Help I’m over 50 and I hate my job!

If you’re over 50 and after career change, don’t despair. You just need to develop a plan and shift from the career that you’re in on to a new career path. Hopefully your new career objective will lead you toward a much more rewarding career.

Ideally, you’ll want to take stock of where you’re at now so that you don’t head down the wrong career path again. Assess what you like about your current job. Is there anything about the work that you enjoy?

You’ll need to analyze what about your work makes you hate Monday mornings. It’s important to drill down to the exact characteristics about the job that you don’t care for and the ones you do enjoy. Maybe you’re psychiatric counselor and you simply can’t bear to deal with another client. Could be you’re a sales professional tired of repeating the same sales pitch day in and day out. Or a school teacher tired of uninterested students and uninvolved parents.

On the other hand, is it travel? Salary? Customers? Your boss? If your angst has more to do with crummy hours, rude co-workers, you probably wouldn’t have to change career paths – you may decide you just want to find a new job. You have to decide if it is more about the actual work itself or the culture you’re working that is making you unhappy. Clearly identify what it is about your work that is in the way of personal happiness.

Do you know what it is about your work that you actually value? Is there something that you do on a daily basis that makes you forget about time? Has there been one particular project that you’ve worked on that triggered happiness? What was the project? What were the activities and what skills did you use? Take a look at what it was that you actually enjoyed.

While you’re analyzing your career likes and dislikes, you’ll want to decide if the business culture you are in is still acceptable to you. By this I mean, the location, the products and services offered, the actual work environment, and corporate values. Also, consider the level of personal autonomy, employee accountability, and ownership that you are interested in. If you’re a more collaborative person, a top down management style is probably not for you.

Taking stock of what you actually enjoy and what you dislike is a great first step. Develop a plan that sets you on a career course that meets your personal needs. Look at careers and take assessments that are focused on your personal interests. Get in touch with a career coach who can guide you through a career plan.

Honor yourself by selecting a career that is right for you. Make a change that really makes a difference to your personal wellbeing. Get what you want, a new and much more rewarding career. By making a plan and putting yourself on the right career path, you’ll come to love Monday mornings again. It’s the least you can do for yourself.

Other Articles of Interest:

Career Coaches – What do they do for you?

Why It Is Absolutely Necessary To Have A Career Development Plan

Ready to re-energize your job search? I can help. Do you need a powerful resume? Career advancement tips? If you’re ready to expand your network, fire up your career plans, or simply need a push back on to the fast track, learn how I can help.

If you feel your career could be much more – should be much more, it’s time to get the support you need to achieve amazing results. Take advantage of my 12 years of executive recruiting, career coaching, and resume writing experience. Contact me and we’ll get started.

Resume blunders you MUST avoid

Taking the time to create a resume can be tough. Making simple mistakes can actually be costly. It can jeopardize your chance for an interview. And, if you’re lucky enough to get an interview, you still run the risk of elimination. Think about it – if the only difference between you and one other applicant is a glaring error on your resume, more than likely the applicant with a perfect resume will be selected over you, right?

Here are a couple of simple yet costly resume blunders you simply MUST avoid.

#1) If you’ve been sending the same resume for every job for which you apply, you’re making a serious error. Remember, there is no resume one size fits all resume that is effective. Tailor your resume to the job, and the prospective employer’s needs. If you’re applying for a job as a Customer Service Manager, don’t use your resume entitled Call Center Manager. Craft a resume that’s rich with keywords that are relevant to each particular job.  Use the right title.

#2) If you have a personal blog, website, or social media accounts, you will definitely want to review. You don’t want a hiring manager doing some quick recon to find you in a compromising situation. Remove anything from these sites that are best left private.

#3) Exaggerating can be a deal breaker. It’s a temptation you will want to avoid. Consider this: you’ve taken all but one of the classes required to obtain a certification that’s relevant to your industry. It might seem like a great way to get in the door, but it’s not a good idea. Instead, note on your resume that the certification is in progress and add the date expected. Nothing will come back and bite you later.

#4) Another killer is a resume chocked full of lengthy (and very boring) descriptions about your every job duty. Here’s why this isn’t a good idea. The hiring manager gets that you’re a firefighter, so you don’t need to focus on duties and responsibilities. You want to highlight accomplishments.

*Showcase how you revamped a system and significantly cut response times, devised processes to streamline operations, or created a program that fostered community engagement.

*No matter what, your focus should be on highlighting your abilities, demonstrating how you’re the best candidate for the job, and how effective you will be in the role. *

*A list of duties and responsibilities diminishes your level of expertise.

*A better approach is to assert yourself as a key contributor to the company.

* Remember, you rely on your job title and add only essential information to describe your duties – this is much more effective.

#5) Ugh. This is the blunder that is most annoying to hiring managers. It is so simple and yet such a biggy. Read and reread your resume to check for errors. Don’t assume spell check will catch everything. Ask a friend to check for spelling and typographical errors. An alternative is to consider hiring a professional proofreader. It’s not as expensive as you might think.

Keep in mind that even the simplest mistake on your resume can cost you dearly. Don’t jeopardize your chance at an interview. Avoid making blunders on your resume you’ll be on your way to an interview soon.

You might also be interested in:

How To Write An Interview Winning Resume

Five Top Tips For A Great Telephone Interview

Ready to reenergize your job search? I can help. Do you need a powerful resume? Career advancement tips? If you’re ready to expand your network, fire up your career plans, or simply need a push back on to the fast track, learn how I can help.

If you feel your career could be much more – should be much more, it’s time to get the support you need to achieve amazing results. Take advantage of my 12 years of executive recruiting, career coaching, and resume writing experience. Contact me and we’ll get started.

Is your resume ready for your next career move?

Each time you prepare a resume, remember that employers are looking for people who do more than just fill open positions in their organizations. They want someone with specific education, special qualifications, and usually some experience.

While it’s never easy to create a resume, you want to get this part right. Especially if you’re looking to change careers or if you’ve just graduated from college or graduate school.

When you’re changing careers, and none of your past professional experience qualifies you for the new job, you’re going to want to highlight the qualifications that transfer across industries. If you’ve you’ve overseen crews in on residential construction projects or led military missions, it is obvious that you have leadership skills no matter the type of industry you target.

So even if your experience is not directly related to the job you are seeking, you can still prove that you can do the job by highlighting your transferable skills and practical experience. Simply make sure that you address your career change by aligning your skills to the career objective.

In cases where you have experience that relates to the job and experience completely unrelated, it might be a good idea to break down your experience. You can do that by dividing previous roles under the headings “Relevant Professional Experience” and “Additional Professional Experience.”

If you’re just out of graduate school, and don’t have much to offer in terms of full-time professional experience, don’t get discouraged. You can still create a resume that proves you can do the job.

In this case, you’ll want to focus on highlighting your skills and your education. And, in most instances, you will want to emphasize your education. You can do this by detailing coursework that closely relates to the position for which you’re applying. If you’re an accountant, you will want to mention business, finance, and economics courses that apply to the new role. Obviously classes in Art or English Lit would not be as relevant.

Make sure you tap into internships, volunteer, and community service positions you’ve held to highlight your abilities. If you’ve served on a board or steering committee, make mention of the experience on your resume  – especially if your new role requires leadership experience.

When you apply for positions, don’t be afraid of not having all the right professional experience. Prove that you have related experience, and focus on what you can do. If you take this approach, chances are you’ll create an interview winning resume.

A general rule of thumb is to apply for positions where you meet at least 70% of the requirements. Your job is to create a resume that convinces a potential employer that you can do the job and prove that you’re able to meet the required qualifications with your transferable experience. If you’re able to get an interview, you’ll be able to show exactly how you will more than meet the qualifications and make up for the other 30%.

You might also like:

Resume Writing Tips

What’s Involved in Writing a Good Resume

Ready to re-energize your job search? I can help. Do you need a powerful resume? Career advancement tips? If you’re ready to expand your network, fire up your career plans, or simply need a push back on to the fast track, learn how I can help.

If you feel your career could be much more – should be much more, it’s time to get the support you need to achieve amazing results. Take advantage of my 12 years of executive recruiting, career coaching, and resume writing experience. Contact me and we’ll get started.

Maximize Your Contacts with Job Search Networking

Are you aware that most job openings are not advertised or announced to the public? Actually most job seekers discover newly opened positions via the hidden job market. Networking is considered the number one method to learn about “hidden” jobs. By underutilizing this highly effective strategy, job seekers are doing themselves a disservice and could be losing out on very important opportunities.

So why is networking important to a job seeker? Networking is forming a connection with others and building long-lasting reciprocal relationships based on interaction. A skilled networker cultivates relationships that are not focused just on careers. In essence, networking is engaging with people across a variety of affiliations and  broad sectors. It’s making connections.

Think of the way that you keep the name of a good plumber or mechanic. Do exactly same thing with your network – maintain close contact with competent people from across all walks of life. Then, if you find that you need to search for a job, you’re well-connected with people from different disciplines and industries.

By staying connected to people in and outside of your field, you’re actually reaching a greater number of people who could potentially keep you informed, offer advisement, introduce you to others, or tell you about job openings. Don’t forget, Tom the copier repairman who comes in for maintenance could have a colleague or know someone who knows someone. It does not end there – make sure you get Tom’s card, and if someone in your network needs copy repair, Tom’s the guy.

You don’t want to forget that in this new economy everyone has competition. In this job market the talent pool is deeper and much more capable. Obviously you have to be far more persistent and have an integrated approach in executing a job search strategy.With many more qualified candidates in the market for a job, it’s important that you have a solid job search plan and a well-informed network. Be certain to factor this into your search.

Take the following into consideration to ensure success in your job search and networking:

* Do you actively tap into your professional network?

* Does your network actually know that you’re in the market for employment?

* Do they know your background? Have any clue what you do?

* Are all of your colleagues, friends, and family aware of your current situation?

* Do all the above have access to your resume?

The key to building a successful network is back and forth interaction. Have you consistently followed up with your network? You don’t want them to forget you are actively seeking new employment, so be sure to stay in touch but don’t stalk. Keep your network informed of your status and thank them for their efforts. Don’t take your network for granted, and be sure you are available to reciprocate. To your networking success!

You Might Also Like:

Preparing For A Job Search

Why Is It Important To Have A Career Development Plan

Ready to re-energize your job search? I can help. Do you need a powerful resume? Career advancement tips? If you’re ready to expand your network, fire up your career plans, or simply need a push back on to the fast track, learn how I can help.

If you feel your career could be much more – should be much more, it’s time to get the support you need to achieve amazing results. Take advantage of my 12 years of executive recruiting, career coaching, and resume writing experience. Contact me and we’ll get started.

Interview Techniques You Can’t Afford To Miss

What interview techniques are you using? Are they working?

Interviewing well is essential to your success – especially in this job market. If you’re interviewing well, you’ve probably had a couple of return visits and possibly a job offer or two.

If not, maybe it’s time for a couple of job interview tips that will actually help set you far apart from your competition.

First, I don’t actually have a number in this instance, but do you know how many job seekers come into an interview without a clue? They have done no research about the company, know little if anything about the job, and in some cases nothing about the industry. So if you have done a bit of homework, you’re actually ahead in the game.

Tip #1

Get to know the job you’re interviewing for and exactly what the employer is looking for in a new employee. Pretty simple right? But since candidates are eliminated from contention because they’ve done a crummy job of keeping track of exactly what job they’re applying for – keep track! Know what employers want in terms of skills and experience. You’ll have greater success if you get organized. Simply keep a log of your application activities, record of which resume/cover letter you sent, and a description of the jobs for which you apply.

Sign up for our free SmartJOB Tracker software and you can easily track all of your search activities.

Tip #2

Familiarize yourself with the company and some of its initiatives. Again, if you have gathered information about their history and what they do, you’ve surpassed some of your competition.

Tip #3

Arm yourself with a list of pertinent questions and engage in a topical discussion about the company. By doing this, the hiring manager will see just how interested you really are in the position. This is not tough to do and shows you mean business.  If you need a list of questions to start with, here’s a link to the Top 20 Must Ask Interview Questions.

Use these tips to set yourself apart from your competition.

A Vita Career Management’s New Website Launch

After several months of diligent work, we are proud to launch our new website at avitacareermanagement.com! We’re back at work on things other than websites, so we’ll be adding career related posts again.

In one of my future posts, I discuss the importance of keeping track of your job search. Many applicants go into interviews unprepared and have no information about the company or the position for which they’re applying. As you can imagine, these individuals do not get great results. Just a bit of research is all you need to be considered as a more serious candidate.

With respect to our new site and the coaching and resume writing services we provide, we’ll be adding:

• Quizzes
• Audio and video clips
• Career assessments
• More resume samples
• And other career resources to ensure your job search and career success

Please take the opportunity to view the site and sign up for our free SmartJOB Tracker software. It’s a great way for job seekers to keep track of all aspects of their search.We’re celebrating our launch with a 15% discount on our services, so if you’re in the market for a new resume or cover letter, take advantage now.

I know that sometimes questions come up and you don’t know where to turn. If you have career related questions, do not hesitate to leave a comment. I will be happy to offer you tips and answer your questions.