Pursuing a new career direction after a career break - Career blog - Position Ignition - taking you to the next step in your career

After taking a career break to be a parent, a lot of us decide to pursue a new career direction instead of returning to our old role. Changing career can be daunting at the best of times, so it's natural to feel overwhelmed by the challenge if you haven't been in the workplace for a while. However, it's by no means an impossible feat. The most challenging aspect is perhaps deciding which career you want to pursue and then finding a way in. There are five key messages to take on board when deciding which path to take and how to follow it:

1. Start planning

To ensure you choose the right career for you, it's important to do some planning. Choosing a career can't be done overnight, it takes time to think things through and work out the best options for you. Get a feel for the types of career you're suited to by doing a few of the career personality tests available online. These are basically psychometric tests that identify possible careers for you based on their assessment of your skills set, aspirations and character traits. There are a whole range of them available and the costs varies from free to expensive-but not too expensive!

2. Define your criteria

Another good starting point is to think about what your constraints and priorities are in terms of career. Can you only work certain hours because of the limited childcare options available to you?  Is it a priority that you work close to home? Once you've worked out what your criteria is, start researching different careers to see which ones match up to the criteria.

3. Get experimenting

Although it's good to start planning, we risk never getting out of the planning stage. We keep planning and researching instead of moving onto the next stage and get trapped in one big cycle of procrastination. Don't over-plan: although it's important to know who you are when choosing a career, what does that actually help you to do? The best way to test out potential avenues is to go out and try them as soon as possible. Go to conferences and networking events within the career field you're interested in. Join a club or group that will allow you to participate in relevant activities. Not only will you get a feel for the kind of work you'd be doing, you'll also start meeting new people. It's about getting both yourself and your name out there.

4. Don't restrict yourself

The relevance of meeting new people in the field you're targeting is that you can actually talk to them about that particular field. By all means keep talking with your existing network, because you may be surprised by what your established contacts can help with. For the most part, however, if you only talk with your existing contacts, you'll only be talking about your existing life. You built up your professional network through your previous career, but you're no longer focusing on that career. Signal to both yourself and to potential leads that you're serious about finding a new career by finding new people to go with it.

5. Prepare yourself

Meeting new people is easier said than done, especially on a professional level. Those of us who are not natural networkers often get tongue-tied and just don't know how to approach people. Either that, or when we do get into a conversation with someone we ramble on nervously without making it clear what we want and what we can offer. Before you start networking be clear on what you're going to tell people. Plan beforehand what you would say if you had two or three minutes to tell some what you want to do.

Running through this entire process is the core message to take your time. Frenetic activity does not equate to career openings. We can be tempted to fill in as many job application forms as we can get our hands on, or to spray our CVs around but this is not the most productive method. Instead be smart about finding a new career by identifying a specific path to take and then focusing your efforts on it. Career break or no career break, changing careers can take any amount of time, be it 6 months or 2 years. Be patient and know it'll be worth it when you find the career that's right for you!

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Author: Nathalie Metcalf. Nathalie is a Position Ignition Career Guide, running the ‘Mums 2 Work’ workshops for mothers wanting to return to work. She helps people with change and transition whether looking for a new job, returning to work, wanting a career change or setting up a new company on your own.

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LinkedIn Tips & Career Advice by Career Expert Joshua Waldman : CAREEREALISM

By CAREEREALISM-Approved Expert, Joshua Waldman

I don’t really consider myself an HR person. I’m more of a social media strategist who loves helping job seekers. However, I do occasionally attend HR related training. Yesterday was one such occasion and inevitably, I had a shock.

The discussion moved from hiring techniques, to LinkedIn photos. Many of the folks in the room would agree with us LinkedIn photos should be professional. No argument. But someone told us a story that made us cringe. And if you are in HR, you may cringe as well.

This recruiter was working with a candidate, who had hired her to position him for a job. He had a fabulous resume. Literally, she had trouble finding anything to change. But then she took one look at his LinkedIn profile photo.

The guy looked like an axe murder. She said, “No wonder he wasn’t getting any interviews, despite his killer credentials, no pun intended.”

So he retook his photo, and I kid you not, within a week, he had several opportunities arise.

(Lets just ignore the more frightening social implications of that for now, and accept the fact your photo makes a big impact).

So I ask you, does your photo strive too hard to be what you think professional is supposed to be?

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Or, are you using it as an opportunity to convey personality?

I’m not a photographer, but I would like to offer some profile photo tips:

1. Don’t be afraid to show personality. You can have personality and be professional at the same time.

2. Experiment with action shots. There isn’t a lot of room, but the more you can demonstrate YOU in action the better. Can you fit yourself giving a presentation in the photo, shaking hands, or even leaning on a hand?

3. Play with the negative space. Try turning your body or tilting your head.

4. Smile and think inviting thoughts.

That’s my amateur photography advice. If you have some more ideas, please share them in the comments below.

If you have your own blog and are looking to make an impression on your next employer, learn about the Comment Co-Op from Career Enlightenment. Quickly build comments, Google ranking and social proof to wow the pants off your interviewer.

Did you enjoy this article? You can read more articles by this expert here. Also, check out all of our free webinars!

CAREEREALISM Expert, Joshua Waldman is the owner of Career Enlightenment where he helps motivated job seekers get better jobs faster using social media. He received his MBA from Boston University and has 5 years of corporate experience and consulting. You can find him at www.CareerEnlightenment.net or follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaWaldman.

The photo for this article is provided by Shutterstock.

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Unemployment: An Emotional Roller Coaster - Career Chaos

Fear and despair - doom and gloom. Yes, it's a a depressing work world right now. If you have a job, you cling to it for dear life and do everything your employer asks no matter how much mandatory overtime or how many extra responsibilities assigned. If you don't have a job, you frantically search job boards, blast out resumes, and squeeze every penny until it shrieks.

For those in a job search, there are good days and bad, highs and lows. Besides working through the stages of grief over your job loss, you probably face overwhelming feelings of isolation. Gone are the co-workers you bantered with during the day and relaxed with after work. In their place, is a computer screen that you keep asking, "Where are the jobs?" And it doesn't talk back.

Everyone advises you to network, network, network to find your next job. And you ask, "Where?" If like most, you didn't cultivate a robust network of contacts while you were working - who has time for all that? And now you wish you had. Oh, please, just tell me where to begin...

Family and friends try to be understanding. They offer support, but you worry they're becoming impatient with your continual lamenting, "I can't find any job leads." They send leads for dog walker and lawn maintenance your way, all in the spirit of trying to help. Some friends get bored with your situation, and move on to others who still know how to laugh and have fun. Immediate family members begin to wonder how their lives are going to be affected - can I keep playing soccer? Can I keep getting my nails done every week? Can we keep HBO and cable TV? What about our vacation?

Then, when you get a real job interview, your hopes skyrocket. You tell yourself not to have high expectations in case you don't get the job offer, but you just can't help yourself. Will this be the one?!

So what can you do to manage your emotional roller coaster?

First: Turn off the television. Don't let yourself buy into the media madness. Sure, the unemployment rate is high, but over 90% of the country is still employed. In fact, if you have a four-year degree, only 4.7% of your peers are unemployed.

Second: Find a job search buddy to share your job search process. This will assuage your isolation as well as provide you the moral support of someone who's going through the same challenges as you. Job clubs (usually free) have popped up across the country to offer support plus job search tips - find one and join!

Third: Invest in a Career Coach.If you want to speed up your reemployment, this is your best bet. I know money is tight, but if you get sick, you go to a doctor, right? When you hire a career coach, you get the best career advice, resources, and support at your finger tips. Your Career Coach becomes your partner as you navigate through the murky waters of the job search process. Instead of taking months, you may take only weeks to achieve your goal. Don't short change your career by trying to do the hard work all alone.

Whatever you do to manage your emotional roller coaster, it's important that you do it now, before despair takes over your life. The longer you wait to face your unemployment fears, the deeper you'll fall into the black hole. You owe it to your family and yourself to take charge of your situation - get this mess figured out - NOW!

Wishing you career success in 2010!

Meg

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Is Your Resume Over-Bold? | CareerAlley

“If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.” – Dan Quayle

Author Byline:  Phil Rosenberg, President http://reCareered.blogspot.com
Author Website: http://reCareered.blogspot.com

One of the more common tactical mistakes I see on resume is over-bolding – using too much bold.

Over-bolding creates many problems for your reader and even more problems for a candidate trying to get their point across to their 4 audiences .

Last week, this was a topic with one of my clients. His resume had a serious case of over-bolding. Every 3rd or 4th line used bold font. Some entire lines were bolded. An entire paragraph was in bold. If the candidate knew how to make flashing fonts in multicolored lights, that candidate would have gladly used it … all over their resume.

This is a drastic and extreme example of over-bolding. Many resumes that aren’t as gratuitous with the bold are still way over-bold.

Before we get started – I use bold for section titles. Blog platforms allow readers fewer formatting options as MS Word. Bold is a good way to keep readers on track in the outline writing format I use. I’m discussing the use of bold in resumes, a document written for a specific purpose, and read in a specific way.

Problems With Over Bolding

Bolding is useful to draw the reader’s eye to items that the candidate wants to highlight. What happens when too much is bolded?

* Everything looks the same …
* It’s tiring to the reader: Imagine Gilbert Gottfried reading a resume to you …
* Reader focus …
* Shows a lack of ability to prioritize …
* Difficult to skim …

Learn how to make more effective use of bolding …

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Good luck in your search.

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Five Ways to Rehab Your Resume - Careers Articles

Just in case you haven't heard it enough: It's tough to get a job these days. So tough, in fact, that it's not unlikely for a job seeker to spend six months or longer looking for a job before actually getting one. Although it's common for today's job search to take a while, there are ways to increase your chances of getting noticed quickly. So, if you're starting to get frustrated with just how long it's taking to find a job, you may want revamp your job search, starting with that all-important document: your resume.

Although most job seekers feel that they've done all they can with their resume -- included great "action" words, checked spelling and grammar, ensured consistent formatting -- there is almost always room for improvement. Chances are, your resume can benefit from one of the following points:

1. Make sure your objective has an outward focus

If you choose to include an objective on your resume, make sure it addresses the employer's needs. "Don't emphasize what you're looking for in a job, but rather what skills and talents you offer an employer," says Rick Saia, a certified professional resume writer for Pongo Resume.

For example, an objective statement like: "To find a position in public relations that will allow me to further my communications career and develop my skill set," is all about what you want out of your job search. In order to increase your chances of engaging a hiring manager, change your objective to instead reflect what you have to offer, i.e., "To benefit a company through my extensive network of press contacts, 10 years of copywriting experience, and demonstrated ability to successfully pitch stories to the media."

2. List accomplishments, not duties

"Does the resume emphasize what you accomplished in your current or previous job? That's what should stand out; not merely what duties you performed, but what differences you made in your role for your employer," says Saia. "For example, 'served as project manager for replacement of 1,000 desktop computers' is a duty. Saying 'managed replacement of 1,000 desktop computers in half the allotted time' tells the employer you can take on a big job and meet a critical deadline. That's an accomplishment, and it made a difference."

Most duties can be turned into accomplishments through quantifying them or stating how you met or surpassed the goal of the assignment.

3. Don't list out-of-date or irrelevant skills

At your entry-level job, you may have spent a lot of time on administrative work, like filing documents into a comprehensive system of folders and filing cabinets. But that was 10 years ago. Today, companies rarely even keep physical records, so most likely the "administrative skills" you listed on your resume won't be applicable at your next job. If you haven't done something in 10 years, chances are things have changed, and it's best to leave the skill off your resume.

Although entry-level job seekers sometimes include a section of "interests" on their resume, the space-filler has no place on the resume of older workers. Even if you spend every second you're not working thinking about baseball and you've scored the most homeruns in your recreational league, a hiring manager has no real use for -- or interest in -- this information. Anything you list on your resume should have a professional tie-in.

4. Make sure your resume is search engine optimized

Since much of the initial job application process is done online, recruiters often use software programs to scan submitted resumes for important words and job functions. If your resume doesn't include these keywords, there's little chance that your application will ever reach the desk of a hiring manager.

"Right this minute, recruiters and employers are typing keywords in their search engines to find job candidates to fill openings that match your job objective," says Susan Ireland, author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Perfect Resume." "So do some research to find 10 or so keywords from job postings and job descriptions that best match your job objective. Then weave those keywords into your resume statements and/or make lists of keywords in special sections on your resume, under headings such as Skills, Relevant Skills, Computer Skills, Technical Skills, or some other heading that makes sense for your occupation."

For example, if your goal is to get a job as an advertising coordinator, you will probably come across the same keywords (i.e. accounts, AdWords, media planning, sales, marketing, tracking, supporting) over and over again in job postings for that kind of position. Figure out how to incorporate these keywords into your resume for the best chance of being found by a recruiter.

5. Bold your best features

According to a recent study from the U.S. Department of Labor, there are 5.4 applicants for every job opening. With stats like that, you can bet potential employers are up to their eyeballs in applications. Make it easy for hiring managers to skim your resume for important qualifications by bolding any skills, honors and experiences that support your candidacy.

The strong text should be saved only for your most important qualifications, though, so limit bold items to no more than five. Also, make sure to keep a "plain-text" resume on hand, in case a job listing calls for an unformatted resume.

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Best of Branding: Top 5 This Week | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

Here are the Top 5 This Week – @andywergedal

Social Networking is the theme of the past week. Horror stories of things you shouldn’t do. New grads finding their first job. Tips and Directories on Twitter and a Linkedin status discussion round out this weeks Top 5.

The Top 5 This Week

1. Social Media Etiquette at Work – [Brand Yourself]

You’ve heard the rumors, the horror stories and the success stories. You know the positives and negatives of using social media for promoting yourself and your business. Though it may seem obvious at times what you should and shouldn’t do, people are breaking the rules left and right.

2. One Way Struggling New Grads Can Find Jobs – [Career Doctor]

Jerri writes: I graduated college in December but am not having any success in landing a job in this economy. Any suggestions for what I can do?

3. 25 Resume Tips That Help Make a Great First Impression – [AOL Jobs]

Frequently your resume is your first chance to make an impression on a recruiter or hiring manager. And you never get a second chance to make a first impression, so the importance of the resume cannot be underestimated. Here are my top quick tips for creating a resume that makes a great first impression and gets hiring managers to take a second look at you.

4. 5 Most Popular Twitter Directories That Will Grow Your Personal Brand – [JobMob]

Like the classic phone book, being listed in the most popular directories is a surefire way to be found more on Twitter. Popular directories became popular because they are generally easy to use, and specifically so for listing yourself. Take advantage of all the options to give yourself exposure is as many relevant categories as possible.

5. How often do you change your LinkedIn Status? – [I'm On Linkedin - Now What???]

How much is too much? How much is too little?

She throws out the number 15, in one day (presumably on Twitter). Wow, that is A LOT. Unless you have someone dedicated to social media outreach I’d say that (a) you are going to alienate people and (b) you are wasting your time that should be spent elsewhere (like pursuing deeper relationships, instead of spewing your kewl ideas all day long).!

Photo Credit

I am a professional encourager (personal life) and a diplomatic pessimist (PMP). Check out my editorial posting on 40×50.com and on twitter @andywergedal… I have a passion for helping people find jobs.

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Six Great Resources for Understanding HR | Brand-Yourself.com Blog

Regardless of whether you are in the job hunt or an employee at an organization, chances are you work directly at one time or another with your Human Resources department.  Often seen as mysterious, establishing relationships with HR professionals can prove a successful strategy as a job seeker, employee, or someone who is just curious and wants to learn more.  Thankfully, there are HR bloggers, communities, and websites that are providing HR pros with real time information and resources. Here are a handful of resources, in fact Six resources that I recommend HR professionals and those interested in learning more about the HR industry, add to their RSS readers or bookmark.

The Human Race Horses. An HR blog managed by Mike Vandervort. Mike discusses Human Resource topics, Labor Relations and a mix of social media.

TNLT. An HR extension of the popular Electronic Recruiting Exchange or ERE, TNLT is a new network of HR related blog posts and articles.

LinkedIn HR. Almost 300,000 members strong. This is a valuable resource and LinkedIn Group to build connections, ask questions, and learn about news and information concerns the HR Practioner.

SmartBrief Workforce. An amazing email newsletter and resource with a collection of leading HR bloggers and practioners. Last week’s announcement of their new editor and former COO of SHRM, China Gorman is a smart move for this publication.

HR Fishbowl. Charlie Judy is a senior level HR practioner and one of my favorite new and upcoming HR bloggers. He is focused on HR issues and provides an experienced point of view with a focus on strategic and feet on the street human resources.

The HR Net. Steve Browne, an HR Practioner from Ohio who has created an amazing HR Forum that is free and available for anyone to join called The HR Net. He sends weekly updates to members of the forum who are able to post HR questions and comments anonymously. Connect with Steve directly to learn more at sbrowne@larosas.com.

Do you have a great Trench HR Resources you care to share? Leave a comment let the Blogging4Jobs readers know.

Photo Credit Dry Icons.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is known as @Blogging4Jobs on Twitter, is a published author of “Tweet This! Twitter for Business” and  is a leading HR blogger and new media strategist.  Jessica is a subject matter expert and provides insights in the areas of  HR, recruiting, and new media consultancy with her company, Xceptional HR.  Her newest project isTexting4Jobs, a text based job board platform recently launched in Oklahoma.

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