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Is changing your career path worth it?
When I was mid-way through high school I decided my career path was going to be in medicine. I was going to be a doctor and medical school was the natural destination. In my mind at the time it made perfect sense; I was great at science, I loved performing the dissections and biology lab experiments, and it was professional career path.
By the time I got to college, however, my track got waylaid. My attention and interest in science didn’t extend over to the first level college classes for the science track, and I was soon fuddled up with calculus and inorganic chemistry. I barely passed the chemistry tests, and I ended up having to drop out of the calculus class.
This was the first time in my life I had to re-assess my personal direction. I ended my first semester with a 1.9 GPA, so I had to fix my path quickly if I wanted to succeed.
Fortunately, I was able to switch to my other skillset which was writing. I opted for the most likely professional career that used writing, in my eyes: a lawyer. So I spent my college career in government and English/composition, figuring that was the best preparation I could give myself for the legal field.
Once I found my groove, my success became predictable. A typical day involved going to my requirement classes in the morning or those for my minor, government, and then I would take on my major classes in the afternoon. By 4pm the class day was over. I would spend the next few hours having dinner and relaxing. The evening was either working on a paper or hanging out in the library working on research.
Unfortunately, after graduation the job market was far from expected. Unlike generations before who would come out of school with a degree and could expect a good job to be waiting, our generation had to deal with the 1990’s Recession. After the great ceremony, most of us would cross paths repeatedly at interviews and walking the street filling out job applications. Our competition was also thousands of mid-career folks who had just been laid off.
More than once I would find one of my classmates being the office assistant managing the entrance door to a firm. Those were the lucky ones among us; they had a paycheck. Finding no results quickly in the office world, I had to fall back on my old skill and work talent in high school, being a cook. I spent two years in a kitchen after college until I was accepted into law school.
This was a hard transition because, as I mentioned earlier, every generation before had their career handed to them after earning a degree. My graduating class was among the first to come out of school in the “new economy” that essentially said it was every man for himself. Having no preparation for this kind of competition for a basic starting job, it was hard. Many of my peers scrounged around in part-time jobs.
Fast forward another five years I went through law school and then switched to a business master’s degree program. I started out with the goal to be a marketing analyst, and I finished the program with a job as a government financial analyst. I never saw myself in high school ending up as a number-cruncher, but it did happen. I even managed to pass calculus with an A grade when finishing my business master’s degree!
Today my career is an extension of that initial financial analyst job. I’m a chief financial officer of an agency that manages 7,000 employees with a statewide presence. I manage a budget that is close to $1 billion, and I have 100 staff that report to my area directly. I’m halfway through my career course, and I expect to be an agency director by the time I’m ready to retire.
Looking back at what I needed when I came out of school, I would definitely recommend for today’s graduates to be ready to work for themselves. This may mean freelancing, working two or three jobs at a time, or leaving the country to find better job markets overseas. If I could do it again, I definitely would have come out with a business degree as well as a writing degree from college. This combination provides the best flexible package to fit multiple career paths.
The toughest part of starting out, more so today in 2012 than it was in the 1990s, is managing the frustration and depression while looking for a job. The job world is harder than ever. Folks need to rely on their wits, be willing to work independently, and be flexible enough to move where the work is at a moment’s notice. The “new economy” wants commandos that hit the ground running; the days’ of respectable, stable careers are long gone and it’s up to you to make it in today’s economy.
Changing career path image from Bigstock
Bigstock
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
BigstockMake a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
- How did I learn about this job?
- How did I apply for the job?
- Did I earn an interview?
- What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
BigstockAre you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
Let's start with resumes!
Every resume should be tailored to the position in order for it to stand out to recruiters and hiring managers. It may seem like a lot of work, but it's actually less work than submitting the same resume over and over again and never hearing back.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
BigstockYour job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
- Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
- Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
- Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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