Many people have trouble choosing a career. Some are afraid to make the wrong choice. Others are concerned they might change their mind later. Overwhelmed by options, some people just wait for someone (parent, counselor, significant other) or a career test to just tell them what to do.
To cure your commitment problem, try confronting the truths that scare you the most:
No person/counselor/scientifically valid career test can tell you the one “right” career choice. But part of making a good career decision is gathering and considering a lot of information. Try the exercises in “getting started” and this 4 step career decision making process.
You’re responsible for your own decisions. But look on the bright side - you have access to a lot of affordable help. Your public librarian, your college career services counselor, the Career Key website and other high-quality Internet resources – are just a few. You are ultimately in control of your attitude and making your own luck – look for support and you will find it. Positive thinking and surrounding yourself with positive people, as “woo woo” as it sounds, has been proven effective.
Money doesn’t grow on trees. But it does flow from your work and ideas. You have control over what you do to make money – whether through your own business, working 4 hours a day, or changing the world (or all of the above).
Some of your expectations about work and lifestyle may be unrealistic. (See Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees) Change takes time and effort so start with small, realistic work and lifestyle goals on the road to your larger ones. Short-term goals should be a stretch but achievable through your own efforts.
Career Key
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Career Development 101
Sometimes we make career development harder and more complicated than it needs to be. If you’re one of those people, like me, who is prone to overthinking and overanalyzing their lives, you can wallow in indecision and inaction for too long. Like procrastination, inaction breeds stress. So make a career development plan and start implementing it today.I bring up career indecision and career development because they are a couple of the top reasons people come to The Career Key and this blog. We have many professional career advice articles on career development topics.
I’m not suggesting shortcut your process of choosing a career or evaluating your career options. But at some point you need to make a plan; and it may surprise you that you have short and long term goals – ones that take planning to achieve.
I recommend taking these steps proven to be effective:
- Choose a career that matches your personality. You'll see from our article "Getting Started" there are 3 steps: Know yourself, know your options, make a good decision.
- If you’re in school or choosing an educational program, choose a major or program that matches your personality. A recent study in the Journal of Vocational Behavior shows making a choice this way leads to better grades and graduation rates.
- Do the ongoing career maintenance to be successful. Do you work out or color your hair on regular basis? Are you taking care of your career development with the same enthusiasm?
Adopt the principles of the Free Agent Worker. You don’t need to fixate on career development every day – but incorporate these principles into your life and success and control over your career will flow.My blog has many articles with practical steps you can take today to jumpstart your career, from researching career options to doing informational interviews via social networking. Just search the blog or look at the labels (like Career Tips) for what you need. As always, I love getting your feedback!
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
See the New Career Opportunity with Your Job Skills
Job skills, job skills, job skills. Your worth in the job market is what you know how to do. That’s the refrain you hear over and over again in career blogs (including this one). But I want you to know that in my household, we are following our own advice – paying attention to updating job skills and networking.
Too Close to the Cubicle
My husband works for a company that has had many recent layoffs – and up until now we thought his job was pretty secure. But earlier this week there was another layoff round, reaching very close to cubicle - literally. And while I recognize these events from my past work in human resources and as an employment lawyer, there is nothing like having it happen close to home.
Worse things can happen
There are worse things than being laid off, like becoming significantly disabled. At least if you are laid off, you retain all your old skills. I just finished Once a Marine, an inspiring Persian Gulf and Iraq war veteran biography about a U.S. Marine, Nick Popaditch, who lost one eye and became legally blind in the other, lost his sense of smell, half his hearing, and some of his balance. He had to retool from old skills he could no longer do, to new ones – and is on the road to becoming a school teacher – a lifelong interest of his. His positive attitude really helped him overcome obstacles that make being laid off seem like a cakewalk. I highly recommend his book.
See an opportunity, not a setback
So if you are facing a career change, see it as an opportunity to use your motivated skills – and to do something that better fits your personality. Reading these free, professional quality career counseling articles will help:
Too Close to the Cubicle
My husband works for a company that has had many recent layoffs – and up until now we thought his job was pretty secure. But earlier this week there was another layoff round, reaching very close to cubicle - literally. And while I recognize these events from my past work in human resources and as an employment lawyer, there is nothing like having it happen close to home.
Worse things can happen
There are worse things than being laid off, like becoming significantly disabled. At least if you are laid off, you retain all your old skills. I just finished Once a Marine, an inspiring Persian Gulf and Iraq war veteran biography about a U.S. Marine, Nick Popaditch, who lost one eye and became legally blind in the other, lost his sense of smell, half his hearing, and some of his balance. He had to retool from old skills he could no longer do, to new ones – and is on the road to becoming a school teacher – a lifelong interest of his. His positive attitude really helped him overcome obstacles that make being laid off seem like a cakewalk. I highly recommend his book.
See an opportunity, not a setback
So if you are facing a career change, see it as an opportunity to use your motivated skills – and to do something that better fits your personality. Reading these free, professional quality career counseling articles will help:
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The Career Key Adds New Careers to the Career Test and Websites
The Career Key has added new and more careers to the "match your personality with careers" sections of The Career Key and The Career Key Canada, both on the popular career test and at the websites.The Career Key’s author, Dr. Lawrence K. Jones, just completed a 2009 comprehensive update of our unique occupation classification system of careers that match Holland’s 6 personality types.
The Career Key now offers the most updated classification of occupations based on Holland’s Theory of Career Choice. We are working on an ePublication for career development professionals with 600+ occupational titles, including those from the O*Net – please comment or contact me if you are interested in being notified when it becomes available.
Dr. Jones added careers and shifted some work groups to reflect changes in technology, the economy, and job titles. To learn more about our unique, practically useful classification system and the updates, please visit our online Career Key Manual. A few weeks ago, we also updated the complete The Career Key Manual with new research studies, the updated classification system, and the new and unique Career Key Map to Career Clusters and Pathways. More about Career Clusters soon...
For technical reasons and to limit disruption to our current users, we are doing this in a gradual way. Here’s our 3 step roll out plan:
- We have already updated our paper/pencil version of the test available in our eBookstore. We also added a new, paper/pencil Canadian version of The Career Key test, with Canadian job titles. We also added Canadian careers less common in the U.S.
- In May, we will start updating the “Match Your Personality with Careers” section of our Career Key website. The new update is already online at The Career Key Canada website.
- This summer we will update the career selection pages of the online The Career Key test. But starting in May, current online Career Key test takers can begin accessing the new careers, in addition to the ones offered during the test.
Realistic: Cartographer or Photogrammetrist
Investigative: Computer or Information Scientist
Artistic: Multi-Media Artist or Animator
Social: Health Educator
Enterprising: Financial Examiner
Conventional: Insurance Underwriter
As you can guess, we've been really busy. Let's just say Dr. Jones and I didn't have much of a Christmas vacation. (or much recent vacation for that matter) But we wanted to get all this information up and out being used. So enjoy! As always, if you don't see a career you think we should have listed or any other feedback, please comment or email me.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Top 3 Barriers to Making a Career Decision
Many people choosing or changing a career encounter these top 3 barriers:
Whether you find this comforting or not, ultimately you are in the driver’s seat for your career path. I have 3 suggestions that will help you deal with whatever barriers apply to you:
Holland’s Theory of Career Choice.
Don’t try to “reverse engineer” your career choice – like, I can do X, therefore I must be X. It should be forward looking: I am most interested in and my personality fits ________, and how do I make that happen?
Learn about how Holland’s Theory helps you choose a satisfying career. Choose your career first, worry about how to get the job skills and education later while exploring careers and making a high quality decision.
Long-term planning.
If you plan towards a specific career goal, you’ll be more likely to reach it. It will also give you hope and motivation. Whether you’re a gas station attendant, foreign trained doctor, or a laid off executive, it’s possible you have to work in a lower paid job than you're used to while you go to school, network for your dream job, or start your own business. If possible, choose an interim career that matches your personality.
And if you’re an indecisive person to begin with, try finding your specific career goal by using these proven 4 steps to making a good career decision. We offer you a free downloadable “Decision Balance Sheet.” If that doesn’t help, try these other activities including personal career counseling.
Networking.
Both online and offline, networking offers your best chances at learning about the careers that interest you, affordable childcare options, the best nonprofit and government resources, and getting moral support from other people. If you’re an Internet junkie, get outside and meet people in person. If you’re not familiar with online networking, figure it out – and talk to people who are doing it.
In future posts I’m going to focus on each of these top 3 barriers to career decision-making. Right now, I’m working on post about making a military to civilian transition. If you have something standing in your career path to share, I’d love to hear about it.
- Cultural transitions: military to civilian, government to private sector, immigrant working in a new country;
- Career indecision: being overwhelmed, fear of the unknown, and/or you’re just an indecisive person.
- Practical obstacles to employment: affordable childcare, disability, or finding reliable transportation to work, a lack of job skills or education
Whether you find this comforting or not, ultimately you are in the driver’s seat for your career path. I have 3 suggestions that will help you deal with whatever barriers apply to you:
Holland’s Theory of Career Choice.
Don’t try to “reverse engineer” your career choice – like, I can do X, therefore I must be X. It should be forward looking: I am most interested in and my personality fits ________, and how do I make that happen?
Learn about how Holland’s Theory helps you choose a satisfying career. Choose your career first, worry about how to get the job skills and education later while exploring careers and making a high quality decision.
Long-term planning.
If you plan towards a specific career goal, you’ll be more likely to reach it. It will also give you hope and motivation. Whether you’re a gas station attendant, foreign trained doctor, or a laid off executive, it’s possible you have to work in a lower paid job than you're used to while you go to school, network for your dream job, or start your own business. If possible, choose an interim career that matches your personality.
And if you’re an indecisive person to begin with, try finding your specific career goal by using these proven 4 steps to making a good career decision. We offer you a free downloadable “Decision Balance Sheet.” If that doesn’t help, try these other activities including personal career counseling.
Networking.
Both online and offline, networking offers your best chances at learning about the careers that interest you, affordable childcare options, the best nonprofit and government resources, and getting moral support from other people. If you’re an Internet junkie, get outside and meet people in person. If you’re not familiar with online networking, figure it out – and talk to people who are doing it.
In future posts I’m going to focus on each of these top 3 barriers to career decision-making. Right now, I’m working on post about making a military to civilian transition. If you have something standing in your career path to share, I’d love to hear about it.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Well-Organized Career Options: What’s On Your List?
If you are choosing a career, have you ever considered how all your career options are organized? I bet you haven’t – but why not? Being “well organized” isn't just for Martha Stewart wanna-bes or accountants, is it?
Being well-organized is cool. The Container Store has made it acceptable to pay $50 for a plastic storage container made in China that you could have purchased at Target for $10.99. The Container Store version is just more beautiful. Also think IKEA. Love those brightly colored containers.
And you know how financial gurus say treat your physical money with the respect it deserves? (not stuffed loose in your pocket for example).
Being organized means you have your life put together – something to be admired and an efficient way to access your stuff. Smart organization can also help you make a big life decision like choosing or changing a career.
You might want to consider how your buffet of career choices is organized. How else can you be sure that when you choose your career, you’re looking at your options in an efficient, comprehensive way?
The Unhelpful Alphabetical Career Laundry List
How many of you have received an alphabetical laundry list of “matching” careers from a valid or invalid career test? “You should be an: actor, architect, art therapist, author…..” Everybody has.
The Smart, Organized Alternative for Matching Careers
If you want to see a science-based way to organize career choices, visit Career Key’s article “Match Your Personality with Careers.” For each Holland personality type, you can see a list of occupations organized into work groups – related careers with similar worker traits, skills, and abilities. If you’re from Canada, go to the Career Key Canada’s article. Dr. Lawrence K. Jones, The Career Key’s author and a vocational expert, organized this system – not a marketing copy writer.
Go to any other website offering a career test to the public, free or otherwise, and you will not find career options so well organized in a practical and useful way.
You have to be a special person/geek to love classification systems for careers – also referred to as “taxonomies.” Recently I’ve met a few like minded professionals who care about them as much as I do. I appreciate them also because my family is largely made up of geeks, linear thinkers, and engineers.
So I dedicate this post to my fellow taxonomy enthusiasts and career development practitioners who see the value in a well-organized and high quality approach to choosing a career. I think users appreciate it too.
Being well-organized is cool. The Container Store has made it acceptable to pay $50 for a plastic storage container made in China that you could have purchased at Target for $10.99. The Container Store version is just more beautiful. Also think IKEA. Love those brightly colored containers.
And you know how financial gurus say treat your physical money with the respect it deserves? (not stuffed loose in your pocket for example).
Being organized means you have your life put together – something to be admired and an efficient way to access your stuff. Smart organization can also help you make a big life decision like choosing or changing a career.
You might want to consider how your buffet of career choices is organized. How else can you be sure that when you choose your career, you’re looking at your options in an efficient, comprehensive way?
The Unhelpful Alphabetical Career Laundry List
How many of you have received an alphabetical laundry list of “matching” careers from a valid or invalid career test? “You should be an: actor, architect, art therapist, author…..” Everybody has.
The Smart, Organized Alternative for Matching Careers
If you want to see a science-based way to organize career choices, visit Career Key’s article “Match Your Personality with Careers.” For each Holland personality type, you can see a list of occupations organized into work groups – related careers with similar worker traits, skills, and abilities. If you’re from Canada, go to the Career Key Canada’s article. Dr. Lawrence K. Jones, The Career Key’s author and a vocational expert, organized this system – not a marketing copy writer.
Go to any other website offering a career test to the public, free or otherwise, and you will not find career options so well organized in a practical and useful way.
You have to be a special person/geek to love classification systems for careers – also referred to as “taxonomies.” Recently I’ve met a few like minded professionals who care about them as much as I do. I appreciate them also because my family is largely made up of geeks, linear thinkers, and engineers.
So I dedicate this post to my fellow taxonomy enthusiasts and career development practitioners who see the value in a well-organized and high quality approach to choosing a career. I think users appreciate it too.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Choosing a Career in Canada?
Career Key Canada, our new resource for helping Canadians choose or change careers, is off to a great start! Last week I spent 4 days in Toronto at Cannexus 2009, the national career development conference for Canada. Our new site links your Holland personality to Canadian careers and Canadian career information - the only scientifically valid career test based on Holland's Theory to do so.Here I am holding down the fort. Fortunately I didn't have to worry about my laptop going missing since my neighbors were the Canadian Forces. Don't we all have a renewed appreciation for our Navy folks in light of all the piracy news? Talk about a much needed ego boost for us here in the States, we needed to take out some bad guys...
I gave a presentation in addition to manning the exhibitor table and I have to say this has been one of the best conferences I have been to. The career counsellors I met were very friendly and interested in sharing their goals and challenges. There was a lot of interest and I am working on getting back to the many people I met.
If there are any career counsellors or career development practitioners out there, in Canada or the U.S. who want to try out and evaluate any of our Career Key tests or products, please email me: julietjones at careerkey.biz. I would be glad to help you.
So I'm back to posting to the blog after a little hiatus. I'm not one of those Twitterers or Bloggers who hires someone to blog under my name - so I have to write it myself. Lucky for you!
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