Normally, I draft Blog articles on Saturday afternoon.  I reserve Fridays for thinking about my accomplishments and things I didn’t get done through the week and Sunday is for rest, rejuvenation and ‘contemplating’ possibilities. So, this past Saturday, I started writing an article with the working title of The Art of Reinvention: How to Transform Your Career.  I had a nice little model that I designed to tell the story of the process of reinvention. Then, I thought well this is stupid. Everybody knows the concept of reinvention.  So, why are you going to be one of the tens of thousands who rehash the information? At that point, I did what I normally do – I let it sit.  When I write, I think, I draft and then I let the article percolate for a day or two. Well, the percolation process led me to think about what’s really important about reinvention. It is not the ability to identify what changes are needed to transform a career; to discover talents, or hidden dreams; to design the next career chapter and to live the new career. What is REALLY important? Sustainability. I learned this – THE HARD WAY.  It was one of my most challenging life lessons.            

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Early on in her career Ellen Covner, like many other professional women, noticed that working with men could be a very mixed experience. She also learned that group and workplace dynamics often had a style and language all their own that did not promote cooperation, creativity and “drive.” She came to realize that as important as it was to be self-supporting and have a good income, money was not a sufficient motivator to stay in a “good job.” After 20+ years practicing health law in major hospitals and law firms, she was ready for new challenges. She wanted a change that would ... Read more

Wednesday at 8pm EST (which is 5pm PST), Kim Bilawchuk is doing a webinar titled How to Find Your Dream Career When You’re Stuck in a Job You Hate. I wish I would have had access to this webinar when I was in the last year of my job, before I got laid off. I was miserable. I had lost a couple of key employees. My old boss was secretly politicking for his job back (which he did successfully). ... Read more

Transferable skills.  It is one of the biggest hangup areas for job seekers in a tight market. Lots of candidates. Few jobs. And a lack of urgency on the part of hiring companies to make a decision. A breeding ground for candidate frustration. And to make it worse, you finally found something that is a pretty good fit for you and it doesn’t work out.  Because pretty good isn’t good enough in a tight market. Your transferable skills aren’t transferable enough. In a more balanced market or in a market (soon, I hope!) where there are more jobs and fewer candidates competing, companies will operate differently.  They will begin marketing to the candidate and the skills you have will transfer much more easily.  Companies will go back to hiring “the best athlete” not just the most qualified.  

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Whether you’re considering the possibility of retirement and starting a second career or maybe burned out in your current job and desperate to get out, you might be deterred by the potential problems involved in jumping into a new career. What if it fails miserably? For at least some people, there might be a way to test-drive that dream with minimum down-side risk. The article that caught my attention today is “Test-Driving Your Dream Job” by David Ferrell. It’s an interesting read even if you’re not considering a career change. ... Read more

Guest Post by: Mary E. Sevinsky Author’s Website: http://www.examiner.com/x-20518-Wilmington-Career-Transition-Examiner A 53-year-old female client, Rhonda, was just offered her dream job. Not too surprising until you hear that the job she was offered was with the FBI. She thought she was wasting her time, she said — the FBI hired only young (male) college students. She had an associate’s degree in administrative science (read secretary) she’d earned 30 years ago, with experience in administrative and IT positions. Most recently, she’d worked in a commission-only interior decorating sales position. That is where our work together started. ... Read more

In February, I wrote a blog – Crack the Code: Discover The Strategies to Prevent or Recover From Long-term Unemployment!  A former client who is in career transition sent the following response:

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A hiring slowdown in March might imply a weaker job market. The economists are being cautious with their predictions until seeing the employment figures for April. There are varying opinions whether this is a trend or not. As an executive in job search mode, keeping abreast of how the economy is influencing the job market is important. How might these factors affect you? Let’s look at a couple of indicators. Growth in economy The economy has been tied to job growth for decades. If it doesn’t grow fast enough to support job growth, then the numbers go down. Typically jobs increase in the first quarter of the year.  The economy is predicted to grow 2.5% this year. With March reflecting weaker number of hires, economists fear that hiring won’t pick up until the economy picks up the pace... ... Read more

If you have been wondering: when should you stay versus when is it time to leave your current position, I suggest you make an informed decision using criteria that is important for you. Identified below are some of the data points and scenarios that I have experienced or that have been told to me during coaching sessions with clients who are contemplating the pros and cons of staying or leaving their employer. Of course, the information has been disguised to maintain confidentiality. ... Read more

Every year ExecuNet (a private membership network for senior-level executives and executive recruiters) publishes an Executive Job Market Intelligence Report that contains valuable information for executives. You don’t have to be in the midst of career transition to get benefit from this report. Over 3,000 executives, search firm consultants and corporate human resource professionals were surveyed on a variety of topics. Some of the findings shared in this report include:

• The industries that executive search consultants expect will generate the most executive job growth in 2011
• The top growth regions for executive hiring in 2011
• The percentage of management executives who expect “high levels of turnover” on their current employer’s senior management team
• The most critical factor, after base salary and annual performance bonus, in top executives’ compensation deliberations related to a career move
• Employed executives’ compensation expectations in the event of their potential career transition
• The primary indicators that will move employed executives to begin a job search

The report is replete with information and statistics... ... Read more