Determining your related experience, of course, can beard work, but it is absolutely necessary if you hope to successfully transfer your skills from one industry to another. Unless you're willing to begin at the very bottom of the career ladder, you must convince a prospective employer that you are not only a good candidate, but also worth considering for position well above entry level.This will take work, but can be accomplished.
Dealing with Setbacks
Somehow, somewhere, at some point in your job search, something will probably go wrong.Whether you' retrying to find your first professional position or attempting to transfer skills you've built up over decades, there will inevitably be problems.
Your attitude or philosophy toward your career is extremely important.If you're approaching a change in your work life from a negative point of view, that feeling will pervade any interview situation you might encounter even if you have been recently fired, do justifiably hate your present job, or are legitimately bored with your existing career path.In some instances, you may be better advised to postpone your search for a new career until you can approach the search itself from an optimistic and enthusiastic point of view.If this means finding temporary work while you recover from a disappointing situation, so be it.Don't handicap yourself with the emotional burdens of a bad situation.
Keeping morale high during your job search is important.Get help from friends and mentors.Anyone who has helped you with career questions or other matters will probably offer support and worthwhile suggestions for making a change.
It is important to keep in mind that any career change is possible, given the proper dedication and talent.In other words, if you have a great voice, perseverance, and enthusiasm, you can make the change from professional banker to opera singer!(Both Ulysses 8. Grant and Harry Truman rose from lackluster careers in business to successful ones in national politics.Elvis Presley began his career as a truck driver.Major league pitcher Jim Lonborg, who won the Cy Young award in 1967 while leading the Boston Red Sox to the American League pennant, is now a successful Massachusetts physician.)
The Team Player and the "We" Generation
Many people spend a great deal of time analyzing themselves and their careers, trying to define their "perfect job."It's a healthy thing to do, but don't get carried away.Too much analysis leads to paralysis.It's entirely possible that your "perfect job" may be beyond your reach, or, worse,beyond anyone's reach.Don't be crushed if you end up"compromising," because, to a large degree, compromise is the name of the game.
Don't be concerned that this point of view will lead to your being exploited.When working for a concerned employer, you'll find that he or she will take great pains toward you for your good work.Remember that it's much easier for an employer to keep a fairly steady staff than it is to be in a constant hiring mode.Even in the largest corporations, where hierarchical political concerns can make or break careers, analyzing the employer's point of view can make the crucial difference.
If you look upon job hunting as the process of making friends, you'll have come very close to the central idea of this article.What the method boils down to is a team approach:one that allows you to reach your own goals as well as those of the team.Team players, interestingly enough, tend to know a great deal about what's occurring in their workplace.That's a big advantage.If you know what is going on around you, you'll be better prepared for what might happen as well as what you can make happen.
Often the best friends are those who have many things in common, but leave room in their relationship for significant differences.These differences become the cementing agent to die friendship because they keep the relationship fresh,productive and satisfying.By providing your employer with the attitude, intelligence, and skills he or she needs, you can actually go further than getting a job: you can create one in which your special talents can provide you with a happy and satisfying career.
It's all a part of working together to form the best possible product line, the best possible business, the best possible company, and the best possible work life.Not only for yourself, but for virtually everyone you come in contact with.That's the key, and if you bear it in mind as you execute your job search (and on the job, where you'll be challenged to put your talents to their fullest practical use),you won't be able to avoid career satisfaction.
Much of the advice on careers you'll find outside of this article will advocate a fashionable degree of narcissism in planning and executing your job search.Many experts will ask you to adopt a "me first" attitude in posing and answering the questions that accompany any career: What do I want?How much money can I get?How fast can I move ahead?Which employer is offering me the most?
Such attitudes are, in today's workplace, open to increasing suspicion on the part of many employers and senior executives and rightly so.Interestingly enough, the"me generation" mindset not only clouds one's ability to formulate and achieve group goals (which is, in a very real sense, what working in a company is all about), it also seems to provide less long term personal growth and career satisfaction.The irony, of course, is that those employees who put aside all the "me first" nonsense are frequently the ones who arrive earliest at the very career destinations so attractive to the success at any cost crowd. So much for the "me generation".
