Career Thought Leaders Conference & Symposium

www.careerthoughtleaders.com/conference

Less than a week … and counting … to a great gathering of thought leaders from the careers community. I’m excited! Will I see you in Baltimore? I hope so!

Allow me to present one last great reason to join us, one unparalleled opportunity to absorb (and contribute to) the newest, most advantageous ideas for keeping your clients on the cutting edge.

Anyone who has attended a careers-industry conference knows that listening to all of the talented speakers and wonderful presentations each day is great! It’s exhausting work, packing our brain cells with all that valuable new information. Watch what transpires next week, however, just when you’d suspect that all of us might be burned out at the end of each day. An amazing thing will happen as we drag ourselves from the last presentation each afternoon: Colleague-to-Colleague discussions!

Just when you think you’ll burst with all the new ideas you’ve collected during presentations, these C-C brainstorming sessions will provide a relief valve. I think they’ll be a great way to engage, in small groups, to discuss specific topics related to our businesses: résumés, coaching, job search, interviewing, technology, entrepreneurship, pricing, packaging and much more.

In these groups, we will all have the chance to speak up – to ask questions or share ideas, postulate new trends and best practices, or demonstrate new techniques. I think the greatest challenge with these C-C programs will be deciding which to attend each day! Fortunately, they have been structured so we can move seamlessly from one to another and join in a host of conversations. (I only wish I could multi-locate!) I know you’ll enjoy these every bit as much as I will!

See you there!

www.careerthoughtleaders.com/conference

About 10 years ago, career coaching emerged as a critical component for success in career planning and development, job search and lifelong career management. Looking back over those years, I am amazed at how the field of coaching has grown in importance and sophistication.

I now understand how vital coaching is to the success of all of my clients – recent college graduates, mid-life career changers, return-to-work moms and dads, executives, mid-career professionals and everyone else. I want to provide each of them with the proper coaching tools, information and resources, because their success depends on the foundation I have laid for them. There will be much to learn during conference sessions on preparing our clients for the rigors of job search and career management in today’s fast-paced, technology-saturated marketplace.

www.careerthoughtleaders.com/conference

When I first started writing professional resumes 20 years ago, the styles and formats were far different than they are today. In fact, one of the most important things I’ve learned about the resume writing trade is that it’s dynamic: It is constantly morphing to keep pace with changes in the employment landscape and hiring process.

I have become a lifelong student of the art and science of resume writing, knowing that things are constantly changing, improving and otherwise transitioning. I make a point of reading as much as I can about resumes, reviewing resume sample books and participating in resume discussion groups and brainstorming sessions. Most important, however, is my commitment to learning from the experts – Louise Kursmark, Wendy Enelow and their expert team of conference presenters. At the CTL conference, they’ll be sharing new ideas for writing resumes, cover letters, thank-you letters, LinkedIn profiles, executive bios and other career marketing communications. I look forward to learning all of the cutting-edge, fresh and exciting information they’ll present that will give my clients an edge when I return to my office!

www.careerthoughtleaders.com/conference

I’ve been self-employed for 20 years as a professional resume writer and career coach. Although all entrepreneurs have their “off” days, I have to say that 98% of the time I’m thrilled with my business. But, like many entrepreneurs, I want to make more money. As a primary income producer in my household, I want to learn how to increase my income … NOW! Fortunately, I’m going to get that opportunity when I listen to Ross Macpherson’s presentation and learn how he’s been remarkably successful – professionally and financially. I want to know what Ross knows so that I can return to my office, implement similar strategies and business processes, and start making more money next week!

Many thanks to CareerOverview.com for permission to post this guest piece on the CTL blogsite. It provides thought-provoking data to job seekers researching their next career step.

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10 Careers That Tanked in 2010

As we roll into a new year, those who are unemployed or desperately holding onto their jobs pile up the expectations for a recovering economy. But even as economists insist that the actual recession is over, jobs are still being cut across several industries. Here are 10 careers that totally tanked in 2010, and that may or may not see a comeback in 2011.

1. Interior design: Interior design is one of the major casualties of the latest recession, not just because of the jobs lost during 2010, but the number of jobs that will never return. Cuts to the real-estate industry hit the interior design field very hard, in commercial, private and public sectors, and it could take a very long time for full-time work to return.
2. Finance: Banks and other financial firms bore the brunt of the public anger, government regulation and job cuts that the recession brought, not just in 2010 but in the years before, too. Wells Fargo cut 3,800 jobs in 2010, State Street plans to cut 1,400 jobs by 2011, Bank of America planned for well over 30,000 job cuts, AIG fired 20,000 employees, and Citigroup laid off over 57,000 workers, an 18% drop in employment in just one year for the company.
3. Construction workers: As planned projects stalled and new projects couldn’t raise any money, construction workers had nothing to build. Like interior design workers, the real-estate bust nearly destroyed construction, as an after-effect.
4. Pharmaceutical sales jobs: AOL Jobs reported that 45,000 pharmaceutical sales workers lost their jobs in 2010, a hugely negative impact on the economy, partly because the industry was seen as an accessible upward-bound vehicle into the middle and upper classes for workers. The field is supposedly becoming more research-intensive again instead of pushing marketing strategies, and medical doctors are choosing to eliminate the middle man and learn about new drugs and products themselves.
5. Newspaper publishing: The media industry has been slammed twice over the last few years, because of the rotten economy and the evolving connection between the public audience and information. As newspapers and magazines move online, publishers are stuck trying to make money and recruit advertisers with the same aggressiveness they were able to do with print. Newspaper publishers and workers in the industry are project to lose nearly a quarter of all jobs through 2018, and many have already been laid off.
6. Mining support: Mining support workers are slated to lose over 23% of the industry’s 328,000 jobs through 2018, including it in the BLS’s list of the ten industries with the largest employment losses. Possible explanations range from the economy to Obama’s “war on coal” to the major cost of upkeep to new technologies that streamline processes.
7. Traditional marketing jobs: As social media marketing lends itself to DIY strategies and the recruitment of smaller, more niche marketing agencies, firms that relied on more conventional tactics are tanking. Spending money for TV and newspaper ads is less attractive to companies wanting to seem innovative and modern, and paychecks to in-house social media experts are more economical, too.
8. Government agencies: As the government pulls back on financing everything from education programs to employee paychecks, lots of government workers are losing jobs. Most cuts occurred at the state and local level, but President Obama has hinted at a federal announcement to come in 2011.
9. Automakers: General Motors alone lost 26,000 jobs in 2010, a drop of 11% due to a reorganization plan after bankruptcy. About 22,000 more jobs will be cut by 2012. Chrysler and Ford are so far optimistic about keeping jobs, but nothing is certain.
10. Nonprofit agencies: Nonprofit firms are also tanking. Bloomberg.com reported that nonprofit agencies and government agencies collectively suffered the highest number of job cuts in November 2010, losing over 10,700 jobs in that month alone.

http://www.careeroverview.com/blog/2011/10-careers-that-tanked-in-2010/

“Anticipation, anticipation … is keepin’ me waitin’ …” [~ thanks, Carly Simon!]

The Career Thought Leaders conference is right around the corner! There are just two short months until I can thank all of the terrific CTL bloggers in person for your efforts during the past year. And while we’re in Baltimore, let’s brainstorm ways to strengthen the blog’s voice, vision and effectiveness. I look forward to seeing/meeting all of you who can attend!

For the next two months, I intend to post weekly highlights to whet your appetites. You’ll learn about the excellent speakers, programs, exhibitors and business opportunities Wendy and Louise have planned. While you wait for more information here, please check out the link to the conference program: www.careerthoughtleaders.com/conference.

See you March 14-16!

All the best, Debbi O’Reilly