Readers:
Dr. Randall Hansen, a nationally recognized career expert, is the Career Doctor.
Discover more about Dr. Hansen, read about the purpose of this column,
and find previous issues of this column at the home of The Career Doctor.
If you have any college, career, or job-related questions or comments that Dr. Hansen could
provide valuable assistance with, please
feel free to email him at: careerdr@quintcareers.com.
Dr. Hansen writes this column on a biweekly basis.
Ron writes:
I have been floundering all my life but manage to get jobs that help pay rent/mortgage
which are not my passion. I graduated with a painting degree and ever since all the jobs
I have held have been dead-end positions. I have been receptionist, sales/customer
service and now a sales specialist selling catalog furniture over the phone. I am sick
of sales and phones but don't know how to pursue my talents of art, painting, design,
color while still paying my mortgage. What do you advise?
A:
The Career Doctor responds:
Everyone always talks about making resolutions for the new year, and Ron, I think
you are in serious need of one this year. You should resolve, today, that you will
have a new job in the career field where your passions lie by the end of the
year -- if not sooner!
You say you have been floundering all your life -- but what have you done to help
position yourself for a career in the arts? You chose to apply for all these jobs --
and then you accepted them once offered. Using the tagline of an infamous infomercial
of a few years back, "stop the insanity!"
You control your fate. You can continue to be stuck in dead-end jobs that you hate,
or you can make a decision to follow your bliss. Are you ready to get started?
You need to develop a strategy for making the transition. Then, while continuing to
work in your sales job, begin laying the groundwork for that career change.
First, decide the types of jobs/careers in the arts that most interest you.
Second, find an arts organization that needs volunteers -- and volunteer as much as
you can. Gain valuable experience and begin to make contacts.
Third, find arts groups (within your community or online), join them, and build
your network.
Fourth, determine if you need any further training or education to qualify for a
job in the arts.
Fifth, use your new network of contacts, volunteering experience, and degree to
track down job leads and position yourself as the ideal candidate.
Bart writes:
I was fired for the first time ever, the reason they gave me was due to slowness
in performance. I immediately started job hunting and have been looking ever
since. It’s been a couple of months now and I need a job -- soon!
If I have been unsuccessful finding a job in my career field through these past
months, should I just take any job I can get? I need to pay the bills, and I know
there are lots of low-wage jobs around -- and one of those would at least get me
back on my feet financially.
A:
The Career Doctor responds:
I totally understand your frustrations with job-hunting, and while I’ll say more in the
following paragraphs, the bottom-line is you must do what you must do to survive…
and if that involves taking a survival job for a week, a month, or something longer,
it’s certainly better to do that than lose your house, car, or other possessions.
The employment situation for many job-seekers has not been very good over the
past few years, and while we continue to see some glimmers of hope that things
are improving (new jobs are being created), we also see other reports that some
employers are still planning more layoffs this year and that some jobs will never
come back (due to productivity gains or migration of those jobs overseas).
You have to remain positive you will find a way back to your old career -- or
find a path to a new and exciting career. I know that the longer a job-search lasts,
the harder it is to remain positive. And I know that being fired is obviously still
weighing on your mind. Employers can sense desperation or doubt, so you
need to get the past behind you and focus on the future, one that includes
you back employed in your career field.
How are your job-hunting skills? Are you using your network to its full
potential? Have you stayed active in your professional organization (and
perhaps its online discussion board, if it has one)? Have you tapped into
the alumni network of your college? Try to accomplish some job-search
activity every day -- even after you take the survival job.
And most employers see survival jobs, especially in light of the recent
employment situation, as more positive than negative… so, if you need
to pay the bills, take one of those survival jobs but keep your job-search
moving forward.
Q:
Patricia writes:
I would like to get information on marketing as a career. Where I should go and
what would my major be? And what are the job prospects and types of jobs available?
A:
The Career Doctor responds:
Remember that I am just a bit biased about marketing, okay? If you
want to have a career in the one area of any business or organization that is
integral to its success, then you want a career in marketing. Marketing is all
about developing (superior) products or services consumers need, and
delivering them at the highest level of customer satisfaction as possible.
Marketing is both an art and a science. Without successful marketing,
no organization can survive -- because without marketing, you don’t
have any customers.
You don’t need do major in marketing in college, but I would strongly consider it.
You might also consider communications, public relations, psychology, and
sociology as possible majors or minors. More importantly, once you are in
college, you need to get the marketing experience - as much as possible --
through volunteering, school projects, campus organizations, and internships
or co-ops. The experiences will be invaluable in not only helping you land a
great job upon graduation, but also fine-tuning your specifics interests
within the field of marketing.
I define marketing as delivering customer satisfaction at a profit… and there
are many career opportunities in performing marketing, such as: services
marketing, brand management, retailing, distribution, sales, research,
advertising, public relations, business-to-business marketing, political
marketing, international marketing, direct marketing, non-profit marketing,
and more.
Marketing is a hot field -- and expected to keep growing for the next decade,
according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics,
with services and business-to-business marketing having the most opportunities.
You can learn more about marketing and marketing careers by going to the
Website of the professional organization of marketing:
The
American Marketing Association.
See if your library has this book -- a great source of information --
Opportunities
in Marketing Careers, by Margery Steinberg (McGraw-Hill).
Q:
Anonymous writes:
My employer is currently training me to serve as backup relief for a position
that I do not want to fill. The position requires excessive overtime and the
rate of pay does not adequately compensate for the demands of the job.
Eventually this training will lead to a promotion to fill this position. I personally
know I can do the work but would rather not have anything to do with the position.
A:
The Career Doctor responds:
Yours is a problem that I am seeing more and more of in this current
environment of employers pushing productivity by training employees
for multiple positions so that one person can do the job of the others
who have been rightsized out of the firm.
On one hand, you should feel good about yourself that your employer
values you enough to expand your skills and prepare you for a possible
promotion. On the other hand, too many people get promoted or moved
into career paths that they end up hating - and wondering how they ever
got so far away from where they started.
So…you have a couple of choices.
First, given the current employment scene, you may decide it best to
keep your mouth shut for the time being and continue the training until
the employment picture gets better - which for many industries and
careers should be some time this year.
Second, if you have any kind of positive relationship with your supervisor,
you could try having a heart-to-heart and spell out exactly how you see
your career path - and how it does not include a switch to this other
position (with or without a promotion). Be forewarned that no matter how
good your relationship with your boss, this strategy could lead to you
being marked as ungrateful and not a team player.
Third, you could start a new job-search by getting your resume together
and contacting all the people in your network. Depending on the size of
your company, you may even be able to do an internal transfer to another division.
Never settle for something that makes you unhappy. Life is too short.
