As I approach 40 I start to think of those out there who are also becoming more "mature" but also are changing careers. I found a great article regarding how to cope with both.
Changing your career at any age can be a little nerve rattling; however, as adults approach the age of 40 several factors keep many in jobs they would otherwise let go. These factors include age discrimination, opportunity to further education, financial resources, and much needed encouragement to get started. The key to these changes has often entailed:
1. Taking an inventory of skills
Here is a simple way for you to get started. Take a blank sheet of paper and draw a very large T on the paper. Write on the left side of the T, skills or jobs you have most enjoyed over the years. On the other half of the T, skills or jobs you did not enjoy. Consider your past work history, hobbies, and volunteer experiences when filling in your "T" area. Here are a few examples: Working with people, leisure activities, working with things, data, instructing others, artistic, mechanical, scientific, managing, influencing, sales, working with your hands, job location. Be as specific as you can with your likes and dislikes.
2. To get additional career ideas
Research the classified Ads - Even consider local businesses that you feel you would enjoy working at or even owning. Then make a note of them, and add them to your list of potential careers to further research.
In the Millennium new career opportunities are opening up everyday, and many new small businesses are emerging! Consider how you may use your skills and expertise to take advantage of this growing need in society. Working from your home and starting out small can be fun, too.
3. Choose a career you can enjoy, not one that is only directed at making money
You will need passion and enthusiasm to learn new things, and to push yourself to greater heights. The more you enjoy the work you choose, the more time you will spend at it. This can help you increase your income potential in the long run. Why not create a life based on the best person you want to be not what someone else tells you to be. Life really can be fun if you create income based on what you truly enjoy doing.
4. After researching careers you find interesting, narrow down your career selections.
Learn more about each career you find interesting. Helpful books for in-depth career research can be located at your local library or on-line. These books include: The Enhanced Occupational Outlook Handbook, The O*NET Dictionary of Occupational Titles, The Guide for Occupational Exploration (EGOE or GOE abbreviated) or the New Guide for Occupational Exploration. The O*NET Dictionary of Occupational Titles is the standard of the industry at this time for research in occupations.
These occupational reference books show specific's about an occupation; necessary skills, necessary education, basic salary ranges and much more. So referencing these important guides can give you a better idea of what can be expected and skills necessary for a particular occupation.
5. Paint a clear picture in your mind of what it is you really would choose to do in your career.
It is very important to paint a picture in your mind of the career you would like. Be very specific, right down to how close the your job is to you, along with the amount of income you would like to earn from it, down to what your office looks like, whether it is indoors or outdoors, the kind of people you would like to work around. Paint every tiny detail in your picture in your mind of your idea career, a career that you can really love.
A clear picture in your mind of what you like to do will bring it to you faster, as you are the instrument that brings change to your life. See yourself doing it already, put forth strong emotion in your thoughts when you think about it, as again, you ARE the instrument that brings change to your life. So the better you research your likes and dislikes, and the specific's of certain occupations, you can then choose better what it is you would like to do, as well, pin-pointing a career you can love will help to give you clarity in bringing it to your life.
6. Put your plan together
Take time to put your plan together now that you've done your research. Do you need more education, additional financial resources, a new resume, support from your family members, an intermediate job? Write a plan of action and then follow it step by step.
7. Financial Resources
If you're struggling for income don't forget some companies have opportunities for career transition within a company, ask the human resources office if any such program exist within your company. As well, you may want to look into government grants or other government programs for financial/educational opportunities. Our government has many programs to help those out financially and educationally to promote growth in each economic development area. Ask your local workforce Center or One-Stop Center for more information on local government sponsored programs. Research on-line for possible grants that may apply to you.
Changing your career at 40 is very possible. Remember changing your career can also include starting your own business. Focus on the skills you enjoy using the most, and build a career based solidly on your likes.
Changing a career is a process that can be fun, self awakening, and can give you a new zeal for living. Get started today and ask the people who care the most about you to give you the support you need.
If you need further help contact your local college and ask if they provide career counseling or consult the yellow pages and look under vocational counseling or career counseling.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Using a Headhunter
Many have approached me about the best way to utilize a headhunter for a job search. I came across a great article that may be useful.
How To Get The Most Out of Head Hunters
By
Michael T Robinson
CareerPlanner.com
How to Select a Head Hunter
(Professional Recruiter)
Many people ask how they should go about selecting a professional recruiter (otherwise known as a headhunter). They frequently ask if we can recommend a few good recruiters that specialize in a particular field.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Recruiters select you. You don't select them. Understanding this will allow you to get the most out of recruiters.
The process you will want to apply when utilizing recruiters is opposite the process a company uses when they use recruiters. A company may use one or two trusted recruiters when they do a search. On the other hand you will have to use a large number of recruiters (>500) that you probably know very little about.
That's probably not what you wanted to hear.
Before you contact recruiters, you must know what type of work it is that you are looking for. If you are not sure about your career direction, contact CareerPlanner.com for quick assistance in matching your interests and abilities with good careers.
When you look for a recruiter, unless you are paying him or her out of your own pocket, or unless you are an extremely hot property, no single recruiter can afford to focus on you. The best you can hope for is to get into their database, their filing system, or better yet into their minds.
Since you don't know which positions a recruiter might be trying to fill, and which companies a recruiter is working for, you need to contact a large volume of recruiters in hopes of finding one that has an interesting position, in your area of expertise, and at an interesting company.
By now you should realize that having a recruiter or two working for you, is an illusion. It just doesn't work that way.
This is what does work:
Quick Recipe for Success
Compile a list of 500 or more recruiting firms based on your particular need
Perform a mass emailing of your resume and cover letter to these firms
Hope you get into their data base whether it be computerized or not
Wait for calls - expect calls to start within a few weeks and to run for months
Sort and save the rejection notices into two piles. Those that claim to not handle your field, and those that do but don't have any present opportunities.
Expect only a very small percentage of recruiters to show an interest. One out of 25 is considered good. Hopefully you will have more. It depends on supply and demand.
If a recruiter calls they may want to do a "get to know you" interview on the phone. Be prepared to market yourself. See our web site for tips on marketing yourself.
Keep in touch with the recruiters that did call. Check with them frequently, just so that you maintain a position in their minds.
Ask all of the people you know in your industry, what headhunters they like to use. Get their email addresses and and phone numbers and contact them as well.
How To Do A Mass Emailing?
First you need a list of recruiting firms. You can purchase a listing of recruiting firms from a number of places and there may be free sources on the Internet. We suggest:
The Directory of Executive Recruiters + CD
By Kennedy Information
Phone: 800-531-0007
http://kennedyinfo.com/
This book, which costs about $45, contains over 4000 recruiters sorted by location, specialty, industry etc. It comes with a CD that contains the same information as the book. The CD allows you to easily sort and use the email addresses of recruiting firms. It requires a password that can be purchased over the phone for an additional charge of approximately $150. This is expensive, but it will save you hours of re-typing addresses onto mailing labels.
CareerPlanner.com is not affiliated with this book nor the publishers. We just think it's one of the fastest ways to do mass mailing of resumes.
Remember that you should send out at least 500 resumes.
Contingency VS Retained
First decide whether to use contingency recruiters or retained recruiters. This varies depending on the economy. During boom times recruiters can afford to be selective and the following rule applies:
If your salary is over $100K send resumes to retained recruiters first. If your salary is less than $100K use contingency recruiters.
What is the difference? Companies filling top positions will usually pay a recruiting firm a retainer fee so they can afford to focus on a particular position. Thus searches for higher paying positions usually go to retained recruiting firms.
For lower paying positions, a company might use a number of contingency recruiting firms, none of which have an exclusive on filling the position. In this case whichever recruiter brings in the best candidate first gets paid. Everyone else loses. There are also recruiters who, when they find an interesting resume will mail it to several companies hoping to get lucky. These are contingency search firms.
Some companies operate as both contingency and retained. During slow economic times, many recruiting firms will take any business they can get. Sure they would prefer the "cash up front" that a retained position provides, but during tough times, they will go after what looks like their best bet to close a deal quickly.
Select A Location
You can select recruiting firms by their location, however this is mis-leading. A search firm in New Jersey might know of a position in San Diego. Why? The San Diego company may have a parent company in New Jersey, or, the recruiting firm may have done a good job for someone in the San Diego company.
Recruiting usually transcends geographic boundaries. However, if you have a specific location where you want to live, i.e. perhaps where you now live, then start with local recruiters, but don't stop there. Your initial mailing should include both local and remote recruiters.
Finally, the larger recruiting firms have headquarters in major East and West Coast cities. You will want to send a resume to both the head quarters and the local branch.
Select A Specialty
You should select recruiting firms based on the fields they specialize in. The Kennedy book mentioned above allows you to select by industry and to some extent by career field. When you look up a recruiter in the Kennedy book you will get a feel for whether they might cover your type of work. When in doubt put them on your mailing list. Worst case they will mail you a post card stating they don't cover your field.
Summary
Remember your goal is to make yourself known to as many recruiters as possible. You do this through mass emailing. The more resumes you send, the better chance you have of finding a recruiter who is doing a search for someone just like you.
How To Get The Most Out of Head Hunters
By
Michael T Robinson
CareerPlanner.com
How to Select a Head Hunter
(Professional Recruiter)
Many people ask how they should go about selecting a professional recruiter (otherwise known as a headhunter). They frequently ask if we can recommend a few good recruiters that specialize in a particular field.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Recruiters select you. You don't select them. Understanding this will allow you to get the most out of recruiters.
The process you will want to apply when utilizing recruiters is opposite the process a company uses when they use recruiters. A company may use one or two trusted recruiters when they do a search. On the other hand you will have to use a large number of recruiters (>500) that you probably know very little about.
That's probably not what you wanted to hear.
Before you contact recruiters, you must know what type of work it is that you are looking for. If you are not sure about your career direction, contact CareerPlanner.com for quick assistance in matching your interests and abilities with good careers.
When you look for a recruiter, unless you are paying him or her out of your own pocket, or unless you are an extremely hot property, no single recruiter can afford to focus on you. The best you can hope for is to get into their database, their filing system, or better yet into their minds.
Since you don't know which positions a recruiter might be trying to fill, and which companies a recruiter is working for, you need to contact a large volume of recruiters in hopes of finding one that has an interesting position, in your area of expertise, and at an interesting company.
By now you should realize that having a recruiter or two working for you, is an illusion. It just doesn't work that way.
This is what does work:
Quick Recipe for Success
Compile a list of 500 or more recruiting firms based on your particular need
Perform a mass emailing of your resume and cover letter to these firms
Hope you get into their data base whether it be computerized or not
Wait for calls - expect calls to start within a few weeks and to run for months
Sort and save the rejection notices into two piles. Those that claim to not handle your field, and those that do but don't have any present opportunities.
Expect only a very small percentage of recruiters to show an interest. One out of 25 is considered good. Hopefully you will have more. It depends on supply and demand.
If a recruiter calls they may want to do a "get to know you" interview on the phone. Be prepared to market yourself. See our web site for tips on marketing yourself.
Keep in touch with the recruiters that did call. Check with them frequently, just so that you maintain a position in their minds.
Ask all of the people you know in your industry, what headhunters they like to use. Get their email addresses and and phone numbers and contact them as well.
How To Do A Mass Emailing?
First you need a list of recruiting firms. You can purchase a listing of recruiting firms from a number of places and there may be free sources on the Internet. We suggest:
The Directory of Executive Recruiters + CD
By Kennedy Information
Phone: 800-531-0007
http://kennedyinfo.com/
This book, which costs about $45, contains over 4000 recruiters sorted by location, specialty, industry etc. It comes with a CD that contains the same information as the book. The CD allows you to easily sort and use the email addresses of recruiting firms. It requires a password that can be purchased over the phone for an additional charge of approximately $150. This is expensive, but it will save you hours of re-typing addresses onto mailing labels.
CareerPlanner.com is not affiliated with this book nor the publishers. We just think it's one of the fastest ways to do mass mailing of resumes.
Remember that you should send out at least 500 resumes.
Contingency VS Retained
First decide whether to use contingency recruiters or retained recruiters. This varies depending on the economy. During boom times recruiters can afford to be selective and the following rule applies:
If your salary is over $100K send resumes to retained recruiters first. If your salary is less than $100K use contingency recruiters.
What is the difference? Companies filling top positions will usually pay a recruiting firm a retainer fee so they can afford to focus on a particular position. Thus searches for higher paying positions usually go to retained recruiting firms.
For lower paying positions, a company might use a number of contingency recruiting firms, none of which have an exclusive on filling the position. In this case whichever recruiter brings in the best candidate first gets paid. Everyone else loses. There are also recruiters who, when they find an interesting resume will mail it to several companies hoping to get lucky. These are contingency search firms.
Some companies operate as both contingency and retained. During slow economic times, many recruiting firms will take any business they can get. Sure they would prefer the "cash up front" that a retained position provides, but during tough times, they will go after what looks like their best bet to close a deal quickly.
Select A Location
You can select recruiting firms by their location, however this is mis-leading. A search firm in New Jersey might know of a position in San Diego. Why? The San Diego company may have a parent company in New Jersey, or, the recruiting firm may have done a good job for someone in the San Diego company.
Recruiting usually transcends geographic boundaries. However, if you have a specific location where you want to live, i.e. perhaps where you now live, then start with local recruiters, but don't stop there. Your initial mailing should include both local and remote recruiters.
Finally, the larger recruiting firms have headquarters in major East and West Coast cities. You will want to send a resume to both the head quarters and the local branch.
Select A Specialty
You should select recruiting firms based on the fields they specialize in. The Kennedy book mentioned above allows you to select by industry and to some extent by career field. When you look up a recruiter in the Kennedy book you will get a feel for whether they might cover your type of work. When in doubt put them on your mailing list. Worst case they will mail you a post card stating they don't cover your field.
Summary
Remember your goal is to make yourself known to as many recruiters as possible. You do this through mass emailing. The more resumes you send, the better chance you have of finding a recruiter who is doing a search for someone just like you.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
New Year Job Resolutions
Andy Chan, vice president for career development at Wake Forest University, said that adopting these 10 resolutions could help refresh and rejuvenate the job search, and get the New Year off to the best start possible.
Roadblock 1 - Poor marketing
"Many people don’t realise that the way they are marketing themselves just isn’t working, and they never get any feedback. The best way to get feedback is to ask for it from people who do a lot of hiring," said Chan.
1. I will ask friends or acquaintances who manage and hire people to evaluate my cover letter and resume and give me real feedback - even if it hurts to hear it.
2. I will ask these same friends to conduct a practice interview with me and give me "tough love" feedback.
3. When I find an attractive job on the Web, I will apply immediately (with a tailored cover letter and resume) and search for friends and colleagues who could act as referrals to help me network into the organization.
Roadblock 2 - Poor networking
"We make the assumption that if we apply on the Web, it will get us in the door. But the truth is, if your experience doesn’t line up perfectly with the job, the likelihood of getting seen is low. That’s why networking is important. People hire people; they don’t hire paper," Chan said.
4. I will be thoughtful about when to send my resume, and I will not send my resume to everyone I know.
5. I will be specific about the type of work and organizations, including names of target organizations that I find most interesting.
6. I will network 80 percent of the time and use the Web 20 percent of the time.
Roadblock 3 - Poor mind-set
"A lot of people are looking at jobs through a narrow lens. But as the old Rolling Stones song says, ‘you can’t always get what you want.’ You may need to focus first on what you need and get the ideal job later," Chan said.
7. I will be open to exploring many options because an interesting opportunity may exist beyond what I can see on the surface.
8. I will re-examine what my real financial needs are so that I can be more open to opportunities that may pay me less than what I want.
9. I will evaluate opportunities by recognizing that this job can be a stepping stone to another job (inside or outside the company) - especially as the market improves.
10. Although I might want to quit and do a job search full-time, I am more attractive to employers when I am employed.
Roadblock 1 - Poor marketing
"Many people don’t realise that the way they are marketing themselves just isn’t working, and they never get any feedback. The best way to get feedback is to ask for it from people who do a lot of hiring," said Chan.
1. I will ask friends or acquaintances who manage and hire people to evaluate my cover letter and resume and give me real feedback - even if it hurts to hear it.
2. I will ask these same friends to conduct a practice interview with me and give me "tough love" feedback.
3. When I find an attractive job on the Web, I will apply immediately (with a tailored cover letter and resume) and search for friends and colleagues who could act as referrals to help me network into the organization.
Roadblock 2 - Poor networking
"We make the assumption that if we apply on the Web, it will get us in the door. But the truth is, if your experience doesn’t line up perfectly with the job, the likelihood of getting seen is low. That’s why networking is important. People hire people; they don’t hire paper," Chan said.
4. I will be thoughtful about when to send my resume, and I will not send my resume to everyone I know.
5. I will be specific about the type of work and organizations, including names of target organizations that I find most interesting.
6. I will network 80 percent of the time and use the Web 20 percent of the time.
Roadblock 3 - Poor mind-set
"A lot of people are looking at jobs through a narrow lens. But as the old Rolling Stones song says, ‘you can’t always get what you want.’ You may need to focus first on what you need and get the ideal job later," Chan said.
7. I will be open to exploring many options because an interesting opportunity may exist beyond what I can see on the surface.
8. I will re-examine what my real financial needs are so that I can be more open to opportunities that may pay me less than what I want.
9. I will evaluate opportunities by recognizing that this job can be a stepping stone to another job (inside or outside the company) - especially as the market improves.
10. Although I might want to quit and do a job search full-time, I am more attractive to employers when I am employed.
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