Main Feature: Dependable Strengths®: Finding Your Unique Excellence
Special Feature: Take Charge of Your Career Direction: Career Assessments Can Point the Way!
Bonus Feature: 15 Quick Self-Assessment Tips
Quintessential Site: Featured Career Web Site of this Issue
Latest Additions: What's New on Quintessential Careers
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search and Work Life
Editor's Note: About this Issue...
Happy 2011!
We have high hopes for this year, not only because of glimmers of
economic recovery, but because it's the 15th anniversary year for
Quint Careers. We'll be bringing you special content throughout the year.
During many of the 11 years of QuintZine's existence, we've dedicated
our January issue to self-assessment and self-reflection. This season of
resolutions, goal-setting, and new beginnings is an appropriate time to get to know
yourself better, especially with an idea of setting your career direction -- or direction
for career change (one indicator of an improving economy is the large number of
workers who say they will change jobs or careers this year).
Whenever we publish an assessment issue, we also update our
Online Career Assessment
Tools Review for Job-Seekers, Career-Seekers. I'm very excited about a new addition to the review,
Dependable Strengths for the Internet, the online version of a wonderfully insightful
assessment I completed during a workshop last fall. I've written all about Dependable Strengths
in our feature article, and you can take the assessment for $24.49 here.
Also in this issue, the "Career Assessment Goddess," Susan Guarneri, offers a terrific overview of career
Assessments and what you can gain from them.
We also offer the first of our features celebrating our 15th anniversary, a set of 15 tips on assessments.
--Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., Master Resume Writer, Credentialed Career Master,
Certified Electronic Career Coach, and editor at
kathy(at)quintcareers.com
Feature Article: Dependable Strengths
Dependable Strengths®: Finding Your Unique Excellence
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
First in a series.
Here's an amazingly simple concept: Think about the good experiences in your life. Sit with a group
of three other people and tell the stories of your top five good experiences while the others listen
for and record the strengths they believe you demonstrated in your experiences. Consider additional
possible strengths listed on a chart and look for patterns. Pinpoint your top four strengths and conduct a reality
test to measure the validity of each strength. Then use your top strengths to compile a report that can be a
remarkably effective job-search tool.
Have Your Resume Ready in Case of Job Loss in the Current Economic Climate.
QUINTESSENTIAL RESUMES AND COVER LETTERS, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service, provides solutions
with unmatched quality in the areas of professional resume writing. In fact, in 2009, during one of
the worst recessions in history, they still achieved a 98.7% effectiveness rate!
Take Charge of Your Career Direction: Career Assessments Can Point the Way!
by Susan Guarneri
Your career journey of a lifetime can turn out to be a nightmare (from bad to worse experiences),
a series of boring and tedious jobs, fulfilling and exciting "dream jobs" or something in between.
As part of the celebration of Quintessential Careers's 15th anniversary this year, we're presenting
lists of 15 tips on some of the most essential topics in college, job search, and career.
Find Your Career Future. Learn More About Yourself
Career Maze is designed to help every job seeker, at every level, make smarter
career choices. Individualized to reflect your unique personality and written in
"plain English," it is thorough and easy to complete.
Once completing the assessmemt, your 2-part report includes:
A specific, career-relevant discussion of your workplace personality
A list of job types compatible with your personality
Career Maze encourages you to think about tapping your full potential to find your future.
As the Career Assessment Goddess herself, Susan Guarneri, says, "this blog is for anyone
interested in advancing their career or business using the power of career assessments to uncover
and communicate their personal brand with unerring impact." Guarneri says she writes the blog "in the hope
that no one has to work at a job that is boring, demeaning, or that they simply can't stand."
The blog focuses on all aspects of what can make a career or business outrageously successful and bring personal fulfillment.
Categories of posts include Books, Current Affairs, Future-Focused News, Inside Career Assessments,
Personal Branding with Pizzaz, Resumes with a Touch of Magic, Small-Business Savvy, Smart Job
Search, Strategic Career Transition, and Stress Management.
Find a Job, Post Your Resume -- on our Job Portal!
Even in a bad economy, there are still job postings and career opportunities!!
Go now to search for jobs, post your resume, build an online portfolio, receive career consultation,
and learn about continuing education opportunities.
Architecture Jobshop --
one-stop job-search solution for professionals seeking architecture and interior design jobs
that suit your skills -- whether site- or office-based. Job-seekers can browse or search
job listings (by keyword, company), post your resume, and register for email job alerts.
No cost to job-seekers.
Jobs in Israel Network -- a job board
for job-seekers searching for employment in Israel, where you can search job listings (by keyword, location, job type, language requirements),
upload your resume or CV, as well as register to receive new job postings by email. There is also a large variety of information specific to
finding work in Israel. No cost to job-seekers for basic membership.
Pretty Young Professional --
striving to be the ultimate online resource for young professional women between the ages of 18-28. Visitors can find
career profiles and career, workplace, and grad school articles and tips -- as well as inspiring interviews,
health and lifestyle tips, more. No cost to job-seekers.
Survival Jobs for Actors --
a truly wonderful job board for struggling actors seeking work between or around acting jobs.
Job-seekers can browse job listings, post up to five versions of your resume, and register
for a job search alert. No cost to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest Additions section.
We'd Love You to Link to Quintessential Careers!
If your school, organization, business or other
entity has a Website, we welcome you to link to Quintessential Careers.
If you already have a link from your site, we want you to know we
appreciate it. If you don't have a link to us, please
send a request to your site's Webmaster to establish a
link to Quintessential Careers. Thanks so much!
For more details (including sample HTML copy), see our
Link to Us page.
Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search and Work Life
Executive coach Dr. Arin N. Reeves, president of
leadership and inclusion consulting firm Nextions offers these five tips
to kick-start a career in 2011:
Assess career, skills and aspirations. "Take a
close look at where you are, where you want to be, and whether you have the required skills currently
to move along your preferred career path," Reeves advises.
Project to the future. Thinking in terms of specific
years such as 2012, 2016 and 2021 makes the goals more meaningful, Reeves notes.
Identify specific goals for 2011 that will support
longer-term aspirations. "Figure out what shorter-term steps can be accomplished within
the next 12 months that will take you closer to the longer-term goals," Reeves suggests.
Create a personal advisory board composed
of individuals who can lend advice on an as-needed basis. The group can include someone who has
already accomplished the same desired goal, or a person who possesses other sought-after information or skills.
Establish "celebration points" and design what
the celebrations will be. Celebrations can come after any key milestone, such as obtaining a certain
number of clients, completing a major project, or mastering a required skill. Reeves used this technique
while finishing her PhD, inviting 40 people to a graduation party an entire year in advance, to
coincide with the date she had committed to herself that she would complete her dissertation. "Knowing
that 40 people were coming to my graduation party in 12 months inspired me to keep moving forward," Reeves says.
U.S. News recently published a list of the 50 best careers of 2011, based on
job-growth projections, salary data, and other factors such as job satisfaction.
Top 3 in the business category are accountant, actuary, and financial adviser; top 3 in creative
and service jobs are commercial pilot, curator, and film/video editor. Top 3 healthcare jobs
are athletic trainer, dental hygienist, and lab technician. The list also includes social-service
jobs, as well as technology jobs.
Networking is "the best job-hunting strategy as opposed to resume submission to companies,"
says Chris Pires, author of Shred Your Resume and Find a Job Fast, in a press release, "Effective
Job-Hunting Strategies Named for 2011 Job Search." Networking, Pires says, "gets your foot in the door
and allows you first-hand information on the company. Building relationships with hiring managers through
this approach will give you more chances of success in landing a job. Pires also touts the importance of
maintaining a positive attitude through the job-search process. "Looking for a fulfilling job is hard work in itself,"
he says, and sometimes rejections could become frustrating. But job-seekers should not take rejections
to heart and must move on after experiencing one. Each day should be a fresh start. This is the mindset
of job-seekers who have successfully landed jobs. Beyond networking, Pires maintains that mentoring
is an effective strategy, along with conducting informational interviews.
Learn more about conducting
Informational interviews here.
Quintessential Careers Press Announces Our Latest Book: The Quintessential Guide to
Job Search 2.0: Advancing Your Career Through Online Social Media.
The
Quintessential Guide to Job Search 2.0: Advancing Your Career Through Online Social Media,
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., and Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., provides six chapters to guide you
through the next revolution in online job search. Since job boards, vestiges of the first
revolution in online job search, should still be part of the job-seeker's toolkit, this
book helps you navigate those while also considering the future of job boards. The book
looks at building your personal brand, teaches you to make the most of social-media venues
in the job search, guides you in creating a digital presence, suggests you consider blogging,
and discusses ways to integrate multimedia elements into your job search.
Ad: Does Your Organization Have Positions to Fill?
Find Qualified Candidates Today!
The Quintessential Careers Job-Hunting Portal is a great place for organizations that have job
openings to post those openings and review job-seeker resumes.
Our national resume database contains more than 500,000 active resumes of candidates seeking employment.
Numerous job-posting packages are available.
If your organization is looking to hire, use the power behind our
portal! Learn more today!
Follow QuintCareers; Read the Latest Advice
Follow QuintCareers Latest Job Tips and Career News on Twitter
Also follow @KatCareerGal for regular career-related tweets.
QuintCareers Network of Empowering Blogs
What are QuintCareers empowering blogs?
The Career Doctor Blog:
Especially for those who miss our former regular feature, Ask the Career Doctor, this blog each day features a question and answer from The
Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD.
Need a career expert for a story or article you're working on? Searching for college,
career, and job news? Interested in learning more about Quintessential Careers?
Our Press Room
is your one-stop location for getting the information and resources you need.
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming issues of QuintZine:
* Entrepreneurship Quiz
* 15 Quick Tips for Succeeding as Solopreneur
* Warning Signs You Won't Like Your Next Employer
* Contrasting Good Job-Search to Weak Job-Search Techniques
* 15 Quick Tips for Find a New Job
* 15 Quick Tips for Landing a Job at Graduation
* College Grad Career Preparedness Final Exam
* New Grads: Roadmap to Work and Play
* Working Night Shifts/Odd Shifts
* De-Stressing Before an Interview
* 15 Quick Tips for Acing the Job Interview
* Cover Letter "Rules" 2.0: Reframing Cover-Letter Guidelines for Today’s Job Search
* 15 Quick Tips for a Winning Resume
* More Cover-Letter Components
* Crafting Transferable Skills Stories
* 15 Quick Tips for Fighting Age Discrimination and the Overqualified Label
* Older Workers Struggling at Job-Search: Is It Age Discrimination?
* Empty Nest Job-seekers
* How to Stay Motivated at Work
* 15 Quick Tips for Gaining Valuable Experience in College
* Major Stress: Quiz for Choosing a Major/Career
* 15 Quick Tips for Excelling at Work
* 15 Quick Tips for Obtaining Your Next Promotion
* 15 Quick Tips for Getting Accepted into College
* Another Option After High School: Vocational/Trade Schools
* Fourth Annual Job Action Day
* 15 Quick Tips for Career Branding Success
* Career Branding Checklist
* Special Quint Careers 15th Anniversary Issue
* 15 Career Gurus
* 15 Indispensable Career Books
* 15 tips, samples, tools, and more.
* 15 Quick Tips Strengthening Your Career Network
* 15 Quick Tips for Working with Headhunters
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more...
