Career Change 50

There are no shortcuts to successful careers or successful lives. There may be some luck involved when people win lotteries and bets, but this does not mean that everyone is going to be lucky and hit that million-dollar jackpot. Those people have to make some quick decisions in their lives, and make instant career changes.
For those who are not close to hitting that million-dollar jackpot, here are some tips that will help you change your career for the better.
1. Snap back to reality – As easy as it may seem, changing careers can be a challenging and daunting experience and far from easy. It all boils down to how you perceive it. If you want to change your career, then do it quickly. Put in all your effort and all the strength that you have. Remember that you are wasting more effort and energy being stuck in a job that you do not like, and one that doesn’t appeal to you.
2. Do not expect miracles – There are going to be no miracles where your career change is concerned. Do not think that a career change is going to come to you miraculously. The only person who can help you escape from your current dead-end career is you! Be proactive. Don’t just sit there complacently and expect some dream career to land in your lap. It is not going to happen unless you take some steps to make it happen. You need to really go out there and do some work.
3. Analyze your values, passions and skills – When you have decided to start working on your career change, the first thing that you have to do is analyze the things that matter to you the most. These things will focus on your values, your passions and your skills. Values are principles that you adhere to in life, and these are important in your career. Passion for a particular career or being passionate about something is what will make you want to do a particular thing to the best of your ability. Your skill is the ability that of doing something well. Your passions and your skills need to be on the same wavelength.
4. Focus on the positives – When you are looking for an instant career change, you need to have a positive outlook. It does not help when you are constantly demoralized or unmotivated to change your career. Think about how much better you would feel if you were doing something you were passionate about.
So when you are trying to change your career as fast as possible, it helps to plan and plan well.

Change is inevitable but that doesn’t mean one cannot learn to make something worthwhile of the necessary changes that life presents us with. Careers are great; they keep you on a steady part. When you choose a career, it helps you narrow down your options and helps you build yourself better. But there comes a time in life when you just have to own up to yourself that things are not going right in your chosen career and you may have to consider changing your career path.
Here are the top 5 things to consider when thinking of changing your career path
Fulfillment
No matter how much you are earning in your chosen career, fulfillment must never be undervalued. You need fulfillment in your job to really enjoy the benefits that come with it. A lot of people have changed jobs and careers because of lack of fulfillment and are having the time of their lives today. When you are thinking of a career change, fulfillment must be top on your list of considerations.
Your career is what takes up a lot of your time. You invest in your education and basically guide your life by it. You can’t afford not to enjoy it because not enjoying your career is simply not enjoying your life. So when changing your career path you must make sure that what you are opting for gives you more fulfillment than what you presently have.
Required Skills
What are the required skills in the career you are thinking of changing to? It is very important you know you know these. You need to know what you need to get to get what you want. Do you have to go back to school? Will your present skills or education be useful in the new career? You need to really take your time to know whether you will be able to acquire the skills easily or not.
Strengths and Weaknesses
When thinking of changing careers, you must take a critical look at
yourself and consider your strengths and weaknesses. Choose a career that accommodates your strengths and weaknesses. One in which you can enjoy being yourself and make money doing it.
Money
While it is important to get fulfillment from your job and career, it is also important you review the financial implications of changing careers. You need to be realistic about your pending career change. Know how much you have to spend to get yourself ready for the change. Know how much money you will need to acquire the necessary skills and or education to enjoy the best of the new career.
Do you have the financial capability to change careers now? Will it be worth it financially, changing careers now? You really need to answer these questions to make the right decision.
Help
In making in a great decision in changing your career path, you may need help. Never hesitate to ask for it. There are specialists in the field, like career counselors, who can help you put everything in perspective and guide you in making the right decision. They also can help you in putting all the above factors to use.

Take this career test- post that resume, pay this fee, need that degree, truth is your career is your life and without it you dwindle down into a far less lifestyle than you would care to admit to. A lifestyle generally much less than the peek through your imagination years before had led you to see, a much more acceptable, picture perfect dream of how you felt that it was going to be. New careers are everywhere all over the world and the true question really should be, if you look at it realistically, just what type of lifestyle are you looking to have since pay is truly going to be a deciding factor in your choice. Most just don’t do too well when they go out on their own and try to carve a piece of that All American Dream out for themselves.

If you’re not careful most of you will find yourselves  hopping from job to job for whatever reason throughout 1/2 of your adult lives definitely opting to settle for less pay than you know full well than that which you’re worth and there goes the lifestyle along with it following you year after year. A really good piece of career change advice! Plan! You and only you know what you want, and like. You say you like fast cars and fancy houses and expensive clothes etc. Three full time jobs at an average job just won’t do. You’ll always be living well beyond your means that way. So either you drop your toys or find a career job that can support that type of lifestyle.

Fact! Most everyone wants what America makes so easy for all who want it to have. A piece of the All American Dream, that being a big home, nice cars and trucks, boats, and the stress free life of an above average lifestyle with no worries. The heart breaking truth of it all is that it was never even out of their grasp to begin with. Coventional career training has too much stigma attached to it and society blows right past the obvious looking for what used to be old school.

There are bona fide career training facilities capable of preparing and cranking out accomplished students earning from a couple hundred dollars a day to literally thousands in mere days to several weeks of entering a very easy to learn extremely intensive curriculum designed for easy learning with all the tools and support to help in speed of grasping modern day concepts of earning huge amounts of cash without all the hype and waiting for career tests, waiting for resumes to be approved, paying absolutely outrageous unheard of fees, trying to qualify for degrees, etc.

New careers truly capable of helping you improve your current financial situation are a challenge to find but they do exist. A really good start to finding a company to build a career like this is to, listen very carefully, find one that SINCERELY WANT YOU TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL… how would you know? It’s in the plan, the reputation, the structure, proof of people that are actually changing their lives on a daily basis, track records, etc. Don’t get taken in by words that are appealing to you, it’s the very best way to get side tracked.

Great fortunes (money) Is not hard to earn. Sure there is work involved but ask yourself this. If you could pay a dedicated company a monthly fee that equaled, these days, a half a tank of gas, to put you on the road to earning more money than you have ever made to date and on into the future earning more money than any degree, years of college, the aggravation of useless running around putting in resumes  and taking tests and the list just goes on and on, than you have ever made or will make in your life then why wouldn’t you?

Old school has changed, and fact is it doesn’t take long months and years to learn how to make great, even unheard of money, heck you can do it even if you don’t have ANY money, and you can do it right from home, another plus! You don’t even have to get out of your pajamas, or start the car.

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Today’s job market is tough. Millions of people are looking for jobs for the first time in years.  They’re looking for jobs that don’t seem to exist. Recruiters don’t return phone calls. Job seekers are fed up and frustrated. They wonder if all the effort is ever going to pay off and if it’s time to change careers. You might be wondering the same thing. But, it seems so risky in this economy. 

If you are experiencing these feelings, it might be time for a career change:• You’ve always been interested in other career areas but went with the “safe” route and now you feel burned out• You don’t enjoy your work anymore and you wonder what other options are out there for you• You feel stuck and stagnant• You are finding fewer and fewer jobs available in your industry• You’re over-qualified for the jobs that are available in your industry• You feel the effort to get a new job in your industry is more than you want to undertake

How do you know if now is a good time to change career direction?

The reality is that job loss and job creation are natural components of the world of work. It happens all the time to varying degrees.  So there probably isn’t one perfect time to change jobs or careers. The decision depends a lot on your personal situation.

Before launching a job search or career change, though, there are several important steps to take which I also outline in my career guide and audio program, Fast Track Your Career: Three Steps for Finding Work You Love.

Gaining Personal InsightBefore you change careers, you need to figure out what you want. By assessing your current situation you can determine what you need in your career to be satisfied. Analyze your values, skills, personality characteristics, interests, and lifestyle preferences. It’s also useful to take inventory of your financial situation, especially if the career you’re considering might require additional education and training or relocation.

Getting a Reality CheckA critical mistake in making a career change is making the leap without getting enough career information. By exploring career possibilities you’ll be able to identify options that are best suited to your personal attributes and preferences. There are online and print resources you can use to learn about job outlooks and industry trends. The people in your network can also be great sources for information about trends and opportunities in various career fields. In addition, they can make introductions and give you referrals.

Charting Your Career PathAfter you’ve done some self-assessment to learn what you want in a career and done career research to generate options, you have to make a decision about next steps. Your transition and job search plans will guide you to successfully getting the job you want and expanding your professional network. You’ll also need to update your resume, cover letter, and other support materials and fine-tune your interviewing and networking skills.People change jobs or careers in search of greater satisfaction. By following the steps outlined above, you  will increase your chances for finding a career that better suits your personal goals and uses your talents in meaningful ways.

If you’re thinking about a career change, purchase the The Fast Track Your Career: Three Steps for Finding Work You Love career guide and audio program today. You will go through a step-by-step exploration and planning process by completing several exercises, so you can get clear about your career direction.

Special thanks to Andrea Delgado for contributing to this article. For more than 10 years, Andrea, was a program manager at an international development organization during which time she held multiple positions involving program and grant management and administrative support.  Andrea has been networking to find employment opportunities and has considered a career change into the private sector. Her dream job would take her into the international financial arena analyzing economic policy and regulations. Andrea has her M.A. degree in International Political Economy and Development from Fordham University; a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Politics & Public Policy from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and a B.A degree in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.”

Andrea can be contacted on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrea-delgado/10/3b6/717

Given the current economic status, you may be wondering about whether your plan to buy a franchise is a good decision.  Maybe you’re in a corporate job and are fearing the axe.  Or perhaps you are simply no longer challenged in your present position and are ready to venture out on your own and follow a proven system, but are hesitant to give up “job security”. Well really, is there such a thing as job security?

Whatever your reason, the decision to buy a franchise is a very calculated risk.  Regardless of any economic challenges, the growth of franchising continues to be strong, and a great option for those who want to operate their own business.  Franchising provides motivated, new business owners the best possible chance of succeeding with the least amount of risk.  Industry experience is not required to operate a franchise.  I’ve consulted with numerous clients who are simply tired and bored with their white collar, techie jobs and want something completely different and challenging.  One was an electrical engineer who ultimately decided he was completely passionate about pet grooming and chose a franchise in that category.  The point is, because of its nature, franchising allows for a complete career overhaul for an individual wishing to change paths.

Although certain risks do exist in franchising, as in any business, there are many franchise concepts that are recession proof and some actually thrive in a weaker economy.  Any franchise with a solid track record will easily survive, and some even flourish, during down times.  Keep in mind that the bad economic condition is temporary and when it turns around, your business will grow even stronger. 

Franchising remains one of the fastest growing segments of the American business economy and will continue into the future for many reasons.  People are unhappy with the corporate world because of massive layoffs and office politics.  Business ownership is increasingly appealing to women and minorities, and many are looking at franchising.

Franchising continues to evolve and improve as a concept and in reality.  There are more opportunities for the creation of wealth for the franchisee, as well as the franchisor, than ever before.  The future of franchising is as bright as ever, even in a dim economy, and remains an excellent vehicle for allowing you to achieve your financial and personal goals.

Find Your Perfect Business

Dissatisfaction, boredom, changing life styles and limited advancement or compensation opportunities headline traditional career change lists.  But today career change drivers are just as likely to be for non-elective reasons.  No matter if your decision is driven by a pursuit for happiness or a pursuit for survival; follow these important rules to insure a smart and lasting career change.

Changing careers requires a job change — a scary proposition.  However, with career change training, and good career change advice will help see you through this difficult challenge.  Don’t let your fear stop you from finding a job you love.

For more information on these techniques and for more assistance creating and pursuing a successful new career or career change see - Get help with Career Training

Good luck.

Career testing has become a very popular way of “discovering ourselves” and our abilities. However, many people tend to accept their test results as the absolute gospel truth about themselves and their occupations.

This in a way can be a very dangerous assumption and especially for individuals who are desperately seeking some direction in life.

My advice to this is that, even though it may be what you want to hear, you need to be somewhat cautious of your test results.

The truth is, that no matter how glorified and 99.99 percent certified, these tests can be somewhat abstract and generalized. It doesn’t matter how good a test is or how good the developer says it is, career tests, career quizzes, and personality tests are not always the absolute gospel truth.

So here are a few guidelines to keep in mind when taking a career or personality test.

1) No test is 100% accurate. Independent studies have proven that even the most glorified tests can be as much as 25 percent inaccurate.

2) Test results can vary. Yes, even the results from the same test taken by the same person at different times can change. Your mood and frame of mind can influence your test results from day to day and even just one different answer can mean completely different results. It’s so important to give questions a lot of thought and be totally honest with your answers.

3) Take more than one test. Since no test is completely accurate and results can vary, it is so important to take more than one test. In this way you can compare results to get an accurate assessment of matching results. You’ll be able to eliminate mistakes by averaging matching results.

4) Not the end result. Always remember that career testing is only the beginning of your career planning process. It’s not the end result. You simply now have something to work with.

5) Be true to yourself. Give your results some serious thought. Do some deep soul searching and trust your intuition. You’ll know if the results are totally wrong for you. If you’re reading one thing and it doesn’t feel right, don’t go running off in the wrong direction just because the test results “said so”. If you still don’t get it, you may need to seek additional advice from a career coach or career counselor. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help. And I honestly recommend that you do so.

I hope this helps.

In the not-so-recent-past, job seekers had to spend hours upon hours walking around visiting companies and career consultants hoping to get a good job. They had to pour over newspapers and job listings for hours and then call up every prospective employer to ask for an appointment. But the advent of the Internet has changed all that. Now one of the most effective and efficient ways to look for a job is by using online career services. Unlike days past, the new online job services offer comprehensive advice concerning interviews, resume writing, and even career coaching – all at reasonable prices, and some services are free of charge. Online Career Sites- Job Searching Made Simple
Online career sites started out small – but with time they have become bigger and better, and offer more value-added services. With online career services, you have a rich repository of career-related information at your fingertips 24/7. Using an online job service is very efficient. Instead of having to go to several different sources for career-related information and help, you can find everything you need in one place. Is The Online Career Site Reputable?
We’ve all heard of job-related scams, so it pays to be careful. Scammers create false vacancies and post them with the intention of getting personal information about candidates and later misusing it. If you follow certain practices while using an online career service, you will be secure. To verify that an online career service will do what they say they will, ask yourself the following questions:
• Is there a ‘help’ function – contact email or otherwise?
• Does the service offer career coaching (it is hard to fake this)?
• Is there sufficient information on the site (a dearth of information suggests a scam)?
You can also verify the reliability of an online career service from sources like the Better Business Bureau.
A reputable online career service offers lots of features and information upfront. A good site will include lots of free articles, resume writing help and career coaching available. In addition, they will offer free tools and assessments for job seekers to use on their own before seeking live help.
Gone are the days when a career site only allowed job seekers to post their resumes and search available vacancies. Today’s career sites are comprehensive tools, offering complete career management, planning and consulting.

We start by looking at the Insight Call Centre – part of the Athlone School for the Blind Association in South Africa that trains blind and partially sighted students for a call centre career.

“The project started initially as a training project to provide job training for the students,” said Melanie Bailes from Quality Solutions which runs the project. “The aim was not to train students to work in a sort of sheltered blind call centre. The aim was that they could be incorporated into any call centre. We are terribly pleased that this has happened.”

The Insight Call Centre currently comprises two classrooms, furnished with individual workstations, phones and networked computers to accommodate up to 10 people in each. This forms the “Call Centre” proper while two other classrooms had already been renovated and converted into training rooms equipped with desks and computers and designed to accommodate 15 at a time.

The course started in August 2001 and has been gradually revised into a 3 month course incorporating both practical and theoretical training. After the 3 months’ classroom training, delegates can complete their In-service training with internship in contact centres.

“We started with a group of 50% blind / visually impaired and 50% sighted students to simulate a real working environment, giving the blind students the opportunity of working with sighted students and giving the sighted students a new outlook on their colleagues. This worked extremely well with everyone growing and learning from one another,” continues Bailes.

The course which offers SAQA (South African Quality Accreditation) combines classroom theory elements and the opportunity to apply this knowledge practically in order to ensure that learners have a full understanding of the work. It also includes site visits to experience different areas and aspects of the industry. Both soft skills and harder IT related skills are covered alongside training in life skills and job skills (including CV and letter writing, how to conduct an interview, etc).

The training meets the need for school-to-work or unemployment-to-work vocational skills development to ensure the long-term sustainable employment of students on completion. It is both experiential and outcomes-based, making use of techniques such as role-plays, skills practices, voice recording, etc. as well as complex written and practical assignments that ensure that learning is applied in a simulated environment. At the end of the programme the student receives a SAQA recognised certificate of completion.Opportunities in the Call Centre Industry

The potential opportunities that call centres provide to blind and visually impaired people are quite significant. This is particularly true in the Western Cape which has been assessed and targeted by government as a cost effective area of business development to be officially promoted, supported and assisted by government as it has the capacity to yield many jobs in a country facing high unemployment.

The most difficult element that has been faced is in convincing companies that the training graduates can work in their own call centres. “They come to our call centre, they seem them working and they say ‘this is wonderful, but I don’t think that it could work in my company.’ I think that they are scared really. They don’t quite know how to handle the handicapped,” continues Melanie Bailes.

All in all around 80 blind or partially students have been placed in employment upon completion of their training. The students have been placed in a real mixture of companies, with a greater concentration in insurance and debt collection.

The school has now received some additional funding which has ensured the stability of the project and the aim is to develop a self-sustaining programme capable of running without donor funding after March 2006.

A second blind call centre is established

But it is not just one blind call centre that has been established. Outsource contact centre provider Direct Channel Marketing runs a call centre at the Pioneer School for the Blind in Worcester, South Africa. The 40-seat, purpose-built call centre is designed to cater for visually impaired staff’s special needs. This call centre differs from the Athlone centre in that it employs blind people – rather then training them for outside work.

Direct Channel Marketing founder and chief executive Suleman Shaik says “Our partnership with the Pioneer School for the Blind and the Institute for the Blind in Worcester is an extension of our social commitment to create work opportunities for people from disadvantaged and marginalised communities”.Blind call centres in the United Kingdom

So what of the situation in the UK? A spokesperson for the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) gave a stark warning. “There are around 200,000 blind and partially sighted people in the UK of working age. Around 75% of these are out of work”.The RAC

But some enlightened call centres are now starting to see that the blind and partially sighted can fit well into the call centre structure. Steve is totally blind and worked, until recently, as a Customer Services Adviser at the RAC Call Centre. Before he joined the RAC in 1997 he had not used computers or access technology at all.

“The absence of this equipment limited the range of computer based tasks that I could do and so, I was, to a point, reliant on my colleagues’ help. The application of access technology has completely revolutionised that way in which I work. Jaws for Windows enables me to navigate the various screens, whilst I discuss everything from an enrolment to a breakdown with a member.”

Steve was worried at first that using speech output whilst working would make him less efficient than his sighted colleagues.

“Before I started this job I did have some reservations about my ability to meet the high standards of performance set out by my employer. But I have no difficulty in listening to the speech output whilst holding a telephone conversation and my overall performance is amongst the highest in the call centre. The technology I use allows me to operate on the same basis as my sighted colleagues. I am extremely pleased that I am able to do a job of this nature, especially as just a few short years ago the absence of this technology would have prevented me from working in this and many other areas.”Swale Council

Another enlightened employer is Swale Council. When Terry O’Shea partially lost his eyesight in a car accident in 1985, he was naturally concerned about what career options were open to him. Aged 18 at the time, he discussed his position with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) and enrolled on a number of special training courses to help identify a suitable job.

The training led him to decide on a career as a telephone operator. And when an opening at Swale Council appeared shortly afterwards, Terry joined the Council as its main telephone operator.

Sixteen years on, and Terry is still the voice of Swale Council, greeting thousands of people who call the Council each month. “I’ve been very fortunate,” he says. “I couldn’t have asked for better support and guidance in the time immediately following my accident, and I couldn’t ask for a better organisation to work for today than Swale Council. They’ve really looked after my needs, ensuring that I’m an important member of the customer contact team, and that I’ve got the technology that I need to do the job to the best of my abilities.”Terry O Shea

Technology plays an important role in Terry’s working life. He has a 22″ large screen PC on his desk which acts as his operator console, with a special software package called ZoomText that allows Terry to magnify screen text up to 28 times its normal size. ZoomText also has a text-to-speech capability that enables him to convert emails to speech and play them over his operator headset.

Other invaluable tools on Terry’s desk are a CCTV Scanner that allows him to magnify text in books and leaflets up to 36 times, and a Parrott VoiceMate voice-activated personal data assistant for storing and playing back frequently accessed phone numbers.

When it comes to handling incoming and outgoing calls, Terry uses a special screen-based software phone (Softphone) from Macfarlane Telesystems that works in conjunction with the Macfarlane CallPlus call handling system. The CallPlus system was installed when Swale Council set up its successful customer contact centre in 2001, and Terry became an integral part of this customer contact team in 2003. Since then, the Macfarlane support team has supported Terry in ensuring the Softphone is exactly as he needs it – which has meant adjusting many features and changing the colour on the screen phone display to ensure Terry is comfortable using the technology.

Let’s hope that many more call centres follow the lead of Athlone School, the RAC and Swale Council.