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Your #Career : This Is How to Manage Your Career Like a CEO…The Best Way to Keep your Career Moving Forward on your Own Terms is to Be Self-Aware, Know your Limitations, and Don’t Be your Own Worst Enemy. Come to Think of It, those are Good Words to Live By.

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Remember why you groom your own career in the first place: so you’re never the victim of an incompetent boss or a dysfunctional company. Becoming incompetent yourself would be the ultimate irony. Don’t succumb to the Peter Principle.

 free- bus

One of the most visible signs of a failing business is a talent exodus. We’ve seen it at Yahoo, Twitter, HP, Blackberry and a host of other embattled companies. But attrition among top performers is not just a harbinger of pending disaster; it can also be an early sign of dysfunctional leadership.

Rising stars who really push the envelope, and their careers, are usually the first to notice that their herculean efforts are neither being rewarded nor benefitting the company as they should. Since they’re on a fast track to the top, they’re the first to jump ship.

The unfortunate result is that mediocre employees are left behind, accelerating the company’s deterioration and ultimate demise. I’ve seen it happen time and again in companies big and small, but after the first time, I learned my lesson.

I was once an up-and-comer myself — a promising young engineer at a technology giant that had become overly bureaucratic under a dysfunctional chairman and CEO duo that, left unchecked, would eventually have run the age-old company into the ground.

One day Hal, a friend and coworker, told me he was quitting. I was floored. Hal was one of the best, a real talent. I wasn’t as surprised that he was leaving as I was that the company was letting him go. When I asked him about it, Hal said they wouldn’t promote him fast enough, so he was going somewhere that would.

That hit me hard. Like Hal, I had been identified as a candidate for management. If the company’s bureaucratic HR processes were holding him back, they would hold me back too. That’s exactly what happened. The following year, I was out the door, vowing never to let incompetent bosses stand between me and the top.

Related: 10 Quick Changes That Help Your Resume Get Noticed

Jumping around from company to company was sort of frowned upon back-in-the-day, but I didn’t care. I made risky bets on high-flying startups and took flyers on high-growth tech companies. I never jumped the gun before the writing was on the wall, with one exception we’ll get to in a minute.

That methodology paid off big-time. Less than a decade after leaving that first company, I was the marketing VP at a mid-sized public company with an IPO under my belt and a bright future ahead of me. Thirteen years ago, I co-founded a Silicon Valley-based management consulting firm and that’s where I’ve been ever since.

Today, ruling your own destiny and making every opportunity count is the norm for career-minded individuals, as it should be. But there are some lessons I learned along the way that I’m sure will enhance your journey, as they did mine.

Think of every job as a business.

Jobs are like product businesses. When a product is hot, you want to maximize profit margins and return-on-investment. But before it goes south, you want to make sure you’ve got the next one ready in the pipeline. Think of companies you work for the same way. Before it was popular, I was always networking and interviewing.

 

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Be professional about it.

The most important asset you have is your reputation. Remember, it’s always in your and your company’s best interest to give it your all and do great work while you’re there. And be discrete. No boss ever had a clue that I was leaving until I was ready to go on good terms. And there was never a drop-off in performance, either.

Related: How to Fire Someone So They’ll Thank You For It

Don’t let mistakes get you down.

I once got antsy and left a sweet SVP position to be CEO of an ill-fated startup. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, but I left too soon and it cost me seven figures when the former company went public. I think my wife’s still a little PO’ed, but I made peace with it years ago. You’re going to make some bad calls; it comes with the territory. Learn from them and don’t make them twice.

Beware the Peter Principle.   

Remember why you groom your own career in the first place: so you’re never the victim of an incompetent boss or a dysfunctional company. Becoming incompetent yourself would be the ultimate irony. Don’t succumb to the Peter Principle.

The best way to keep your career moving forward on your own terms is to be self-aware, know your limitations, and don’t be your own worst enemy. Come to think of it, those are good words to live by.

 

Entrepreneur.com | August 31, 2016 | Steve Tobak – Author and Managing Partner, Invisor Consulting

Best of FSC Blog: #JobInterview – 11 Job Interview Tricks that are Hard to Master, But will Pay Off Forever..

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Okay, you’ve wowed your potential employer with your résumé and cover letter. Now, they actually want to talk to you — over the phone, via Skype, or in person.  You can rest assured, you’re definitely qualified for this job. Now, it’s up to you to seal the deal and ace the dreaded job interview.

free- women at meeting

Some people are naturals at selling themselves to hiring managers. Others aren’t. Either way, you’ve already put in a ton of effort, so you might as well take steps to rock your interview.

Here are 11 tricks that might be hard to master, but will take your interviewing experience to the next level:

Establish the right mindset beforehand

Get yourself hyped for the interview.

This can be pretty difficult for some people, especially if you’ve got a lot on the line. Try taking some deep breaths. A good trick for maintaining a sense of calm is visualizing your success and accepting that rejection’s a possibility, but not an inevitability.

If you’re nervous, as Steve Errey of “The Daily Muse” writes, it’s important not to assume your interviewer is there to be judgmental and mean. The hiring manager is not your opponent — odds are, they’re hoping to feel wowed.

“You were asked to come in because someone at the company wants to get to know you,” says Errey. “The hiring manager wants to hear more about the experiences he read about on paper, and I promise you no one is looking to see how much shaking you can do in those boots of yours.”

 

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Prepare some good questions

Job interviews are scary. By the end of the ordeal, you’re probably thinking that the last thing you want to do is drag on the experience with more questions.

However, asking good questions that demonstrate your knowledge and interest in the job is exactly what you have to do in order to demonstrate your interest and engagement.

Because it’s often impossible for some people to think up informed questions on the spot, write some down beforehand. Rehearse them a bit, if that makes you feel more comfortable.

Break the ice with some good conversation starters

First impressions are important, so you really want to get off on the right foot at your interview.

Still, job interviews are often present a somewhat intimidating conversational environment, so finding the right conversation starter can be pretty tricky. It can be hard to make a perfect first impression when you’re super nervous to begin with.

Rachel Gillett previously reported for Business Insider that the key is making the job interviewer feel like they have your undivided attention; good conversation starters include asking about the person’s weekend or referencing a post you liked from their organization’s blog or social media platforms.

Be open about your weaknesses

When the hiring manager asks about your greatest weakness, it can be tough to come up with a good answer. Whatever you do, don’t say that you work too hard. Kudos to the person who first thought that up, but it’s pretty much a cliché at this point.

Discussing a lesson garnered from finance author and speaker Ramit Sethi’s appearance on“The Tim Ferriss Show,” Richard Feloni of Business Insider broke down how exactly to answer this tricky question — identify your real biggest weakness and describe how you’ve corrected it.

Maintain good body language

Projecting confidence doesn’t come easy to everyone. Still, it’s a crucial part of selling yourself in an interview.

Slouching, fidgeting, and averting your eyes are all behaviors that might make you appear awkward — or, worse, deceptive.

It’s definitely hard to control, but if you’re prone to these habits, make a special effort to reign them in during your interview.

Do your homework when it comes to money

Money — it’s an awkward subject to begin with, which makes it especially easy to bungle in a job interview.

Doing your homework is key to avoiding salary-related awkwardness in your conversation with the hiring manager. Know your worth. Know the market. When wages come up, try to frame it so the interviewer throws out the first number — and remember to remain flexible and honest throughout the discussion.

Take it slow

To paraphrase the S.O.S. Band, take your time and do it right when it comes to job interviews.

Shana Lebowitz reported for Business Insider that this strategy especially benefits shy people, allowing them to show the interviewer that they’re confident enough to handle the pauses and engaged enough to carefully consider each answer. If you rush through your conversation, you risk sounding incoherent and nervous.

Stick to your thesis

If you’re anxious or speaking with an inexperienced interviewer, it can be easy to swerve off-track in your interview. You might end up babbling about your career highlights reel, when you really should be demonstrating the value you can bring to the organization.

Make sure to always keep the focus on what you can do for the organization. Treat your interview a bit like an essay. Everything you discuss should pertain to one thesis — why you’re a great fit for the job.

Keep things real about your motivation

This question is so simple that it’s subtly tricky to get right. You want your response to stand out, but you don’t want to sound corny or fake.

The key thing is to not overthink this one. The ideal response would be real, but upbeat. Ponder this one before your interview in order to prepare.

Ask about next steps

Especially for individuals who are particularly nervous or new to the hiring process, it can feel a bit daunting to ask about next steps.

Still, asking about the follow up process demonstrate to the hiring manager that you’re pragmatic and serious about the job.

Plus, as Natalie Walters previously reported for Business Insider, if your interviewer is enthusiastic with their response, that’s a sign that your interview went very well.

Send the perfect thank you email

Let’s say you rocked your interview. It’s easy to become so relieved that you forget one crucial step.

You don’t want to have the job interview-equivalent of a Simone Biles-esque vault, only to fall flat on your face during the landing.

This happens when you really click with the hiring manager, and then forget to send a thank you note. Seriously, something as simple as a thank you email shows that you care about the job — in some cases, this could make or break your prospects.

Send a thank you note that looks something like this within 24 hours of your job interview.

 

Businessinsider.com | August 24, 2016 | Jacquelyn Smith and Áine Cain

 

Your #Career : How To Tell If You’ll Fit Into A Company’s Culture Before You Take The Job…An Interview isn’t Always the Best Place to Learn What it’s Really Like to Work in a New Office, But There are Ways to Find Out.

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Jocelyn Greenky really hates fluorescent lights, so when she started a new job years ago, she showed up with a floor lamp a few weeks in and dragged it over to her desk.  “It did not go over well,” she says. That’s how Greenky discovered that every office has its own culture—and as a result, how sometimes even the smallest acts can look like a rebellion.

portrait of Young pretty business woman work on notebook computer in the bright modern office indoors

Now with more than 20 years of experience as an office culture and politics expert, Greenky says you should always understand a company’s norms and no-no’s before you accept a job there. “As the new employee, you have to adapt to the culture rather than the culture adapting to you,” she adds.

Previous research has shown that our coworkers and managers have a big impact on our productivity and job satisfaction. And workers surveyed by Glassdoor reportedthat company culture was more important than compensation and work-life balance.

So if you like chit-chat and a background hum, you probably won’t be happy in the tomb-silent office where you just interviewed. Or if you love coming up with new ideas and taking big risks, you may not like a place that doesn’t embrace change.

But how accurately can you pinpoint a company’s culture before you’ve actually worked there? Here’s what Greenky and other experts recommend asking and observing before you show up with your own lamp—or even take the job.

START READING

Bouvier Williams, PhD, president of Your Personal Brand Solution, says to read through the organization’s annual reports, find any articles about it in popular publications, and of course, scope out its own website—all before your first interview there.

“You’re trying to get the flavor of the organization,” Williams says. “Does it come across as bureaucratic? Is it an organization that really believes in and fosters innovation?” And, most important, “Does it line up with the things you believe?”

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NOTICE EVERYTHING

Greenky says that as soon as you step into a prospective office, you should start observing. What are people wearing? Are their desks messy? Do they have earbuds in or are they talking to each other? Is there an open floor plan? If people work in individual offices, do they keep their doors open?

Pay close attention to body language, too, Williams says. See whether people are smiling, if they seem engaged, and whether they look happy to be there. “Not everybody in the company can happen to be having a bad day at the same time,” he adds, so if you’re surrounded by frowns, that should be a red flag.

FIND THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

Asking about summer Fridays or dress code may turn off a hiring manager during the interview process. Even questions about expected work hours can be shaky ground. But Greenky says you can absolutely ask your would-be boss to define their office’s culture. “See what they have to say,” she adds. “If somebody says it’s very corporate, for example, that means they play by the rules—that it’s more formal.”

Williams also recommends asking some of these “subtle but revealing” questions as the interview progresses. For example: How are employees developed in the company? What happens when someone makes a mistake around here? How is risk-taking rewarded? How can people share their opinions about the work environment? What are some of the things that might get under your skin about working here? How does the organization deal with managers who manage poorly?

READ THE HANDBOOK

Yes, people really do read the employee handbook. No, it’s not weird to do it before you even have the job. If the hiring process is cruising forward and you’re seriously considering a position, Greenky suggests asking for a copy of the handbook. The rules and regulations inside can tell you a lot about a company’s culture—including how much it likes rules and regulations.

GET A GUIDE

Both Greenky and Williams say talking to a current or recent employee is essential. Comb your own networks first. If that doesn’t turn up a connection, Williams recommends using LinkedIn to find past employees. He says to let them know you’re interviewing at the company and ask if they have a few minutes to talk about the culture there. “Be prepared to ask some fairly targeted questions,” he adds. For example: Can you describe the office politics? Is there high turnover or constant churn?

Greenky suggests “tell me about your day there” as a good opener with current or former employees. She says it’s also a chance to ask all those questions you may not want to ask a potential boss about dress code, lunch breaks, expected hours—and maybe even lighting. That could shine a light on whether or not you’ve found your dream job, or if you should think twice before accepting their offer.

FastCompany.com | MOLLY PETRILLA  | 08.19.16 5:52 AM

Your #Career : How to Recover from a Bad Job Interview…If you’re Like most People, you’ve Left a Job Interview or Two with that Sinking Feeling in the Pit of your Stomach. You Just Knew you Didn’t Get the Job from the Way Things went During the Interview.

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If you have ever been in a situation where the interview turned into a runaway train, there are still some things you can do to recover. With some practice, you’ll be able to save your interview from going south.

Male hands holding pen in working environment

 Here are a few tips for how to salvage a job interview gone terribly wrong.

 

Problem: Your hands are shaking and you can’t stop sweating.

Solution: Take a few deep breaths

Nothing can ruin an interview faster than sweaty palms and a bad case of the shakes. One reason you may not be performing well during the interview is because you might be letting your nerves overwhelm you. Job interviews can be incredibly stressful, so it’s not surprising if you feel a bit anxious during your meeting. If you feel yourself getting anxious and jittery, take a few deep breaths so you can calm yourself down. It’s hard to stay focused and relaxed if you can barely catch your breath due to nerves. Once you breathe deeply, you’ll feel calmer and able to think clearly enough to answer the interviewer’s questions.

 

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Problem: You only catch half of the question because you’re planning what to say next.

Solution: Ask the interviewer to repeat the question and then try to stay present.

Don’t start to answer the question in your head before your interviewer is even finished asking her question. You’ll not only make yourself more nervous but also lose track of the conversation. Concentration is key during a job interview. It’s easy to focus so intently on how you will answer a question that you miss what is being said. Take time to relax and listen to what the interviewer is saying to you. The best way to save face is to say that you want to make sure you answer the question thoroughly, so you’d like her to repeat the question one more time. If the interviewer feels you weren’t listening, that will be a strike against you. Try your best to play it off and then stay present from then on. If you need help staying focused, repeat the question back to yourself (in your head, of course) before answering.

 

Problem: You bombed the job interview.

Solution: Send a follow-up note.

What if you did all of the mistakes mentioned above? (You were a nervous wreck, you rambled through most of your answers, and you didn’t catch half of the questions.) We’ll be honest with you: Your chances of getting the job are quite slim. However, don’t give up hope. You may come across an exceptionally forgiving hiring manager.

If you completely bombed the interview, your best bet is to send a follow-up note. Thank the interviewer for his or her time and then briefly answer the questions you had trouble with. Who knows, the interviewer may have a change of heart and take your updated answers into consideration. Following up shows not only that you’re interested in the job but also that you’re aware of and willing to work on your flaws. Just keep your fingers crossed and look for other jobs until you hear back.

Follow Sheiresa on Twitter and Facebook.

 

CheatSheet.com | August 18, 2016 | 

Your #Career : That 9-to-5 Job You Hate Isn’t As Safe As You Think…Most People haven’t Jumped into the Crazy, Be-Your-Own-Boss World of Entrepreneurship Because they’re Tied to an Anchor: the Job they Think is Safe and Steady.

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That same “safe” day job keeps people’s side hustles in the category of fun projects that never reach their full potential. In reality, it’s probably a good thing. Diving right into the deep end of the work-for-yourself pool isn’t right for everyone.

business woman with her staff, people group in background at modern bright office indoors

Realize you’re already taking risks.

Being your own boss is risky, and there are no guarantees. Some people can’t handle the stressors that go with the territory. But as scary and risky as it is to launch your own business, odds are you’re taking bigger risks right now by counting on your 9-to-5. Your supposedly steady gig can change or end at any time, likely for any number of reasons. If you don’t have a side project to earn money and ramp up into full-time work, the anxiety around starting your own company pales in comparison to what you’ll feel if a pink slip comes your way.

Related: How to Improve Your Gut Instincts

 

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Make time to build something that really matters.

Many people want to do more than their day job. They want to launch an app, start doing some consulting work, build a tech startup or take on an entirely new challenge. When I talk to people about starting a side business, the biggest objection I hear is they don’t have time to dedicate to it right now.

Not enough time? They don’t have one or two hours a week? Everybody has a spare hour a week. But some people rather would be all or nothing, apparently. Here’s some breaking news: A day contains 24 hours for everyone. Successful people, millionaires and CEOs don’t get extra time in their days. They just are far better at prioritizing the time they have.

Related: How to Wake Up at 4 a.m. and Be Successful

Invest in yourself and your future.

Let’s assume you buy into the idea you can spare an hour or two a week to work on your dream project. What’s the downside to dedicating that time? Honestly, not much. Yes, you’ll be down a couple of hours each week. But you’ll gain knowledge and experience to put you a whole new level above those around you.

Invest some time and money into the possibility of the upside. It can be nothing short of life-altering. What if your app takes off and starts making you serious money? Or your startup gets thousands of users a week? Imagine waking up one day with the unbelievable freedom to do whatever you want or being the boss everyone looks up to. An app on the side can change your life.

Related: 7 Habits of Highly Effective Entrepreneurs

The potential upside is the reason you need to do more than just go to work every day at some job you hate — while someone else gets rich. Figure out how you want to live the rest of your life and do whatever it takes to get there. The over-inflated risk of reallocating a few bucks and one or two hours a week is no excuse to waste away with no backup plan for the worst-case scenario.

Entrepreneur.com | August 17, 2016 | Steve Eakin

Your #Career : 4 Warning Signs Of The Next Recession—And How To Tell If Your Job Is Safe…Recessions are Cyclical, and There are some Foreboding Signs to Watch. Now’s the Time to Hash Out How Much you’re Worth to your Employer.

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The U.S. economy may have added more jobs last month than experts had predicted, but while that’s something to cheer, it isn’t cause for getting too cozy. A recent J.P. Morgan economic model, based on a broader range of indicators, puts the chances of a recession occurring within the next 12 months at roughly one in three.

question mark signs painted on a asphalt road surface

Recessions, after all, are cyclical. So the question is less whether we’re in for another one than when. I’m not an economist, but my many years in the staffing industry have taught me that there are some warning signs. Here are four potential pressures to pay attention to.

1. AN AGING WORKFORCE COULD SLOW THE ECONOMY

A report published last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research(NBER) claims that, based on historical trends, a 10% increase in the number of Americans over 60 slows per capita GDP growth by around 5.5%. In the last 20 years, census data shows that the U.S.’s older population grew by 16.8%, putting us on track for slower growth over the next two decades. (Just last week the New York Times noted that slower economic growth seems to have become the new normal across the developed world.)

“This dramatic shift in the age structure of the U.S. population,” the NBER study’s authors write, “has the potential to negatively impact the performance of the economy as well as the sustainability of government entitlement programs, and could result in a decline in consumption for the population as a whole.”

 

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2. THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE IS STILL AT 10%

It’s usually fluctuations in the unemployment rate that get the most press, but theunderemployment rate—which describes those working part-time but who want full-time work, plus people who’ve stopped searching but still want a job—remains at 10%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That suggests there’s a significant chunk of recent college grads and experienced professionals out there who are still finding it tough to land jobs that meet their skill levels.

3. THE TEMPORARY JOB MARKET IS LEVELING OFF

Temporary staffing companies are typically the first to see growth after a recession. So when hiring rates in that market start to slow down—or, as happened this June, when hires actually decline—it can be a sign of a downshift in the economy. The decrease in the use of temporary workers is usually related to cost-cutting measures, since these are more expendable workers than full-time employees for companies that need to tighten their belts.

4. AUTOMATION IS NO LONGER A DISTANT POSSIBILITY—IT’S HERE

Surely by now you’ve heard the premonitions about robots taking your job—and you may not know quite what to make of them. But according to a 2013 University of Oxford study, nearly half of current U.S. workers are at risk of being put out of work by automation within the next two decades. It’s true that forecasts like these can sound overblown or just too distant to do anything about. Yet nearer-term estimates suggest they’re worth thinking about now. Some experts say 5 million jobs are due to be automated within just the next five years. And it’s conceivable that rising layoffs across multiple roles and sectors, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, could contribute to a recession sooner than we may imagine.

THREE QUESTIONS TO FIGURE OUT WHETHER YOUR JOB’S AT RISK

So what can you do about it? It’s normal to feel anxious or even helpless in the face of economic forces you can’t personally control. But there are a few things you can do right now to weather the next downturn, whenever it arrives.

It starts by getting a handle on how competitive you might be in a job market that’s suddenly a lot tighter than it is today. To help you do that, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Does your job tie directly to how the company makes money?
In order to keep you on the payroll in hard times, your employer will need to validate that you either save or make the company enough money to justify your cost. If you can’t explain how your work impacts profitability, you could be deemed expendable.

So spend some time quantifying your accomplishments, and tie some facts and figures to what you do. The average employee usually costs a company 130% to 140% of their salary. So if you make $60,000 a year, the real cost to your employer is $78,000 to $84,000 year. It’s much easier for an HR rep to do that math—factoring in benefits and other expenses—than it is for the average employee to estimate their own value to their company. But you can still get a rough sense of it.

Keep track of the number of customers your work supports (directly or indirectly) and estimate how much revenue they generate for the company. What would happen if your job function went away? Would the ability to deliver to customers properly be severely impacted—by how much, and by which measures? Create a list identifying what functions would go unfulfilled, needs unserved, and deadlines missed in your absence, then work backward from there to estimate the potential impact on revenue. Even rough, back-of-the-envelope arithmetic like this can be useful to you.

2. Do you fall in a knowledge sweet spot for your skill or industry?
When companies go through a restructuring, their goal is to reduce the cost of the workforce while hanging onto the highest level of knowledge and skills that they can. This usually results in layoffs of the overpaid and the inexperienced.

Do your homework on open platforms like Glassdoor, PayScale, and Salary.com to find out where you fall in years of experience and pay grade for your role. If your salary is a lot higher than average, you could be eliminated in order to save money. If you’re paid a lot lower, it’s possible that your skills aren’t valued enough by your employer and your job could be outsourced or divvied up among temporary or freelance workers.

If you think you might be overpaid, now is the time to bring your expertise up to par. Identify your specialty, then invest in some coursework to help you become even more of a subject-matter or skill expert—just make sure your area of specialization is actually in demand. If you’re on the lower end of the pay scale, you should do the same thing. The rule is simple: The more you know and the more you can do, the more valuable you’ll be to an employer that needs to cut costs.

3. How strong are your relationships at work—with your managers as well as your peers?
Layoffs create a lot of uncertainty and feelings of guilt for those who survive the cuts. Employers will try to keep those employees they feel have a positive mind-set and those they’re most comfortable working with. The idea is that those who remain can rally together and keep their spirits up.

So your relationships across the organization matter. Reach out to managers and coworkers to see how you can help take tasks off their plates or make their jobs even a little easier. When you alleviate pain or solve a problem, you’re appreciated. Your ability to step up and help others feel better about their own jobs will be remembered when the business takes a hit and it’s time to review the headcount.

Today, every job is temporary, and a trait that could most determine your employability over the next decade is your ability to learn. If you aren’t growing and developing your skills according to market demands, the risks to your career may quietly pile up. That would be true even if you never had to worry about another recession ever again.

J.T. O’Donnell is the CEO of CAREEREALISM, a site for “job shoppers.” Her company hosts the new web video series, The Job Shop, which each month showcases the employer brands of companies to more than 1 million professionals seeking new opportunities. Follow her on Twitter at @jtodonnell.

J.T. O’DONNELL 08.09.16 5:00 AM |  FastCompany.com

 

Your #Career : 7 Jobs Paying $100k/Year That You’ve Probably Never Heard Of…As Jobs have Become Scarcer and Harder to Find, People are Getting More and More Creative in their Career Pursuits.

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Everyone’s trying to figure out how to make a living. Often, that means working awful, low-paying jobs (or two, or three) in order to put a roof over your head, and food on the table. But jobs come in all shapes and sizes, and if you’re willing to do the gross, the difficult, or the downright stupefying, there are high paying jobs out there, ripe for the picking.

costanza-golf-ball-768x580

As jobs have become scarcer and harder to find, people are getting more and more creative in their career pursuits. That means jobs are being created where none or few existed before, and many people are eschewing traditional employment arrangements to make a career freelancing or starting their own small businesses. Thesecan be high paying jobs in their own right, but there are still ways people are making upward of six figures doing things that very few people realize were even out there.

Unusual, but high paying jobs

As for those strange, unorthodox jobs, there are plenty out there. You just need to know where to look, and perhaps to be willing to do some things that other people aren’t. Perhaps you’d be willing to get some close, personal contact with lonely people? Or put your life on the line as a human bomb detector? Hell, you can even make a decent living diving in and out of ponds on golf courses. There are a lot of opportunities out there if you know where to look.

Here are a handful of high paying jobs that you may not have even realized existed.

1. Professional snugglers

Happy couple snuggling on a bed

Happy couple snuggling on a bed | Source: iStock

Willing to sell your body, but not willing to go for all-out prostitution? Well, you can get into the professional snuggling game and pull a pretty good salary. Of course, there’s no guarantee you’ll make six-figures, but there are apparently an awful lot of lonely people out there who will shell out big bucks for a little human contact. As far as high paying jobs go, it can get a lot more difficult.

 

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2. Personal shopper

A personal shopper at work

 personal shopper at work | Source: iStock

Perhaps you’ve heard of personal shoppers, but in all likelihood, you probably haven’t spent any time actually considering hiring one. But it’s an actual profession, and some personal shoppers can pull in more than $100,000 annually from their clients. Essentially, you’re paid to shop — tracking down and finding anything and everything your client needs, so they don’t have to.

3. Hand model

Hands on display at a Hairdressing Exhibition held at Olympia, London

Hands on display at a Hairdressing Exhibition held at Olympia, London | Fox Photos/Getty Images

George Costanza had “exquisite hands,” and if you yourself have some exquisite body part, you can put them to use as a model. The world needs body part models, in the same way it needs bikini models. Wrist watches and shoes don’t sell themselves, after all. In fashion hot spots like London, New York, and Los Angeles, you can make a decent living if you’ve got the parts.

4. Golf ball retrieval

Couple preparing for another round of golf

Couple preparing for another round of golf | Source: iStock

Golf is expensive, and running a golf course isn’t cheap either. So, how do you get all those golf balls back from the driving range and fairways that end up in the water? You’ve got to pay someone to go after them, and if you’re up to do the job, you can actually make a very good living. Check with your local course to inquire about their needs for ball retrievers.

5. Bomb detector

Metro Transit Police Special Response Team member patrols the Metro Center station with Sabre, an explosives detection dog

Metro Transit Police Special Response Team member patrols the Metro Center station with Sabre, an explosives detection dog | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Someone has to sniff out potential threats in public places or conflict zones — like bombs. And if you’re willing to do it, you can make upwards of six-figures. If you’re serious about becoming a bomb detection specialist, you can look at opportunities with local police departments (typically in bigger cities), the military, and government agencies like the FBI.

6. Ufologist

Amateur ufologists point out a UFO's flight path

Amateur ufologists point out a UFO’s flight path | Hector Mata/AFP/Getty Images

Nobody’s going to pay you to go out and stare at the sky, looking for flying saucers. But if you can manage to make a serious career in other areas — engineering, aerospace technologies, astrophysics, etc. — people may start listening to your theories, and you will be able to command speaking fees, or sell some books. There are famous scientists out there who have done it, and have become some of the world’s foremost ufologists.

7. Adventurer

Indiana Jones | Paramount

Indiana Jones | Source: Paramount

Want to be a real-life adventurer, in the vein of Indiana Jones? People manage to turn their passions for exploration and archaeology into careers, many earning quite a bit of money. A common way to become a professional adventurer is to start leading expeditions, or work as an academic with access to grant money to get out and explore the world. It’s not easy, but people do it.

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CheatSheet.com | July 23, 2016 | Sam Becker

Your #Career : The Perfect Career? Why There’s No Such Thing as a Dream Job…Holding on to the Idea that You Will One Day Find your Dream Job is a Quick Way to Set yourself Up for Disappointment. You’ll Never be Happy if you Continue to Believe this. Instead, you’ll be Tired, Frustrated, & Bitter.

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After graduating from college, you may have had high hopes of finding the perfect job. You’ve probably heard friends and acquaintances brag about how dreamy their jobs were and how they can’t believe they’re getting paid to do what they do. You wanted what they had, so you embarked on a search for your own perfect job.

Free- Men in Socks

However, your hopes were quickly dashed after working at a series of crappy jobs and dealing with one too many horrible bosses. A job may seem perfect in the beginning, but that feeling usually doesn’t last long. Here’s why there’s no such thing as a dream job.

Your job satisfaction is up to you

A job is what you make it. It can be a truly miserable experience, it can be just OK, or it can eventually turn into a dream job. It’s all about your attitude. You can make small changes to make your job as close to a dream job as possible, but it will take some effort.

Career expert Allison Chesteron says we are each authors of our careers. It’s up to you to carve out a satisfying career path. She had this to say on her blog:

A “dream job” sounds like a fantasy. It belies the true messiness, the yearning to wander, the serendipitous nature of what it means to author a career. The term seeks to tie all the frayed ends up in a perfect little bow, failing to acknowledge what it means to take your future into your own hands and create it from scratch. It’s a fatuous term that doesn’t belong in the lexicon of career discovery and job search. It’s a fallacy. Don’t let it fool you.

 

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All jobs have flaws

There are no perfect jobs because there are no perfect people. You’ll encounter people from time to time who will make your workday miserable. They may even make you question your chosen field. You aren’t perfect either. Your feelings about your work will likely change from day to day and from week to week. These feelings can (and often do) color the way you view your job.

Dr. Alex Lickerman, Psychology Today contributor and founder and CEO of ImagineMD, said our imperfection is the reason why our jobs will never be ideal. “The real reason no job can ever be perfect is because we won’t ever be perfect,” Lickerman said. “We’ll always have a constantly shifting life condition that makes today seem awful even though yesterday we felt great doing the exact same thing; we’ll always keep making new mistakes; we’ll always on occasion fail in a big way; and we’ll never be able avoid having others dislike our work.”

There will always be something wrong no matter where you work. So if you’re job hopping in search of the perfect job, you’ll never find it. Once you let go of the idea that there is a perfect job out there, you’ll be able to find happiness at work or at least be somewhat satisfied.

You’re setting yourself up for disappointment

Holding on to the idea that you will one day find your dream job is a quick way to set yourself up for disappointment. You’ll never be happy if you continue to believe this. Instead, you’ll be tired, frustrated, and bitter. And these feelings will eventually become evident when you go on job interviews, further diminishing your chances of finding the right job.

You’ll miss out on opportunities

Putting your happiness on hold until you find the perfect job will also cause you to become overly focused on the future. Consequently, you could miss out on good opportunities right now. Maria Tomaino, job search strategist and associate director of alumni career development at Florida International University, said focusing too much time and energy on the future is almost as bad as living in the past. It’s just as important to focus on your current moves.

There’s no such thing as a dream job. The mentality of ‘if I was just doing ___, then I’ll be happy’ is not only untrue, but dangerous thinking. Why? Because it’s a hypothetical. It lives in the future. It’s not reality. That’s a lot of pressure that you are putting on yourself. That’s a lot of power you are putting into a job. It’s precarious thinking; always looking to the future and not being in the present. It puts our blinders up: To think the only path is that “dream job” path and makes us miss other opportunities that come our way.

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CheatSheet.com | July 20, 2016 | 

 

Your #Career : 4 Ways To Get More Meaning And Value From Your Career Starting Today…The Ingredient that’s Absent from So many Thousands of People’s Careers is ‘Meaning’ – the Feeling & Heartfelt Sense that what They are Doing has a Strong Purpose, a Positive Impact in the World, & Offers Something to People that Will Make a Difference, & have Lasting Value.

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I hear from scores of professionals each week with every complaint you can imagine about their jobs, work-life challenges, and their unfulfilling careers. Surprisingly, there is one ingredient these careers are missing that causes the most long-term pain and concern (excluding toxicity, abuse and mistreatment).

Free- Women walking on Narrow Bridge

The ingredient that’s absent from so many thousands of people’s careers is meaning – the feeling and heartfelt sense that what they are doing has a strong purpose, a positive impact in the world, and offers something to people that will make a difference, and have lasting value.

Most professionals believe that they have to chuck their entire careers and start over, in order to find more meaning in their work. They often fantasize about doing something creative or altruistic (like start a non-profit, join the Peace Corps, work on a communal farm, write a book, start a bed and breakfast, or move to another country entirely) to bring more meaning into their work.  But they are often mistaken. You don’t have to uproot your entire life and career to create more meaning and value. You can do it literally starting today, wherever you are.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say if you are thinking of running as far away as possible from your current career, to something radically different in order to create more meaning, you should stop in your tracks and do some powerful inner and outer work before you take the next step.

Here are four critical steps to creating more meaning in your work right now:

Dimensionalize “meaning” for you

Each and every one of us is different in terms of what we care about.  What matters to us deeply, and what brings us a sense of being valuable and helpful in the world, is shaped by many influences, including:

– your childhood

– your ancestry

– your cultural training

– the people you care for and respect

– the problems in the world that hurt your heart

– the traumas you’ve experienced and the triumphs in your life

– your special and amazing talents and gifts that come easily to you

– the way in which you operate in the world

– your personality (including extroversion or  introversion, positive mindset, action style, etc.)

… and much more.

You can’t create more meaning in your life and work if you don’t understand yourself intimately or know what matters to you personally, at a very deep level.

I’m always surprised when professionals can’t identify what matters to them, or what they’re great at. Often, this lack of self-awareness points to a significant internal block– that they were somehow suppressed in childhood, and/or punished for thinking for themselves. Overly-protective, critical or narcissist parents are highly threatened by children who try to act and think independently. And it can go very badly for the child or young adult who wants to strike out on his/her own.

If you’re blocked internally and can’t get to the heart of what you care about and what makes you you, then the way you were raised might have had a strong hand in your inability to understand yourself and what matters to you most. (Read more on how being raised by a narcissist alters our ability to think for ourselves).

 

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Don’t wait for meaning to fall in your lap – seize it

Step 2 in this process involves expanding your own accountability. It’s critical to realize that whatever you want in life won’t just fall in your lap – you have to go out and proactively get it. That takes clarity, confidence, courage and connection, and those four elements don’t just happen to us. We have to take the time to build our internal strength, and expand our repertoire of external behaviors in a way that will allow us to create and attract what we want.

So, to build more meaning in your work today, first identify the shortest avenue to doing more meaningful work, in your current situation.  Ask to join a new task force at work, start a new project, volunteer to be part of a team that is doing something you care about, research a new direction for the organization that you could oversee.  It’s easier than you think. Talk to your manager about what you’d like to get involved with, and get his/her support to pursue a new direction within your role that would excite you and offer something of value to the organization.

If you believe that’s not possible within your role, then start interviewing outside and networking expansively. Identify clearly what you’re looking to be a part of, and talk to anyone and everyone you can find who might be helpful. Get more clarity on exactly what you could be doing differently that would feel meaningful and purposeful to you, and start doing it.

As an example, I’m a trained coach and marriage and family therapist, and I’ve always had a therapeutic lens to my work. But this year, I decided to add a new healing dimension to my coaching, and am making strides to do that. It’s truly not hard, once you realize what you want, and muster the courage to go out and find new ways to bring more meaning into your daily life.

Ask for higher-level help – find mentors and sponsors at a higher level of thinking and operating

What keeps the majority of unhappy professionals stuck for years is that they’re trying to solve their problem on the level of consciousness that created it, and that’s impossible. You have to ask for help, but the “right” kind of help.  We hear constantly about the need and value of finding mentors and sponsors to support us, and this is not an empty cliché. It’s vitally important that you get help from people who are demonstrating a higher level of thinking and behavior than you’re currently accessing.

To find powerful mentors, don’t ask a stranger.  Put yourself directly into the circle (either in person or online) where these people are interacting and connecting, and make yourself valuable to them there.  Don’t reach out with your hand out – but connect from the heart, and find authentic, generous ways in which you can support their work and demonstrate your value to them. (Here’s more on how to find a wonderful mentor who will open amazing doors for you.)

Finally, stop procrastinating and making excuses, and start doing and being

In the past four years, I’ve witnessed a phenomenon that blows my mind around fatal procrastination. Here’s one example – I run online career courses and when they’re promoted, there are deadlines for people to enroll.  Each time I promote a course, a good percentage enroll within the last 5-10 minutes of the deadline. Five minutes. And still others write me days after the deadline, apologizing for their delay (with all sorts of excuses), asking me to extend the deadline. Then half of those people don’t end up pulling the trigger.

Procrastination is a fatal behavior, because you’re continually killing off important opportunities to grow and become who you want to be. Yes, it’s scary and intimidating to make change and stretch. That’s the human condition. But only when you can act in the face of your fears and insecurity can you ever build a life and career that is full of meaning for you.  Why? Because pursuing what is meaningful to you is a heart- and spirit-centered endeavor, and when our hearts and spirits are involved, there’s a lot at risk and we’re frightened of blowing it.  But those who have built great meaning in their life found a way to push through the deep fears and resistance, and pulled themselves out of their comfort zones.  They finally did something bold. But bold doesn’t have to mean throwing your entire life and career out. Bold can be one small but significant step.

In the end, if you continue to resist becoming more accountable — and taking concrete action — to create more meaning in your life, then you’ll persist in pushing away any chance of having it.

 

Forbes.com | July 18, 2016 | Kathy Caprino

 

 

Your #Career : Unemployed? Use This Trick to Deal with a Tough Job Search…Welcome to the Job Search Doldrums. The Longer you’re Out of Work, the Harder it is to Stay Positive & Keep your Motivation Up.

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Being unemployed is a drag. Tales of “fun employment” aside, life after a job loss – especially one that comes without any warning – is often rough both financially and emotionally. In the days after you’re let go, you’re likely busy updating your resume, adding contacts on LinkedIn, and sending out cover letters. But after an initial spurt of activity, you may get frustrated if your job search efforts don’t seem to be yielding results.

If your résumé is hard to read, no one will.

After a few weeks of unemployment, your resolution to meet up with your old co-workers for coffee turns into a commitment to keeping up with the Kardashians. Your goal of applying for two or three jobs per day suddenly seems too ambitious – now you’re barely applying to two or three jobs per week. And you can’t remember the last time you put on real pants (no, pajamas don’t count) and left the house.

Welcome to the job search doldrums. The longer you’re out of work, the harder it is to stay positive and keep your motivation up. The unemployed are more likely to report being treated for depression than people with full-time jobs, a 2013 Gallup survey found, with the rate of depression increasing the longer someone has been out of a job. Those who’d been unemployed for half a year or more also reported being less happy and were more likely to be socially isolated than people who had jobs or hadn’t been out of work for months.

“Using cognitive behavioral skills, people can overcome some of the negative thinking that may be holding them back and making it less likely to succeed in their job search,” Strunk said.

It’s not clear whether unemployment triggers depression or other psychological problems, or if “unhappy or less positive job seekers are less likely to be able to get jobs in the first place,” according to Gallup. In either case, job seekers who are struggling to keep their spirits up need a way to turn things around. Now, researchers at Ohio State University have pinpointed specific skills that might help depressed job seekers find work.

Unemployed people who used skills taught as part of cognitive behavioral (CB) therapy for depression were more likely to find a new job, according to the study, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

“Searching for a job is difficult in any circumstance, but it may be even more difficult for people who are depressed,” Daniel Strunk, an associate professor of psychology at Ohio State and a co-author of the study, said in a statement. “But we found that there are specific skills that can help not only manage the symptoms of depression but also make it more likely that a person will receive a job offer.”

Seventy-five unemployed people participated in the study. Each took two surveys, three months apart, completing a variety of questionnaires designed to measure symptoms of depression and other psychological variables, like brooding and a “negative cognitive style.” They were also asked how often they used cognitive behavioral skills, like rethinking negative thoughts or breaking up overwhelming tasks into smaller chunks.

The more a person relied on cognitive behavioral skills, the greater the likelihood of their depressive symptoms improving in the months between the two surveys. The unemployed people who used CB skills were also more likely to have received a job offer in the intervening months than those who didn’t draw on those coping techniques.

 

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“The people who got jobs in our study were more likely to be putting into practice the skills that we try to teach people in cognitive therapy,” Strunk said. The study didn’t ask whether people had learned their coping skills in therapy or not, but Strunk said most likely came by those skills without additional help or guidance.

“Some people just naturally catch themselves when they have negative thoughts and refocus on the positive and use other CB skills,” he said. “These are the people who were more likely to find a job.”

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) teaches you how to overcome negative thinking so you can respond more effectively to life’s challenges and stressors. While it’s frequently part of the treatment for conditions like PTSD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression, the techniques practiced during CBT can “help anyone learn how to better manage stressful life situations,” according to the Mayo Clinic.

In the case of the unemployed, relying on CB skills may make it easier to deal with common job search frustrations like hearing, “Thanks, but no thanks,” from a prospective employer. “Rejection is so much a part of the process of job seeking. Using cognitive behavioral skills are an important way one can deal with that,” Strunk said.

The researchers want to conduct more research into the link between CB skills, depression, and job search behaviors. For now, the study results suggest that job seekers, especially those who are depressed, may benefit from either drawing on their natural coping skills or working with a therapist who can help them learn new strategies to manage the stress of being unemployed and find a new job.

“Using cognitive behavioral skills, people can overcome some of the negative thinking that may be holding them back and making it less likely to succeed in their job search,” Strunk said.

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CheatSheet.com | July 7, 2016 | Megan Elliott