Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
Job-hunting tips from the November 26, 2001 issue of QuintZine.
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.
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 