Guest post by Daniela Baker - On average, a person born between 1957 and 1964 works in at least eleven different jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While career and job changes used to be rare and infrequent, those who are in midlife today are taking more risks than ever. If you want to be among the many who completely changes directions – going from a job in engineering to one in catering, perhaps, or from a career in education to one in web design, maybe – then you need to make sure you consider your options carefully.
A midlife career change is a big deal. While it can work out to the advantage of many people, those who are most successful have though through the process very carefully before making the leap. Here are a few things to consider before making a midlife career change:
It feels like networking is one of the preferred buzz words these days. If you are used to reading blogs in this niche, there’s not a chance that you haven’t bumped into a “networking” post: network to get a job, network to increase exposure, network to move up the social ladder, network blah…
Truth is that this term is being used in an utilitarist way. It’s always the means to get something out of someone for your own benefit.
Don’t get me wrong, I got nothing against getting benefits for myself, but let me point out why networking done this way is pointless, shallow and can only lead to short term benefits, if any.
For decades, there was no argument: if you have a job interview, you must wear a suit. Things change and the dress code is no exception to this natural rule. A few weeks ago, I promised James -one of our most active patrons- I would do some research and get ...
No wonder why Southwest Airlines is so well rated in customer service (link to airlinequality.com).
Some jobs are so regulated and uptight that anything resembling normal human behavior tends to get forbidden.
I was surprised to find that something so boring, dull and repetitive as a pre-flight safety briefing could be turned into an enjoyable experience, as demonstrated by the flight attendant below.
Sometimes you don’t need to put extra hours, suck up to your boss or be a swiss watch at your job to get recognized and praised.
Sometimes, being yourself, is more than enough.
Cheers to this guy: [video after the jump]
WTF? -you might be saying- That’s the most stupid, counter intuitive and bizarre piece of advice I’ve read on the internet and BTW, I’m getting out of here in case what this guy says is contagious.
But wait, give me a second to explain myself.
As a full disclaimer, today I’m going totally off script. I’m writing something that I may regret tomorrow. So don’t crucify me for this post. Thank you.
I’ll start this story by telling you why some people become popular, are loved by millions and followed in flocks.
Shocking revelations to follow.
You know what pisses me? People that label themselves as CEO.
Dictionary.com doesn’t say much: CEO: chief executive officer. Although, I found a more complete definition at BusinessDictionary.com and some funny definitions at urbandictionary.com -if you are in for a quick laugh-.
I also did a quick search on Linkedin to get some grounds to rest my case and these are some of the results I got:
Yesterday at around 10pm EST we got hacked by Oaddah, a pro Palestinian group.
The blog’s header suffered an extreme makeover and looked like this:
Alright, if you are at work, stop for a second and take a look around your cubicle. Does it look so bad that It could actually qualify as art? Is a video of that piece of art worth an exchange for a brand new office space? And you think… who could possibly want to reward my messy-ness?
Group interviews are more commonly used for entry level positions and trainee programs. As you move up in seniority level they tend to become less common but still, no one is exempt from having one at any point of his/her career.
The idea behind them is to test out candidates on soft skills, assess how they perform among a group of peers, identify potential leaders and define which role candidates tend to occupy in a work group.
When pitted among other job seekers, people often asume that they are competing with their peers for the job. While this may be true in some way, it’s not the main purpose of a group interview. In reality, the candidate is being pitted against himself.
If you jump into a group interview with this perception, you will probably end up being discarded.
and this may be your first day at this blog, so WELCOME to this professional corner of the blogosphere.
Make yourself comfortable, grab a cup of coffee or your favorite cigar and come down the rabbit hole by going to our start here page. A perfect spot for you to see if what we have to offer helps you make the most of your career.
We want you to stay. We need to hear your thoughts and criticism. We want you to sit on the front seat, raise your hand and shout your mind out.
Without you, this place is an echo chamber of our thoughts, it’s empty space filled with words that go nowhere, inspire no one. WE NEED YOU.
This blog may have my name at the top but I’m not the only voice around here. Get to know my wing-woman, Ioana Lazarov, who also runs her own careers and personal development blog and tens of contributors from around the world which, on a weekly basis, provide you with a constant stream of information.
We hope you enjoy reading these stories and decide to join us and leave your first comment, subscribe to the mailing list or RSS feed, follow us on Twitter or add us to your circles on Google+ to stay in touch and share your ideas and thought provoking links or guest posts.
Once again, thank you for being here.
Thank you for making your voice heard.
We are all ears.
The fernandotarnogol.com Careers Blog Team
Job Seeker Premium Impressions
I’ve been test driving Linkedin Premium for a month. Starting at $19.95, you get these features:
- Job Seeker Badge: a fancy icon on your profile to “make you stand out from the crowd”
- 5 inmails: message any Linkedin member even if they are not in your network
- Featured listings
- Search organizer: advanced filters and the ability to save profiles to your contact book
- Openlink: enables any Linkedin member to message you without having to resort to inmail
- Extended Who’s Viewed Your Profile: unrestrictedly see who’s viewed your profile
Read on to know my experience using the advance features that Linkedin Premium enables and if the bang for your buck is worth it.
Hi there!
I messed up a bit.
Last night I changed the permalink structure of every post in the blog in order to improve my SEO and SERPs -search engine rankings in layman terms 
- but while doing so, all the social sharing buttons at the bottom of each post lost their share count.
Truth be told, when people see that something has been shared by others, they tend to keep sharing. This is what’s called social proof.
Inversely, if someone sees zeros across al social networks, he or she may instantly deem the post “unworthy”, sometimes not even reading it.
Gotta ask you for a favor now, smart and selfless readers.
After you read a post, please take a second to tweet, like, stumble or +1 it to help me get those posts back to their former glory.
That second of your life will be greatly appreciated by yours truly.
Thank you!
Fernando
Your organizational culture comes from years of interactions between the participants of the organization, where most of them are already gone and what lives is their myth and the interpretation of that mythology that current employees make of it.
Every organization has a foundational myth. The myth that tells the story of how the “founding fathers” devised and created something that endured through the years.
Sometimes their mission still holds true, sometimes its changed to something they wouldn’t even recognize. Big socio-economic changes, mergers and labor disputes all have the potential to take an organization’s culture to hell.
Changing organizational culture is one of the most daunting tasks you’ll ever endure. It takes time, lots of follow up work and cooperation across the board (which is not usually easy to obtain).
When you attempt to change culture, you are attempting to change a paradigm.
The three cultures
Let me debunk your first preconception. Your company doesn’t have an organizational culture: it has 3.
I tweeted this on Nov 29th and look what happened on Dec 3rd. Coincidence? Mmmm…
Picture this scenario -a not too uncommon one-. It’s year’s end or your anniversary at your job and your boss summons you to his office: it’s performance evaluation time!
You both sit down and you are confident you were a great employee; always on top of your work, responsible, punctual, you never call out but… surprise, surprise!… the feedback you just got is not all bright and shiny.
Whaaaat?! you weren’t supposed to do that thing you did back in May?!
WTF!!! And now you are finding out about it… well, kind of.
Danielle Restivo, Corporate Communications Manager at LinkedIn for Brazil and Canada was interviewed by Eileen Murphy.
She agreed to tell us about the social network so we can better understand how it works and maximize our use of it.
Since its launch in 2003, Linkedin has grown to an astonishing 120 million members worldwide in over 200 countries and territories. Danielle told us that Linkedin continues to look for new ways to add value for our members by adding new products and tools on the site and improving access through mobile devices.
If you’ve been considering getting Commentluv Premium -link to my review- but the price tag is above your budget, Black Friday is here to aid you. What’s best, the deal doesn’t go with Black Friday. It will be valid until November 30th. If you purchase Commentluv Premium using Paypal -following the previous ...
