Month: June 2020

Career Plan Benefits: Understanding the Process

Career Plan Benefits: a great career plan is an opportunity map. As your career advances, industry will change. Your career plan must be flexible to adjust to changes in industry. With an updated plan, you will discover new roads for opportunities to success.

Great career plans not only define where you want to go. The plan helps you identify the tools, skills, and network you need to get there. ~ www.jaywren.com

The Benefits of a Career Plan

A Check-off List

A Career Plan Creates a Check-off List of What You Need as Your Career Progresses.

Part of creating a career plan includes writing a check-off list. Through this check-off list, you will create focus and direction. Your intuition can emerge to see options that might somehow never have come to you.

Here is a summary of things you might consider including in your career plan check-off list:

  1. The job you are in now
  2. The jobs you want
  3. People you will need to help you
  4. Things you want to achieve
  5. Places you want to live
  6. The amount of money you want to make

The Psychological Advantages of a Career Plan

A Career Plan Gives You a Sense of Purpose and Direction.

Have you ever found yourself in a meeting, working on a project, or in any situation where the question came to mind, “What am I doing here?” or “Why am I doing this?”

Have you noticed that associated with those questions is an unpleasant feeling that you are wasting your time? You have no sense of purpose for your activities.

Going to work every day with a sense of purpose is a lot more fun than going to work every day and wondering why you are doing what you are doing.

Also, it seems logical that going to work every day with a sense of purpose increases your likelihood of being more successful.

  1. Your interest in your work will increase.
  2. You will be focused on your work.
  3. Spontaneously, you will be more willing to invest energy and time in your work.

Preparation

Creating a career plan is preparation for each step of your career. You will more effectively gather the tools and develop the skills that you need. Furthermore, you will better understand which people to add to your network for success.

Mental Clarity

Whether you are working in front of other people or working alone at your desk, as you take advantage of creating a career plan, you will have more mental clarity and feel less stress.

Summary of Career Plan Benefits

In summary, you will have the following benefits from your career plan.

  1. Increased creativity and confidence
  2. Clear direction
  3. Less stress through simplifying a planned process
  4. Great habits for success
  5. The great feelings of a sense of purpose
  6. Spontaneity in handling the inevitable turns and redirections
  7. Creating a vision for success

In closing, you will have empowered your mind with a conscious and unconscious mindset to create a path for your success.

Employment Gaps on Your Resume and How to Handle Them

Employment gaps on your resume will raise questions of your stability. In most cases, employers will want you to explain them. Therefore, knowing how to handle unemployment gaps on your resume is important. 

A word of encouragement: you are not alone. Many people lose jobs for reasons beyond their control. Here are some ideas that my help.

Some Causes of Employment Gaps

  1. Recessions
  2. Industry-wide changes
  3. Consolidations and mergers
  4. Business sector collapses

Job Types and New Skills

Moreover, your type of job may no longer exist. Just as the automobile replaced the horse and buggy, new technology eliminates jobs that require specific skills. New skills development is critical to your success tomorrow.

In other cases, job seekers must receive certifications, credentials, or licenses that require formal training.

Interim Temporary Work

There is value in doing consulting work, temporary assignments, and even volunteer work.  Include this information on your resume to help people know what you are doing in addition to seeking a new job.

Employment Periods in Years

Job seekers frequently list periods of employment in years.   The goal of your resume is to get you to an interview.  If there are periods of weeks of unemployment in your past, getting to an interview to discuss those periods of unemployment is better than not getting to an interview at all.

Be Well-prepared

Often, your unemployment is beyond your control. Of course, in some cases, unemployment is the result of weak performance. Whatever the case, be prepared to show that, for whatever reason you are unemployed, you need a convincing presentation to show how you will be an asset to your next company.

Do not blame your boss. Employers may see your problems with your boss as defects in your interpersonal skills.

Make Your Point of View Forward Thinking

Whatever you put on your resume; focus on the next job you want to have. Write your resume to show how you will be effective in the specific job for which the company is hiring.

Transferable Skills

On the other hand, you may have transferable skills: Many people may find that they have transferable skills in a new industry. However, industries will continue to change. Transferring your skills may have limited potential.

Consistency

Maintain consistency between your social media profile and your resume.  For example, if you place a record of your career track on LinkedIn or other sites, make sure that the records you keep on those websites are consistent with each other and with your resume.

Resources

Take Care of Yourself

The uncertainty of job searching can challenge you mentally, emotionally, and physically.  Your finances become uncertain.  Trying to focus on job searching is just part of the mental challenge of finding a job.

You are your greatest asset.

Mentors and Friends

Finding mentors and working with friends can help you stay focused and positive as you go through the daily grind of getting a job.  Practicing the fundamentals of contacting employers, making applications, and continuing to seek employment are all critical to finding a job.

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