Overwhelmed In Your Career? Start Here…

Career & Workplace

overwhelmed in your career? start here...
Sometimes the combination of your job or your lack of job with all the details that have accumulated over the months comes crashing down and you get overwhelmed. This is common at the end of the year when you start to look around for financial papers in anticipation of tax season…plus the New Year’s Resolutions game…plus whatever else is in your life right now. Too much stuff to think about is a recipe for feeling like not doing anything about it. Am I right?
This is why the Coaching Services offered by Professional Resume Services was established. Sometimes, everybody just needs an outside voice, giving a fresh perspective on your problems and suggesting concrete steps to resolve them. It’s a good service, one that pays off in multiple ways for every penny you invest in it.
If you are hesitant about hiring a professional, here are a few practical places to start when you feel overwhelmed:

  • Take a break. Walk, play solitaire, nap, or get a snack. Sometimes that break helps your brain to process the details that have piled up and you get inspired to do something.
  • Make a list. Start with all the things you have already done and draw a line through them. See how far you already are?
  • Plot a plan. Break down the things that overwhelm you into smaller chunks to deal with. Decide on a few realistic steps to do each day toward your goals.
  • Evaluate the results. Your plans and lists are not inflexible. If you don’t get something done one day, shift it to the next reasonable time. The idea is to consistently move toward a goal, not get it all done in one shot.

Being overwhelmed with the enormity of all there is to do is a very normal state of affairs for most of us. We can’t do it all, and we can’t do it alone.

What Are You Reading? Why Does It Matter?

Career & Workplace

what are you reading? why does it matter?
 
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” —  Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”
I tell my kids this all the time–the more you read, the smarter you’ll be, the places you’ll go, the people you’ll see. OK, so that’s my own little Dr. Seuss version of getting them interested in reading. Books and other reading material feed your intellect and affect the way you look at life. One recent buzz around Facebook was the challenge to list the ten books that have changed the way you look at life, right off the top of your head. Not classic books, or intellectual books, just the books you read that somehow lingered in your life. I made my list and it was super hard to keep it at ten. Librarians will tell you that people going through a crisis will often ask for books about someone going through a crisis because it helps to see how others cope with challenges.
In your career, reading a wide range of topics will give you a wide range of perspective on the way people think and strategies you can use for your advancement.  It’s like a balanced diet. You need stuff from every food group in order to be healthy and you need to read both fiction and non-fiction to have a healthy view of the world. There is a difference in quality when it comes to what you read. Just as there is a difference in quality of food; you will start to see that difference as your reading variety changes.
Reading anything regularly increases your ability to comprehend and articulate ideas. If what you read is well-written, it helps you develop a sense of spelling and grammar, which gives you a professional edge in your communication.
If you’re unemployed, I’d say it’s a good idea to read something work/career related every day. This is easy to do by subscribing to a few blogs, but working through a book is important. Blogs and websites like those on the Job Resources Page are carefully concentrated chunks of information like an energy bar; a book is like a banquet that has been planned and prepared by a chef.
Dr. Seuss is right: the more you learn, the more places you’ll go. Your career will be enhanced by reading regularly.
 

Grab Your Calendar Before It's Too Late

Career & Workplace

grab your calendar before it's too late
That trade show or seminar might not be for a few months, but if you know it is coming, then you can put it in your calendar with the deadline for registry. Your career depends on being current, right? So plan for it. Very often, the notification for registry gets lost in the shuffle of daily tasks or the dates get filled with other things that could have been scheduled differently. January is a good time to pencil things in and make sure you allow time for them.
It’s a good idea to look over all the possible events in your field and evaluate them in the light of your career plans. When the time comes to move into another position, the fact that you have taken the initiative to seek out pertinent knowledge is in your favor. Trade shows, seminars, and the like are excellent ways to do this:

  • see what the industry is trending toward
  • network with others in your professional sphere
  • evaluate your skills
  • get ideas for improving those skills

Maybe your field has so many trade shows and seminars you’d be spending half your time attending. That just gives you a broader range of choices, doesn’t it? If you attended one last year that didn’t impress you, look for an alternative that has more promise. It’s too late to have many choices if you wait for registry deadlines because the good ones fill up fast.
Events like these are a help in defining your career objective. Your job is usually a small slice of a very big possible career, and attending these events can give you a much larger perspective on the possibilities available to you. But you have to get them on your calendar first.

Job Mob's Top 40 Job Search articles

Job Search

you helped get us on the top 40+ list!
 
JobMob recently published their Top 40+ Job Search Blog Posts of 2013. This is a great list from distinguished career experts of what other job searchers have been reading and have found helpful, all over the globe. One of our latest posts is on that list: Unemployed? You Have Secret Powers!
Of course, it is an affirmation that we provide a service our readers are interested in, and that’s always a good feeling. But it also shows that you are not alone in your search for employment, and that has all kinds of feelings attached to it.

  • It’s intimidating to realize there are so many job seekers out there
  • It’s encouraging to know you are not alone and have support
  • It’s hopeful to anticipate the results of steps you are making in your career plans

Professional Resume Services has a mission: to craft powerful, exciting, and effective resumes for every job seeker on the planet. That’s a big goal, isn’t it? Maybe it won’t really happen all over the planet, but it sure will happen a lot this coming year because we will be doing it one job seeker at a time. Maybe it will be in the form of a resume critique, or coaching, or a resume package. Maybe it will be in the form of this blog, encouraging and guiding along the search. Maybe it will be on Facebook or some other social media.
See how many facets there are? Like the cuts on a diamond, each different facet of a job search is another angle that reflects the light a different way. It takes a lot of angles to make a diamond shine and sparkle, and it takes a lot of angles to make a career do the same thing. All the different things you do make up who you are and what you have to offer, and a good resume is like those lights at the jeweler’s shop causing the gems to sparkle with reflections: it illuminates what you have and makes it shine.
 

Does Your Career Have A Blueprint?

Resume Writing

does your career have a blueprint?
 
Most professional builders wouldn’t dream of starting on a project without a set of blueprints. The detailed drawings are essential to guiding the process of building so that no important factors are left out. The blueprints are examined, changed where potential problems are noted, and referred to during the entire process.
Your career plans should have a set of blueprints, too. They don’t have to be big pieces of paper with diagrams on them, but there should be a carefully-thought-out plan that you follow to make sure all the important factors are being addressed. You should be looking at your career blueprint at least once a year and thinking about these questions:

  • Is this still where I want my future to be?
  • Does my resume need to be updated?
  • Are my social networking sites in sync?
  • What’s working for me?
  • What needs to change?
  • How will I implement those changes?

The end of one year and beginning of the new is a popular time for looking at things like this. But be careful about making all those New Year’s Resolutions that end up ignored in February! Most people decide to toss the blueprint they were using and start over, then they get discouraged because it is too much change, too fast, and too difficult to maintain.
There is a lot in your life that is working well, and you want to build on that good foundation with small changes instead of completely changing an area. Sometimes, it is true that you have to tear down an old building and start over but many builders will renovate a beautiful older building and keep all the good stuff. Your career is like a building in this way — most of the time, the best can be presented in a well-written resume and a new job is offered because of the good stuff you bring to the position.
A blueprint is a professional, carefully designed picture of the planned project that is followed, evaluated, and only redesigned when necessary. The blueprint for your career should be treated the same way.

Dying For A Job? Don't Do It!

Work/Family Balance

dying for a job? don't do it!
Recently, a young woman named Mita Duran died after one of the too-frequent 30-hour work days she put in as a copywriter for an international ad agency. The comments on this story number in the thousands; some fault the energy drinks she was consuming to stay awake, some fault the work culture that expects such long hours, others say they do it and it hasn’t killed them yet.
The overwhelming impression you get from the comments is that it is common to be expected to put in increasingly longer hours if you are going to have a job and keep it.
I’m wondering how many people die from job related stress. It probably affects our lives more than we are willing to admit, but there are ways to make things a little bit better:

  • Make sure you are taking breaks and walking around. Your body needs it.
  • Drink more water than your drinking coffee or energy drinks. (You can walk to the bathroom for your breaks!) Your body needs to be hydrated and too much caffeine in your system will damage it.
  • Eat healthy. Take a snack that has protein and nutrients in it instead of straight sugar/fat/carb bombs that make your blood sugar shoot up and then crash.
  • Do stretches at your desk, and raise your computer so you can stand sometimes. I’m thinking about getting one of those huge balls to sit on. I hear it’s great for the stomach and core.
  • Put up a photo of a calm scene…the ocean, a mountain lake, etc. Gaze into it and imagine going there.

These tips are oriented to a desk job, but whatever your job entails there will be some positive actions you can do. Today’s work climate means you have to deal with the stressful conditions you encounter when working long hours. Hopefully, it comes in seasons and there are breaks. Sometimes the work load is an incentive to look for a new job, and we can certainly help you with that.
Nobody should be dying on the job. Change your work lifestyle in 2014 and your body (and mind) will thank you.