What Is Career?

Career means different things to different people. To a layman, it means  the work you are about to do in the nearest future while to some people it means what you might have done in the past. 

On the other hand, to some people as well, it is concerned with employment.

From the occupational point of view, career is the sum total of the jobs you might have been doing throughout your lifetime, it comprises of everything you have done as it relates to the world of works. 

It includes the posts and positions you have held throughout your lifetime working, starting from the decisions you have made about your educational, social, economic , spiritual, and political endeavor. Career is a lifelong process as it reflects your unique personality characteristics and your basic life values as clearly exhibited throughout your life.

The process of choosing a career may be daunting and very risky. And, any decision taken either right or wrong, will no doubt determine how you are likely going to spend the rest of your life. Hence, the reason to be very careful to guide against any regret for wrong decisions made about your working career.

Quite a number of things must be put into considerations before choosing any career of your choice. However, the singular action of making careful and well-thought-out decisions regarding your career can really help you increase your chance of survival and success in the world of work.

The process of career decision making is tedious and time-consuming because it involves taking into considerations all activities that complement your personal attributes, interests, likeness, educational attainment and your basic life values. All these contribute immensely to how easy and less cumbersome your career decision making will be.

To be candid, a career decision making should be made with utmost care, for they will significantly influence your direction, achievement, job satisfaction, and fulfillment in your life. 

Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a clear indications of how fulfilled an individual is in their chosen career.  It is a measure of worker’s contentedness about any job they choose to go for. It is also a measure of how cordiality the relationship between the employer and the employee is. This may be in terms of remuneration, supervision, salary or other benefits attached to the conditions of working in such an establishments or organizations.

For More on career look out for more posts on career from this blog.

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Learn What You Need To Do Before Or When You Are Laid Off From Your Job

Do you know that having a better understanding of all that you need to do if you are laid off from your jobs will give you ample opportunities to handle your situation well, in order to prevent being depressed or losing all hope before you can either secure another job or think of how to set up your own business?

The economic situations in which some companies found themselves have made it unavoidably necessary not to lay off their employees. And in recent times, it seems as if layoffs are always increasing in popularity.  Layoffs are something that you can regularly hear about in the news. Seriously, it's better to be imagined than to be experienced. As more businesses are forced to downsize, you may find yourself laid off from your current position.

As the case may be the layoff may either be permanent or temporary. The most important point you need to take note of is that it often depends on the needs and current economic situation of your employer. 

Anytime anyone or someone close to you is laid off the next question to be asked will be “What exactly is to be done in order not to feel the negative impact of your situation before you stand up again”. In all honesty, there is actually a lot you can do to have a soft landing.

For starters, you will want to first examine your state’s laws on unemployment.  While there are some variations, you will find that most states award unemployment compensation to those who are laid off from their jobs.  This may be able to help you and your family out financially in the short-term run. Remember, knowing about such provisions is highly beneficial because this will greatly help you to pay some necessary bills that if left unattended will no doubt put more stress into your life.

In keeping with unemployment, it is important that you examine it.  Unfortunately, there are many individuals who view this money as a handout or money that they do not need. What you need to know is that this  unemployment fund is designed for individuals just like you that might be greatly affected when laid off.  If you are laid off from work, you should look out for such provisions that you may be entitled to as an unemployed citizen, especially if you did not receive any severance pay or compensation in another form. 

Even if you do seek unemployment payments, it is still important to remember that they will not last forever.  Unemployment compensation is designed to work as a temporary fix.  That is why you will want to start taking action to help you find a new job as soon as possible to put you in a better position to handle your finances as appropriately as possible. 

The first step in doing this involves creating a resume for yourself.  You can either create your own resume or you can hire a professional resume writer to do the job for you.  Either way, you will want to ensure that your resume is one that will turn company heads in your favor among so many people that might also apply for the job.

After having your resume well prepared and in hand, you should then start examining all open job positions in your area.  While doing this, you should know that you have quite a number of places to consider such as your local newspaper or the internet. 

Career job searching websites are a nice and easy way to find and apply for jobs online. For your own safety, you will want to refrain from giving your personal information, especially your bank account information or social security number, to any companies that you have never heard of before or companies that you are unable to research online.

If you were employed at your last position, before being laid off, for two or more years, you may be a little bit nervous about finding a new job. If this is a feeling that you are experiencing, you should know that you are not alone.

Finding a new job can be a stressful process, especially when you finally found one job and you need to prepare for a job interview. That is why you may want to consider doing a few practice interviews with your friends or family members.  You can design some likely questions that you may think of or better still ask them to design some common interview questions for you.

  

They can ask you questions, such as your strengths and weaknesses, as well as why you want to work for that particular company.  This practice, if done enough, can help to reduce the nervousness often associated with job interviews.  You may also find that you are able to give better answers, as well as answer all questions in a timely matter at your next interview.

If you are unsuccessful in your job search, you may want to consider seeking professional assistance. This assistance can come from your state’s labor department or a professional recruiter or career agent.  Of course, the decision is yours to make, but you may want to try and avoid your local temporary employment agencies.  If you are able to secure unemployment compensation, you will want to spend your time looking for and applying for secure, long-term job openings.

Being laid off from one’s daily job can give a harrowing experience if not handled well, hence the need to have a better understanding of how to handle the situation in such a way that will help you to live a better life devoid of any unnecessary stress in your life.

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Do You Know How Far Your Career Can Take You?

Do you know how far your career can take you? The desire to stay  with the same company for life is becoming rare and rare by the day, and this create fear in the minds of some people because they are not sure of what is likely going to them in their place of work in the nearest future. 

If you’re working in a place but don’t know what is likely going to happen to you concerning your work, then maybe it’s time for you to take time out, sit back, and have a rethink of how to plan your life.

It’s common at times for you to find that you’ve got into your job through a series of coincidences and each one of them is taking you a little further away from where you were aiming to go when you started. There is simply a huge gap between the jobs that people get and the jobs they wanted. 

No-one aspires to work at a paper company, but someone’s got to do it. This may happen beyond your widest imagination, but notwithstanding, you are there right now. Once you’ve been there a few years, you suddenly realize that your only options are to either move sideways into a similar job somewhere else, or move upwards in the hierarchy and become a manager.

So what exactly do you want to do. The answer is to finally prepare answers to yourself that most elusive of questions: what do you want to be doing five years from now? Ten? Twenty? If the answer isn’t “what I’m doing now” or “I want to be a high-level manager”, then what you need is drastic action. You need to sit tight to plan how to get to where you aspire to be in the next five years.

What you might not realize, though, is that forging out a career path isn’t as difficult as you might think. If you can free yourself from the day-to-day struggle to survive by living below your means for a year or so and accumulating some savings, you suddenly have some time to get where you want to be in the job market. Whatever your ambition is, the chances are that there’s an entry-level job going somewhere, or a community of enthusiastic amateurs.

If it’s really what you’ve wanted to do all your life, then it should be as simple as getting started and getting noticed. And if it doesn’t work out, then you’ve always got the other job to fall back on. Whether you succeed or fail, it’s always better to try, and it’s not as hard to do as you think.

Take the plunge today by deciding on what you want to do. Do everything within your means to work towards getting to your dream. And, have a strong believe in yourself that you can do it. Think about if you don’t want to leave but you are fired at the end of the day, what are you going to do?

Plan. Plan. And, Plan.

Plan today, for a better tomorrow.

Thank you.

Activity Plan for Those Who Lost Their Jobs

The fear of loosing one’s job as always being overwhelming for every intelligent person due to both physical and psychological effects it can have in one’s life . 

But the real experience is not a tragedy, because no matter how great the loss may be to you, there is still room for improvement. The skilled psychologists advice that you should not fall into a perpetual state of depression, but to work your way out of this dreadful situation. 

 Everything depends on the level of motivation. There are two possible options for people that changed their status to unemployed: the options are either to continue searching for an alternative job within the sphere of your former employment, or to start looking for job in a new fields you have not worked before. 

 Remember the choice is yours to make and how meticulous you are about this will determine how fast you come out of this problem.

 If you feel like you want to continue working in the same sphere, you may decide to started with the simplest decision of calling or visiting the competitors’ company. In order to be attended to within the shortest possible time, I would advice you not to follow the normal procedure of submitting your resume to the personnel department, but contact the authority involved directly, as you try to offer your services in a very polite manner. 

All a good boss has to know about a future employee is professional knowledge and expertise. Tell him about your professional experience, education, special qualities and skills possessed as well as those features that will facilitate you as a worker to improve your service considerably and professionally, thereby strengthening the great impact you can contribute to the company’s progress.

Be certain to stay business-like and try to notify your future employer only about what he/she has to know. You need to remember that any previous failure of yours can be used as an argument to reduce your cost at the job market. 

 According to the statistics, those who change their places of employment have more chances to be promoted than those who work there all their lives. The results of the research show that those who change work have more chances to be promoted than those who work in one company all their lives. Look for a place in spheres you feel comfortable with. If you get stressed out because of the recurrent strain and noise in a big company, look for a place in smaller ones. 

 Another statistics shows that employees of the smaller, but fast growing companies get to the top of a career ladder earlier than those who get disoriented among thousands of employees in a big company. If no one of the mentioned above options work for you, start looking for a part time job. 

 You have to understand that proposals will not be piling up in front of your door; you have to hunt for them. There is nothing more of great importance than an ability to cover the bills. In this case all the possible variants are suitable. 

 You can get a part-time job from a service provider or get employed by a company in terms of a contract. This is a suitable way for big companies to manage the process. The employer is responsible for the project and works on it from the start to the state of completion.  This way you will have time to find a good full-time job.

 Part-time job gives you an opportunity to cover your bills. In this case it doesn’t really matter if the job you are going to take part-time participation at is related to the field where you have previously worked. Be sure not to incorporate this employment in your resume unless it really contributes to your list of skills.

 Thank you.

 

How To Understand The Basic Characteristics of your Interviewer

How To Understand The Basic Characteristics of your Interviewer

Every individual has a specific situation bothering him/her in every individual life and your interviewers cannot be left out of this experience. 

However, If you can sense an interviewer's style and build rapport with them, you’ll have confidence in providing specific information that will give you an edge over your interviewers.

Listed below are the characteristics you should take note of in your interviewers:

1.     Inattentive: There is a time that the interviewer isn’t mentally present, maybe he/she is thinking of something more important or something happened before your interview that really bothered his/her mind. It’s impossible to impress this kind of interviewer that is distracted by something. Such an individual can equally purposely try to distract your attention to make you fail miserably. It’s very important for you to keep a good impression of yourself by smiling and don’t panic. At times a scenario of an impending crisis may be created to test your attitude or how you’re going tackle such a situation in your place of work. You may equally give your best approach and offer him/her to reschedule. But make sure to give a good account of yourself address to send him/her the right message and be prepared to attend the interview if rescheduled.

2.     Friendly: This is the type of interviewer that gives jokes, smiles, and tells you to take it easy on yourself. But he/she aims for you to put in a relaxed mind in such a way that you will then unconsciously expose too much information (ones that can be detrimental to your career) about yourself. You should be kind, and friendly but at the same always remember that you shouldn’t also get carried away doing this. Stick with your goal. Remember you’re not part of them yet. You should be wary of putting yourself in a tight corner where you wouldn’t be able to scale through the interview stage while pursuing your career.

3.     Interrogator: This is a typical type of interviewer that seems not to show any emotion and inflicts tension on the applicants. The best thing you can do is stay calm, focus, and show respect and confidence. This kind of interviewer observes how you can deal with this kind of scenario. And remember that most interrogator types of interviewers often became your best advocate throughout your interview process or even into the job. These types of interviewers are always hell-bent on making sure that the company employs the best candidates for the vacant position, though they may prove too strict and rigid once you put in your best, and believe that you can make it through.

4.     Laser Beam: This type of interviewer only focuses on one topic. Like discussing quotas, this style is for line managers. When you find yourself in this type of interview, you should make it a point of duty to fulfill his/her expectations of you. Satisfy his/her judgment and move on. Don’t derail or fidgety while responding to any question(s) being asked, because those questions are not meant to make sure that you fail it is just a clear indication that they are employing the best candidates for the job. See it in that direction and stay focused.

5.     Shotgun: This is the type that wants to discuss anything. The questions are all over the place, you even don’t have a vacant time because he/she is full of questions. This is where your anxious presentation really pays off because you can involve your strengths in many distinct exposures to the job. Your experience can give you an edge in this type of interview, but yet you must be very careful in answering not to derail while responding to questions asked.

6.     Silver Bullet: Believes there's one magic question to ask -- and one magic response that determines whether you're right for the job. The Silver Bullet asks a few hasty questions about your skills. Then ask “off-the-wall” questions, which are questions you didn’t even expect. Even though these questions don’t have a wrong answer he/she decides if it’s yes or no. Simply answer every question and don’t worry about your answers too much.

While preparing for an interview, you must try as much as possible to alter your approach to different situations you may find yourself in life and in which you may equally experience with your Interviewers: You should prepare yourself to step into a situation of power when you identify the interviewer's style and adjust your approach accordingly. As you prepare for the interview, ask yourself, "How might my answers be different for different interview styles?" 

With a Laser Beam, for example, you might offer him a choice when you begin answering a question ("Would you like to talk about this aspect of the job or that one?"). An achievement story for a friendly Interviewer might focus more on your teamwork skills, and the same story for an Interrogator Interviewer, because you might begin by stating the results of your individual work. The more you show your emotional knowledge by understanding the interviewer's objective for that interview, the more likely he'll be able to listen to you.

The importance Of Career Planning in Today's Turbulent Times

The Importance Of Career Planning in Today's Turbulent Times

The career planning process involved the ability to guide against the negativity that may occur at any particular point in time in an individual’s career path, which may undermine or prevent reaching the set objectives in an individual’s life. 

However, the current situation in the world economy especially the aftermath of global economic recession has made it very compulsory to be cocksure of the career planning process one is engaging in in order to meet up with the current challenges in the world of work. 

It is clearly evident nowadays, that what you were taught in school no longer applies to the job-searching skills needed in today’s market.  The rules have changed from the resume to the interview and conditions of work.   Don’t be caught with an “objective statement” on your resume, or asking the interviewer questions you should have researched on the web on your own.

  

Here are some hot tips for being a savvy career planner:

 Firstly, identify your top competencies, strengths, demonstration situations, and high-point stories. You need to know that different behaviors for different jobs are needed.  Today there are sophisticated career planning assessments on the market to help you identify your ideal work environment. It is important for you to become very familiar with your strongest skills.  Then, whether it is a resume, a job application, or a job interview, you’ll be able to articulate them succinctly and professionally.

Secondly, identify your competitive advantage – the single most important job search skill is your ability to communicate what you can do for a company!  When the hiring manager believes that you can help solve the type of problems they face, you dramatically increase your chances of being offered the job.  The fact is, companies will hire someone when they believe that the person will bring more value than they cost.

Thirdly, you should sell yourself using high-point stories and demonstrating your skills through examples such as your contribution towards solving a particular when you’re in college or your former place of work. Your accomplishments or achievements can be identified in your demonstration situations.  

Using accomplishments in your letters, resumes and interviews give a convincing picture of you in action.  Employers today want doers.  Not somebody that will promise to achieve what they cannot if given all the necessary incentives. 

Your high point story should illustrate a contribution that you made to something that had positive outcomes that you know if an opportunity to be given the job is handed to you, will no doubt be beneficial to the company must also be talked about.

the points listed above and many more will give you direction on how to channel your job-securing opportunities. Be meticulous about everything you need to stay away from as well and you are definitely on the right track to getting a job.

I wish you good luck,

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Putting the Right Step Ahead in Planning your Career

Putting the Right Step Ahead in Planning your Career

Before you can have successful career life and engagement, it is very important to plan ahead purposely to guide you against taking the wrong step in your life-long career path. Career planning is an excellent way to prepare for what the world ahead has to offer you. 

While many people find that career planning is something that is done in college, it can be and should be done throughout life as a way of making sure that you are on the right track. There are many opportunities to get the planning that you need. In fact, it can start a long time before college as well. So, what can career planning do for you? 

To start with, we need to understand when you can get career planning started. You can find a wide range of options right from the high school level. You’ll find that career planning can and does happen as an introduction to college as well as all through college. But, you can also take advantage of services long after you have graduated. Career planning can happen at any time in your lifetime. 

The question to be asked if a proper understanding of this issue is to take place is: What happens in career planning? There are a number of different things that can happen in career planning. You will be able to get an understanding of what the career you are considering has to offer. Or, if you are unsure of what you would like to learn and do, you can take a wide variety of testing solutions that will help you to determine what you are interested in as well as careers that you are talented for. You will also find that in some college-level classes of career planning, you will be able to learn about many different careers and test your hand at what they have to offer you. This is an excellent way to see what’s out there. 

Career planning is important because it allows you to be able to get a good idea of what you would like to do with your life. Counselors and teachers can help you find the answers that you need to your questions and give you options to consider. Career planning can help anyone, at any time in their lives to find solutions to their needs. Beyond being able to help you plan for the classes you will take, career planning can help you to begin your future. 

This is because the future has no destination or place of abode! It starts NOW!

Good luck with your career planning process.