THE 10 BIGGEST CAREER CHANGE MISTAKES -- AND HOW TO AVOID THEM

Written by Patricia Soldati


Career change is no walk inrepparttar park.   If it was easy,repparttar 142890 castle gates would have burst long ago underrepparttar 142891 stampede of restless corporate warriors. Even with a burning desire to escape,repparttar 142892 gritty issues of money and future work loom larger than life. Add inrepparttar 142893 trauma of a lost security blanket and you’ve got a love-hate relationship that keeps you marching stoically in place.   It doesn’t have to be that way. Successful career-changers take one step at a time. Learn a little…make a little progress. Learn a little more. Take a giant leap forward.

You controlrepparttar 142894 process from beginning to end. When you’re energy is strong, act boldly; when you’re feeling less confident, slow down.   Learn all you can aboutrepparttar 142895 process of change…and educate yourself aboutrepparttar 142896 most common mistakes career-changers make, too. Here’s a list ofrepparttar 142897 10 biggest – and how to avoid them.   10 Biggest Career-Change Mistakes   1. Not seriously focused. Career change is a big and amorphous creature. Like any major life event, it takes consistent focus. Don’t dabble! Jump in solidly with both feet. Schedule regular “career change” time into your calendar.

2. Poor support. Career change generally doesn’t result from just reading a book.  It requires a variety of resources and partnering with mentors who are both knowledgeable and objective. Create a “short list” of who could be most valuable to you.

3. Too few clues. To identify new work possibilities, you need a robust set of specific clues about your values, motivational preferences and skills. Start with about 20 – 25 values, passions, skills and preferences, and hone it down to 12 – 15 that resonate most for you. 4. Too much in your head. You can’t think your way into work you love – it requires moving into action – asking questions, seeking advice, networking, experimentation. 5. Waiting forrepparttar 142898 perfect time. There isn’t one, so takerepparttar 142899 first step now. Career change usually takes from one to three years. The sooner you start,repparttar 142900 sooner you’ll enjoy work that honors all of you – body, mind and spirit.   6. Living in hope. That things will change…magic will happen…someone will come along and fix it. NOT!. You control your destiny…one day at a time.

Job Search - The Speculative Approach

Written by Stephen Richards


The speculative approach of locating vacancies is often overlooked because is appears to berepparttar least productive, however, looks can be deceiving.

The speculative approach is whererepparttar 142673 job applicant makes applications to companies who are not currently advertising a vacancy. In many ways this is similar to cold calling and like cold calling you can expect a similar number of rejections. Please, please, please realise that this does not mean thatrepparttar 142674 speculative approach is not working, in fact you will find it is working just fine.

Month after monthrepparttar 142675 statistics demanded of Jobclubs by Employment Services showed that more of our members found employment usingrepparttar 142676 speculative approach than by any other method.

Is that surprising?

It shouldn't be when you look atrepparttar 142677 efficient method we used when employingrepparttar 142678 speculative approach. Our Jobclub members had a target of 10 job leads a day. They typically looked for advertised vacancies first as these tookrepparttar 142679 longest to prepare for. The bulk ofrepparttar 142680 remaining applications came fromrepparttar 142681 speculative approach.

Job leads forrepparttar 142682 speculative approach come from locating companies that employ people in your chosen field by using publications such as:-

Local Newspaper National Newspaper Specialist Trade Publications Personal Contacts Business Contacts Phone Directory Business Directories Local library Internet

One key piece of information that you should take time to locate isrepparttar 142683 name ofrepparttar 142684 Human Resources Manager or if it is a small companyrepparttar 142685 business owner (CEO or Director) or a Manager inrepparttar 142686 Department you are applying for a job in.

How do you get that information?

The quickest was is by phone. Callrepparttar 142687 company, you will normally get a receptionist or switchboard operator answering. So ask them! Simply say something like...

"I have a letter forrepparttar 142688 person that deals with job applications but I can't find their name, can you tell me who's name I should put onrepparttar 142689 letter?"

How simple is that? Now I know some of you probably don't enjoy calling people you don't know by telephone, but doesrepparttar 142690 minor discomfort really matter compared torepparttar 142691 potential results? It's a sixty second call, easy.

Now if you can find out a little bit more aboutrepparttar 142692 company, then you can make sure that you fine tune your approach to them.

But having locatedrepparttar 142693 potential vacancy what shouldrepparttar 142694 covering letter look like?

Before I show you an example, please understand that you should always write in your own style, but certain phrases withinrepparttar 142695 example are key torepparttar 142696 success ofrepparttar 142697 approach, in particular,repparttar 142698 one's that suggest why you are writing andrepparttar 142699 closing statement that promptsrepparttar 142700 employer to take action.

Have a close look atrepparttar 142701 example below, we can discuss it afterwards (please ignore "." characters used for spacing):- -----------------------------------------------------------

.......................................123 Some Street .......................................Mytown .......................................Whatever County .......................................Postal Code

Named Person Company Name Street Town County Postal Code............................DATE

Dear Named Person,

It was with interest that I recently found details of your company in a local publication and it occurred to me that my previous experience may be a close match for any positions you may have available now or inrepparttar 142702 near future.

As you can see from my enclosed resume, my experience with COMPANY NAME as a JOB TITLE would be suited to a similar position within your company. Previous employers have found my skills coupled with my ability to work as part of a team or on my own initiative to be a useful combination.

Should you have any suitable vacancies now or inrepparttar 142703 near future, I would welcomerepparttar 142704 opportunity to discuss my suitability with you.

I look forward to hearing from you inrepparttar 142705 near future.

Yours sincerely

Signature

Your Name

----------------------------------------------------------- Right, lets take a look atrepparttar 142706 structure. First off, this is a business letter and sorepparttar 142707 layout should reflect that inrepparttar 142708 address and date layout.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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