Career Archives - Page 14 of 43 - The Voice of Job Seekers

Make Your Career As Resilient As Your Body

Your career needs your attention as your body does. Many of us act when someone admires our body’s pleasing development or notices our depreciating condition. At first, we do what comes to us naturally as a casual effort until reality hits and the seriousness lingers.

When I pursued my certification in personal training a few years ago, the more I learned about anatomy, the more amazed I became of the human body. I took away life to change perspectives of what the body can endure and what can break it down.

I attended sessions by personal trainers who trained in kinesiology who showed how muscles perform under stress and adapt to training. Your body adjusts to the lack of training (and often weakening) and to high-volume training (strengthening and endurance).

In working with people, most people think weight-loss will only require increase activity without considering a modified diet. Think about it, and it is not the exercise we lack.

If we’re overweight, and our metabolism is slow, and the pancreas is wearing out, we will need to modify our eating habits over time. Our bodies need to re-align a healthy body with a healthy lifestyle.

One of my favorite books in the last few years is “The Rise: Creativity, The Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery,” written by Sarah Lewis. Her book offers examples of many heroes who embraced the “near-win” yet showed the power of resilience to survive and eventually experience the gratification of mastery.

She tells the story of Ben Saunders who went to the North and South Pole solo and on foot. Saunders explains it in detail in this TED talk. The idea of surrender and, “…of not giving up but giving over to something much larger than yourself and circumstance and by releasing that resistance, finding the resources that you need to move forward.”

No matter how warm you can perceivably dress for 50 degrees below zero, your body still must resource the ability to resist freezing to death. Someone on Saunders team lost all of his teeth because of the uncontrollable chattering due to the extreme cold.

Your career must resist many changes during a lifetime, as does the body when it’s challenged to survive. As your career grows in resilience, more times than not, will thwart some of the residual of trauma and catastrophe of life. Just remember resilience does not avoid failure, which is a building block of success.

Here are some suggestions to make your job search and career more resilient:

Adapting to changes in job climate

Your body does the best it can to adjust to the lack of or volume of training you provide. You must look at your career trajectory the same. You will see multiple changes in any career path or industry. Today, those who navigate their careers anticipate change and keep fingers on the pulse of their training.

Know when and how to find time for training

When you’re consistently engaging your network via conversations, tea, or social media, training is easy to find. Too many times professionals are behind finding the needed training for career advancement. It costs a lot of money to register late for relevant training. More times than never, the cost discourages them from signing up.

Planning fuels motivation

People do well with nutrition management when he or she plans ahead. When you have budgeted and planned your actions, strategy becomes easier to execute. When you partner with someone who shares your motivation and goals, moving forward is easier.

Comfort is last when change is priority

Eric Heiden, the famous gold medalist skater, trained until he threw and continued his training. Successful careerists find ways to use the time and resources available no matter how scarce. It’s easy to find comfort when there is excess as it often masks the need. When comfort is rare, the power is using all at your disposal. You find rest, but it doesn’t equal comfort!

Similarly, you can control how well it survives even the worse conditions. Being laid off. Or falsely accused of something and you had to leave your job. Or being fired. Or just performing well enough. The good news is we’re all resilient. It’s a dominant attribute all of us have to survive along with grit. What differentiates each person is our ability to deploy it, as we choose to enact it.

No one has had smooth roads to success. Most of us are searching for our success, or an overload of satisfaction, and often the two can mean the same and co-exist in our lives simultaneously. Your body can do it. Your career can do it too. As Sarah Lewis’ book suggests, almost does count. You can use almost and some grit to finish–and land your next job.

image by: pixbay.com

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

I need a job ASAP! I am desperate! What should I do?

Someone I know told me she had been looking a long time and said, I need a job ASAP! I thought I would share my reply so others could benefit.

Well, before we talk about what you should do, we need to diffuse a bomb before it goes off. You will need to deal with the desperate state overflowing from your veins. It will scare everyone you approach. No one likes to talk to an irrational person. When you say, “desperate,” that is what people think. Your reality is you are in a difficult situation where time is of the essence.

The phrase, “I need a job ASAP” is scary. Think before putting it out there.

Companies will not give jobs or even listen to a desperate person. It frightens them and rightfully should. It’s likely you’re overwhelmed but now is the time to overcome it with rationalization. This is a good time to start doing several things to help you focus and conduct a search to achieve quicker results. Unfortunately, most employers are not rushing to hire people.

Write down and carefully consider the following:

Are you clear on the job you want and the company you want to work for? That is the first major obstacle for most job seekers.

Is there a skill you can leverage as an independent contractor?

Is there a job opportunity you passed on applying to because it didn’t seem right? Depending on what “right” is, it may deserve a second look.

Are you signed up with temporary agencies? You should sign up with several. Most pay weekly once you start. Although they will still put you through their hiring process, it is a short term fix.

Do you know any friends who are business owners who can use your skill set?

Have you told most (or all) of your friends and family of your unemployment status? As funny as it seems, people will tell strangers before family. I understand why. If you’re running out of time, then this might be the best rational option.

If you haven’t already, you should be having conversations with people you know who might be in position to refer you or hire you at least temporarily. The caution again is people will bail at the sign of desperation. You can communicate urgency without seemingly irrational.

Dress

Consider dressing business casual wherever you go. This will likely disarm those who don’t usually help anyone. It’s not comfortable during the summer months, but human nature says people are likely to trust someone who looks ready to work. Casual business is much more pleasant than always dress for the interview. The worse is looking like you just got out of bed and saying, I need a job ASAP. The latter is repulsive at best.

Do the basics

Here are some quick suggestions but for more detail, you can find articles all over the web for help. I’ll include a few references
Continue to fill out applications on job boards
If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, it’s time to complete one. If you’ve completed one, now it’s time to participate in conversations taking place in groups
Contact companies directly. There are many articles on the web to help you strategize and execute.
Set up informational interviews if you’re no longer anxious and desperate. Go for the information not to beg.
Ask for introductions to people in the companies you like to work for. Offer them value and likely, they will offer it back
Create opportunities for great conversations everywhere you go without asking for referrals. Relationships get you referred, not solely the ask itself.
Look for internship opportunities
Look for volunteer opportunities to help you hone untested skills and abilities
Are you a member of professional organizations? If not, are there any you can contact to see if they have any special discounted membership prices? If you’re a recent college graduate, many will give a very low discount for the first year.
Check locally for businesses looking for someone with your skill set. It’s possible they have not posted a position, but willing to hire the right person with a unique skill.

These are a few things you can do. If you have additional questions, let me know.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Father’s Day Career Advice from 7 Career Professionals

This article originally appeared on the Good Men Project!

My oldest son is doing his second internship this summer and graduates this fall. One of the best things I think I did was to talk to him about his career aspirations early. He enjoyed those discussions so much he often initiates them with me and my wife. As he changed his mind about what areas to pursue, he picked up a skill he was able to use elsewhere. There were things I didn’t teach him but it was mostly his tenacity. I saw this as he applied to different jobs often getting the interview and a job offer without help from either my wife or I (although I helped him write his resume). One year he had seven different jobs in a year while attending school full-time, volunteering, and joining a fraternity.

Often times, an open discussion early on is a great start their career orientation and success. For Father’s Day, I wondered what and how other career professionals advise their children upon their transition from high school.

This is what they shared.

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Torin Ellis, author, TorinEllis.com

I shared with my daughter that you enter each conversation prepared to actively listen. Suggesting she use responses given by the interviewer to shape her responses. For instance, one question she would ask: If you could hire anyone to join your team, who would it be and why?

The response I gave telegraphs who they are looking for. She then should emulate complimentary qualities in her responses in an organic way. Mirrors the interviewer, using a real example, and not robotic or predictable. It worked and has worked.

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Doug Perry, Dental Hygenist Resume Writer, GetHiredRDH.com

I have four children, one of them is launched into his career, another is in college and I have one in high school and another in junior high. All parents know each child comes with their own set of natural abilities and that they develop interests, aptitudes, and passions for things along the way. We all know that, yet we have a vision for our children that fits certain paradigms. Sometimes they may have an interest in something that comes out of left field, outside that paradigm, and we struggle with it even though there are some who make a living from it and really enjoy it.

The first thing I had to learn to do is let them run with it – encourage them to continue it, give it my blessing. That was hard at first, but I am learning how important it is to allow for it. Children need that from their parents more than they need to even be good at it – they need to know they are loved and supported. If it’s not right for them, they will come to that conclusion on their own in their own time frame. My job as a parent is to simply endorse their decision.

The second thing I had to learn to do was even harder, which is to engage with them in that interest. I have a neighbor who’s son wanted to play field hockey in high school. My neighbor didn’t even know the sport existed, but not only was he cool with it, he decided to learn everything he could about the sport so he could spend more time with his son. It wasn’t long before he learned the game and became a volunteer coach for that sport at the school and even stayed on a couple years coaching after his son had finished high school.

I tried to learn from my neighbor’s example. My oldest son wanted to buy camera equipment to be a videographer someday. We didn’t have the money to just give him everything, but I did have a lawnmower and so he and I started a lawn company that paid for all his equipment and gave us lots of time to spend together talking about his passion. I’m pleased to report that just a few weeks ago he landed his first videography job – the employer who hired him was amazed at his level of skill at age 22. But I wasn’t because he’s been making videos for about 10 years – it was his passion and dream. I didn’t create that success – he did the work. But I did have a great example in my neighbor that helped me do what my son needed me to do.

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Marc Miller, author, CareerPivot.com

My son learned one valuable life lesson growing up. A work ethic trumps natural talents in the workplace… most of the time.

My son inherited most of my language learning disabilities, which were extensive. During much of his formative years, we would enroll him in a single honors class in school and pay for a tutor. He was told it was acceptable to get a C grade but most of the time he received a B. He learned that if he worked hard he would be successful in areas that he did not come naturally.

He was one heck of a work ethic!

When he graduated and was looking for his first real job after college, I taught him that the magic word is “advice.” When you ask for advice, people will rarely turn you down. It is a compliment.

He is still using this technique ten years after graduating from school.

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Ryan Rhoten, Brand New You Podcast, RyanRhoten.com

My son is a runner with aspirations to run in college. Having spoken with several college recruiters and entrance administration personnel as research for my podcast, I knew getting into college was a lot more competitive today than when I went to school.

I knew he was going to need to stand out from the rest of the applicants.

In 8th grade, I purchased his first and last name as a domain. As a freshman, I had him write his first post. It was about his latest cross country workout.

Since then he has blogged off and on about not only running but now his latest passion, weightlifting.

In addition to the blog, I also taught him the proper way to use Twitter. Prior to his usage was mostly “sub-tweets” (yes, this is a thing). I showed him how to curate the content of others on Twitter, limiting the content related to his interests, running and weightlifting.

With his blog and Twitter account now in place and being used properly, we talked about how he was building his brand online and how his brand would come across to administration officials and coaches at universities.

Our focus was on congruency, being consistent and appropriate across the web. When his name is looked up online by coaches, and it is, they find a young man who has taken the time to build a blog and an online profile that is all about his love for running and staying in shape.

The coaches who have contacted him at this point have indicated his online presence is what made the difference for him over others. You see, his times, while slightly faster than mine (pun intended) are only slightly above average and they are not quite yet to the division one standards to run in college.

Yet despite this, college coaches are contacting him to introduce themselves and their programs. His online presence is making the difference. He has had one offer to run so far and his contact frequency by coaches is included.

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Bill Holland, Author, CollegetoCareerCatalyst.com

As a freshman scholarship athlete, my initial impression was there would be an ominous emphasis on winning. That’s what I was told and expected as I dressed for my first ever football practice at Michigan State University. I had always wanted to be a Spartan and now was my chance

Then it hit like a thunderbolt from nowhere: a GrantlandRice quote written largely above the locker room exit so no one could miss it on their way to the field of competition each and every day.

“For when the one great scorer comes to mark against your name,: he writes—not that you won or lost—but how you played the Game.”

I shared that insight with my two boys many times as they competed in sports; grew to adulthood and began to raise their own. When I was asked by Mark Dyson to share what worked with my kids, I in turn, asked them. Both separate and apart replied, that “my” Grantland Rice quote had served them well in life and fatherhood.

I trust that when they say “my” they attribute the act of sharing as the key event. My apologies to Mr. Rice but the independent attributions remain as a source of personal pride and on-going successful fatherhood

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Mark Babbitt, Author, CEO at YouTern – President, Switch & Shift

The one piece of career advice that worked for them was not to believe in “The Big Lie.” Simply put, the big lie tells us that a college degree magically makes us employable. The truth, however, is that a college degree today only helps us meet minimum requirements… and that education is only a small fraction of what employers look for in today’s job market.
To lead without permission. I’m proud of my kids for many reasons… but mostly I’m proud that each has turned into a confident, effective leader.
Work your butt off. Show some hustle. Abandon your comfort zones. Most important, stay focused on solutions even while others settle for worshipping the problem.