Happiness a new job away
1 year, 5 months agoMOLLY SELVIN
April 3, 2008
Today's job market bears little resemblance to that of years gone by.
If one of your New Year's resolutions is to find a better job _ or just find a job _ you have lots of company right now. Many businesses operate on a calendar year budgeting cycle, so now they have money to fill vacancies or expand at this time of year. Now could also be the time to land your dream job. But first you have to know where to look and what to look for.
Is that too obvious? Job-finding experts say it isn't. "There's a huge disconnect in society when it comes to thinking about careers," says Elliott Brown, founder of Springboard Forward, a Californian non- profit organization which provides career- planning services to low-income workers.
"Our parents were told that you went to school and then you made a career choice," he says, and that was it. And for generations an American worker could expect to be hired and retired by the same employer. But the economy _ not to mention individuals' attention spans and expectations _ has changed.
Today, someone will go job hunting at least eight times in his or her life, writes Richard Bolles in his classic career-seekers guide, What Color Is Your Parachute? The disconnect is that many Americans don't understand or don't want to believe that.
The truth is that it's not only a good idea periodically to reassess your skills, interests and goals, but it's also imperative to stay marketable. You should think of your career-search process as a long-term journey, Brown advises, with sojourns along the way. How to discover a passion that pays? Read on for tips and we'll help you land your next job.
What to Do First
There's little mystery here, experts agree. You have to be honest with yourself _ about your skills, what you like to do and, most importantly, what you don't like to do. Susan Miller, founder of California Career Services, asks employed clients a seemingly simple question: When you're having a good day at work, what exactly are you doing? She follows up with: Among all the things that you do every day at work, what do you do best?
Next, take this test:
* Interview people who know you well. They can help sort out what truly engages you and what turns you off. They may have insights about vocations you never imagined and could remind you of important truths about yourself.
If you struggle with percentages or the concept of compound interest flummoxes you, a career in finance is probably not your best bet no matter how passionate you are about making a lot of money.
* Investigate jobs you think would suit you. Don't just imagine that you would enjoy being a paralegal; talk to a paralegal.
* Intern or volunteer to test your conclusions. Internships aren't only for young people. If those positions aren't available, companies are sometimes happy to take on unpaid workers for special assignments. Or a paralegal might let you shadow her for a day.
This can help validate your research and give you experience and contacts to "pivot into a new occupation," says Mark Oldman, co-founder of Vault, a business information firm.
He recalls a banker who dreamed of a radio career, interned as a disc jockey and loved it so much that she quit banking for a full-time job on the air.
Perhaps the most important tip of all is to set realistic expectations. Finding the career path that's right for you could easily take six months. Bookstores stock shelves of career-planning volumes and new ones come out all the time.
There are guides for young adults, mid- career workers, women and workers with disabilities, for people interested in health care, event planning or finance, for fashionistas, bookworms, film buffs or people who care about the environment.
There are volumes for English majors, sociology majors, math geeks and on and on. Should you read all of them? Or any of them? Don't feel overwhelmed. The best advice is to browse and pick and choose. When you're on the road to self-discovery, detours can be valuable _ and free of charge with a library card.
Many of the books include exercises designed to tease out your strongest interests, like these from What Colour Is Your Parachute? Draw a picture of your ideal life. With colored pencils on a big sheet of white paper, sketch pictures or symbols to depict where you want to live and with whom, what your house or apartment would look like, and so on. "The power of this exercise is sometimes amazing," Bolles writes, because it forces you to think more creatively.
Think of everyone you know, have seen on television or have read about, and ask whose job would you most like to have? You might surprise yourself.
You don't have to look hard to find career help on the web.
Many authors operate companion sites for their books with tests, checklists, diagrams and links to courses and resources to help you find your path.
"I became enormously frustrated that people live paycheck to paycheck with no passion," says Nicholas Aretakis, who wrote No More Ramen and runs www.NoMoreRamenOnline.com.
He calls it "the twenty-something's real world survival guide".
Cued to young people struggling to "find themselves" as they leave college or their parent's orbit, the web site is sprinkled with anecdotes, "to do" lists and advice, including the pros and cons of graduate school and how to become a Supreme Court justice.
"If you were a jock in college," Aretakis says, "you may not make the PGA or the LPGA, but you could market yourself to sports-apparel companies."
Along the same lines, job search sites such as www.Monster.com and www.CareerBuilder.com offer free assessment tests, articles on careers, research on hot jobs and bits and pieces about job training.
The "My Interest Finder" quiz on the californiacolleges.edu site asks you to rate how much you would enjoy conducting a symphony or performing hospital nursing duties or mapping the ocean floor.
But if you're honest with yourself and pay attention, you can learn something from almost any self-examination no matter how silly the questions might seem.
Consider these examples from the Princeton Review:
* I would rather be a wildlife expert, or I would rather be a public-relations expert.
* I would rather be a company controller, or I would rather be a TV anchor.
* I would rather be an auditor, or I would rather be a musician.
Forget your high-school guidance counselor; career advisers have gone upscale. Private counselors, who work out personalized plans for each seeker, may charge hourly fees of up to US$200 ($252). Their services can include assessment tests, job market research, resume help and coaching sessions to calm interview jitters. Many non-profit counseling agencies charge less than private firms. The career centers at virtually every college and university are gold mines for befuddled students and alumni.
"You have no idea how many lawyers I see walk in my door saying, `I'm done,' " says counselor Deborah Campbell at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. Ditto for burned-out nurses.
Like many counselors, Campbell asks the people who come to her: What do you like to do in your spare time? What was your favorite class in school?
At Springboard Forward counselors, clients attend workshops to create career maps. These don't necessarily include a destination, but they have what Brown calls "the components" _ skills, interests, dreams _ of what he reminds clients is going to be quite a trip. "I tell people to relax," Brown says. "It's going to be a long journey."
