Tag: career path

How to Identify and Follow Your Passions

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Today’s job market is more flexible than ever before, which gives you total freedom when it comes to choosing a career. With fast, low-cost air travel and the internet, location needn’t prevent you from doing what you love. Similarly, technology is allowing industries to develop at a rapid speed, which means new specialisms are constantly being introduced. 

While it’s great to have the freedom to do what you love, it can make it tricky to choose what career path to follow. If you’re having trouble deciding what you’re really passionate about, take a look at these top tips and identify what really motivates you…

Forget about money

Although your finances will inevitably have an impact on your career choices, cut money out of the equation to begin with. When you aren’t focused on the salary you can obtain, you can think more clearly about what industries excite you and what causes you feel passionate about. Almost every sector offers high-paying roles but not every job will give you the same satisfaction. Prioritize finding your passion before focusing on how much you can earn, and you’ll be on the right track. 

Explore different options

If you have varied interests, it’s always a good idea to gain as much experience as possible. If you’re torn between the financial sector and the sciences, for example, spend time investing in commercial real estate before interning at a research lab. You’ll gain experience of what different roles entail and get a real glimpse of what your day-to-day work life would feel like. 

If you’ve recently graduated from school or college, you have enough time to try out a variety of careers to see what suits you best. Make the most of the opportunity and get as much experience as possible before you decide how to spend the rest of your working life. 

Be prepared to make a change

If you don’t get the chance to try various job roles before you commit to working in a particular industry, you might quickly find that your dream job role isn’t all it was cracked up to be. If so, there’s no need to despair. Being prepared to admit that something isn’t right for you isn’t a sign of failure. 

In fact, you might be extremely successful in a particular role but still get no joy or satisfaction from your work. Being willing to start over in a new industry may take courage but you’ll be rewarded when you’re in a role you love and you’re excited to go to work every day. 

Choosing the Right Career Path

We’re asked to map out our future careers at a relatively young age, so it’s not surprising that so many people find they’re unfulfilled after they’ve spent a few years working in a full-time role. Fortunately, you’re no longer expected to remain in the same role for life. With endless possibilities, now is the time to find your passion and follow it. Do this and you’ll be far more fulfilled now and in the future.

 

How To Have A Career After Sports

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A sporting career is a dream for a lot of people. However, a career in sports doesn’t last forever, and at some point, you will have to consider what to do after your sporting days are over. Athletes often have to retire at a young age, sometimes just because they’re getting older or have been injured badly enough to prevent them from competing at a professional level. Sports come with a lot of risks, so it’s important to be prepared.

If you’ve had to retire due to an injury, you may be able to get a compensation payout, which will give you time to decide what to do. Contact a lawyer who knows how to deal with this, such as NFL disability lawyers. 

If you’re ready to find a new career path, you will need a few skills to make a successful transition. It’s important to have resilience, relationships, and education if you’re going to make a change. 

Anyone who has made a career out of professional sports already has resilience, optimism, and confidence. You already have a strong internal drive, which will help you to make a career after sports. You can develop these traits with coaching and support. 

To have a career after sport, you’re going to need formal education and some marketable skills. Those who continued their studies before going into sports will have a better chance of transitioning, than those who dropped them in favor of playing. You can also market the skills you learned in sport, such as leadership and team building, both of which can be easily transferred to another industry.  

You’ll also fare better if you have a strong network of personal and professional relationships. You’ll find it easier to make a big change if you have a strong social network to help you find new opportunities and experiment with a new role outside of the world of sport. Your professional connections can help too; this is why sports stars often move into positions in coaching, sports management, or sports agencies. 

It can be hard to know where to go after your dream career ends, but retiring from professional sport doesn’t have to be the end of your career altogether. You have skills that you can transfer to another industry. You already know you’re determined and driven, which will serve you well as you move to a new career direction. Use the skills you learned during your professional sports career to help you forge a new path. It can be a good idea to stay in formal education as long as you can, so you have some professional qualifications to fall back on after your time playing sports is over. If you have already left education, you could consider taking some courses or classes outside of your sports career to make progress outside of sports easier. Take a course in management if you’d like to be a sports manager or study something that interests you if you want to change to something completely different.

Why Developers Need Career Coaching

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Across the board, career coaching has shown to have remarkable benefits for an individual’s career. The Institute of Coaching reports that over 70% of those who receive coaching see improvements in their work performance, communication skills, and relationships.

Executive and senior managers routinely get coaching from consultants hired to help them develop their leadership skills. CEOs including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Eric Schmidt have all worked with career coaches to hone their communication, develop new concepts, and get feedback on their visions.

By working with a coach, developers and programmers can cultivate new skills, receive feedback on their career trajectory, and learn how to future-proof their resume. Coaching can take different forms: from informal coaching, like a coffee chat with experienced peers, to semi-formal mentoring or joining an organization/team that provides mentorship, to formally hiring are all valuable ways to get career feedback. Coaching is critical to freelance developers seeking to stay ahead of the competition. Here’s why every developer needs career coaching along the way.

Develop your soft skills

Tech and coding skills dominate LinkedIn’s 2019 list of skills on employers’ wishlists. Most developers have a relatively easy time finding work: in the job market, 90% of developers have at least part-time work. Very few developers are unemployed and actively seeking a new job. It’s a great position to be in, but it does mean competition for work at top companies will be steep. How can a developer stand out from the crowd?

Soft skills are among the most in-demand qualifications any employee can have, yet many developers and programmers ignore this area of professional development. LinkedIn’s list of most-needed skills includes creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability and time management. These are things that can make a freelancer stand out to Silicon Valley CTOs and recruiters who view dozens of coding challenges for one open position.

“In general, people from the technology sector tend to focus on hard skills but are not as focused on the soft skills currently in high demand. Once an employer has figured out they have the hard-techy skills, what will make them stand out beyond that?” says one expert.

Coaching can help developers by simulating real-world projects that hone communication skills, teach candidates to use agile methodologies, and prepare to work in collaborative teams. Companies are seeking to hire: and you can command a better position in the job market by becoming a well-rounded candidate with more than one skillset.

Get guidance on your career path

Because there’s always a demand for developers, it’s easy to set your career on autopilot. When one opportunity ends, inevitably a few others pop up. A tech career coach can help freelance developers and tech professionals undergoing a transition navigate which opportunities are worthwhile.

“A tech career coach can help you figure out how you can get from working on small projects to large projects. They can assist you in planning which types of companies to work at in order to work on large-scale projects. If you are a freelancer, career coaching can help you design a plan to turn small opportunities into larger ones,” writes one software developer blog.

Get your questions about freelancing or consulting answered by someone with experience in the tech industry. A career coach can connect you with a larger network of professionals to help you proactively approach your career path.

Future-proof your skillset 

The tech industry is constantly evolving, and as AI, VR, and IoT trends grow, developers must add new skills to their arsenal. However, when you’re in the weeds of work every day, it can be hard to zoom out and predict what skills you will need to develop next.

One example? Take the growing demand for JavaScript. In 2018, reports Hackerrank, 73% of developers said they knew JavaScript. This number is a marked increase from 67% in 2017 – and it makes JavaScript 2018’s most well-known language.

However, students graduating from computer science programs aren’t learning JavaScript. Only 42% of student developers are learning JavaScript – it’s simply not taught at most universities. That means most developers are having to teach themselves JavaScript to stay competitive in the current job market.

Coaching can help flag discrepancies like this for developers seeking to future-proof their knowledge and skillsets. “Coaches can use assessments to identify strengths and weaknesses, both in terms of personality and skillsets. They can also help job seekers understand how a skill can be applied in a different way to a new job,” writes TechRepublic.
Coaches keep tabs on macro-trends in the tech world to tell you where you’re falling behind. Some tech coaches will also take it a step further and place a developer in a job. These coaches know IT recruiters and can help you study for the technical portion of an interview. Developers can take advantage of coaching to stay competitive in the job market, grow their soft skills, and ensure the longevity of their professional status.

How To Find Exactly What You Want To Do

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While life is this almost magical set of circumstances with amazing, strange and wild aspects within it, it does come with a lot of uncertainty. We never really know what we’re heading into both collectively and as individuals. It can be a fairly daunting world out there for a lot of us both physically and mentally, so we need to have everything prepared and sorted out before we head into new things. 

One of those facets of life that can hold a lot of doubt and uncertainty is the professional, working side of things. We all have to get a job and bring in money in order to live, but the way in which we go about it can be a little puzzling at times. Leaving school and jumping into the real world is difficult enough, and finding a job that we want to do or that suits us can be ever so tricky. 

It’s not something that we should constantly be fretting over, but working is a big part of our lives, so the thoughts always reappear when we’re not in the situation we’d like to be. Our minds have a habit of reminding us and making us overthink! At the end of the day, a job is a job, and it will come with some hard days – no matter what line of work you enter. That said, you may as well look to minimize the impact of the hardships by stepping into something that you’ll be content in. 

Working in something that you’d enjoy isn’t a luxury that’s afforded to every single person. It is absolutely possible, however. Let’s have a little talk about things you should think about when considering a job that you’ll like.   

Think About What You Love

Obviously, you’ll probably want to jot down what you enjoy doing and then do a little research into the jobs that surround that kind of thing. It might seem like a pipe dream at first, but there will definitely be opportunities somewhere that have links to what you want. Somebody has to fill that role at some point – why can’t it be you? 

Think About What You Hate 

On the flip side, you should probably also write down what you absolutely do NOT want to head into. As we said before, it’s a big chunk of your life, so why would you want to spend eight or so hours a day absolutely demoralized? 

Rule Out Overnight Success

It’s something we all instinctively think about when we picture a job or a career path. We skip past the journey and see success. Think about a job that you’ll enjoy actually grind away at. The journey, at times, is just as satisfying as then end result. 

Careers Advisors 

If you’re really struggling, then you can absolutely get in touch with people that help out lost and occupationally nomadic job-seekers. They’ll be able to give you career tips as well as telling you about the ins and outs of different jobs you might be interested in. They pride themselves on getting you into a better position than you were before, so you can rely on them to push you in the right direction.  

Try Different Things 

Perhaps just getting out there and having a good go at different jobs could be the way to go for you. There’s nothing quite like actually experiencing something. You can read up on it and know all of the theory, but actually doing it makes a big difference. You might get into a job and realize that it’s something you’d absolutely love to pursue.

3 Career Paths That Truly Matter

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In their own way, each career path matters. Of course, someone betting on or against the stocks in Wall Street might not be seen as someone who creates value, but simply profits from being right. But, in their own way, making money for investors could be considered a form of worth when you consider the risks involved, and you never know just how that investment could benefit a firm down the line. Of course, career paths that matter are quite difficult to consider when choosing which path to progress down, especially in your early life, or even when needing a deep change from the current path you’re on.

While the Police, Firefighters, Military and a bunch of other important organizations would absolutely be the obvious choices to consider, we’re not going to include them in our list of careers that truly matter. Instead we’re going to shine a spotlight on careers that can really help people, or keep life as we know it moving on more appropriately. Consider:

Midwifery

One of the most important things you can do for people is to ensure their childhood is well taken care of. A midwife does that and more, by starting at the very root. Ensuring their mother has a good term of pregnancy, and that after-birth complications are resolved or at least observed, and that the mothers are taken care of well can truly mean plenty in the beginning stages of a family unit’s life together. This can also help you flag up issues that might be experienced, and help new mothers settle with this huge psychological shift in their lives.

If you love babies, this is perhaps one of the best careers to have, because it makes a true difference for so many people. During the course of your career, it’s not uncommon to help hundreds or even thousands of families settle into their new life. Just be sure that you use competent training platforms, such as prestigious online midwifery programs to get yourself acquainted. For there, you can thrive.

Procurement

Procurement might just seem like a numbers game, but it can really matter, especially if you’re in a field you care about. Let’s say you procure the items that construct hearing aids for the National Health Service in the United Kingdom as one example. For every bulk order of a select deal negotiated, you can save a service potentially thousands of pounds. This translates to money better used for other medical enquiries, generally helping more people gain from the work you do. You’ll likely never be thanked, but you can have a massive impact on the general running and logistics of industries you truly care about. It’s not hard to see why this is a beautiful thing.

Journalism

Journalists have seemingly come under fire in recent years, but that doesn’t mean the profession is tainted. Real investigate journalism, away from all the difficult modern trappings of clickbait to attract advertisers, has profound value. Reporting the truth can change industries, topple corrupt regimes and help you demand a better set of standards for the world. If you have a flair for the written word, this might be the best career you choose to develop bar none.

With these three career paths that truly matter, you’re sure to find something that nourishes you.

The Alternative Careers You Need To Consider

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If you are thinking about looking for a new job, or are at that tentative stage in life where you are about to enter the working world for the very first time, you will no doubt be considering what types of jobs are available to you. Can you only think of the usual kinds of careers, such as teaching or office-based work? Those career paths are perfectly fine for most people, but if the thought of being stuck in an office for seven hours a day completely bores you, then you might not be so excited about your career prospects.

Thankfully, though, there are some alternative jobs that you might want to consider. Most of these will give you a lot of variety in your work and you can guarantee that no two days will ever be quite the same. Here are a few alternative careers to give you some career inspiration.

Farming

When most people finish college, they move to the big city to start their career. But is that really necessary? Well, you’ll be grateful to hear that you don’t necessarily need to head to the city to find a good job. Why not move to the countryside where you could set up life as a farmer? You could take a look at the Hansen agri-placement site for some job ideas. Or, if you like the idea of setting up your own business, you could buy your own country home and prepare the lands around it to grow crops or keep livestock. Otherwise, you could always find an already established farm that is available to rent out.

Forensic Medicine

If you have a head for science, you might want to move into a medical career. But did you know that becoming a doctor or nurse isn’t your only option? There are, in fact, quite a lot of different fields in medicine, including the likes of forensic medicine. Working in this field will see you work closely with the police and a coroner to investigate crimes and to establish the cause of injury and death in victims.

Publishing

If working in science or agriculture isn’t for you, you might prefer to work in the literature world. When you work in publishing, you will be helping to bring many different books into reality. You will get the chance to work with authors and help them develop and edit their books before they are published and available for the public to buy. Not only that, though, but you will also get the chance to help with the marketing of each book as well.

Science Policy

Do you want to do some good in the world and help change important laws? Well, why not set yourself up with a career in science policy. You will use your science knowledge to help inform policy makers and ensure that they have all the facts when writing up new policies and laws.

Has one of these career ideas inspired you to look into an alternative career path? Good luck!

Career Evaluation: What Are You Chasing?

Scott Asai3 Comments

Stop for a moment.

Whether you love, hate or just accept your job – what does it represent?

Since work consumes such a large part of our lives it should serve a purpose.

Finding the perfect job isn’t going to make you “happy” for long. That’s not saying you can’t stay in one profession for a while and enjoy it, but chances are on bad days your mind wanders to other options.

A career is never meant to define you.

When casually asked, “what do you do?” it results in three reactions: proud, ashamed or blah.

The better question to ask yourself is: what are you chasing?

For me it’s lifestyle. As a father and entrepreneur I want my work to provide the opportunity to control how I spend my time. Sure, I’d like to make more money (who doesn’t), but if the tradeoff is I’m rich, but can never see my family it’s not worth it.

Consider your life stage. Don’t default simply to age.

There are people in their 20’s married with kids and others in their 40’s single.

Values don’t change much over time, but priorities do. Added responsibility like being a parent will do that to you.

Feeling stressed isn’t fun, but tension also promotes growth. Changes whether expected or unexpected will challenge you. Take time to relax, but too much of it can hurt you.

When it comes to evaluating where you are in your career, remember to stop comparing yourself to others and look at it in “chunks.” Each experience prepares you for the next so no matter where you are take what you learned in the past and utilize it to propel you into the future.

Chasing is healthy in moderation.

Ambition leads to drive and motivation.

But what’s most important is to define your career path based on your standards alone.

Those who are focused are trying to win the race, not consumed with beating others.

Why Seniority Is A Terrible Qualifier

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Work your way up the corporate ladder is what you were told. Hard work does pay off, but it’s not enough. When you get promoted into a leadership or executive role, it may not be the best move for you. Here’s why:

Think of 3 different levels in an organization.

The foundation is the technical worker(s) a.k.a. the widget maker.

The middle layer is leadership, also known as management.

On the top is the executive team, otherwise known as the C-Suite.  

Historically managers are promoted because of tenure on the job, but the skill set needed to lead is much different than dealing with customers. I’ve witnessed older managers get promoted because of their loyalty to the company, but once elevated the proverbial wheels fell off. Just because you were great as sales, production, service, etc. doesn’t mean it will translate well at the next level (it has little to do with age, much more to do with mindset).

The same happens for middle management. Leaders are focused on managing people, but with an upgrade to the executive team, now you have to forecast growth. Thinking strategically is not the same as relationally. As a CEO, CTO or CFO you’ll spend most of your time in meetings and researching data. The additional money is nice, but you’ll soon find out if it’s the right fit for you.

This comes back to self-awareness. Knowing what you can and can’t do. Higher pay is always nice, but nowadays people quit their jobs much quicker if they don’t love and thrive in their position. Climbing the corporate ladder isn’t what it used to be. And although entrepreneurship may be sexier it’s also not for everyone. When it comes to your career path, figure out your direction before you start traveling. Pursue a role where you can make the biggest impact, learn the most and utilize your God-given abilities. Otherwise you’re just driving without a destination in mind.