By Belsheba Nyabwa

One aspect of personal growth is career development hence it is important as an individual to approach this issue carefully and tactfully. A number of people are known to make mistakes that eventually delay their career development or cost them all together. It is also good to realize that having college certificates does not necessarily guarantee you success in your career.

There is an adage that says, do not put all your eggs in one basket. Even if you get verbal job offers from very reliable and trusted employers, do not entirely count on their word. Some people are known to even resign from their present employment on the basis of having being offered a job by another employer. It is always prudent to get a commitment letter before writing that resignation letter.

Sometimes the offers could be genuine but there are always unpredictable events that may arise in between and persuade your prospective employer otherwise. I do not need to inform you that you can end up without any job in the first place. The lack or absence of a commitment letter makes it easy for an employer to overturn an offer.

Nowadays, getting employment is not easy, since many are entering the job market and hence the competition for the limited vacancies is quiet high. The economic recession has not made things any better with many experienced and skilled individuals losing their employment through retrenchments. These same people are entering the job market and may have an edge over you hence think twice before you leave your current employment in the name of having gotten an offer from a trusted and reliable employer.

Article placed by Jesse Sartain

Jesse Sartain Career Promotion Work By Belsheba Nyabwa

Self development includes improving your personal financial standing and developing your career. On this article I will deal in depth on ways of enhancing your career and personal life in general.

A quality that will help enhance your career is to be prepared to learn and acquire new skills as pertaining to your profession. Enroll in courses that will increase your knowledge base and thus boost your curriculum vitae. There are great correspondence courses on the internet which you can take advantage of even though you are busy at your place of work.

Taking initiative is a value that every employer seeks in every employee. This is a sign of leadership qualities and your employer will be quick to notice. In case you notice something needs to be done take the initiative to attend to it no matter how trivial it may appear, you may never know who is watching.

Be it in a social or business setting, honesty is absolutely important. Being truthful is a virtue that has to be observed by any person desiring to develop his or her career. With many people nowadays lacking trustworthiness, you can imagine the advantage you will have over others.

A value that cannot be taken lightly is being knowledgeable about the company you are working for. Read through the vision and the mission statement of your organization and if possible cram them. Get to know the board of directors and what the company intends to achieve every financial year. Then align yourself to the firm’s visions.

By Niall Cinneide

Article selected by Jesse Sartain

Sometimes the freelance writing jobs available are those that no one wants. Or, they are those that new businesses are looking to fill. You will not find postings for the best jobs and employment because many of those jobs go to individuals who already have an established career or a good working relationship with those businesses. For those looking for career advice to find the best freelance writing jobs available, they can find a few things here that will help them get the experience they need or at least get a foot in the door.

* The most important aspect of getting the jobs that you want is to present a well written portfolio. Any writer can create pieces of work to show to individuals who want a sample. You do not have to be commissioned to write, you can write just for the sake of filling your portfolio. Just remember to put the best of the best work you have in there.
* Secondly, there are many types of freelance writing jobs available. Yes, it is not just the book or prized article that you should look for. Look for vacancies in smaller areas as well. This will help you to develop relationships in the field.
* Strive to meet the client’s needs. This will mean that you meet deadlines. It will mean that you offer the best material you can. But, it needs to meet the client’s specified requirements, not necessarily what you think they should be.
* Be professional, and build a website. Most businesses these days are centered around their websites. Being professional means presenting yourself in the most appropriate way.

In any case, there can be be many freelance writing jobs available to you once you are in the know. When you learn how to write to your clients needs and meet those needs properly with each and every assignment that you do, employment will be available to you. To find the assignments to start with, you may have to present yourself outright. Simply always do so in a positive, professional manner.

By Elizabeth Lengyel

You’ve been going 6-to-late; exhausted by running the supersonic treadmill of life and wish you had a different job. But you can’t because you have no time and you’re left spent at the end of every day. Conversely, you’re gut tells you that everything would be different if you could only find the right career match. You could stop hitting the snooze button every morning and get back into enjoying the game of life.

You might be surprised to learn that thinking like a CEO will teach you a lot about career planning. Wonder how? Then read on and learn how being a CEO has everything to do with mapping out a successful career.

1. As a Chief Exploration Officer, your first step is to engage in self-exploration. It is the key to career planning and decision-making. The better you know yourself, the more informed career decisions you’ll make. One of the best ways to hone in on your natural talents, interests and strengths is to re-visit your childhood years, dreams and passions. What did you love to do? Who did you enjoy being with? What did you like to play most? What were your favorite sports and interests? Did you have any hobbies? Where did you picture yourself in the future? The past often holds the best clues. You might also want to seek the help of a trained career counselor or coach to help you define career options that fit your talents and interests, and help you explore current and future labour markets and trends. Narrow down the choices and seriously examine one or two career options that fit you. Trust your heart or intuition. It most often leads you in the right direction.

2. As a Chief Educational Officer, you need to examine the competencies and skills required in your choice of work. Once you determine one or more career options, list the skills and competencies you need to move forward. What do you need to know? And what do you currently know? Make a plan to fill the gaps whether through school, apprenticeship, reading, volunteering, etc.

3. As a Chief Experiential Officer, you need to talk to the people who are actually in the career you’ve identified for yourself. It takes you from dream mode to reality check. Seek out at least 5 people who are working in the career field you have identified. Hint, the more people you interview, the better. You will find common themes and information that will be invaluable to your career planning process and final decision. Don’t hesitate in making the calls. Most people love to talk about themselves and their expertise. If possible, ask to meet with them in person. It provides a more high touch approach. When you meet, be candid and curious. This is your opportunity to learn from people who are working what you’re still thinking about. Preplan some questions carefully. Do they enjoy their job? What kind of education and experience do they recommend? What do they like and dislike? Ask for their recommendations and what they think you need to be successful in the career. You might also want to think about inviting one of them to be your mentor as you move forward in your personal career aspirations and goals.

4. As a Chief Engagement Officer, you will have to stay on top of your game. Stay self-motivated, energized and engaged in the career planning process. Here’s the truth. Career planning, exploring and making career choices take energy and time. Think about what you will need from yourself, as well as from your environment, schedule and support network to keep yourself engaged and moving forward. Think about what nourishes and nurtures you. What feeds your energy level?

5. As a Chief Employment Officer, you are your greatest resource in finding the right employment. In the end, the career planning process leads you to finding the right job for the right money. A combination of statistics and interviews continue to prove that networks are the number one resource to finding your next job. Stay well connected and share your plans. In the end it is you who’s going to turn career planning and aspirations into reality.

Article published by Jesse Sartain

Jesse Sartain Business Career Advice By Paul Megan

Are you sitting at your desk dreamily imagining yourself on a South Seas vacation? Or maybe a rollicking holiday with the family? Or maybe you’d prefer to stay home and watch some DVDs.

Wanting to take some time off shouldn’t make you feel guilty. In fact, in her new book, “Time Off for Good Behavior,” Mary Lou Quinlan writes that seven out of 10 people fantasize about leaving work for a few months.

What’s more, she reports that taking a break can help you feel less burned out. It can help you organize your life goals. Most people don’t realize that taking time off–guilt free–isn’t as difficult as it might seem.

So don’t feel like you’re condemned to remaining chained to your desk. Here are six options you can check out:

1. Make a plan. Think about why you want time off. Do you just need a few days to relax? Or are you looking to completely assess your career?

2. Figure out how much time off you’ll need to come back fully refreshed.

3. Count your days off. Figure out how many vacation days you have. Add in any remaining sick or personal days.

4. Check out company policy. You may be eligible for a sabbatical with full or partial pay. Or you may have the option of re-entering the company after an unpaid leave.

5. Talk to your employer. If the company doesn’t have a policy or spell out the details of flexible time off, now is the time to find out what the company can offer you.

6. Negotiate for what you need.

The point is you shouldn’t be afraid to take some needed time off. It may be just what you need to get your life back in focus and prioritize what really important.

Furthermore, if you are a valued employee, your boss expects you to come forward with recommendations that show how the company will benefit from your time off.

By Roger Clark

Why Career Advice Is So Important

Choosing a career presents a nerve-racking decision, as it can have a life-long impact on you. Do not fret, as you can gain a clearer outlook into your future by thorough career planning.

Having a clear vision of the future can guide you by helping you set career goals and helping you on your way towards attaining them. Whether you are starting out on a new career or looking to change your current career, you will benefit enormously from taking sound advice.

Don’t Spend Most of Your Life Doing …

Chances are that you will be spending a great deal of time at your job, about 40 hours a week. Career advice and career profiling can guide you to a job that is enjoyable for you and matches your interests.

There are many reasons people change their careers and career advice can help them along the way. Some frequently cited reasons are:

· Stuck in a dead end job.

· Lost interest in current line of work.

· Gained a new interest in a different career option.

A Job For Life … Not Anymore

In today’s world, there is increased job rotation … also with the down turns in the economy, many people can be laid-off.
Good career advice for unemployed persons would be to consider a career change. Some of the fastest growing occupations are Medical Assistant, Network Systems Analyst, Physician Assistant, etc. Occupations that are struggling to gain workers can be a suitable option for currently unemployed individuals.

People often back off from changing careers if they are unsure of the effort it might take to start a new career and learn a new trade. If you are one of these people, career advice from professionals can help you make a knowledgeable decision.

How To Identify Your Career Choices

When choosing a new career field, career advice and career planning can help you figure out your career choices. When embarking on a new career, you need to take into account your previous education and work experience.

You should start thinking about the skills you currently possess and how they can be beneficial in each of the new career options available to you.

Have You Considered a Career Test?

Valuable career advice can come from career tests as they can help in identifying suitable job options. Career tests include tests such as personality profiling, leadership skills, motivation, management style, etc.

The results of such tests can give you the career advice that can direct you to a suitable career, by matching your interests with career options.

Many career tests are offered online. They may be free or available for a small fee. Many experts provide the career advice to employment seekers to take some time to plan their career and set their goals. Knowing your career goals can provide you with valuable guidance.

Remember that career planning and goal setting is an on-going process, changing as you continue on your career.

The web can be a great source to find valuable career advice. It can provide you with many resources to research new career choices and find out information on a particular career field such as average salary, work environment, job responsibilities, etc.

Use Resumes That Give You an Advantage

Whether you are starting a career, changing careers or looking for a different job in your present career, the best career advice is to have a great, eye-catching resume.

You may be thinking about using your old resume, maybe the one you made after graduating from college. However, you will have to make changes to that resume to make it relevant to your present situation.

Upgrade your resume with the additional skills and experiences you have acquired. People going through a career change, need to present the skills they have acquired through the years in a way that makes it relevant to the new career jobs for which they are applying.

You may not have all the standard education for that career, so you need to convince potential employers that your previous education and work experience have given you the skills that make you a suitable candidate to transition into that job.

Article reviewed by Jesse Sartain

Jesse Sartain Guaranteeing the Next Interview By Rick H McKnight

In today’s economy job interviews are fewer and farther between so when you have one, is there a way to guarantee an offer or at least getting the next interview? The answer is yes and I have proved it. I have had offers on each of my last 5 job interviews. All of those involved multiple interviews for fairly senior positions. I learned that after one set of interviews that turned into a job offer that I was the first interviewee of 32. This article is about how to use some of the concepts that I have used in your own interview process. There are really only three.

People hire people they like. The fact that you have an interview means that your resume opened the door or that you networked into the situation or the recruiter put you in the mix for the position. The chances are very high that you have the skills and experience that they are looking for since you were called in for the interview. Now it is a question of do you fit in to their culture. Do you have similar characteristics as the people interviewing you? Do they like you?

So the question is how do you get people who do not know you to like you when you may have only half an hour to an hour? The answer is that you have to genuinely care about the person that is interviewing you. This gives you the perspective that you are there to help them make a very important decision-who to hire. If the person who is interviewing you gets the sense that you are more interested in helping them make the right decision than you are of getting an offer it helps them accept that you are not just selling them on you. Interviewing is about sales and sales is about having people understand that you are not selling them. The difference is subtle. Yet profound. If you really care about the person would you have them hire you even if you were the wrong person for the job?

How do you actually do this? Number one is that you have to lose the self-concern, nervousness, and anxiety about how you answer their questions. How do you do this? Preparation. This means you have to know what is important to them so you can anticipate their questions. Read the job description carefully, use your network to find out what the company is like, who the hiring manager is and what is her perspective. What does the website tell you about the company. Talk to customers of the company. So doing all of this makes you better prepared for the interview and it gives you confidence. Confidence allows you to calmly listen to the question, respond to the question with your own question when needed and to show some enthusiasm. I was in an interview for a career consulting position and at the end the hiring manager said to me, “I don’t know much about you, but you are my number one candidate”. Hearing that helped me go through the next 4 interviews, do a public workshop and group coaching session before, finally the job offer came through.

The other element of preparation that many people miss is the mental preparation. This is vital. What this involves is taking some minutes to visualize the outcome that you desire. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and see yourself calmly chatting with the interviewer. See the interviewer warming up to you. See her smiling and the rapport build. At the end watch her shake your hand and invite you to the next stage. Involved all of the senses that you can in this visualization as they make it more real. You can do this the night before the interview and right before it as well. If you calmly say to yourself that you are going to get an offer and know this to be the case, this is what will happen. The interview that I mentioned where they were interviewing 32 others, I told myself that I was going to land this position and I saw if happening in my mind clearly before the interview. I was asked to prepare with a role play for the interview and before that started, I asked the interviewers (a panel) if they were prepared to make a decision today. When they said that they weren’t, I stood up and suggested that we do this another time. They immediately said that they were prepared to make a decision. It takes a lot of confidence to threaten to walk out of an interview but it also can create a lot of desire on the part of the interviewer to keep you there. Shortly thereafter I was asked to come for a lunch and was given an offer.

Confidence, preparation and caring are the cornerstones of having a great interview.

Jesse Sartain Methods of Job Search By: Barbara Safani

There are four core methods of job search and I encourage job seekers to use all of them. When you are in search, looking for a job is your full-time job and you should plan to dedicate 35-40 hours per week to your search or a percentage of that it you are searching while employed. Here’s a quick rundown of the four methods of search.

Job Boards – When using the boards, you need to be as strategic as possible in your approach, because there is an enormous amount of information posted on the boards and employers receive multiple responses for each position they post. One of the best strategies for managing your presence on the job boards is to stick with niche boards that best match your professional level, industry, or job function rather than spending time on a board that claims to be all things to all people. This allows you to be a big fish in a smaller pond and potentially garner more immediate recognition from a hiring authority. For example, a senior-level executive is generally better-off creating a presence on a six-figure job site than on a general job board that posts jobs at all professional levels. Another way to optimize your time spent on the boards is to set up job alerts based on keywords and geographical preferences to streamline the amount of time spent on the boards and optimize the amount of relevant leads.

Recruiters – A recruiter can be a great ally during a search, but keep in mind that recruiters are generally only going to be interested in your candidacy if your skill set matches a position in their current job requisition portfolio. In addition, recruiters can only expose you to the positions from the companies that are willing to pay a recruiter to manage the search process. When you partner with a recruiter, you only get to see a small percentage of the available jobs in the market.

Cold Calling – People in search often find their jobs by cold calling on potential decision makers in companies. By creating a marketing letter that communicates your skills, accomplishments, and value-add, you can attempt to forge relationships with key people in the companies you would like to work for. The goal of the letter is to build a relationship with people in companies where no relationship existed before. If you can create and nurture a relationship before there is a need to fill a position, you are much more likely to be considered as a candidate when there is an opportunity because you are now part of the inner circle of contacts within the company. This method takes work and may not yield immediate results, but if these new relationships are nurtured over time, they can grow into opportunity with the company down the line.

Networking – Networking is the art of exchanging information continuously and graciously with members of your professional and social communities. People are more likely to share information with people they know and trust. Sharing information about job leads comes naturally in networking circles. Attempt to give more than you get and don’t keep tabs on your goodwill versus someone else’s and eventually you will find that you can almost always find a connection for whatever you need…whether it’s a recommendation for a great restaurant, advice on a project, or a tip on a job lead.