Choosing A Career With Family In Mind

Resume WritingResumesWork/Family Balance

career for a family
There are many things to consider when deciding what career path to take and one of the most important is your family. Whether you have a family or are planning to start one in the future, it is important to consider when choosing a career. Here are some questions that you should ask  yourself to help you decide what path to take.

  • How big do I want my family to be? Depending on how big you want your family to be will help decide where you want to work. You will need a salary that will be able to support your family.
  • What kind of lifestyle do you and your family want to live? Whether you want to live simply or decadently is another factor to consider. If you want to live in luxury, then you need to find a career that has an appropriate salary and even the option for career and salary advancement.
  • How much time do you want to spend with your family? Your work will take some time away from your family. You need to decide how much time away you want. If you want to spend a lot of time with your family, then you need to choose a career and a company that will allow you to spend as much time with your family as possible. Full time, part time?
  • Perks?  You may be able to negotiate your benefits or perks, i.e. having a bigger vacation package and little to no health insurance. If you don’t need to carry insurance, you may be able to negotiate more vacation days or even flex time with the amount of money you will be saving the company on health insurance.

Considering all these questions will help you make the best decision on what career path to take. While these questions can help you, you should not make this decision on your own. Talk to your family and get their input. They can be your most valuable resource in making this decision.

Career Advancement Without Selling Out

Career & Workplace

career advancement
Sometimes it seems that nothing is going your way in your work. You get passed up for a promotion, you don’t get a raise, or a new hire is brought in for a job that you are definitely qualified for. This can be discouraging and can make it hard to know what is needed to advance in your career. Take that plus the stigma that exists that you need to sell out in order to advance and it seems to be nearly impossible to advance without selling out or “playing dirty.” But that is not the case. The competition will be tough, but you can advance without selling out, but you need to be willing to put in the work and think through your advancement plan.
The truth is you need to sell yourself in order to advance. How are your employers going to know that you deserve or even want the position if you don’t let them know? However, you do not want to be annoying, obnoxious, or sound entitled. When you do that you are slipping into selling out instead of selling yourself.
Have good work to back up your claims that you are qualified. That will impress your employers more than spouting fluff or degrading your competition. Take that work you have done and show it to your employers. Show them that you have helped them be successful and you could do it again and again. If you can show them that and are willing to sell yourself to them you will have a much better chance of advancing than in any other way.