Taking Charge of Your Career

How do you really take responsibility for your job security and career advancement when you have a boss who keeps eyeing on you all the time? Well, putting on a show can take you places but loving your job, i mean really loving it and managing your time at work can help you secure your spot in the company as well as help you take the initial steps towards career success. Gone are the days when employees go to work and just finish their time for the day, doing the same boring routine everytime and retire from their jobs with a secure pension to take care of them when they are old and out of work. Today, we are given so many opportunities that we even fail to recognize the ones that need to be embraced wholeheartedly. We think that perhaps everything that comes our way should be welcomed, but that's should not be the case. We should only learn to recognize opportunities when they knock on our doors. We will help you prioritize the more important things in your life and you need to start with these basic career management steps:

1. Think like a boss - this is one of the secrets of the most successful people in the world. They see themselves as their own boss; they make their own decisions and are accountable for their own actions. This helped them become proactive in managing their careers and at the same time have fun seeing positive results.

2.  Invest in yourself - do not stop learning. Enhance your skills as much as you can and try to learn new ones so you can easily adapt to the new programs and skills that are learned by the younger people of today's generation.

3. Recognize your efforts - delivering a positive performance is nothing unless recognized by your boss and colleagues. It's not that you need to be praised all the time, but a demonstration of how you make a difference at work will inspire everyone to do their best as well. Be a role model.

4. Build your network - having a strong support system at work can help you get out of difficult situations, just don't forget to appreciate their efforts and return the favor.

5. Manage your relationships at work - be courteous and respectful to everyone. Maintain a positive relationship with everybody because this can be a basis on whether you possess emotional intelligence or not.

Career management should be practiced by everyone who wants to be successful in their respective position inside the office. No matter what title you hold at work, you need to learn to manage your career in order to keep your job and grow from it in the most positive way possible. These tips will help you climb up the executive ladder and be the best person that you can be professionally.

Career Coaching towards Success

Some people don’t really understand why there is a need to hire a career coach since you are already capable of making decisions. Well, that is because no matter how experienced we are in our life; there are other important things that we don’t even know how to handle such as our careers. Now, these experts can help us in so many ways by providing advice and support in every decision we make. They also have the ability to listen, guide and assess their clients and make them understand where they are now and where they are headed.

We cannot deny that these professionals meet with different clients but the best thing about what they do is that they develop creative action plans or strategies to achieve your career goals customized to your own needs.

Your career coach can be your father, a close friend, someone you trust at work or it can be a random person who has a reputation of helping people become successful. Since career coaching is a job, it helps to just hire a career coach because then you can reach out to them any time you need them. If your coach is someone you know personally, chances are you cannot demand a specific timeframe when you need them because they may have other issues to take care of.

We take their advice because they have been in our shoes at one point in time and have become successful in their own right. They have overcome making tough decisions, planned their careers and achieved their goals in the process.  There are so many things that a typical career coach can help you with such as the following:

1. Help you create a knock out resume and cover letter

2. Evaluate your skills 

3. They cover interview preparation

4. Makes you understand possible mistakes when making a decision 

5. Give you tips to manage your time at work

6. Give you tips to advance in your career

7. Help enhance your skills

8. Give you advice everytime you have issues at work

You need to understand that because of what they do, more and more people become efficient in the office and see themselves improve on a daily basis until such time that they can stand in their own two feet and make informed decisions by themselves.

Hiring a career coach may be a career move that you haven’t thought of before but considering how stuck you are in your current situation, you just might need one now. If you think that you need to improve yourself professionally and achieve your goals for the future, then hire a career coach and watch your life change for the better.

Taking Charge of Your Career

The world we are living today gives us many career options that make it difficult for us to choose the right one. So, at the end of the day, we can only ask ourselves this question, how do we really make a career choice when we are clueless on what we want to do? What makes this move even more challenging is the fact that we don’t want to spend the rest of our lives jumping from one career to another.  In order to avoid this from happening, we should give this a considerable amount of time to plan before putting it into action in order to make a solid and informed career decision. Remember that your decision has the capacity to change the course of your life, so better make a good one.

These are the following steps in making a good career choice:

1. Self-assessment – making a good career choice always starts with self-evaluation or self-assessment. It will include knowing yourself better, your skills, interests, values, passion and lifestyle.  You can simply take a few days off to figure out what you really want to do with your life.

2. Write it down – knowing what and how you want your life to turn out is a very important factor in choosing the perfect career. Write your objectives and goals in life. If you want to inspire people and help them learn, you can pursue a teaching career. If you want to share your talents to the world, you can be an artist. Narrowing your goals down will help you focus and create a clear picture of what your life should be.

3. Pick the top 3 –following the first and second step, it is now time to come up with at least your top 3 career options.

4. Do your research – identify the possible jobs that you can see yourself doing under these 3 career choices. Research on the possible job duties and responsibilities or if the job matches who you are as a person until you are left with the career of your choice.

5. Create an action plan – once you have identified your career choice, you can start making a career action plan with your short and long term goals, as well as the strategies you need to follow to reach these goals.

6. Prepare – if you don’t have all the necessary skills needed for this career, start taking lessons or short courses to get you ready. It is better to be prepared in mind, body and in spirit, so you can have fulfilling career.

Career planning should be taken seriously by everyone because it will help you live a successful and meaningful life. This move should not be taken for granted or planned overnight because it has the capacity to turn your life upside down and who would want that? Start planning your career now to maximize your full potential and your value as a person.

Steps in Changing Jobs While Employed

There could be thousands of reasons why you have decided to quit your job. Whether you are sick and tired of the toxic relationship between you and your boss, or your health slowly deteriorates, changing jobs while you are still currently employed takes a bit of discretion on your part. For some, this becomes a bit of a challenge, but it doesn’t have to, because there 6 easy steps to change jobs even if you are still employed. Here are the following:

1. Take time to write down a positive statement explaining why you need a new job. Be clear on your reason so as not to give employers the wrong impression that you are a hopper. Create a statement on how you envision your career and how the position you are applying for will help you towards achieving your goals. Practice this statement until you are used to it because you will need it in your interview and in your cover letters.

2. When writing your resume, include the reason why you want a new job as well as your career goals so employers will know why you are leaving your job. Make sure that you don’t talk trash about your current job because this will give them an impression that you are not professional enough not to discuss private matters between you and your current job.

3. Point out on your reference list that you don’t want the HR staff to call your employer or just avoid giving out their contact information unless it is really necessary.

4. Determine if a month notice would be fair to your employer because you can expect to be questioned about this in your interview. Think of your answer in advance so you will be confident in answering this and to avoid ruining your reputation in your current company.

5. Make sure that you have permanently deleted all important personal files from the company computer before you tell your boss that you have accepted a new position from another company. Remember that this is not good news so don’t expect your boss to smile. If he asks you to leave immediately, at least you are sure you haven’t left any files behind.

6. If all ends well, leave with honor because you might never know what’s going to happen next. It is good to know that you are in good terms with your current employer if you ever decide to go back someday.

Changing jobs while employed can really be stressful because you have to do everything with discretion and without getting caught while the entire process is not yet done. Following those 6 basic steps will make the shift easy and effective for you. It is important that you stay professional so that you can leave with dignity and start a new job free from negative issues.

Manage Your Time Effectively

Part of being a good employee is practicing proper time management. By doing so, it will help you prioritize the most important things you need to do first and even when you are bombarded with so many tasks to perform such as staff meetings, conference calls, sending emails or a simple signature signing, you will still end up completing them. Although it might drive you crazy, you will still go home knowing you’ve done your best and has still time to spare for your family.

There are different ways that can help you manage your time effectively and make the most out of your day:

1. Start your day right by waking up early, eating what your wife made for breakfast and have time to say goodbye to your kids before going to work. Coming to work at least 30 minutes before your schedule will make you have enough time for coffee, clean your desk, check your e-mails, check your schedule for the day including your lunch break or just plan your day out according to your job priorities. Start the day with the right focus.

2. Know things that are beyond your control – set clear expectations and do your tasks right so you don’t have to re-do them every time.

3. Avoid checking your blackberry every now and then, if you have already established a goal and priorities for the day, stick to them. Check your emails on the scheduled time and follow your rules accordingly.

4. Don’t be too available – finish your tasks first before you offer some help to your colleagues. Remember that each of you has a responsibility to fulfill in the office, and entertaining them every time will make you lose focus and will take your time off from important task. Try to meet your deadlines first and then help them.

5. Take your lunch on time – it helps to breathe, taking your lunch will give you time to check on your wife and kids, eat something, and relax. Maximize your lunch hours by giving enough time for small chats with colleagues to help them with their tasks.

6. Avoid gossips – do not stress yourself out and spend more time in the office after working hours to gossip about another employee. It is unprofessional and a total waste of your time.

7. Once you are done with your task for the day, check your emails and answer them, do callbacks after listening to your voicemail and check your agenda for tomorrow. If you have time, clean your desk so you don’t have to it again tomorrow morning.

Managing your time effectively can help you make things easier and smooth in the office without compromising your family time. It will give you time to review your work and check if you have done it in good taste as well as meet deadlines and get you ready for another day. It is a great career move that everyone should practice at work. By doing this, your employer will see that you are dependable and you can work without supervision, giving you an edge over other colleagues.