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Articles
Characteristics of a Career Explorer
Several years ago, I decided that I was ready for a career change. I had worked in various positions within my field for over ten years. Despite my interest in a career change, my only movement towards making it was to think about it. In fact, I thought about making this change for two years. Every time I believed I was ready to make a move, the voice of security and the fear of the unknown would lull me back into complacency. After two years of waffling, I decided to hire a career counselor to help me through this process. As a result, I...
read moreThe Climb: Picking Career Goals
One of my good friends climbs mountains. It makes sense—we live in Colorado, and she is passionately dedicated to athleticism and the outdoors. As for me, I am less into climbing mountains than I am into looking at them. However, one day over coffee, she was telling me about all the research she did in preparation to climb a mountain recently. Her comments made me think about how similar climbing that mountain is to following a career goal. Sure, one of them involves more imminent danger than the other (to my mind, unschooled as I am in...
read moreLong Term Benefits of Career Counseling
There have been a number of studies done over the past couple of decades to examine the short-term effectiveness of career counseling. The effectiveness of career counseling in these studies has been consistently demonstrated; career counseling helps improve career position and prepare the individual for the job search process. However, a study published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior and conducted by Sophie Perdrix, Sarah Stauffer, Jonas Masdonati, Koorosh Massoudi, and Jérôme Rossier found that career counseling also had positive...
read moreThe Value of Getting Help
Life is challenging and ever changing. No matter how much we think we know, there will always be times when we need outside help. Going to a doctor, taking your car to a mechanic, and calling a plumber are examples of these moments. And choosing not to get help can easily turn a small issue into a really big deal. In our professional lives we tend to only look for help when there is a problem: you are unhappy with your job, you were laid off, your chosen industry is changing and you are being left behind skill-wise. Even when these problems...
read moreSimple Ways to Improve Your Job Search
Job searching is no longer what it once was. Gone are the days when simply placing your resume on a job site would get you found. Opportunities seem few and far between, and most job ads only yield an outcome 5% of the time. Job searching the old fashioned way can be incredibly labor intensive without producing the same results. So instead of sending out the same form resume again and again with nothing to show for it, try implementing the suggestions below to increase your job search results and decrease your stress. Target your resume, and...
read moreJob Searching Over 45
I have worked with many clients who worry that their age will adversely affect their job prospects. They tell me, “no one wants to hire someone my age,” and this mindset leads them to feel defeated before they’ve even started looking. It is true that we exist in a working culture where age discrimination can and sometimes does happen. But you shouldn’t let that fear stop you from continuing to pursue your career and job interests. Remember: you have a depth of experience and knowledge of your industry and field that younger workers lack. Use...
read moreBusiness Pain and the Job Search
A term which gets a lot of talk these days is “Business Pain.” For many job seekers, this term seems ambiguous at best. Business pain? What the heck is that, and why are we only now hearing about it? Business pain boils down to big problems that managers have to face. Designing a prettier product isn’t business pain, but extreme employee dissatisfaction is. These pains are large problems that cause issues within the system of the business as a whole. Business pain has been around for years, but has only recently entered the vernacular under...
read more7 Ways to Improve Your Job Security
As was discussed in our recent article, most companies in the United States are “at-will” companies. This means that a company can dismiss an employee at any time and for any reason, without warning. The prospect of this happening is understandably nerve-wracking, which is why you should never stop growing your network and honing your job search skills. However, there are some things you can do to increase your job security and hopefully prevent this from happening unexpectedly. Know how to communicate with your manager. Having unclogged,...
read moreJob Security: Then and Now
From a technical point of view, job security is the probability that an individual will keep their job. It is measured and compared globally, and it is one of many variables that help determine “well-being” in various countries. Traditionally, job security is higher during economic expansions and lower during recessions. In the Unites States most workers are now “at-will” meaning they can be let go for any or no reason at any time. The situation is different for government employees and industries where labor unions still have some power and...
read moreResumes & Results-Driven Accomplishments
Creating an eye-catching resume is partially about aesthetic. Does your resume look nice, is all the grammar correct? However, no matter how pretty your resume looks, it won’t make it past a decision maker’s desk without having good content. And good content comes from demonstrating results. Use your resume as a platform to show, concretely, your abilities in a particular role. It’s one thing to say that you are capable of doing something, and it’s quite another to show that you can do it. Utilizing results-driven accomplishments in your...
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