As the new year approaches, thoughts
often turn to career change. A new year could be
a good time to leave an unfulfilling career for
a rewarding new one. Hence, our annual CAREER CHANGE issue.
Our feature article on company culture
is important for looking at your current employer
as well as evaluating prospective new employers.
You may be unhappy in your current job because
the company culture is not a good fit for you.
A company whose culture is more in step with
your own may provide you with much more satisfying
employment.
5 is the magic number! And just five days are left!
To celebrate the 5th anniversary of
Quintessential Careers, every 5th order
received by Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters
from now until the end of November is FREE!
Uncovering a Company’s Corporate Culture is a Critical Task for Job-Seekers
Why should job-seekers care about a potential
employer's corporate culture? Aren't there more
important factors to consider, such as the job
itself, salary and bonuses, and fringe benefits?
These factors are indeed important,
but increasingly
career experts are talking about the importance of
employee-employer fit in terms of culture, with the
idea that how well the employee "fits" the culture
can make the difference between job-search success and failure.
Domain Name Sanity
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your Web-based resume and career portfolio (20 megabytes), up to 50 email addresses, and lots of publishing
and promotion resources -- for under $20 a year!!
This deal is amazing -- almost too good to be true. If you don't have a Website, but want to put your
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Career Changers’ Most Powerful Resume and Cover-Letter Tool: Transferable Skills
"The most effective technique career changers can
use in their resumes and cover letters is TRANSFERABLE
SKILLS, TRANSFERABLE SKILLS, TRANSFERABLE SKILLS," writes
QuintZine regular contributor Maureen Crawford Hentz.
"I recently gave a workshop specifically on this topic
for career changers at the National Environmental Careers
Conference. I was shocked at the number of competent,
successful individuals who kept referring to themselves
as 'totally unqualified for a job in the environment.'
These were adults with four to 12 years of experience
as managers, editors, and engineers."
It's great that career-changers have
a Web site devoted just to them.
YourCareerChange.com's greatest strength is its
plentiful collection of articles to help those
who want to change careers, including answers
to questions sent in by readers. The site also
publishes a newsletter and offers a book section
(which we wish would say a little more about the
books).
Need a speaker for your career-oriented conference or
event at your college or organization? The Quintessential
Careers Speakers Bureau can help! Our quintessential experts
can provide presentations/workshops on a variety of
career-related topics.
AttorneyAve.com
-- a legal employment job board where job-seekers can search for jobs by title (attorney, paralegal, legal secretary, etc.),
area of specialty (family law, bankruptcy, civil litigation, etc), or location. You can also post your
resume. Also includes a legal events calendar. Free to job-seekers.
Careers in Construction
-- where job-seekers who work in any aspect of construction (engineering, architecture/design, contracting,
surveying, infrastructure, building services, project management, etc.) can browse or search for jobs and
register your CV. UK-based, but have international job postings. Free to job-seekers.
InsuranceWorks.com
-- a nice job board for insurance professionals, where you can search jobs
(by keyword, area of expertise, location, and date of job posting), apply to jobs online, set-up job notification
alerts, post your resume and access the site's Career Coach. Free to job-seekers.
911hotjobs.com
-- a law enforcement job and employment portal, where job-seekers can find direct links to all types of law
enforcement jobs (state and municipal police, sheriff, federal, corrections, university and college security), search
for jobs posted at the site, find books and testing information, message boards, and more. Free to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest
Additions section.
Kit-Tong Ng writes: "How does one get a sense of the
corporate culture during an interview? Are there questions
to ask or any observations that I should be more aware of
during the short 1-2 hour interview period?"
Kristin Fenwick writes: "I am a 27-year-old English teacher
with five years under my belt. I am considering a career
change and am wondering what opportunities are available
for former teachers. Are there jobs/corporations that
specifically target former teachers?"
Andrew writes: "I am going for a job interview as a
Web designer.
In your opinion what are typical
questions??
(And answers.) How would you answer if they asked 'E-Commerce
is very important; what skills can you bring?' Also,
'Sell yourself in 1 minute.'"
Anonymous writes: "I am a college student about to
receive my bachelor's degree in business management.
I would like to know what advice you can give me about
job seeking because I have no experience. I feel so useless,
and the reason that I don't push myself to get a job
is that I am afraid that employers will look at my
empty resume and think I'm not worth anything."
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
A new monthly newsletter that "aims to give people the tools to live
their lives to the fullest" debuted this spring. Making Changes
claims not to be just about one's career or relationships.
"It's about YOU, the whole person," the newsletter's Web site
states. "You'll get in-depth interviews with individuals
who've changed their lives for the better." Kathryn Andrews
the creator and editor of Making Changes, is a veteran
journalist and consultant, who says, "Our top priority is
to provide useful and timely information along with
provocative interviews with movers and shakers: people
who have made significant breakthroughs in life.
For me, Making Changes is a culmination of experiences
in my own life: the cancellation of my TV show, a bitter
divorce, financial struggles, survival, and finding
out what's really important." Subscriptions cost $25
annually and can be ordered by going to Making Changes Online.
Career burnout is perhaps the most common reason for
making a career change. So how do you know if you're
suffering from burnout? Here are the early warning signs,
according to the folks at MAPP (Motivational Appraisal of
Personal Potential, one of our favorite online assessments):
chronic fatigue -- exhaustion, tiredness, a sense of
being physically run down
anger at those making demands
self-criticism for putting up with the demands
cynicism, negativity, and irritability
a sense of being besieged
exploding easily at seemingly inconsequential things
frequent headaches and gastrointestinal disturbances
weight loss or gain
sleeplessness and depression
shortness of breath
suspiciousness
feelings of helplessness
increased degree of risk taking
Not surprisingly, the MAPP folks recommend taking one of their
assessments, to find out "what you are naturally motivated
toward with regard to your work. Sometimes a simple change
at work can help you avoid many (if not all) of the early
warning signs of burnout." MAPP offers a free career analysis
assessment and other more comprehensive instruments for a fee.
Go to the MAPP site.
Even if you are burned out, don't mention your burnout to
prospective employers you interview with. Advises
Kate Wendleton in the career column she writes with Dale Dauten,
"Tell prospective employers that you left because you want
to move your career in a different direction, then say
what that direction is (preferably something that
the employer needs)." Adds Dauten, "The idea is to
portray yourself as moving forward to a new passion,
not crawling away from the ashes of your old profession."
Burned out or not, it's best not to quit your current
job just to dedicate yourself to finding your next job.
"Virtually never is it a good idea to end employment
merely to make a career move," advises career columnist
Joyce Lain Kennedy. "Employers wonder what's wrong with
you if you're jobless." Kennedy suggests that career-changers
who are having difficulty making time for the job search to
work on their time-management techniques and seek help from
recruiters/headhunters.
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming
issues of QuintZine:
* How to conduct a long-distance job search
* Identifying your workplace values
* How to choose a headhunter/recruiter
* How to write a counteroffer letter
* Home-based careers
* Career strategies for women
* How to start a job club
* How to use keywords to enhance your resume's effectiveness
* Letters of recommendation and references
* Should you get an MBA?
* Networking timetable for college students
* The biggest myths in job-hunting
* How to resign from your job gracefully
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more!
Don't ever want to miss another issue of QuintZine? Get a free subscription to
the email version of QuintZine by completing our
subscription form.
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