Career Development - How to Shape Your Career and Follow Through

It's so easy to say what you want to become but career development will help you achieve it. Through thorough self examination, you will know your abilities, skills and interests. You will also realize what you are looking for in a job. And then by exploring several interesting careers, you would be able to find the right career that perfectly matches with your personality.

Choosing the right career is a requirement in career development. If you choose correctly, you will be happy and satisfied in the line of work you do. Motivation would be easier to do. But to shape your career into something you want to accomplish, you need an action plan too.

Career development involves all that. And then, you should proceed according. If you have yet to take a college education, do it in a college that is recognized in the industry. This will make your chances of securing a job higher.

Career Development: Continued Growth in Your Career

Remember though that you have an ultimate goal in your career. That means securing a job is not enough. You have to ensure at least one vertical movement in every 1 to 2 years in your position. To ensure this, you should do some effort to make your boss notice your abilities and your potential. Showing a good record is important. Whenever possible, volunteer to help on tasks and projects that will showcase your skills for a higher position. You may even volunteer for seminars and conventions. This will not only increase your value in your company but your professional career as well.

On your own, you can take seminars, trainings and even internships to increase your skills and to prepare yourself for a higher position. Always equip yourself with the right qualifications and training so you will be considered for the job.

Shifting to a New Career

It's possible that you may feel a burnout in your current job. You may feel that you cannot take the stress anymore. Or, perhaps you want to spend more with your family. For some, they just got into a career because of financial difficulty.

These are reasons why people shift careers. This time, the most important question is whether you are willing to start your career all over again. And many times, this means starting at a lower level than where you are in your present career.

There would also be a lot of changes in terms of doing the job and in your daily routine. Will you be willing to make them and adjust to your new career? Even if you're willing, you should also check whether you are capable of making the changes. You must also be equipped to do the job. If not, you should plan for your education first before making the shift.

Making a career shift is a big step so it's also important that you get the support of your family and friends. This will make your shift easier to do and lead you to accomplish your goal faster.

Another important factor of career development is making the strategies and plans on how you can do the shift and how you can be reach your ultimate goal. Proper planning is always important but following it is also just as important if you want to achieve your dream career.

Victor Ghebre is the editor of Settinggoals101.com where you get practical tips and information on goal Setting [http://www.Settinggoals101.com], motivation, leadership and more.

Visit Career Goal Setting [http://www.settinggoals101.com/career-goal-setting.html] to learn how to set yourself up for success and get free tips on how to effectively communicate at work.

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Valuable Diversions - Financial Freedom and Professional Security Through Career Acts

A Side Job. Profitable Hobby. Weekend Rock Band. Under the old rules of employment those with multiple sources of income may have been chastised by a spouse, parent, or nosy mother-in-law for "not having a professional focus" , "not being serious about your job" , "not sticking with it", and "being too distracted".

This is a new decade and those days are over.

Just as the riskiest financial investment strategy is to have all of your money in one place, the riskiest career management strategy is to have all of your income from one organization- unless you occupy a critical role, possess skills that are difficult to find on the labor market, and work for a company with financial security. There is a small percentage of working adults today in that group - with millions more who want to be a part of it. Heck, I want you to be part of it, enjoying full job security and financial freedom.

I am not advocating for you to add additional dull or stressful career acts. Multiple boring jobs would still result in an unsatisfying career overall (and an anxiety-filled life). You deserve more. I want you to do more of what you love, even if you start small with a profitable hobby, an eBay business, or a side job that starts you in an industry or occupational field you find interesting.

Here are three great reasons why you should consider leveraging your talents to manage your overall career as a portfolio of career acts:

Financial Gain and Security. If you are like most people, your career is your number one asset. And, as any other asset, you'd like to manage it for the maximum return. If you added a second career act (of something you loved doing) that provided an after-tax income of even 12K annually from age 25 through age 50, you would add $300,000 to your lifetime earnings. I know you didn't need me to do that math, but it is worth the visual - especially when contrasted with the fact that most people have less than $150,000 in their 401Ks upon retirement and the average home is now worth less than $175,000.
Intrinsic Rewards and Fulfillment. The additional benefit (one that neither your house nor your 401K will offer) is that your career can be a source of intrinsic rewards. If you have ever worked on a project you found interesting - really getting into the flow -- you know the joy and energy the right career act can give you. While I don't believe you should work more hours, I do believe you should devote more energy to building desired career acts to achieve greater fulfillment. Career acts also supply a stress-easing sense of security that comes from knowing if one act of your work-life becomes stale or disappears entirely that you have other sources of stimulation and income. Your career becomes more nimble and less stressful as your attention can be redirected positively, for personal and financial gain.
Professional Advancement. Careers are advanced through the acquisition of needed skills and a strong professional network. Multiple career acts can propel a career faster by multiplying the number of skills gained and people in one's professional network at a faster rate. You don't need to just believe me though. Published in 2009, researchers from the University of Aberdeen, Drs. Pouliakas, Panos, and Zangelidis, tracked over 5,500 people for almost 15 years, examining their employment patterns. While only 8.5% had a second career, those who did were able to use a second career act to obtain "new skills and expertise and as a stepping stone to a new career". Many of these people with diverse multiple career acts were able to springboard into entrepreneurial ventures. Having multiple income streams is a very productive way to grow your career.

Having a second or third career act (of something you love to do) makes sense. Have I convinced you yet?

Paula Caligiuri, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Human Resource Management Department at Rutgers University where she has directed the Center for HR Strategy since 2001. As a career expert, Dr. Caligiuri has written Get a Job, Not a Life: Do What You Love and Let Your Talents Work for You (FT Press, 2010) http://www.getalifenotajob.com. She has been recognized as one of the most prolific authors in the field of international business for her work in global careers, international human resource management, and global leadership development. For human resource management professionals she has also written (with Steven Poelmans) Harmonizing Work, Family, and Personal Life (Cambridge Press, 2008) and (with Dave Lepak and Jaime Bonache) Managing the Global Workforce (Wiley, 2010). Dr. Caligiuri has covered career-related topics for CNN and has hosted a pilot for a television show, CareerWATCH. She holds a Ph.D. from Penn State University in industrial and organizational psychology. Dr. Caligiuri is a popular work-life harmony and career fulfillment blogger: http://www.paulacaligiuri.com/blog

Enjoy A Successful Career Through Simple Career Planning

Once you have come to realise what that genuine desire is, and have ensured that it is consistent with your personal values. Then all you have to do is simply to move in the obvious direction that leads towards your desire.

The 3 Pillars of Career Success

You can start by reading several self-help books or listen to motivational cd's and subscribe to career related newsletters. There are loads of information out there about the right way and the ultimate solution etc. Hey, I have even written some of them and I also publish a newsletter and I would be glad to have you buy them and subscribe to them. But, you are really no different from any of the so-called Guru's or from me.

In fact you have all the same potentials and unless you are mentally or physically impaired, then you can make you career as success story all by yourself, if you so desire. All you have to do is learn and follow the Three Pillars of Career Success.

Point 1. Nothing happens until something moves

Point 2. Become internally who you want to be externally

Point 3. It is not the journey itself, but the destination that is important

Career Coaching is simply Career Planning... With Help and Motivation

There are never any "quick solutions" to life's many problems, including career problems. There are only gradual improvements. When you search for solutions, you are wasting precious time and energy, which you could instead have used to make several small but highly important improvements. Following a simple plan of incremental improvements, such as the "Six Step" SECURE career coaching strategy, will always prove to be far more efficient and profitable than any "quick solution" fix as frequently advertised.

Every journey and career move, begins with a small step and continues step by step until you reach your destination. However, once you are there and have enjoyed the sights and experiences, you will feel the urge to go to somewhere better. That is the natural journey of life and it is a journey that never ends, and which consists of many different phases and travels, which will take you to various places.

To effectively move forward in your career, you will have to keep looking forward and you will have to regularly look up towards your points of destination. However, in order for you to arrive successfully, you will have to look most at what is directly in front of you. This is essential so that you can steer around any obstacles and avoid any pitfalls. Thus you should only look up at your point of destination, in order to keep your general point of direction.

The problem most people have with their career and life, is that they look to the past for causes and to the future for solutions. Thus they go through life and career with one leg stuck in the past and the other leg ahead in the future. As a result... they are "urinating" on today's opportunities!

If your daily actions is build upon a "future vision" that is based on some "utopian" idea. And if your current re-actions to challenges and problems are based on finding causes in your past, and what has happened. Then you will be using those causes as excuses for your current problems and recent failures. Well... is it then really a mystery, why your current career situation seems stained with "yellow"?

Referring back to Point 1. "Nothing happens until something moves", then that simply mean that if you genuinely want change your career or specific parts of it, then you need to take action. You will need to move your life and your career in a new direction Today! Planning and research is good, but too much planning and research is just an excuse for delaying actions due to fear of failure.

Referring back to Point 2. "Become internally who you want to be externally", that that simply mean that you have to have the self-discipline to change yourself and your life. Do not allow yourself to fall into the trap in which you pretend to yourself and others that you do not know what to do or how to do it. You already know what you need to do and you know how you can learn to do it, SO STOP Wasting Time and Just DO IT!

Referring back to Point 3. "It is not the journey itself, but the destination that is important", then that simply mean that Whether your journey is constantly fun and exciting, or at times seems long and hard. Then it is important to realize that it is not the specific phases of the journey that is important, it is the arrival at your chosen destination that is important.

Your Career Development

Every choice you make affects your life and career, whether for good or for bad depends entirely upon you. You will know exactly what choices to make, if you just allow your values to lead you towards your goals. Start by focusing on what you have achieved in your career and you will soon find yourself feeling good about yourself. When you feel good about yourself then other people will also feel good about you. Your career will only move in the direction you lead it and it will only move at a pace equal to the time and energy you put into it.

Dan Sommer's "SECURE" Career Coaching Program

You will achieve what you want in your career, by following my tested and proven 6-step; "SECURE" career program

See: http://www.dansommer.biz/Career_Coaching.html

Dan Sommer is a world known Security & Protection Consultant and training program designer. Dan teach and coach from his experience in successful Marketing & Business Management strategies to small businesses, entrepreneurs and Close Protection Officers, who are setting up their own consultancy and protection agencies.

Dan regularly posts informative and at times "provocative" articles in magazines and ezines and he publishes monthly newsletters. Dan has worked on security and protection projects in several countries including: Denmark, England, Hong Kong, Iceland, Macau, Mexico, Northern Ireland and Wales.

As a consultant he has coached and mentored more than 300 students from 15 different countries and three continents. He has completed dozens of security, protection and counter terrorism courses and has Diplomas in Marketing & Business Management.

Dan has completed dozens of security, protection and counter terrorism courses and has Diplomas in Marketing & Business Management. Go to http://www.dansommer.biz to learn more about how Dan can help you succeed.

Finding Your Way Through Career Change

Do you want to be more excited about your work? Instead, are you dissatisfied with your job and feel stuck and/or frustrated? Often, people are unable to move forward because they don't know what they want to change. That's where the ADESA model comes in. The ADESA Model can help you build skills and experiences that will ensure your long term career success and satisfaction. This model offers a specialized process that will help you

* Discover and make use of your natural talents, skills, and strengths

* Find top interests and career motivations

* Make sound career decisions

* Change your career field, workplace, or job

* Transition to self-employment

Through the career transition process using this model, you will also become more aware of your own answers to some pretty big questions such as:

Who are you?

Why do you want to work?

What do you want to do?

Where do you want to do it?

Introducing the ADESA Model:Assess, Differentiate, Explore, Scribe, Achieve

How it works, step by step:

Step 1: Assess: Find clarity regarding your core needs, talents, interests, and motivations.

This essentially means you need to take the time to get to know yourself, get a handle on what you're good at, what you like to do, and what you really want. Assessments give you a way to organize, identify patterns, and discuss what you know about yourself, so you can relate this self-awareness to workplace possibilities. While these benefits are extremely useful in the career transition process, it's important to emphasize that career assessments do not tell you what to do or be when you grow up.

There are a wide range of career assessments available to help you clarify what's most important. To get the most out of career assessments, you may want to consider working with a professional career services provider. Good career service providers are qualified to administer a full range of career assessments to help you organize and discuss what you really want and find important for your next career decision.

Step 2: Differentiate: Create demand for what you offer that's remarkable and unique.

This means you need to take the time to develop a clear understanding about all that you offer. You have natural talents and developed strengths that serve you well in your work. The question is how aware are you these attributes? It's important for you to be able to speak with ease about the remarkable qualities you can bring to a new work experience.

To begin the work of identifying these qualities, ask people you know to tell you a story of a time they've seen you at your best. Review all the examples you receive from your friends and colleagues. Consider what themes emerge. Pick the example you like the best, and practice talking out loud about what that experience was like for you. You may wish to use these three questions as a guide:

What was the Challenge you faced? What Action did you take to address the challenge? What was the Result of your actions?

For those of you who love acronyms, the three questions above help you focus your example on three relevant facts - the Challenge, your Action, and the Result - CAR. This is a very simple, yet surprisingly effective approach that can help you start talking about your own remarkable qualities with ease.

Step 3: Explore: Become enlivened by calling forth new career field, job, and workplace possibilities for your future.

This means you need to research what all is available that aligns to what you want and what you offer, both of which you clarified in the previous two steps. Now that you've taken the time to clarify your core needs, natural talents, interests, motivations, and working style preferences, you can use this information to identify new career, job, and workplace possibilities that align to your preferences. Many career assessments provide reports that show top jobs and job families that people who share your interests, needs, and values find most satisfying. You can use these reports to Identify and begin researching top interests by exploring every job listed that appeals to you. Many web sites provide detailed information about jobs you're interested in, including:

* Educational and training needs

* Average earnings

* Anticipated job prospects

* Typical work activities

* Work environment

Another thing you can do to continue researching top interests is identify people already in the field you're considering. Ask them for an informational interview. You may also wish to engage in other kinds of active experiments such as job shadowing, internships, or joining professional organizations to help you more thoroughly explore this new possibility.

Once you've completed the exploration, you can consider the following:

* Which job(s) had the best congruence between what you want and what they offer?

* What additional information do you need to decide whether this is your best career target?

Once you have all the information you need to identify your career target, you'll be ready to establish a career goal that will set the direction and define your focus over 1-2 years.

Step 4: Scribe: Get prepared by creating high quality resumes, cover letters, professional bios, and more.

As you're creating these documents, remember that people who win interviews for the job they want differentiate themselves and sell their skills to prospective employers. You may want to use the following evaluative questions to help you orient your Resume, Cover Letter, and/or Professional Portfolio towards these goals.

Personal Branding and Marketing

* How are they a well-branded presentation of your value?

* How do they sell what you offer that adds value to prospective employers, that's compelling and unique?

* How easy are they to read and understand quickly?

* How do the documents clearly and quickly define your goal?

* How do they focus in on what's most important to achieve your career objective?

* What's compelling about them?

* How well do they quantify your professional accomplishments and highlights?

* How do they showcase and demonstrate relevant transferable skills?

Appropriate Appearance, Style and Format

* How does the length support your experience and objective?

* How does the layout help grab the attention of busy hiring professionals?

* How does the style enable the reader to find the most important information while scanning?

* How does the format (chronological, functional, etc.) support your goal?

* Is the text error-free? * How do the design elements support the readability?

Step 5: Achieve: Enjoy success by bringing your goals for your career to life.

This final step of the ADESA model involves creating a realistic plan to achieve your career goals. You will use this step to consider:

* How will you get to your goal?

* What specific objectives do you have?

* How will you achieve these objectives?

* What will you do specifically?

* When will you do it?

* What resources can you use to help you with these actions?

* What commitments do you need to make to yourself in order to reach your goal?

To find your way through career change using the ADESA model, you may decide you'd prefer to work with a professional career services provider. This can be a helpful option if you find yourself struggling to generate meaningful answers to these questions, and want professional assistance putting what you have to offer on paper. There are a wide range of professional career and resume services available for job seekers. Some of them specialize only in resume services, while others are prepared to help you throughout your career transition process. If you choose to work with a Professional Career and/or Resume provider, take the time to find a reputable service. You can identify such services when you know they belong to professional career organizations, are qualified to administer a full range of career assessments, and /or are certified resume writers. Services with these credentials are a good investment to the job seeker.

Explore the Possibilities. Then Narrow your Focus.

The career transition process can be quite comprehensive, enabling the following outcomes: greater self awareness; ideas for new occupations; heightened motivation - a new sense of excitement; an active, successful job search; and moving beyond job-related fears or inertia.

This article is provided by http://www.srpcareertransitions.com: Helping people clarify their goals, differentiate themselves, sell their skills to prospective employers, and get on a path to more enlivening work. Stephanie Peacocke is a career coach, certified professional resume writer and specialist in career resilience and differentiation. http://www.srpcareertransitions.com

SKorea resumes aid to NKorea through UNICEF

Tuesday 6th December, 2011

SKorea resumes aid to NKorea through UNICEF   
     Monday 5th December, 2011  Source: The Seattle Times

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea says it has decided to resume sending aid to North Korea through the U.N.
children's agency UNICEF. It's another sign that animosities between the two Koreas are easing. Diplomats are seeking to restart long-stalled nuclear disarmament talks and South Korean religious and cultural delegations are visiting the...
Libya has been liberated largely because of countries like Canada. Hoorah for Canada and its Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose policies have painted him firmly in the image of former United States President George W.Bush.

Breaking News
Tuesday 6th December, 2011

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Find Career Options Through Taking a Teen Career Quiz

Finding where you fit through a Career Quiz

It is hard to know oneself well when one is a Teen, because you are still learning things about yourself and trying to decide where it is you fit in the world of working. You are growing all the time. A job chosen while one is a teen, may not suit him well in his thirties and forties. We all change, at different speeds. We change our interests, change our minds in the middle of the stream, and sometimes change our minds about those things we value and hold dear to ourselves.

There are many types of career tests online, and offline. They are made to help you choose the right career, but each test does it from a slightly different angle. For example, a Career Interest Test assesses your interests, while a Career Aptitude Test will test your skills and abilities. On the other hand, a Career Personality Test will try to match your personality to careers that are best for those with your unique personality style.

The Key is to Know Yourself

Tests can help guide your career path, but the paradox is that you have to know yourself well enough to know which career path is best for you. You also have to know yourself well enough to answer the test questions honestly and accurately. Although, there are no right or wrong answers, you get out of the test what you put into it. So, if you are confused about what you want or who you are, this can complicate being able to make the right decision about which career to choose.

A test can help you learn about what things you are interested in and passionate about, but it cannot tell you what you should do for a living. It also cannot tell you who you are. You must decide that for yourself. But, when you are young, you are experimenting, learning, and deciding what values in life are true for you. You may not know enough about yourself and what you like, to make a decision about which careers you'd like to be in.

You are making choices right now, which make you unique and different from all other people. It will be hard to choose that special career that will last a lifetime. It is normal for everyone to change careers more than once in his lifetime, no matter what age they are. And, this may be for a variety of reasons. You can get bored with your job, or simply outgrow it and desire a change, because you want more meaning or more of a challenging job. You may have chosen a job you thought was cool while a teen, but in midlife the passion for it has disappeared.

Purpose and Mission

This is particularly true for those in middle age. People looking for a second career or final career, often forfeit money for meaning, purpose and mission. They may have never found their Dream Careers, because they were too busy trying to raise a family. Now with the kids gone, it is their turn to rediscover themselves within a new career. That is why many older citizens also volunteer for a particular cause.

Along with the extra income generated, it's the meaning and purpose those in midlife seek. Some Teens know what they want to do with their lives, and some don't. This is common. You just aren't ready for some things until you are ready. This holds true for teens searching for their first jobs, as well as those seeking their second careers. The old expression comes to mind - When the student is ready, the master will appear. You can't make a fine wine ready before it's time, either.

You are who you are, and although you are in control of your life for the most part, life can take you to
where it wants you to go, so you learn your life lessons. We learn that not everything is under our direct control. Unfortunately, life can take us sometimes where we don't want to go. There may be a death in the family, divorce, circumstances may change beyond our control, there may be health problems, acts of nature disasters, wars, and other misfortunes. At this point in your life, decide to take a Career Test to learn more about yourself and where you fit in the work world.

These types of tests will give you career choices in the form of a printable readout. Take your time, and even try out some of the recommended jobs through volunteering, or part time jobs after school. You can even learn what you like and don't like, through haphazardly taking jobs you didn't plan for. Talk to those already within those jobs you are interested in, for first hand knowledge and advice. A Career Test will also tell you what education is a match for your particular career choice. Make sure you talk to a Certified Career Guidance Counselor at your High School, College, or University, as he can interpret the results of each test and offer excellent career planning and career direction advice.

Steve Humphreys

http://www.career-test-for-teens.com

Key to ideal career discovery is self-knowledge. Find, develop, and plan your career choice with our self-help resources. Teens, career changers, or job searchers will find helpful advice and articles about career tests, resumes, interviews, and more. Let us help you find your dream career on your journey.

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