Career Ideas

Henry Ford is often quoted as having said, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse!,” indicating that customers only know about incremental, not breakthrough solutions. 

Both kinds of solutions are actually valuable--the question is which degree of change do you need when seeking a solution.  Both kinds of change are relevant in terms of careers as well.  The question is, what kind of career change are you looking for?  How big?  Incremental or breakthrough?  A next step or a shift in directions?

When choosing a career some people think they want something new but really would be very happy to take a slight step sideways.  They may think they need to make a big change, when a small one might be enough.

For instance, a clinic nurse might want to switch to a hospital setting — a small, incremental career change (some might say merely a job change).  Or the nurse might seek management responsibilities for nursing staff in a hospital department.  That would be a much bigger change still within nursing, and not as radical as, for example, switching to becoming a high school math teacher or opening a bakery or going back to school to become a computer programmer.

I bring this up because in my career classes, there are often people who tell me they are so angry with their careers, their jobs, their bosses or so burnt out, stressed, or so unchallenged that they need a new career.  All of these are certainly signs something needs to change.  But sometimes in the course of going through my program, they realize that the change they need does not have to be as radical as they had imagined.

So how can you tell which kind of change or solution is right for your career? 

One quick way is to ask yourself:  What’s actually making you unhappy about your current position?

If it’s your boss or your pay or not being appreciated or not learning anything new — then you most likely just need a change of job or need to make changes in your current job, but not a new career. 

If on the other hand, what you are unhappy about is that your career isn’t allowing you to use your artiistic abilities or requires you to work alone on a computer all day–then a more radical solution is needed, perhaps a new career.

On the other side of that coin, you can ask what would make you really happy? 

You can also look at your career or lifework mission statement if you have one and see if that needs changing.  If so, that might indicate a breakthrough is needed.  If that statement is still great, but you hate your work life, it’s more about the particulars of your job.

–Career changers, jobseekers–Be sure to sign up for free career and creativity ezine and bonus

Career coaching help also available — just email me for info.

© 2009 Leonard Lang. Feel free to reprint or pass on this article as long as you include the copyright notice and the link to http://choosingacareerblog.com

Technorati Tags: career_ideas choosing_a_career career_change

I say this is the big secret because in my dozen years teaching thousands of people about how to rethink changing or choosing their careers and work lives, I’ve found that so few people know this that it might as well be a secret.  But it’s not a secret in that you should hide it—quite the opposite.  In fact, I’d like you to spread the word. 

So what’s the secret?

If you are looking for new career ideas or planning a career — start fresh. 

Am I kidding?  Is that it?  It sounds so simple and trite.  After all most people looking for a career change are looking for a fresh start. Nothing secret there, right?

As usual, the details are what counts.  Most people think they are starting fresh when they are actually carrying a lot of baggage about who they are and what they can’t do. 

Here’s what starting fresh means:

For the first steps of your career search process, forget:
•    Forget about whether you’ve demonstrated the skills you need for a job
•    Forget about what everyone has ever told you about what work suits you best.
•    Forget about what you’ve been good at doing at work
•    Forget about what you haven’t been good at doing
•    Forget about whether you’ve heard a career is on the upswing or downswing. 
•    Forget about dollars, euros, or other compensation or benefit issues 

These are all important factors, so why should you forget about them until much later in your career planning? 

Because you probably have thought about all these things a lot and are still not in the career you want.  That thinking isn’t getting you to your lifework or the best career for you.  You need a fresh way of thinking about yourself. 

To get out of that same way of thinking, it’s necessary to lift the blinders (which we all have)—namely the assumptions we make about ourselves and the job market.  That way you can see new opportunities and possibilities.  Only then can you truly start fresh.

You’re probably wondering what you do think about if you’re forgetting about all those other things at first.  The answer is—start with your passions.  What do you love doing?  Don’t just think of work things and don’t include things you don’t mind so much.  Just think about and list or mindmap work and nonwork things you love to do.  Look at those passions in detail—not just travel, but also the elements of travel you love such as researching places to go or learning new languages.

The reason we start with passions in detail is to make sure you have at the core of your work life something that can sustain you, something that can motivate you and energize you.  If you have that, it becomes so much easier to
•    Learn new skills to do a new job
•    Enjoy what you are doing even during stressful periods
•    Stick with a career path
•    Be creative about finding work or clients
•    Be creative and appreciated at work
•    Inspire confidence in yourself at a job interview

Often my clients are confused about what to do and it turns out that it’s because they’ve given up on their passions and are wading through a lot of unsatisfying choices based on pay, and education and current skill levels.   After some coaching questions, they discover they’ve often given up on dreams and that’s what’s leaving them unhappy and confused. 

For instance, when asked one client almost mumbled what she’d like to do—be a chef—and immediately in a louder voice went to say but what she’d probably wind up doing might be, and listed some careers that she was lukewarm about.    We went back and examined what was holding her back from her real passion and wound up with solutions to all the limits she had assumed were there.  She got a partner, shifted from chef to catering service and everything started to get clear. 

Of course, looking at your passions is just the start.  But if you start somewhere else—such as what jobs pay well that need the skills I currently have—you may find a job.  You may even need to take that job as a temporary measure.  But you’re not likely to find a career that will get you up every day excited to go to work.

–Career changers, jobseekers–Be sure to sign up for free career and creativity ezine and bonus

© 2009 Leonard Lang. Feel free to reprint or pass on this article as long as you include the copyright notice and the link to http://choosingacareerblog.com

Technorati Tags: Career_coach career_decision career_secret, career_ideas career_choice

There are lots of things to say about how to succeed with any long-term goals—whether starting a business, choosing careers, changing careers, changing your department’s culture, becoming a lawyer, earning a degree, or even becoming a better skier or dancer. But one thing is particularly vital, relatively easy, and certainly important to keep in mind.

The advice is:

Keep up the momentum. The big MO. Simple really.

That means take steps regularly. Any positive steps.

I’ve seen it with coaching clients, class participants, and yeh, myself too lots of times. Once you start feeling stuck, you tend to keep getting more stuck, feeling more and more overwhelmed and discouraged. It becomes harder and harder to get moving again.

With apologies to Newton and his laws of motion—it’s true that objects (or people) at rest tend to stay at rest.

Fortunately, the opposite is true too: Objects (or people) in motion tend to stay in motion.

My coaching clients make their greatest progress in finding new career ideas or making great plans when they simply complete small steps each week and are held accountable for them. They stay motivated, see at least a little progress all the time, and over time realize they are getting to their career goals.

Even very small steps qualify to keep you moving ahead like meeting with a career Success Partner for 15 minutes for a check in. Or brainstorming with someone about new ways to approach your project. Or reading something inspiring that gets you moving. Or….well, it really can be almost anything as long as it moves you along.

You’ll know if it’s working because you feel relief and energized again.

Even more important, these very small steps can accomplish very big things. Even big, challenging goals must be broken down into smaller ones anyhow. Don’t get overwhelmed by how many steps there are. Just do one of them and keep on moving ahead. Focus on that, and enjoy what you are doing now.

Don’t know what the next step should be? Just follow Lang’s First Principle of Action: You may not know THE next step you must take, but you can (almost) always come up with A next step that will move you forward—physically, emotionally, financially, etc. Each time you move ahead, any remaining stuck point can be seen from a new perspective.

Make sure you don’t wait for some wide open period of time to really move ahead.

Keep on moving and you will keep feeling energized and motivated and open to opportunities that will come your way.

© 2007-2009 by Leonard Lang

Technorati Tags: career coach help, career ideas, career momentum, career success, feeling stuck

In most cases, when I hear people talk about networking they mean connecting with people who can get them to the right people, companies or information they need.  That’s useful. (You might also want to check out this career ideas post about how to network at events )

But these connectors are only part of what you need to really succeed in your career, job, or job search.   You need a full-scale community of support.  People who do more than just connect you. 

At the heart of that community are your VIPs for your career.  You might think of them as your unofficial career coaching team because they are performing some of the key roles of any quality career coach. 

Your career coaching team should include people who fill 5 of these career coaching roles:
1.    Connectors—People who can get you to others you need to meet to get moving, get ahead or get a job.  What most people see as their main career building community.

2.    Advisors—People who are good sounding boards and can help you with big picture thinking and with thought-out opinions about what you want to do.  These people are not afraid to disagree with you, but are still strongly supportive.

3.    Idea people—Creatives with great new ways of looking at things to get you out of your rut—not necessarily advice, but new frameworks and perspectives.

4.    Emotional Connectors—People who help you reconnect with your own passions, motivation, and optimism.  After you talk with these people you are charged and ready to act.

5.    Success Partners—Another name for a success partner is an accountability partner.  You typically need only one.  I’ll be writing more about how to have success with a success partner in an upcoming post (or if you have Guide to Lifework you can read about them in detail there).

Can one person play more than one role at different times?  Definitely.  But it’s best to have a number of people who you can call on for each role (except the Success Partner).

To get going, look carefully through your list of contacts and note in one central place the names of at least one key person who can serve in each of these roles. 

Having this list will remind you of the community you have to help you no matter what happens.  It will also make it easy to remember who you can contact, which mamkes it a lot more likely you will benefit from other peoples help. 

For instance, when you’re feeling discouraged, you may not think of some of the people you listed as emotional supporters, but if you have a list, that will prod you to call one of them.  Or if you are stuck for new ideas, you may keep banging away on your own, but you can look at your list and realize you can contact one or more of your idea people. 

Once you have this list of career VIPs, you can expand your list well beyond them.  You can also work with social media friends for a range of advice or ideas or connections too.  But don’t assume the “wisdom of crowds” as good as that can be, can replace that one-on-one support that these key people of your community can provide.

© 2009 by Leonard Lang.  Feel free to reprint this article by including this entire copyright notice, including a link to this site (http://choosingacareerblog.com).

Technorati Tags: career_ideas networking career_coaching

In the post, More than a Network: Your Career Coaching Team,  I recommended you find groups of people to fill at least 5 kinds of key roles-network connectors, advisers, idea people, emotional connectors and success partners.

That’s for anyone, but especially for anyone seeking to change or advance their career or about to embark on a job search.

But some people also need a sixth kind of person, someone who knows the ropes in a particular job, company or industry.  That’s a career or business mentor. 

This is a person who’s been there, done that and is willing to help you navigate your specific situation.  You may think you know better than others in your company or industry how to go about doing things and DON’T want to do the same old same old thing everyone has done.  You want to innovate and make a name for yourself.  You don’t want to follow old advice and look like everyone else.  You may even have been hired specifically to bring in a fresh perspective.

To Do Something New, Talk to Someone Who’s Seen the Old

Guess what? If you’re thinking that way, you REALLY need a mentor.  Not to conform to the old ways of doing things that are unproductive, but in order to understand how to get things done, how to move your bold new ideas forward, what the inner workings of your company is, who to connect with to move things ahead and how to approach these people.

They can also tell you if your brilliant new idea is what got someone else fired when it went down in flames 6 months ago  They have company or industry history and understand the culture.  These are things you simply won’t know if you are new in a company.

You can try out a potential mentor relationship by asking questions of possible mentors.  You probably won’t want to choose your immediate boss or manager as you may need advice about working with them or be free to say things you wouldn’t feel comfortable sharing with that person.  But people higher up are possible, and don’t overlook your peers who, if they are knowledgeable about the company, can be mentors sometimes too.

Know What You Want

But before you ask someone to be a mentor or even develop that relationship you should decide what you want from a mentor.  What kinds of questions do you need answered, what kind of advice, what kind of networking support within your company or industry.  Without that, you and your potential mentor will be floundering.

Take your time approaching people, and check out the chemistry.  Maybe you’ve had mentors at school or in other companies before.  Look to these experiences for examples of what things work for you and what don’t.

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