Guest post by Lindsey Webber - We all hear about the benefits of consulting a career counselor if we’re looking for a job change. But have you ever thought about becoming a career counselor? Here are 10 benefits of a job in career counseling that just might make you consider being one instead of seeing one.
career
Complexity in the careers landscape is higher than ever. Long gone are the days of linear progress up the ladder, stable employment and a vegetative crawl towards the top of the pyramid.
The paradigm about how careers progress is always evolving: the previous corporate career paradigm was a “Race to the Top”. You started serving coffee, became an analyst, then manager, director, etc. CEO, and that was the measure of success.
Nowadays, a professional career in the corporate world does not necessarily imply upward movement. People now move upward, sideways and even take steps back -i.e.: career shifts- to progress in their careers.
The fading of this linearity in careers have posed new challenges to both people and employers.
By Ioana Lazarov- So, you hate your job, your boss and your colleagues. Where do you go next?
Deciding to leave a job and moving on in your career can be a particularly stressful time and one that is often filled with ambivalence and uncertainty over your future employment prospects.
However, if you have exhausted all of your career options within the current company or organisation you work for, you know it is time to pack up your bags, jump out and start your journey to a new career.
But what do you need to do before resigning?
Is your boss stressing you out? Don’t you get along with your co-workers? Is your desk overflowing with stacked paperwork? Do you hate your job? Recognizing if what’s stressing you out is transitory or permanent is the first step to cope with stress. The second one, is reading what comes next.
By Cecile Rayssiguier – When I was a student (a French student studying in France), my roommate had gone to the US for a full year. I therefore had in exchange welcomed a very nice American girl. I happen to be very fond of cooking and had the chance to own a large flat. In a very natural manner, our living-room consequently became a well known meeting room for most of the other American students who had to spend their year in France.
If my memory serves me right, three of them did not speak a French word. When I expressed how surprised I was, they replied they were convinced that French was a dialect and that everybody would be speaking English in France.
Well, in fact no. In France, (and I’m afraid, in many countries) not everyone speaks English. And working aboard in a foreign country means, at least, that you should speak the local language.
This story dates from… the Middle Ages, when computers did not exist, nor did the internet and its tremendous ability to enable people to instantly -and virtually- travel worldwide.
Guest Post by Ioana Lazarov – The workplace is a platform where characters and strengths are built, new friendships are formed and achievement potential is uncovered. But for those who see ourselves in a less favourable light, assuming achievement is a result of “some mysterious fluke or luck or great effort” (Clance, 1985, p. 9), the deep and destructive internalized conviction can lead to the most debilitating effects.
Often times, starting a new career can present us with some physical and psychological difficulties and overwhelming feelings of anxiety can dominate our every thought.
The occupational emphasis on performance added to a role that may represent a personal and professional challenge often requires a speedy adjustment to the new team, work schedule and the new area or location. This can push us to feel on shaky grounds and unfamiliar territories.
Most companies and organisations have a set regular performance review agenda with detailed feedback on your progress from both superiors and peers. However, when impostor feelings persistently make their presence, the sapped anticipatory enthusiasm becomes spirit-deadening, turning every positive comment into self-doubting your intellectual ability or suitability for the new role.
This often leads to misinterpret any constructive criticism, the pervasive fear of being discovered as a fraud exacerbates, translating into taxing behaviours such as over-preparation or procrastination.
A term first coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, the Impostor Phenomenon has been in the interest of many scientist and researchers. This fructuous labour has provided insight into the triggers of the impostor feelings and aided the development of coping strategies.
Additionally to extensive article publications surrounding the Impostor Phenomenon, here are some self-reflective techniques that might be useful:
These are the posts I have published on Gradkin since October 11th. Check them out:
If you are waiting for a 600 hundred word post to get the answer I’m sorry to disappoint you: the answer is it depends.
Put yourself in the shoes of an employer: Would you prefer a mindless zombie or a highly talented person? The answer is obvious. But, what if you were looking for a person to work at an iPod assembly line? The job would consist in grabbing iPods, sticking them in a box and closing the box… next iPod. Why would you need someone with an IQ of 140 to do that job? If for any reason that person gets hired, I give him or her 2 days in the factory.
Thing is, every job has different requirements. Hiring an intellectually adequate fit for each job is something most recruiters and hiring managers keep in mind. HR people have a saying “right job for the right person, right person for the right job”. Taking someone who is not a good fit for a given position may put you back in employee-seeker world too soon. Some could challenge this, arguing that sometimes you hire an over-qualified candidate because he/she seems like a good prospect for the company; and this is a valid point. There’s an element of gambling in every recruitment process but if the company has a clear idea of where it wants to develop this person to, hiring an over-qualified candidate may be the way to go. It’s tricky.
Guest post by Alyssa Foreman – The job hunt is an especially difficult thing for recent grads and recently laid off workers in this day and age. Locating the right potential job is only the beginning, though. Once you find that job, you have to market yourself effectively in the interview to land the gig.
Interviewers will ask a wide range of questions and they will do a large amount of background research prior to hiring you. Most people think that this stops at the criminal level, and that absent a record, they will qualify for the job.
Many employers go a step farther, though, and look into the financial history of an applicant. While everyone knows that having a bad credit score can hurt your car insurance rates and your ability to get a credit card what many do not realize is that a bad credit score can cost you a job in some instances, and it can require an explanation in others.
Guest Blog Post by Katrina Robinson - Surviving the corporate world is a tough task. But for you to be able to successfully take on office politics, you need to be proactive. No good will come from hoping that office politics will just go away—the issue needs to be tackled head-on. Try the following tips to better survive—and thrive during—office politics.
Before you start looking for a job, you need to create your personal brand so by the time you need that job, the scenario would be set up. The day you decide to get a new (or first) job all you need to do is start your personal brand’s engine and let it run. A tweet, a status update on LinkedIn or a blog post expressing your desire to work for X,Y and/or Z is all you need to attract employers’ attention.
The position %100 percent of the population is under-qualified for: Via BestViral
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This post is a product from the collaboration project that Andrew C. Abraham and myself started a few months ago. By Andrew C. Abraham.- It’s intern season. Many of the companies that I’m speaking to now are so busy with interns during this summer. I personally don’t have any internships ...
