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Trying to Change Careers? This is the Time

Trying to Change Careers? This is the Time

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To change careers or jobs is the norm as it has been for some years now. One survey from Robert Half International shows 66% of professionals see changing jobs every few years as positive. Virginia Franco, the founder of Virginia Franco Resumes, wrote an interesting article about career change I wanted to feature.

Let me know what you think about this episode in one of three ways:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your comments to the same number
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Let me share more about Virginia:

Virginia is a five-time executive resume writer and been in business for the last nine years. She is also the host of her podcast, “Resume Storyteller” over the previous two years. She is also the current president of the National Association of Resume Writers.

Here are highlights of our discussion:

  • Career change is a popular subject and the right market to do so
  • Changing also make it a very competitive market
  • Make your case in front of a human being rather than applying online and competing with an Applicant Tracking System
  • Applying online is a false sense of security – three of 100 successfully get interviews
  • Referrals get 10x the response
  • Using the limited space for emphasizing years of experience wastes that space
  • Being a perpetual learner is a critical attribute, and showing your learning aptitude
  • Enthusiastic about learning is what employers want to see
  • Build a bridge by identifying transferable skills
You can also sign up for my weekly newsletter at the top right of my page to be on the first list of my free e-Guide, “300 Modern Job Search Tips for 2020!” This year, it will be free for a limited time. If you’re on the list, you’ll receive the tips at the beginning of November.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

My name is Mark Anthony Dyson, and I am the Founder of The Voice of Job Seekers. I am a career advice writer, but more importantly, I hack and re-imagine the job search process.. I've worked with hundreds of job seekers one-on-one helping them to construct a narrative and strategy that appeals to hiring managers and recruiters. I present at colleges and organizations, and facilitated many workshops including my volunteer effort through a Job Lab. I write and create useful job search content on this blog and write career and workplace advice for blogs such as Glassdoor, Payscale, Job-Hunt.org, Prezi and more. Media Feature highlights: Forbes, Business Insider, NBC News, Glassdoor, LinkedIn's #GetHired, and NPR Freelance writer and content contributor: Glassdoor, Payscale, job-hunt.org, The Financial Diet, RippleMatch.com and more. Contact me to contribute career, job search, or workplace advice for your site at markanthonydyson@gmail.com.

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Your Career Trajectory, and a Business That Will Pay You Back

Your Career Trajectory, and a Business That Will Pay You Back

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This episode should equip your career in two ways:

  1. It will stimulate your thoughts to create a business as an option to finding a job, and for some that aspire to be entrepreneurs it might be the best career option
  2. You will be motivated to look way past your next job, add new critical feedback to your personal brand, and clarify your career trajectory

David Van Rooy

David Van Rooy (@dlvanrooy), author of Trajectory: 7 Career Strategies to Take You From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, is Senior Director of International Human Resources Strategy & Operations at Walmart. In his prior role at Walmart, he was responsible for the world’s largest performance management and employee engagement programs, covering nearly 2.2 million employees globally. David received his doctoral degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Florida International University (FIU). Much of his work was covered by many national and international outlets including USA Today and CNN.

  • David explains why career trajectory is an important element to everyone, and why will it affect the outcome for someone’s career
  • I ask David, “Do job seekers/employees discount the value of feedback? Where should people seek feedback?”
  • David shares about Think Big, Act Small, Move Quick (BSQ) strategies to one’s career trajectory from his book.

LauraHumphreys

Laura Humphreys (@Liber8me) is the author of the nominated small business book of the year, “Liber8me.”  Liber8me exists to help small business owner operators build a business that is not dependent on their time to make money. In essence, it’s a simple, practical formula that first shifts the mindset then puts steps in place to grow with confidence. She has been a freelancer/entrepreneur for the last 24 years, and believes that “… going out on your own with a view to building a business instead of being employed by someone else is a viable option for people these days.” Her book is a “2014 Gold IPPY Award Winner”, and nominated for a “Global Business Book Award.”

These are a few highlights of our conversation:

  • Laura shares that she started out as a secretary and learned a lot about running a business through that experience. She built a public relations firm from scratch and sold it for multi-millions (some sources said 15 million dollars)
  • She shares why it is important to build a business that people can be freed financially
  • I asked Laura to share about this article that perfectly is aligned with the ideas from her book that was published in Entrepreneur New Zealand magazine ( The 9 Don’ts of Business), 1) Don’t start a business without knowing what you offer or what is needed 2) Don’t be afraid to hire people 3) Don’t run a business without a budget 4) Don’t let them grind you down! (Love this!)
  • We also talked about another blog post, “Have you created a business or a life-long job?” that resonated with me. At the end of the article, there is an profound line that reads, “Are you choosing to build a business that will pay you back or are you choosing to work for a living?” She offers insight to the advice for others to build a business that would pay he or she back

Correction: I gave a shout out to Penny Sanseveri, whom I gave the wrong company. The website is www.authormarketingexperts.com. I apologize for the error, Penny.

 

About Mark Anthony Dyson

My name is Mark Anthony Dyson, and I am the Founder of The Voice of Job Seekers. I am a career advice writer, but more importantly, I hack and re-imagine the job search process.. I've worked with hundreds of job seekers one-on-one helping them to construct a narrative and strategy that appeals to hiring managers and recruiters. I present at colleges and organizations, and facilitated many workshops including my volunteer effort through a Job Lab. I write and create useful job search content on this blog and write career and workplace advice for blogs such as Glassdoor, Payscale, Job-Hunt.org, Prezi and more. Media Feature highlights: Forbes, Business Insider, NBC News, Glassdoor, LinkedIn's #GetHired, and NPR Freelance writer and content contributor: Glassdoor, Payscale, job-hunt.org, The Financial Diet, RippleMatch.com and more. Contact me to contribute career, job search, or workplace advice for your site at markanthonydyson@gmail.com.

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How to Plan Wise Career Changes

Editor’s note: Steve Armstrong is the contributor today. His bio is at the end of the article.

New Career?

Tired of being misunderstood, ridiculed, or feel exploited at work? Or do you just think that your skills should be developed further, and that you have already reached the point where the joy of work transforms itself into everyday routine?

It is time to change your career path, or simply find another job, unless you want to work hard without being respected or appreciated.

Career Planning

 

You need to make a decision about your desire for career changes. If you change your career path, it means doing something completely different. For example, you are a journalist, and now want to work in the field of engineering. Otherwise, you could take your chance to find such a job similar to the previous one (switching from journalism to teaching English Literature). Everyone has his own career path.

Career path may be defined as the way to develop yourself professionally, based on your current personal skills, professional competencies, education and work experience. In order to plan your career wisely, you should analyze your skills well (e.g. responsibility, punctuality, ability to work in dynamic environment, etc.) and to use them for enhancing your professional competencies (for a teacher they could be: knowledge in the specific field of teaching, pedagogy, work with specific documentation, etc.).

Most people do not realize their career plans or do not feel free to choose career paths. It leads to frustration and low self-esteem. Therefore, if you want to change your career path, first you should know more about it. Analyze yourself, ask friends and relatives, ask career counselors. They will help you. After that, start planning your career: its goals, actions you should take to achieve them, expected results.

More specific steps that a person can consider while thinking about changing his or her career include:

  1. Think of whether you are satisfied with your current job or not
  2. Decide if you need to change your career
  3. Try to assess yourself: interests, skills and values
  4. Brainstorm on the list of alternative occupations and explore them carefully
  5. Set your goals
  6. Prepare a career action plan
  7. Train yourself for a career you want to pursue

 

When to Change Your Career

 

Now, it is time to reflect on the question: are you satisfied with your current job? If no, why? In what respect do your expectations differ from the reality? Maybe you have planned your career in a wrong way?

Look at your skills, competencies and (especially!) work experience. What kind of job could give you the pleasant feeling of working hard, being respected and well-paid?

Remember: If you are a thesis writer, working as an accountant could put you in trouble (providing you don’t have education or experience in accounting). Thus, look for a job that would be easy for you to adapt to. It’s never late to do it.

 

Plan and Educate

In conclusion, it must be said that in order to change your career wisely, it requires a lot of critical reflections and self-analysis. Plan your career as precisely as possible, formulate your expectations and work on developing your skills and competencies, to be sure that you will find the right job for you in the easiest way.

Author Bio: Steve Armstrong works part-time for a college paper writing service at  http://www.solidessay.com/our-services/thesis-writer, where he consults students on how to format and structure their research papers and dissertations. Read more here.

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About Mark Anthony Dyson

My name is Mark Anthony Dyson, and I am the Founder of The Voice of Job Seekers. I am a career advice writer, but more importantly, I hack and re-imagine the job search process.. I've worked with hundreds of job seekers one-on-one helping them to construct a narrative and strategy that appeals to hiring managers and recruiters. I present at colleges and organizations, and facilitated many workshops including my volunteer effort through a Job Lab. I write and create useful job search content on this blog and write career and workplace advice for blogs such as Glassdoor, Payscale, Job-Hunt.org, Prezi and more. Media Feature highlights: Forbes, Business Insider, NBC News, Glassdoor, LinkedIn's #GetHired, and NPR Freelance writer and content contributor: Glassdoor, Payscale, job-hunt.org, The Financial Diet, RippleMatch.com and more. Contact me to contribute career, job search, or workplace advice for your site at markanthonydyson@gmail.com.

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