more leverage than you did as an applicant.

 

 

FastCompany.com |March 20, 2018 |  BY DON RASKIN 4 MINUTE READ

 

Your #Career : Three Ways You’re Self-Sabotaging Your Next Career Move And How to Stop…Be Honest with Yourself, you Know you’re Ready for a #CareerChange, so Why Haven’t you Taken the Next Step? What’s Stopping you From Moving Forward?

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You can have clarity. You can have a 5-year plan plastered to your mirror. You can know exactly what you want to do and when. You can have a Rolodex of contacts and know the best people in your industry.

But, if you’re holding onto your fear of fill-in-the-blank, you’re probably self-sabotaging your career more than you realize.

Be honest with yourself, you know you’re ready for a career change, so why haven’t you taken the next step? What’s stopping you from moving forward?

It’s not that your resume isn’t as perfect as you’d like it to be, nor is it that you don’t know how to market yourself for your next position. Though those are plausible burdens, it’s much deeper than that.

Here are three subtle fears that are causing you to sabotage your next career move.

You Fear Getting Rejected

You might be struggling with this, if the question, “Why would they hire me?” has stopped you from applying for job openings that excites you, or if the thought of not getting a response back has stopped you from setting up informational interviews with people you’d love to meet.

Granted you might not want to shoot your shot at a position that requires 10 years of experience if you’re barely on the cusp of year two. But, the fear that you might not be good enough is normal. And, plaguing yourself with what I call the “Out of My League Syndrome,” simply because something is different or new, isn’t the most effective way to land the job of your dreams.

In a perfect world, we would ask whoever we want for whatever we want, and we would receive a, “Yes, absolutely,” every time. But, in our imperfect world, no one is free from rejection. It happens to all of us. It’s inevitable, so embrace it. Understand that it’s a necessary evil to achieve success and learn to see rejection as redirection, rather than a setback.

Rejection always leaves you with two options: you either let rejection defeat you or you regroup and keep going. But, don’t count yourself out before you try.

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You Fear Treading in Uncharted Waters

If you have a job that looks good on paper or if you’ve outgrown your current position but feel pretty comfortable in your career, the fear of uncertainty probably has kicked in more than you’ve noticed in your job hunt. Deep down, you don’t completely like the idea that you’re moving from familiar ground into unknown territory.

If you’ve had thoughts like, “What if I get a job and I don’t like it as much, or what if I don’t get paid as much?” Then, you’re a member of this club. When it comes to landing a new job, you’ve probably put in less effort than you’re willing to admit to yourself. Rather than dedicate intentional time to discovering the next best career move, you might coast through your job search, soothing yourself with excuses like, “I just don’t have enough time.”

Unfortunately for you, your lack of consistency and momentum is holding you back from making the career change you so desire. Your first step is to acknowledge that you feel this way. Then, accept that all you can do is put your best foot forward, and repeat, one step at a time. Do your research and talk to as many people as you can before jumping into your next position to ensure it’s the right fit for you.

If that’s not enough and if you want to get as much guidance as possible to safeguard you from making a wrong turn, get a career coach. Career coaching helps you fill the gap between where you are and where you want to be in your career, with a concrete step by step system to help get you there. Find a career coach that understands your needs and who can steer you in the best direction.

You Fear Failing

This is one I used to struggle with, and you can blame growing up in a Nigerian household for this one. Growing up, I was told failure is not an option and success is not a choice. Success is a requirement. So, as you can imagine, that created an insurmountable amount of pressure.

If you’ve ever felt like, “What if I do all this work to get a new job and I fail? What if it doesn’t work out?” Welcome to the party. That fear of failure, probably has you applying to 30 jobs a week, sending off your resume to all who cares to listen just so you can end up somewhere and deem yourself successful. But that isn’t the best approach. It’s impossible to show that you’re the best candidate for every position you desire when you aimlessly apply to that many jobs at once.

Be selective in your approach, and take your time. Don’t let the fear of failure rush you into something that won’t ultimately make you happy.

More importantly, don’t let the fear of failure keep you stagnant either. Failure, like rejection, is inevitable. At some point, you will fail. But, the faster you fail, the closer you get to success.

So, whenever you start to feel these subtle fears creep up your shoulder, ask yourself two questions: First, “Do I honestly like where I’m at now?” And, secondly, “What is the worst that can happen if I move forward in this direction?” If the worst that can happen is better than where you are right now, get out of your comfort zone and take the risk.

Adunola Adeshola coaches young professionals to get unstuck in their careers and land jobs they’ll love. She’s also the founder of employeeREDEFINED.com, a career site for millennials who secretly feel stuck in their careers.

 

Forbes.com | February 15, 2018 | Adunola Adeshola ,  WOMEN@FORBES

Your #Career : 5 Common Career Mistakes That Can Sabotage Your Future…Sometimes it’s Believing what Others say About You, and Sometimes it Believing the Story you Tell Yourself.

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If you’re not as far along as you’d like to be in your career, you’re not alone. Eighty-five percent of Americans hate their jobs, according to Gallup. A lot of people blame their boss, and perhaps he or she is partially responsible. But the problem might be staring at you in the mirror. Many of us are making mistakes that hold us back, says Skip Prichard, author of The Book of Mistakes: 9 Secrets for Creating a Successful Future.

“I’ve always wondered why some people succeed and some fail,” says Prichard, who has been CEO of several companies, most recently OCLC, a global nonprofit computer library service and research organization. “Some of the biggest regrets are not being more true to yourself.”

After studying leadership psychology and interviewing more than 1,000 people for his blog, Prichard found that the difference between success and failure is avoiding common pitfalls. Here are five that might be holding you back.

MISTAKE #1: WORKING ON SOMEONE ELSE’S DREAM

Maybe you studied engineering on the advice of your parents, or got into marketing because your boss thought you’d be good at it even though you were more interested in finance. “You had a dream but you killed it,” says Prichard. “When you go through with someone else’s dream, you won’t have the same amount of drive or energy to move forward in your career.”

Feeling drained is a signal from your subconscious that what you’re doing is not right for you. “When you are doing your passion, you feel energized every day,” he says. “You might also be doing the right thing in the wrong environment. Perhaps the organization or leadership style isn’t for you. Know yourself, and take the risk to go follow your dream career or company.”

 

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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MISTAKE #2: ALLOWING SOMEONE ELSE TO DEFINE YOUR VALUE

It costs about 11 cents to make a nickel, but we all accept that it’s worth just five because we labeled it a nickel, says Prichard. “How often do you let someone else define your value with statements like ‘You’re not good at sports.’ Or ‘Who do you think you are?’” he asks.

Successful people do not accept labels that are falsely put on them. “Be confident, master your strengths, and do not be defined by what others say about you,” says Prichard. “Why would you let someone else define your value?”

MISTAKE #3: ACCEPTING EXCUSES

This is a big one because it touches everything we do, says Prichard. “It’s about personal accountability,” he says. “When someone has a lot of excuses, they may be compelling, but not many people care. We’re all busy.”

In the corporate world, leaders take ownership. “They say, this is my fault, I tried something and it didn’t work, but I’m going to make it right,” says Prichard. “They don’t run; they take personal accountability. They don’t pretend nobody noticed, and say, ‘It’s not my fault; the product was the problem.’ People who make and accept excuses are not likely to get promoted.”

MISTAKE #4: BEING AROUND THE WRONG PEOPLE

You will be the same person in five years except for the books you read and the people you meet, motivational speaker Charlie “Tremendous” Jones once said. Who you surround yourself with are the voices you put in your head, says Prichard.

“What are you feeding your mind?” he asks. “People can’t ignore this one; you will become the people you hang around with. Where are they taking you?”

Pay attention to your colleagues. Are they working to improve themselves? Or are they blaming others around them? “Select your friends as deliberately as you select your wardrobe,” says Prichard.

MISTAKE #5: STAYING IN YOUR COMFORT ZONE

All growth happens at the boundaries of your comfort zone, says Prichard. For example, at the gym, the last few reps are uncomfortable, but that’s when you reach new levels.

“Prime time is in the evening,” he says. “Are you on the sofa eating chips and watching TV instead of using your prime time to change your future?”

When you learn a new skill, the first time can be nerve-racking. “Success is about consistently doing uncomfortable things,” says Prichard. “If you let your comfort zone fence you in, you’ll miss it. Work harder on yourself than you do on your job. You’ll increase your comfort zone and become more valuable so you have better earning potential.”

Successful people realize there’s not a fixed and limited amount of anything. “Success is an unlimited resource available to all of us,” says Prichard. “When you see someone else doing well, go from jealously to curiosity. You can duplicate it and succeed in a different way.”

 

FastCompany.com | March 12, 2018 | BY STEPHANIE VOZZA 3 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : How to Successfully #ChangeCareers ……Change is Never Easy, Particularly if you are Trying to Move into an Entirely New Field. But #Change isn’t Impossible. You can Successfully Transition into a #NewCareer, Granted you are Committed to It.

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Change is never easy, particularly if you are trying to move into an entirely new field. But change isn’t impossible. You can successfully transition into a new career, granted you are committed to it.

“It is possible to transition into a new job but it takes time and work,” says Catherine Palmiere, president of Adam Personnel, Inc. “Sometimes people make a jump and they haven’t done their due diligence.”

Change never happens overnight, and that is especially true of career change. You can’t wake up one day and say you want to trade your accounting job for a position as a fitness trainer and think it will happen quickly. Not only do you need to research the profession you are aspiring to but you have to see what type of education or certificates are needed.

9 Companies That Offer Incredible Professional Development Programs

But even doing that isn’t enough. You also have to look inward and make sure you have the skills and personality needed to make the move successfully. “Someone with great computer skills that’s in the financial service business that wants to move to the cloud platform will have a much easier transition then a financial services worker that wants to be a social worker,” says Palmiere.

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According to Mary Foley, Senior Sourcing Specialist for IT Talent at Progressive, people looking to switch careers should consider their passions and interests outside the office and think about ways to apply that to a new career. While you may know exactly what you want to do in your new career, for those that want to switch but aren’t sure into what it pays to take one of the many skill assessment tests available over the Web or rely on a self-assessment to figure out where your are strong and what areas you are weak in. After all, if you are not a people person than it’s doubtful that you will succeed in a customer servicerole.

“The key to remember when it comes to career transitions to make one very small step at a time,” says Alexandra Levit, business and workplace consultant and Career Advisory Board member. “Do a lot of investigation behind the scenes but don’t quit your day job.”

Ask a Resume Writer: How Do I Showcase Transferable Skills?

Levit says a great way to kick the tires and make contacts is to find a mentor or mentors in the field or job you want to work in. Those people are in the trenches day in and day out and will be a plethora of information about what it’s really like.  Finding mentors can be easily done thanks to the Internet. Levit says to use online tools like LinkedIn to zero-in on the people you would want to meet in the field you are eyeing.

Once you have a list of targets, ask them if they have time for a ten or 15-minute informational interview. If you get the interview, you’ll be able to pick their brain and forge a relationship with the person or people. That could translate into a job down the road if you are front and center in their mind when an opening comes up.

Can’t or won’t find a mentor, then consider volunteering. If you always dreamed of working in a museum but ended up in the back office of a financial firm then volunteer at one. According to Levit not many people think of volunteering not only as a way to learn about a job but to get their feet wet and adds skills to their resume.

Once you’ve amassed the necessary skills and have the network in place it’s time to start sending out resumes. While a career transition can be handled in different ways via the resume, career experts say you want to focus on your transferable skills and less about the chronological order of your previous positions.

One way to do that is to go with a functional resume that lists all your skills at the top and then at the bottom has your past jobs in chronological order. “Functional resumes are controversial because people will think you are trying to hide something,” says Levit. “As long as you show your career trajectory at some point the functional resume could cause them to take a second look instead of tossing it in the garbage.”

The last thing you want to do is randomly send out resumes and hope you will get a call back. Instead, Palmiere says you have brand yourself by reaching out to the decision makers.  That could mean sending a letter or email to the top person in the company you want to work for and bypassing the HR department altogether.

If you do decide to send a letter or email make sure to research the company and the person you are reaching out to. You want to show that you’ve done your homework and have real reasons to want to work there whether it’s because you believe in the company’s mission or the CEO’s philanthropic work has had such an impact on you.

 

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Your #Career : This Is How To #ChangeCareer Without Spiraling Into The Unknown…Visionary Designer Albert Lee has a Method he calls “Flooring the Downside” to help him Navigate the Uncertainty of making Big Changes.

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Our careers have a momentum to them that is self-perpetuating. But what happens when we take dramatically different paths? How do you do it without risking it all or starting from zero?

The ability to make these dramatic nonlinear moves is a defining characteristic of many careers of Fast Company‘s Most Creative People In Business, from Genevieve Bell (Most Creative 2009), an anthropologist in a room full of technologists, to Albert Lee (Most Creative 2014), an architect and designer in a room full of investors.

The career paths of these individuals can seem out of reach to most of us because when we read about them, we don’t hear the practical not-talked-about ways people deal with the fears of failing, losing security, and spiraling into the unknown when making nonlinear moves–until now.

Lee is a soft-spoken individual who has become a trusted behind-the-scenes adviser for some of the fastest growing startups in Silicon Valley. His nonlinear career has taken him from summers working at Alice Waters’s restaurant Chez Panisse to apprenticing as an architect at Frank Gehry’s Studio. Early in his career, a mentor told him to “always do the other thing in the room,” and he has taken that to heart.

When Lee reached a moment of stasis, he would shift. He left the architecture world to become an art director at a design agency, and from there, to business school, where he was the sole designer in a room full of executives. Lee’s actions seem to have a sense of gravity, but he wasn’t always like this. To feel comfortable going against the grain, he uses a technique he calls “flooring his downside.”

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“Flooring the downside” means writing a story that explains failing and returning to what you were doing before you even consider making the transition. These stories prevent you from imagining the bottomless failure that awaits if the transition doesn’t go smoothly.

There are three specific types of stories that you can craft that will not only put a “floor underneath your risk,” but will help propel you forward in your career, even if you return from a nonlinear transition within the first few months.

FIGURE OUT WHAT QUESTION YOU NEED TO ANSWER

Before you take a new path, ask yourself, What question you are trying to answer by taking this new path? In your story, explain how you were able to answer that question as a result of your nonlinear experience. How are those new answers going to help you do your old job in a better way? Answering and pursuing a question expresses a directionality to your career trajectory that people respect, envy, and see as a marker of success, regardless of now nonlinear it may be.

IMAGINE YOURSELF IN THE FUTURE LOOKING BACK

The learning story grounds your career in a continual pursuit instead of a series of endpoints that can be compared to each other. Imagine yourself in the future looking back on your experience—what has changed? What have you learned? People spend tens of thousands of dollars on formal educational opportunities and thus understand the value of being paid to learn will be easy to understand. Regrounding your story in terms of learning gives you more power when coming back to renegotiate in your old industry in the same way a person who gets a graduate degree returns to a promotion.

EMBRACE BEING THE OTHER

It takes a certain level of mastery in both fields to confidently embrace being the Other. If your nonlinear stint was too short, don’t fake it; instead, concentrate on telling the other types of stories above. As the Other in the room, you have the opportunity to either be a translator or a synthesizer of ideas.

A translator is responsible for sharing perspectives and views that are a given in one world in a way that is accessible to another, while a synthesizer’s primary goal is to combine perspectives in fresh ways informed by different bodies of knowledge. Being aware of which way of thinking is needed will help you find a unique voice you can confidently own.

Dev Aujla is the creator of 50waystogetajob.com and author of the upcoming book 50 Ways to Get a Job: An Unconventional Guide to Finding Work on Your Terms due out in April. He is the director of talent for Juxtapose, an early-stage venture fund based in New York City. 

 

FastCompany.com | January 4, 2018 | Dev Aujla

Your #Career : 5 Steps To Prep For Leaving Your Job To Start A New Business…According to a Survey from Deloitte, Two-Thirds of All Millennials Plan to Leave their Job by 2020 and 44% say they Would Leave their Employer in the Next 2 Years. If you Have Got the Itch to Leave your Job, You are Not Alone.

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After you’ve chosen a career path, it’s easy to feel like you’re locked into that decision for the rest of your life. Maybe your job isn’t fulfilling, isn’t providing you with sufficient opportunities to develop your leadership, or you just feel like there is nothing new there for you to learn.

Free- Door to Building

According to a survey from Deloitte, two-thirds of all millennials plan to leave their job by 2020 and 44% say they would leave their employer in the next 2 years.  If you have got the itch to leave your job, you are not alone.

The average American switches careers six times throughout the course of their life–meaning there’s a lot more room for second chances than you might think. You may know it’s possible to make a career change, but understanding how to take action in your own life is a different matter.

Meet Eric Finnigan, a professional copywriter and founder of Autopilot Email, an email marketing service agency that helps companies boost their revenues by $100k+ through automated emails. Today, Finnigan works a schedule on his own terms structured around projects he cares about. But just months ago, he was working a 9-5 for a corporate company that drained him.

 

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I spoke with Finnigan about how he was able to leave his former career and restore purpose to his work on this week’s episode of Unconventional Life, “How to Leave Your Corporate Job and Pursue Your Dreams.”

Fresh out of college, Finnigan found himself broke and in debt, with all his credit cards maxed out and nowhere to turn. “I had this moment where I was like holy cow I just went to college and in theory I should be set financially, what’s going on?” he says. “It was kind of this panic moment where I realized I had to make money.”

Like many new graduates in this position, Finnigan was eager to start paying down his debt and immediately got a job. Over the next seven years, he would dedicate nearly all of his energy to getting promotions and salary raises until his financial insecurity faded to a distant memory.

Step by step, Finnigan climbed the corporate ladder to the position of Vice President, managing a $36 billion portfolio for his investment strategist company. His salary was abundant and he occupied a luxury apartment in NYC… yet something was missing.

“I would sit at my desk and think, do I really want this? I had this moment of yeah, I had succeeded in what I wanted to do, but what I had been working towards it turned out wasn’t the thing that was actually fulfilling for me,” Finnigan reflects.

Upon that realization, Finnigan decided it was time to make a change.

He still depended on his job as a source of income, so he didn’t just quit on the spot. Instead, he began investing all of his free energy into his lifelong passion for writing, which he never pursued because he didn’t believe it could be profitable. Within several months of studying the art of copywriting, Finnigan felt confident he could monetize it and quit his corporate job.

Today, Finnigan has created a livelihood around copywriting and has become one of the most sought-after contractors in his industry, running six and seven figure campaigns for many multi-million dollar clients. But the doubt and uncertainty that accompany making a major career change were not lost upon him. Below, Finnigan shares how you can succeed in making a similar transition.

  1. Learn from others. Immerse yourself in the stories of others who have already made this transition and are thriving on the other side. Listen to podcasts and seek out news articles to encourage, motivate, and inspire you to do the same. You’ll begin to feel like it is possible for you, too, and you’ll benefit from learning from their mistakes and advice.
  2. Ask for help. Ditch the mindset that you need to figure it all out on your own. “For me it was a matter of pride,” Finnigan says. “Have humility–you can make it much faster with help.” Asking for help might look like reading books, enrolling in courses, or finding a mentor. Guidance and accountability are essential to your success.
  3. Hustle on the side. Use your current job as a safety net so you don’t put too much pressure on yourself to “figure it out,” which can actually be counterproductive. Be reasonable and give yourself time to develop your new skill until you feel confident that it will be able to provide for you financially. Be prepared to put in the hours both for your current job and your emerging passion. “I worked 4 to 5 hours a day in addition to my job,” Finnigan recalls.
  4. Understand success isn’t linear. Unlike working in a corporate job, success isn’t linear when working for yourself. “It’s not like plug away for a few months and get your first paying customer, then in another few months get your 5th paying customer,” Finnigan says. “It’s frustrating coming from the corporate world, where you work hard and get a bonus at the end of the year.” While you may struggle at first, don’t be discouraged. Keep at it and be mindful of how you measure success–fulfillment is equally as important as profit.
  5. Create your own urgency. “If there’s no urgency on your end, no one’s going to create it for you,” Finnigan says. Develop a timeline for your goals to keep yourself on track and be willing to let go of whatever may be holding you back.

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Forbes.com | August 25, 2016 | Jules Schroeder ,  CONTRIBUTOR