Career Success: Take Charge of Your Career

People react very differently to the waves of change that suddenly flood the work and marketplace. Some, who feel confused or unsettled struggle to keep their heads above water gasping for air. By contrast, others, who may not even like or agree with the changes, nevertheless accept them, get on with their lives and swim forcefully to their new destination. The following three tactics will help you mobilize your resources to take charge of their careers.

Fuel the Fire In Your Heart.
Live your life and career with intention. The key to sustained peak performance is discovering who you are, what you want in life, and then confidently pursue it. Remember, if you don't have your own mission or purpose get one, or otherwise, all you can do is sign up for someone else's. Remember, if you don't know where you're going, how will you know that you've arrived?

Start by develop a career line. Prepare a graph that outlines your career highs and lows from your first job to the present. What kinds of activities were you involved in during your highs - during your lows? Continue this getting to know yourself process by locating your inner energy source. What really gets the juices flowing for you? Is it challenge? Helping other? Being creative? Having authority? Making an impact? Whatever motivates you, write it on a card and look at it every morning.

During times of change and uncertainty, you must realize that it's often your outlook or your attitudes--- what you bring to work, not what work brings to you---that determines your career success. Can you look at what's happening in the workplace and not take it personally? Can you accept the luck of the draw and move on? Can you bounce back on your own rather than allow yourself to wallow in negative emotions? You must learn to accommodate adversity. It can either break or build character. Which is it doing for you?

Forget Being the Lone Ranger.
Are you familiar with the saying: "It's not what you know, .but who you know." Well in today's changing work world, the new saying is: "It's not only what you know, it's not only who you know, but, as important, it's who knows you and your work."

First thing to do is to inventory your network. List all the key people in your career world. Are your contacts mostly within your area? Or are there linkages into different departments, divisions, subsidiaries? What about outside your company? What kinds of relationships do you have? Hi and Good by? Or Hi! What have you been doing? Develop relationships with a whole array of people. It's your ticket to career advancement and success.

Know and be known. Work groups or teams, not hierarchies, are now doing the real work in today's workplace. How are you going to find out about the latest hot project? How are key people going to know about you and your talents? An active network is the most effective tool fin this age of uncertainty. Realize that contacts are the bread of career life. In times of change, information and relationships are a source of power.

Don't Just Stand There, Do Something.
Recognize a successful career in not a spectator sport. Opportunities do not just get placed on your desk. Organizations will no longer provide you with clearly defined career paths. Don't be an absentee landlord and neglect your personal career management. Know what you want and actively seek it out. Take charge of your career. Remember, if you don't control your own destiny, no one else will.

Start by doing a career check up. Ask yourself: "Where am I? Where do I want to go? What are some paths to get me there? What are possible barriers? What are my supports? What resources am I going to need? How will I get these resources?" Failure to take charge of your career leaves you a victim of your own neglect and the changing workplace.

Always have several options in your back pocket. Focus on career contingency planning. Do you have a Plan A, a Plan B, and even a Plan C? What conditions could possibly change in your job; your company; or your industry? Do you have a clear idea where you could jump if unexpected roadblocks arise? Where else can you apply your skills and showcase your talents? A successful career is not fixed in stone, but is fluid and subject to change.

Remember, the Name of the Game Is Action.
Make sure your career goals are not stranded on a island called: "Someday I'll..........." If you want something, don't just think or talk about it. Figure out a way to make it happen. Set specific goals. Develop action plans. Have realistic timetables. Find the resources you need. Keep alive in today's rough seas and begin preparing for tomorrow's raging waters.

Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job ­ to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going to http://leadershiphooks.com/ and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks ­ resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs ­ fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.

Unemployment rate steady at 6.1%
National Post, Canada - Sep 5, 2008
Gord Waldner/Saskatoon Star PhoenixDalton Charles visited the Careers and Employment Services office in August. Dalton has worked in the house building ...

UPDATE 1-Monster employment index rises in August
Reuters - Sep 4, 2008
O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), an online careers and recruiting firm, said its Employment Index rose 2 percentage points to 159 during the month. ...
Monster US online jobs index edges up in August Reuters
all 30 news articles

Ex-convicts struggling to find jobs
Rockford Register Star, IL - Sep 5, 2008
Careers etc. is offering a lifeline to Werle and hundreds of others like her in the county. The East State Street agency provides transitional employment to ...

Out of the inbox, into the dog box
New Zealand Herald, New Zealand - Sep 5, 2008
The Employment Relations Authority ruled later that he was unjustifiably dismissed, but he wasn't reinstated and his career lay in tatters. ...

Semi-retirement is no life of leisure
Financial Post, Canada - 19 hours ago
... advantages that go with self-employment. Taylor identifies seven "hot" semi-careers including: consulting, creative communications, full-time investing, ...

Canada's Government and Prince Edward Island Sign New Training and ...
MarketWatch - Sep 5, 2008
This will provide the Province with the flexibility to focus job training programs and employment supports on the local and regional needs of both employers ...

Graduate employment hunters 'happy to change jobs'
Women in Technology, UK - Sep 5, 2008
New graduates seeking employment are demanding to be challenged and are not content to remain with companies if they believe their careers are stagnating, ...

The Career Academy Story
Education Week News, MD - Sep 5, 2008
They showed significant positive effects for former students in terms of their employment and earnings eight years after high school. ...

Greenboro Chamber Job Expo
WXii 12.com, NC - Sep 5, 2008
Are you employed but looking for a new career? Need full-time or part-time employment? Then the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce has the event for you. ...

COORDINATOR/COUNSELOR
Seattle Post Intelligencer - Sep 4, 2008
DO-IT activities serve to increase the successful participation of individuals with disabilities in challenging academic programs and careers. ...

Wind Chimes and more...

Windchimes for great gifts!

21st Century Career Success