How to Change Careers

Before deciding if a career (and not a job) change is best for your at this time, consider the following:

Review what you most dislike about your current career. Make sure that the things you most dislike are not your boss' personality, etc. Make sure that your reasons for wanting the career change are sound and not colored by emotional issues. This may not be easy; is it the career or just some aspect of the job that needs to change? Do you want/need more salary? Changing careers may mean starting all over again. Do a cost/benefits analysis. Evaluate your costs for training/education against the anticipated starting salary in the new career. How long will it take you to see a positive return?

Visualize your "perfect' job. For whom are you working? What kind of a boss do you have? What are you doing? Where are you doing it? When are you doing it...time of day? Why are you doing it? What sense of value do you get? This comes from your work values. Make sure that your work values match those of the considered career. If they do not, and you cannot compromise on at least some, then the considered new careers may not be for you. FOCUS- get crystal clear about your core work values...Would you love this new career so much that you can happily put up with all the "stuff" that comes with it?

Make an action plan. Be realistic. This is WORK!

What are the skills needs in the new career? Do you have at least some of them? Remember that once you begin your new career it will be a shock, and having at least some transferable skills will help.

Research! Target a few people whose careers you admire and interview them. How did they get to where you think you want to be? Volunteer. Can you run "parallel" careers for at least a while? It may take several years until you are established. Look at this as a series of steps.

Do not change careers solely because of financial considerations. Do not do so because of pressure from others. Can you take your present career and "sculpt" it to make it more palatable? If so, it might not be worth it to change careers at this time.

CareerXroads "Sources of Hire" Report/ How Important is Networking in Job Search?

Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler's recently published report from www.careerxroads.com dated March, 2011 contains some very interesting data concerning where new hiring came from in 2010. Not surprising is the fact that nationally, 27.5% of all hires come from Referrals in 2010. This was the number one source of external hires. 24.9% came from Job Boards and 18.8% came from Career Sites. Career Fairs produced only 1.8% of external hires. 50.3% of all vacancies were filled internally. Our Metro area shows some similarities and differences, including the fact that far more of new hirers in this region came through Employee Referral than nationally. There is no question of the importance of networking as a significant source of job leads. Remember that networking, either online or in person, does not happen overnight. Networks must be cared for.

Harvard Study Suggests that Bachelor Degrees Are Not for Everyone

Harvard University recently published a study suggesting that the current emphasis in US culture on every high school graduate continuing onto higher education with the goal being earning a bachelor's degree is a poor idea. Why this is news to any of us is surprising. The poor state of the US economy in the past few years is in many ways a result of "College is for Everyone" thinking so prevalent in our society. Now it has taken Harvard to echo what so many other trustworthy voices have recently commented on....the need for more than one kind of respected educational track for our youth, rather than the one size should fit all idea that has never made any real sense. Go to O'Net. Have a look at the predictions for the jobs of the future. Many of them do not require more education than what a local community college offers. Start there, Youth of America. Learn some skills. Develop and grow those skills. Then consider, if you want, further degree work. Have a career plan, rather than just a college plan. You will be glad that you did.

Do You Just Want to Talk?

Are you in career transition or hope to be soon? Recent media reports say that as this recession eases, thousands of people who are unhappy with their careers and/or jobs will be looking.

If you are one of the above, you may decide not to go it alone, but instead to reach out to a career coach/counselor for personalized help, and personalized it should be. Career transition services should not be "one size fits all". Unfortunately, this is how it seems to many clients who are introduced to a very non-personalized process of assessments and inventories all designed for at least quick, and hopefully easy answers.

Would you rather just talk? Would you prefer to discuss your situation with your coach/counselor as well as work through the rest of the process? If you would, you are not alone. Make sure when selecting your coach/counselor, you find someone who will allow you the time to talk and to reflect. Your future depends on it.

Missed Connections: The College to Career Gap

Dr. Anthony Caravale of Georgetown University recently released the above titled article on huffingtonpost.com calling for a user friendly system where consumers considering a traditional four year college education can see data on what graduates of programs within these schools are earning compared to what they spent and the debt, if any, that they accrued. He argues that the Dept of Education releases data about for-profit schools based on the above; therefore the same should be true for traditional 4 years institutions as well. The main point of his article, however, is that there is a "missing link" as he terms it in our higher education system and that is its failure to adequately connect college to careers.

There was a storm of reaction to this article, including the traditional argument that 4 year programs should do more than prepare a student for a career. While I agree that 4 four year colleges should "educate" and not necessarily "prepare", I agree with Dr. Caravale that in the past there has been too much emphasis on "education" and not enough on "preparation", and this is one of the many reasons our society is in the economic mess that it is.

Are you about to advise a young person concerning purchasing a college education? Are you a young person about to do so? Are you a mid career professional considering going back to school in an effort to further and better equip yourself for the future? Consider wisely and carefully. Seek counsel and remember that while no education is ever wasted, a graduate degree or a four year degree is no longer the right answer for everyone.

KSA'S Gone!

The federal government recently announced that as of April, 2010, KSA's (knowledge, skills and abilities) will no longer be required for most federal job applications. I say "most" because it will still be up to the hiring manager to decide whether or not to use them in the vetting process. The federal government, it appears, wants to move more toward a private sector style job application.


Keep in mind, All You Federal Job Seekers Out There, that an awareness of your knowledge, skills and abilities, and the ability to write them in "sales" style, is still very important, no matter what type of resume you are writing. KSA's may no longer be necessary on the application, but still should appear in the body of your resume. Read the federal job announcement carefully. No matter whether it asks for a USAJobs style resume or not, understanding what your knowledge, skills and abilities are, and how to write them is still key, and will remain so.

Need help? Contact a career coach. You will be glad that you did.

WSJ Recent Article the Worth of a Degree

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about the dollar worth of a college education. Per the article, in recent years the nonprofit College Board estimated that a degreed individual would earn as much as $800,000 more than a non-degreed individual over a lifetime. The article goes on to say that this estimate was based on the 2002 Census Bureau report entitled "The Big Payoff".

Now, a representative of The American Institutes for Research calls all of this into question. The estimates, per this individual do not factor in such things as student loan debt, or breaks in employment. Essentially, no one can predict what someone will earn.

There is no question that every American needs some kind of post secondary education and/or training. However, like with anything else in life, look before you leap. Make sure your student has an idea of what he wants to study, what kind of work his major will lead him to, what kinds of opportunities there will be for this work in the future, and how else future education and/or training might be secured beside the very expensive four (or five or six) year college education route.