You may personally have memories of taking an assessment in high school and being told that you’d make a good funeral director, salesman, scientist, or any number of other professions for which you had no interest! Despite a similar negative experience with a career assessment — or no experience at all — you may be… [Read More]
For People Who Are Afraid To Leave Their Jobs (Although They Are Miserable)
The alarm rang at 6:00 am on Monday morning, and Tom Martin hit the snooze button. The knot in his stomach tightened as he envisioned heading to the office for yet another day in corporate agony. He sighed, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and willed himself to get moving. Sound familiar?… [Read More]
You resigned. You were given a counter offer. Now what?
Breaking up is hard to do. To gear up for the fateful day, the “dumper” usually plays the scenario over and over in his or her mind until the perfect break up line is found; a line that has the right balance of honesty and diplomacy. The dumper’s vision usually ends smoothly, without complications, and… [Read More]
A Jobseekers Guide to the Second Half of Life Part 3
Your Résumé and Job Search It’s quite possible you never had a résumé — or the one you do have might not be up to date. Career document standards and formats have changed significantly, and not adhering to these changes may raise red flags about your age. Does the content and format of your résumé… [Read More]
A Jobseekers Guide to the Second Half of Life Part 2
Discovering Your Ideal Career The most popular encore career fields are found in education, healthcare, and nonprofit organizations. A MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures New Face of Work Survey revealed that the desire to do work that enhances the well-being of others is widespread. “Fully half of all adults age 50 to 70 (and 58 percent of… [Read More]
A Jobseeker’s Guide to the Second Half of Life
If you are approaching (or have already reached) retirement age, and you’re not ready to disconnect from the workforce, you are not alone — thousands of professionals 55 and older are embarking on second-act careers. The phrase “encore career,” made popular by Marc Freeman in his book Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second… [Read More]
Quantifying Accomplishments
Accomplishments demonstrate your skills and experience. It’s one thing to claim you can do something — it’s another to prove you’ve done it. When collecting accomplishments for a job search, consider the key areas of competency required for success in the position you are seeking. What are the key components of your job? You should… [Read More]
How to Know When It’s Time to Make a Job or Career Change Part 5
Worksheet : Career Change Self-Assessment In the last of the 5 part series, below is a worksheet to use to help you decide if it’s time to update your résumé. Rate each of these internal and external factors on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “doesn’t not apply to me or doesn’t affect… [Read More]
How to Know When It’s Time to Make a Job or Career Change Part 3
Part 1 Part 2 Change Jobs, Or Change Careers? Do you want to change the company you work for, or change your career path entirely? Take a look back at the assessment you just completed. Ask yourself if making a change to a new company would fix the issue or issues you identified. Or are… [Read More]
How to Know When It’s Time to Make a Job or Career Change Part 2
What May Make You Want to Make a Change? External factors — that you have no control over — can also impact your decision to make a job or career change. These can include: • The company you work for was bought (or they bought another company). Both of these can impact your job as… [Read More]