Feature Article: Creating a Career Vision for Your Life: Envisioning Your Ideal Career
Special Feature: Integrating Assessments Into Your Personal and Career Branding
Bonus Feature: Make A Fresh Start in the New Year
New Tool: Career Passion Worksheet
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
Editor's Note: About this Issue...
Happy New Year!
We have traditionally focused our January issue on self-assessment -- the
process of self-knowledge and self-actualization that often goes hand-in-hand with the feeling of
renewal in the new year.
We also try to update our Online Career Assessment Tools Review
every couple of years; we've done so this year. With the passing of years, we see fewer and fewer no-cost
assessments, but a good number that still fall within the under-$40 threshold of our Review. We'd like to
think the Review provides a helpful service by indicating the assessments we've found to be most
useful and the best value. The Review may also prevent unpleasant surprises, as we've also seen a trend in
assessments in which the user devotes a big block of time to completing the assessment only to discover
that the only way to obtain the results is to pay for them.
We offer additional self-discovery features in this issue -- Dr. Randall Hansen's article on developing your career vision,
my article on integrating assessment results into personal/career branding, Deb Brown-Volkman's piece
on getting a fresh start in the new year, and a nifty new self-discovery tool, our Career Passion Worksheet.
--Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., Master Resume Writer, Credentialed Career Master,
Certified Electronic Career Coach, and editor at
kathy@quintcareers.com
Feature Article: Career Vision Statement
Creating a Career Vision for Your Life: Envisioning Your Ideal Career
by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.
Remember when you were a kid and adults used to ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Are you still searching for the answer to that question years or decades later? Are you happy with your
career, but feeling unfulfilled -- like you're missing something? Are you unhappy with your career, but
don't feel very inspired or that you have many options?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, perhaps what you need is to put your mind to creating
a career vision for your life that brings into focus a fulfilling career. A career vision is a statement about
what you want to achieve in your career -- the major accomplishments you hope to attain, the level or
position you hope to rise to, and the lasting impact you hope to make.
A bad economy and weak job market makes it even more essential to have a strong resume that
helps open doors to new job and career opportunities -- and prepares you in case of an
unexpected job loss.
QUINTESSENTIAL RESUMES AND COVER LETTERS provides solutions
with unmatched quality in the areas of career planning, professional resume writing, and interviewing, having
successfully helped tens of thousands of clients, from executives through individuals beginning a career,
succeed in their career goals.
Integrating Assessments Into Your Personal and Career Branding
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.
Let's say you've reviewed some of the articles and tools in our
Personal Branding & Career Self-Marketing Tools section
or taken our quiz, What's the Value of Your
Personal Brand? and have decided that you indeed need to develop your personal brand so you can stand out in
the job market and climb the career ladder. If you don't know where to start, consider taking some career and
personality assessments and integrating the results into your personal- and career-branding materials.
Are you caught up in the day-to-day doldrums of your career?
The new year is here, which means it's a perfect time to start fresh. If you haven't been passionate about
your career in a while, capitalize on this time of the year to begin again.
If you've lost your "get up and go," maybe what's missing is a new goal. Something that gets you excited
and motivated again. Whether it's a new job or a new way of doing something in your present position, a new
goal can give you something to look forward to.
Our tutorial, Finding Your Career Passion,
is designed to help those who are confused about what they'd like to do in their careers or are miserable in their careers
but unsure what to do next.
Now we introduce a tool to help users get the most out of the Tutorial. Our Career Passion Worksheet
is designed to dovetail with the tutorial and personalize it for your own use.
Why not print it out, read the tutorial, and begin uncovering your career passion?
Career Passion Worksheet.
Quintessential Careers Site:
Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (JVIS)
One of our favorite online assessments, especially for high-school and college students,
is the JVIS, developed to assist students and adults with educational and career planning. This test
contains 289 pairs of job-related activities that users choose between.
The assessment, which measures vocational interests, is quite long (takes 45 minutes), but
it provides encouraging screens that tell the user's progress and gives a little pep talk.
The result is a highly detailed report that compares the user's similarity to college
students in specific majors, thus suggesting possible majors for young people to consider.
JVIS graphs your scores on 34 work roles and workstyles.
[Full disclosure: JVIS is a QuintCareers partner.]
Careercast -- a cool job portal offering job-seekers
opportunities from all U.S. and Canadian newspaper, magazine, niche and TV station Websites powered by
Adicio Inc., a developer of Web-based classified advertising solutions. Job-seekers
can search job listings (by keyword, category, location), post a resume, find job news, more.
No cost to job-seekers.
JobsINBOX -- an international job search engine
and networking site, where job-seekers can find relevant job postings from around the world through a
matching process based on key skills. You can also create communities of your work interest, offer/receive
advice/info/help from others with the same interests. No cost to job-seekers.
Nursing Job Hub -- a job site for travel
nursing job opportunities. Job-seekers can search job listings (by certifications, specialty, and location)
as well as register your profile. No cost to job-seekers.
WomenCo -- an online networking community for female
professionals in the United States, a forum where members can forge connections with other working
women to keep informed, empower and entertain themselves, and advance their careers.
Powered by parent company Monster.com. No cost to job-seekers.
Find even more career and job site additions to Quintessential Careers by visiting our
Latest Additions section.
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.
Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search and Work Life
Mark Guterman and Dan King of MeaningfulCareers.com recommend an Annual Renewal Process consisting of these steps:
STEP 1: REFLECTION
Conduct an objective and subjective evaluation of the recent past.
Describe the lessons learned from the recent past.
STEP 2: APPRECIATION
Express appreciation for self, others, and the world around you.
Create affirmations
STEP 3: VISION/PLANNING
Clarify your values: What is most important to you?
Identify your vision and goals.
Describe the plans and steps you will take.
Commit to your action plan.
"I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK" is a tune made famous by the Monty Python comedy troupe.
In 2009, lumberjacks are far from OK. Mathematicians, on the other hand, couldn't be happier. These are among
the nation's best and worst jobs compiled in the new "2009 Jobs Rated Report," an in-depth look at 200 jobs by CareerCast.com.
The editors at job portal CareerCast.com wanted to answer two key questions in this economic downturn:
What are the best jobs out there, and what are the worst? Not in terms of glamour, or just in terms of salary, but
in terms of such factors as job security, emotional stress, hiring outlook, and basic physical safety.
The criteria CareerCast.com researchers used to determine the most - and least - appealing career
opportunities included environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands, security, and stress. Each
occupation is ranked using data from such sources as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census
Bureau, as well as information provided by a wide range of trade associations and industry groups. The upshot:
secure, well-paying office jobs, like mathematician, ranked high. Physically demanding, high-risk jobs, like
Lumberjack, brought up the rear. Based on these factors, here are the nation's 10 best and worst jobs.
[To see the full rankings of all 200 jobs, go to CareerCast.com.]
BEST JOBS
mathematician
actuary
statistician
biologist
software engineer
computer systems analyst
historian
sociologist
industrial designer
accountant
WORST JOBS
lumberjack
dairy farmer
taxi driver
seaman
emergency medical technician
roofer
garbage collector
welder
roustabout
ironworker
Jobfox, an Internet job site, predicts the top Obama-inspired new job trends to watch in 2009.
The list includes the job sectors and key professions that are most likely to grow as
a result of President-elect Barack Obama's economic-stimulus policies. The Obama
administration has said it will "hit the ground running" with what experts project to be a
$700 billion job-stimulus package. The new administration's goals are to create or save
3.5 million (or more) jobs over the next two years.
According to Jobfox, the most wanted new jobs,
listed according to major Obama initiatives,
will include:
Initiative: Construction of Roads, Bridges, Transit, and Rural Broadband
Key Jobs:
Construction managers
Project managers
Civil engineers
Computer-aided drafting specialists
Telecommunications engineers
Initiative: Greater Oversight of Financial Markets
Key Jobs:
Compliance accountants
Internal auditors
Tax accountants
Government regulators
Initiative: Energy Independence
Key Jobs:
Electrical engineers
Mechanical engineers
Power grid managers
Biofuels chemists
Sales and marketing
Initiative: Healthcare Modernization
Key Jobs:
Nurses
Information technology specialists
Bioinformatics specialists
Information security specialists
Software developers
Initiative: Volunteerism and Community Involvement
Quintessential Careers Press Announces Our Latest Book: The Quintessential Guide to
Finding and Maximizing Internships.
The Quintessential Guide to Finding and Maximizing Internships,
by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., and Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., provides eight chapters that
will help you decide what you need in your internship experience, tell you how to find one,
give you the tools to secure one, teach you how to make the most of your internship experience,
show you how to turn an internship into a job, and provide internship resources.
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.
If your school, organization, business or other
entity has a Web site, 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.
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:
* 10 Deadly Sins of Job Search
* How Job Search is Like Online Dating
* Internet Job-hunting Annual Report
* Branded Online Presence
* The Confidence Factor
* Green Jobs
* 10 Deadly Sins of Job Interviewing
* Body Language in the Job Interview
* De-Stressing Before an Interview
* The Interview as Presentation
* Cover-Letter Components
* Storytelling in Cover Letters
* Finding Your First Real Job
* Empty Nest Job-seekers
* Getting in to Prep School/Boarding School
* Top Presentation Tips
* Quiz: What Kind of Co-Worker Are You?
* How to Stay Motivated at Work
* Quintessential Career Profiles of YOU, our readers
* Q&As with well-known career experts
* Book reviews
. . . and much, much more...
