Career  Counseling

Education about information on their job or career search is a factor in getting focused in the right direction and firmly establish their future career goals and expectations before finalizing job titles, job descriptions, and salary.

The WOWi and other such aptitude tests are important to match abilities and interests. Good reality check to eliminate frustration and give fine-tuned focus.

  

Career Change Considerations

 

 Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One    by Jenny Blake.https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=monstercom&l=am2&o=1&a=1591848202

https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/pivot-into-new-career-jenny-blake-interview-0916

 

Feeling stuck? Monster spoke with author and career strategist Jenny Blake about her new book, which aims to help workers overcome unhappiness and make a lasting career change.

Not really feeling your current job? Did you not really feel your last one, either? Are you getting tired of asking yourself, “What’s next?” every few years?

Jenny Blake wants to help you find a lasting answer. Unsatisfied in her career, she left a plumb job at Google in 2011 to write a book and launch her own consulting business.

By choosing to embrace change instead of staying stagnant in her career, Blake was inspired her to write her latest book, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One.https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=monstercom&l=am2&o=1&a=1591848202

Blake defines a career pivot as “doubling down on what is working to make a purposeful shift in a new, related direction.” Pivoting, in this sense, is “an intentional, methodical process for nimbly navigating career changes.”

Monster recently spoke with Blake about how everyone—regardless of age, career stage or bank account balance—can use her pivot method to get unstuck from a career plateau and get better at adapting to change.

 

Q. Your website states that the average employee tenure in America is just four to five years, and even those roles tend to change dramatically within that time. With all that change in mind, what can the everyday employee do to increase their chances of having a fulfilling, successful career?

A. The crux of the book is centered around a four-stage process [plant, scan, pilot and launch] called “the pivot method.” The one thing that anyone can do, whether they’re self-employed or working for someone else at a company, is look at what’s really working [for you], look at your strengths, what you most enjoy, what you’re interested in, what skills you would be really excited to learn in the coming years. That’s what I call the “plant” stage.

Set a vision for one year from now. I think the question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” is totally obsolete because none of us can really know. But what does success look like in your role a year from now?https://cdn.oas-c18.adnxs.com/RealMedia/ads/Creatives/default/empty.gif

Q. We should be looking to pivot every year?

A. No, this doesn’t mean that we always have to be making dramatic career pivots all the time. It’s certainly not about that. You can even pivot within your role. Pivot is more of a state-of-mind to say, “What’s working? What do I want to do next and how can I run small experiments to get there?”

That small experiment piece is a really big part of the method, as well. You can run little career pilots to test a new direction without feeling the pressure to have to move up some giant rung on the ladder in one fell swoop.

 

Q. What are the universal signs that tell you it’s the right time to pivot?

A. In some cases, people get pivoted. They are laid off, their company reorganizes, they move teams, they lose a big client. But if it’s a proactive pivot, there are a couple ways to know when you’re at a pivot point.

One would just be looking at what’s working and what’s next just for the sake of doing it. Like an annual exercise to say, “OK what am I most excited about in the coming years?” It’s not instigated by anything, and that’s where the pivot mindset is a regular practice.

Barring that, sometimes we hit a pivot point we don’t really see coming. All of a sudden, we feel really bored or stressed. Those are physical signs that it’s time to pivot. Sometimes when we ignore them or we don’t proactively reflect on how things are going, we hit these pivot points almost by surprise, and that’s when they feel like a crisis.

Q. Fear is obviously a major roadblock that keeps people from pivoting. How should we confront this fear so that it doesn’t stand in our way?

A. One thing is not to take that fear personally. Recognize that career changes will threaten what seems like our most fundamental needs: food, clothing, shelter. When we think about a career change, it’s scary because our livelihood is at stake.

If you have fear, that’s OK. That’s actually a sign that you’re doing something exciting and you’re making a change. Change tends to incite fear. Look to take small next steps that are within your stretch zone, not your panic zone.

 

 

In the book, I share this notion of a “risk-o-meter,” your inner risk temperature. Some people are currently in their comfort zone, everything’s fine. When you hit a plateau, you go into that stagnation zone. You’re really bored and ready for a change. The sweet spot for pivoters is in their stretch zone, where they’re feeling challenged, engaged and excited. You’ll know if you’re trying to make a move that’s too sharp, too big of a turn from where you are now, if you feel like you’re in your panic zone, which is debilitating fear that prevents you from taking action. If that’s the case, look for a smaller next step instead.

 

Q. OK, so let’s say all the pieces are in place, and you make that career change you’ve been planning for…and you wind up falling on your face. What is the next step?

A. Any next move is going to be informative about what works, what doesn’t work and what next experiments you want to try. As long as someone can keep that learning mindset and say, “What can I learn from this?”, you can then apply the pivot method to a “failure.” So of the failure, you can say, “Well, what did work within this? What didn’t? What would I want to do more of? How can I adjust this?”

A lot of times when I’ve seen pivots not work, it’s because the person tried to turn too sharply from their current base of strengths, interests, experience and even what they wanted. Usually a pivot that doesn’t seem to work means going back to some of those core elements.

Make a habit out of the process, in general. Every quarter, or every six months, I look at what’s working best, what I want to do next, what skills I want to develop, who I want to connect with and what small experiments I can run in my business. That’s something people can also apply within projects, so if you get stuck on a project or a creative pursuit, it’s a method to get unstuck and keep things moving.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O*NET OnLine:  https://www.onetonline.org/ 

Onet is an effective resource to correlate average median salaries withy and projected job growth for a more accruate view of present and future areas of skill demands for jobs now and in the future. This is important in view of the rising cost of eduadtion and more skill use of student loans.

·         The O*NET program is the nation's primary source of occupational information. Central to the project is the O*NET database, containing information on hundreds of standardized and occupation-specific descriptors. The database, which is available to the public at no cost, is continually updated by surveying a broad range of workers from each occupation. Information from this database forms the heart of O*NET OnLine, an interactive application for exploring and searching occupations. The database also provides the basis for our Career Exploration Tools, a set of valuable assessment instruments for workers and students looking to find or change careers.

Occupational Information Network

A full-access, online version of the occupational network database is published by the U.S. Department of Labor at https://www.onetonline.org/.

 

Find Occupations

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Advanced Search

Interests - Skills Search - Abilities - Work Values - Knowledge - ...

Quick Search

Quick Search can be used to locate occupations ... Quick ...

Browse by Career Cluster

All Career Clusters - Health Science - Information Technology

Interests

Social - Investigative - Realistic - Artistic - Conventional - ...

 

Nuzman Job Seeker Source. Find jobs by career track.  Go to http://www.kuzmich4.com/EMP/beta/Career/Nusman30%20fix2.htm. 

·         My Next Move:  https://www.mynextmove.org/  

     My Next Move is for Veterans who are looking for work. My Next Move helps find a civilian career similar to their military job.

My Next Move for Veterans

My Next Move for Veterans. O*NET in- ... Now you're ready for a ...

Search careers with key words.

Search careers with key words. Describe your dream career in ...

O*NET Interest Profiler

The O*NET Interest Profiler can help you find out what your ...

Apprenticeships

Registered Apprenticeships ... (Careers with apprenticeship ...

More results from mynextmove.org »

Here's one example of how powerful and concise career management and development can be located on-line for one career track at a time at:  http://www.mynextmove.org/profile/ext/online/11-9041.00. 

Articles

Careers: Graduation vs Job Availability

The odds are that you will change careers several times during your working years. It then makes sense in your career planning to gain skills that are transferable and select education targets that meet future opportunities. Do the research necessary to keep you career flexible and responsive to the job market.

Top Career Opportunities by Degrees

Whether in school or in any stage of employment, looking forward in time is a good idea. A time horizon of several years is useful for making mid course adjustments in your career, or course of study. Being aware of the likely-hood of a demand for your skills and talents is a realistic objective.

Thi article presents projections of employment demand in various fields and for varying levels of  educational programs.

Careers: What is Your Plan B? Plan C?

Whether you are young and preparing to attend college or a working adult, the odds are your career path will change a few times both during your education and working years. It is a good idea to plan to gain skills that are transferable and select education targets that match future opportunities. Be aware of trends and keep you career flexible and responsive to the job market which will certainly change during your college amd employment years.

Here's a look at the changing career – opportunity picture in Colorado. See the article here.

Career Options with Considerations

·        Go to http://www.mynextmove.org/ and there are three incredible resources for every job seeker.

1.  Search for careers with key words.

    2.  Browse careers by industry with over 900 options

    3. What do you like to do

·         Go to http://occupations.careers.org/ for more thorough career listing on specific career types and job titles, plus functional URL's to benefit the public.  There are 24 unique career ladders to explore in each expanding box.

·         Go to http://occupations.careers.org/topic/458-jobs-by-occupation-field  and see each career much like the American Job Bank. Look at www.ajb.dni.us for career option examples.

·         The Jeffcerson County Library has a free service called "Book A Librarian" in which a librarian can help find jobs for job seekers.  Make an appointment for this new service and go to the library location for service.  Almost every public library in the state of Colorado offers a similar service.

·         Locate a public library in the state of Colorado near you at:  http://www.publiclibraries.com/colorado.htm

·         Here's a quick synopsis of what the major public libraries offer.  Many Colorado libraries offer one-on-one consultation either as "Ask a Librarian, Book a Librarian or Hire a Librarian.” A librarian will show a patron how to use the library's databases more effectively to find employment.