We annually like to devote an issue
of QuintZine to self-assessment, getting to
know yourself better, and applying new self-knowledge
to personal and career development. We call it our
ALL ABOUT YOU issue, and this year we look at
exploring and identifying work values. A special
feature looks at establishing purpose for your
life through four "career investment" areas.
In the spirit of "ALL ABOUT YOU," we have a big
favor to ask our readers. We'd like to ask you to
take a few minutes to complete a totally anonymous survey.
As we vow in our privacy statement, we absolutely will not
use the information gained in any other way than to make
our Quintessential Career site even BETTER for our readers.
Please take our
survey. Thank you for your help!
Finally, on a personal note, a birthday wish for
a vital member of the Quint Careers team: Happy 15th
birthday, JRH!
Workplace Values Assessment: Do You Know the Work Values You Most Want in a Job and an
Employer -- and Does Your Current Employment Reflect Those Values?
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
People expect to achieve certain ideals from their
jobs, employers, and careers. These workplace values,
concepts, and ideas that you hold dear have a direct
impact on your satisfaction with your job, with your
career, and even with your life. When you understand
the values you cherish most highly, you can make an
evaluation about whether your current employer (or
a prospective employer) supports those values. And
if you are considering a career change, understanding
your values is critical to identifying a new career path.
How well do you know your workplace values? If you're
like most people, you may have done some self-assessment
years ago when you were first starting out in your career,
but have you taken the time recently to stop and see who
and where you are now? After several job changes and
promotions, are you still doing the kind of work that
really suits you? After several ownership changes,
mergers, and acquisitions, are you really with the
type of company (and upper management) that respects
and rewards your values? As you begin thinking about
a job or career change, have you really spent the
time thinking about the right job and right employer
for what you value -- and what you need in your life?
Perhaps it is time for a work values check-up.
Building Your Career Portfolio: Four Career Investments for a Purposeful Lifetime
by Carol A. Poore
"When I was laid off, I was shaking so badly that
I didn't know whether I could drive home," said
Kristin, 32, a mother of three who lost a public
relations job. "My heart was pounding and I felt
disassociated, like the whole thing was a bad dream."
After working at the same company for five years,
David, 36, was escorted out of his building after
being informed that the company was heading in a
new direction and no longer needed his type of skills.
Shock, rootlessness and anger are just a few normal
responses many feel when they lose their jobs to
corporate downsizing. Since the national crisis on
Sept. 11, the U.S. Dept. of Labor states that jobless
claims are approaching 700,000 across the U.S. --
the highest in nearly a decade.
How can you mitigate career risk -- otherwise known
as the pitfalls of marketplace change, economic turndowns,
downsizing, personal health and life changes, and
distasteful company politics that can wreck havoc with one's life?
We've updated our reviews of free and inexpensive online
career assessments. We've weeded out old assessment sites
that are no longer in operation and added some new ones.
These tools provide fun and useful
ways to learn more about yourself and to gain food for
thought about your career direction:
Online Career Assessment Review.
Do you know of a free or inexpensive ($20 or less)
online assessment that we should feature in our
review? Have any comments about the way we've rated
the chart's assessments? Let us know at:
mailto:quintzine@quintcareers.com
This site offers a number of assessments
to guide career planning and especially to
help improve one's current job situation.
Assessments include Improve Your Boss, Improve
Your Company, The PSI Personality Style Indicator,
The JSI Job Style Indicator, and Improve Your JobFit.
The site describes one of our favorites, the PSI, this
way: "Understanding our own personal styles and traits
(and ideally those of the people we work closely with
and for), we have an opportunity to be more successful,
higher performing and more satisfied with our jobs and
work environment. Taking the Personal Style Indicator
assessment and asking all those with whom you work closely
to take it, as well, will give you a leg up on improving
your working communications and relationships and,
therefore (and quite naturally), both your individual
and group performance."
Some of the site's assessments are free; others offer a free
summary report with a fee for a more detailed report; still
others are fee-based. The JSI and PSI can be taken together.
CreditJobsToday.com
-- where job-seekers in the trade credit industry can search for all types of jobs (by position, company
size, location, and keywords), post your
resume (confidentially), and use a job agent that will email you job opportunities. Apply directly to jobs via email.
Free to job-seekers.
JOBFOOD.COM
-- a South African job, recruitment, and training site, where job-seekers can search for a job (by job type,
industry, location, posting time, and keywords), submit your CV, and find valuable career information.
A great site. Free to job-seekers.
naturejobs.com
-- a job site for practicing scientists and Ph.D. students in the sciences,
where job-seekers can search for jobs (by keyword, location, company, and
area of expertise), post your resume, and use a job alert tool -- and where students can
search for graduate assistanceships. Free to job-seekers.
Teens4Hire
-- a national online job-matching site for teens and the employers who hire them. Teens (14+) can create a
personal profile, search for job openings from local and national employers, and apply for positions by forwarding
your profile to select employers. Job types include full-time, part-time,
seasonal, temporary, vocational, apprenticing, interning, and volunteering. Free to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest
Additions section.
Kenn writes: "I would like to find a new career or
even new location and would like to try
and find someone online that can help me out in
this endeavor. Do you have any idea of where I can
find a person or site that may be of help?"
Mikaela writes: "I am 21 and having a
mid-life crisis!!! I will graduate from the University
of Maryland with a degree in marketing this May. One
problem -- after a few internships I am convinced that
I do NOT want to go into marketing; in fact I do not
want to go into business at all. The past few months,
I have been drawn to medicine -- specifically pediatric
cancer -- but I'm not sure that med school and being a
doctor is in my future. So I have been considering
law school -- possibly to study medical ethics or
patient advocacy. Basically I want to help families
who are faced with difficult medical decisions.
What careers do this? What kind of education should
I be trying to get now? Does law school make sense?"
Agnes writes: "I need to know how to write a perfect
letter after the first interview for the job of flight attendant.
Could you please send me some samples as soon as possible?"
Dave Mahloy writes: "I was digging around your career
site looking for information on how to make best use
of references. I am considering asking two former managers
and one personal friend to be references for me but want
to know how much coaching I should give them. Do you have
any articles or advice on this topic?"
Q TIPS: Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
Finding career inspiration is a matter of thinking like
an 8-year-old, wrote Dave Murphy recently in the San Francisco
Examiner. "If that 8-year-old inside you has died, it makes it
just about impossible to change careers," Murphy writes of the
wide-eyed innocence with which children dream big dreams of
what they want to be when they grow up. Murphy suggests as
inspiration not traditional career books, but books of poetry
and quotes, as well as biographies of heroes to emulate.
"Inspiration is all around you," he writes. "But first you have to
let that 8-year-old come out and play."
On her Five O'Clock Club Web site, Kate Wendleton offers
a free "Seven Stories Exercise" Worksheet" downloadable as
a PDF document.
The exercise asks you examine the most satisfying experiences
of your life with the goal of identifying the skills you most want
to use in the future.
Recruiting Trends reports that demand for sales and
marketing professionals, while down from the record-high
levels of the past two years, is still relatively strong
and should remain buoyant for the rest of 2002. "Although
projected new hires are down from the dizzying heights of
a year ago, the fact that more than 40 percent of the
companies we surveyed will be adding to their sales and
marketing staffs during the next six months is a very
optimistic sign for the economy," says Management Recruiters
International president and CEO Allen Salikof. "There is
market share out there to be gained, and sales people will
be the drivers who bring that business to their companies."
All regions of the country are projecting lower levels of
hiring for the first half of the year, but no region is
seriously lagging behind the national average."
We Want to Profile You!
Quintessential Career Profiles feature readers
who have interesting career stories to tell.
Did you obtain a job in an unusual way? Has
your career path been out of the ordinary?
Have you held one or more unusual jobs? Has
your job search been especially troublesome,
inspirational, or remarkable? We want to hear
from you! Tell us a little about your career
story, and we may contact you for a full
profile. Write to us
and let us know about you.
(If your e-mail program doesn't let you click on the link above
to open a new e-mail message, just write to
quintzine@quintcareers.com using the subject line
Quintessential_Career_Profiles).
QuintZine: Topics in Upcoming Issues
WATCH FOR feature articles on these topics in upcoming
issues of QuintZine:
* 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
* Interviewing strategies for teens
* Using informational interviews to research companies
* How to use keywords to enhance your resume's effectiveness
* Letters of recommendation and references
* How to create and use a networking card
* 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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RESUMES * JOB SEARCH CORRESPONDENCE FROM TRUSTED EXPERTS * COVER LETTERS
We create resumes,
cover letters, curriculum vitae, thank-you and
follow-up letters, and list-formatted documents,
such as salary histories and reference lists.
We also can provide critiques and makeovers of
your resume or cover letter. Credit cards accepted.
Quintessential Careers also offers writing services
for those who have been asked to give a speech and
need assistance in researching and writing their
remarks.
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.
