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Lessons from Marie Curie
Would you sign up for this career? For years before you could even begin your profession, you would have to, as a member of a discriminated-against population, work much harder than others in your field to be taken seriously. Then, when an opportunity presents itself—one that you yourself have uncovered through diligence and persistence—you would need to execute three years of tedious, dangerous, unpaid labor to produce one quarter of a teaspoon of a substance that proves your worthiness. You will then share your trade secrets and give away the results of your efforts—again, for no pay—to...
read morePlanning your Encore Career
Over Thanksgiving I took an airboat tour through a section of the Florida Everglades. On the ride, I experienced a career insight that hit me like the tail of a 10-foot alligator. The way it happened was this: my husband, daughter and I paid for our ticket, climbed aboard the boat, and soon we were gliding into mangrove alleys in search of wildlife. Our hunt was rewarded with up-close views of gators, dolphins, raccoons, and several glorious birds. The guide, Captain Mike, appeared to be in his early 60’s. He educated us about the habitat and animals while piloting the boat. “What a cool job...
read moreHoliday Job Searching. Give Yourself A Gift This Year.
As Thanksgiving leftovers dwindle, job seekers wonder if opportunities for the year are dwindling, too. While in some cases businesses do slow down in December, others are ramping up. Closing the year with maximizing deductions is a goal for many, so often companies aim to get new hires in place to be able to write off recruiting expenses in the previous year. If you’re in the middle of a search, or considering starting one, this may be an ideal time to put in some extra effort for these reasons: The majority of job seekers view December as a “punt” month, and pull back on hunting...
read moreUsing Rock Star Success Stories To Land Your Next Job!
Lucky you, you’ve been selected to interview for what may be your dream job. But then you discover you’ll be up against nine other hopefuls, and you ask yourself, “How can I be the chosen one?” My favorite strategy for standing out to is arm yourself with a handful of rock-star success stories relevant to the position you’re targeting, and be ready to share them in the interview. For example, talking with a machinist on the hunt for a new job, I asked him to describe a time when he’d demonstrated his expertise in that specialty. Soon he was recounting a situation where he’d pushed purchasing...
read moreShifting to something new. The pain and the reward is worth it.
After ten years working in high tech as a marketing manager, I made a change and retrained to become a career counselor. That involved getting a masters degree–an effort that took 18 months full time–before I was qualified to dive into my first job working for a career management company. Getting the masters was mostly fun, but my first paid career counseling gig was harder. Many times in the initial two years on that job I asked myself, “Are you really capable of doing this?”, to which I typically answered, “It doesn’t feel like it!” That was over two decades ago, and I found...
read moreSupporting adult children with their career development. How to help but not hover.
I occasionally get calls from parents of adult children who want advice on how to support their offspring toward better career success. Most calls are from parents with kids between the ages of 22 – 30. I have two children, both of them adults, so I can relate to this desire to help. Our daughter, age 29, is launched in a career; the other, 21, is finishing college. I’ll admit I’ve been a helicopter parent at times, which is the practice of hovering above (similar to a helicopter) our kids to keep an eye on their progress. When my daughter was working on her degree, for example, I edited a...
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