Changing Careers?

Is it time for you to consider changing careers? If so, the ideas below offer some excellent advice for revamping your resume and focusing it on the direction you plan to take in your new career.

As you know, your resume has to be top-notch. Anything else just doesn't cut it. When changing careers, your skills and achievements may not perfectly fit into your new position. How can you make your resume appeal to a prospective employer in your new field of employment? You have to present yourself in a different way that you have in the past. Your resume has to be carefully tailored to the new employer's needs and goals.

First, choose a resume format that highlights your qualifications and accomplishments. For career changers, this will either be a combination format or a functional format. The reason these two formats are better for career-changers, is that they place more emphasis on the work done rather than on the employers, education and dates of employment.

Even though this seems trivial, it isn't. In either format, list your skills and achievements near the top of the page - and be sure they match the employers needs. Let the hiring manager see what you have to offer instead of what your job title was or where you worked. While the company you worked for is important on some level, who you worked for may detract from what you did while you were an employee there. Why?

For example: Let's say you worked for Southlake Marketing as a graphics designer and now you want to re-focus your career in a new direction. Now, you want to be an art teacher. While the two involve artistic abilities, many of the tasks and responsibilities will not be the same. Placing those skills and aptitudes where the prospective employer can see them first, is critical, especially when you remember that your resume gets scanned, not read. You only have a limited amount of time to make a great first impression.

When considering the skills you should put in your resume, remember that there are many transferable skills that employers seek regardless of where you work. Every employer wants someone who takes initiative and is a problem-solver.

They transfer from position to position.
Consider this list and how each one might apply to you:

• communication skills (written and oral)


• team player


• negotiation skills


• leadership abilities


• solving problems


• motivating others

Of course there are many more possibilities, but you should be able to understand the concept by those presented here.

For more information about changing careers, look here: Career Planning

Do You Want to Get the Right Job?

Do You Want to Get the Right Job?

Your resume and cover letter can be very helpful in getting the right job, but how do you go about finding that perfect job in the first place?

There are many situations where people are headed down one career path and find themselves given another opportunity altogether that is even better than the one they initially chose. Other times, someone may interview for one position, but the hiring manager thinks your skills and accomplishments fit better with a different position.

Don't rule out a job or a career path just because it was not what you were initially considering.

Many people start off in one career and decide later in life to pursue another career or even their hobby. The experience almost always is more enjoyable and more profitable. Whether you create the opportunity yourself, it falls into your lap or are given direction by someone else, you should always be open to the possibilities around you. Your dream career might not be what you anticipated when you start your job search. It might be something you haven't considered at all.

One thing that can really help in this situation is understanding your expectations for a job/career. What is it that you want from your job? What is the minimum salary that you will accept for a position? How much flexibility do you need to care for your family? Are you more inclined to work by yourself or as part of a team?

In order to understand and appreciate what will make you happy, you need to spend some time analyzing your needs, desires and expectations. Unless you truly grasp what truly matters in your life, you will likely find yourself switching jobs somewhat frequently.

To read more about Careers and Jobs, go to: Career Planning

What do You Want in a Job?

What do You Want in a Job?

Your resume and cover letter can be very helpful in getting the right job, but how do you go about finding that perfect job in the first place?

There are many situations where people are headed down one career path and find themselves given another opportunity altogether that is even better than the one they initially chose. Other times, someone may interview for one position, but the hiring manager thinks your skills and accomplishments fit better with a different position.

Don't rule out a job or a career path just because it was not what you were initially considering. You never know what might just be your new favorite thing.

Many people start off in one career and decide later in life to pursue another career or even their hobby. The experience almost always is more enjoyable and more profitable. Whether you create the opportunity yourself, it falls into your lap or are given direction by someone else, you should always be open to the possibilities around you. Your dream career might not be what you anticipated when you start your job search. It might be something you haven't considered at all.

One thing that can really help in this situation is understanding your expectations for a job/career. What is it that you want from your job? What is the minimum salary that you will accept for a position? How much flexibility do you need to care for your family? Are you more inclined to work by yourself or as part of a team?

In order to understand and appreciate what will make you happy, you need to spend some time analyzing your needs, desires and expectations. Unless you truly grasp what truly matters in your life, you will likely find yourself switching jobs somewhat frequently.

To read more about Careers and Jobs, go to: Career Planning

Career Planning

Career Planning for College Students and Recent Graduates

How would you like to achieve more success at work in a faster amount of time than anyone with whom you graduate?

It's really quite simple. Have a plan. Have a career plan.

So many people approach the job search as a "somebody take me please" endeavor as opposed to charting out the steps to take, focus on the employers where you want to work and setting goals and deadlines for career achievements.

Most people just happen along with no focus, goals or deadlines at all. Life just happens. Jobs just happen.

The reason for making decisions today about where you want to be tomorrow is so that you have the ability to actually get there.

If you don't know exactly where you want to be, you will be wandering aimlessly from position to position hoping that somehow it will all work out. Unfortunately, that isn’t how it works.

When you left for college, you probably spent a lot of time figuring out where you wanted to go, applied to the school(s), then when you were accepted, you formulated a plan to enroll in classes, find a place to live and budget your finances so that you could afford to eat and buy necessities.

If you applied that same amount of time and effort into setting out a career plan and the goals involved in achieving professional success, you would be much more successful and you’d blow past the competition easily. No one in your graduating class at college would even come close to achieving what you would achieve.

The great news is that Career Planning isn't some magical experience. It's not hard at all. Just give yourself a little time and ask yourself a few questions and you'll be on the right track. As you have more time in the months and years to come, revisit your Career Plan and determine if it still makes sense for you or if you need to tweak it.

You are the only one who can create your destiny. You choose.
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Take the time NOW to set the course for your future.

If you take the time to set your career goals, you will be ahead of 90% of the rest of the people out there who don’t bother to plan ahead. You will be more successful than your peers in the same field because you know where you are going and how you intend to get there. You will make more money and you will be much happier. Why? Because you didn't wait for destiny to step in. You took control of your life and made things happen.