Career Success: Don?t Be Caught With Your Pants Down
|
Do you want to know how to jump-start your professional career? Or, are you already in the trenches trying to be a high performer and wanting to make a quantum lead to the next stage of your career? Or, because of downsizings or reorganizations, you feel like you are paddling faster and faster but seem to be getting nowhere? Find out how to monitor your changing environment so you won't be caught with your pants down.
Visualize your career environment as one huge jigsaw puzzle. It consists of your present job, your company, your industry, your profession, your regional, national and world economy. You may only be aware of certain pieces of the gigantic puzzle. However, those other pieces are also extremely important. They can stop you in your career success tracks or enable you to take advantage of new career opportunities. The following three tactics will help you monitor your changing environment to prevent you from be caught with your pants down.
Act As an Information Magnet.
Don't be a modern-day Rip Van Winkle. Don't wake up to a world you no longer understand and feel comfortable in. Are you so tied up in everyday life that you fail to see the shifts in your workplace and in the marketplace?
Keep your intuitive antennae up and eyes open. Establish an early-warning system. Look for signals everywhere. Tap into the grapevine and be in the know about as much as possible. Become an information junkie. Do you regularly watch CNN, documentaries, and TV magazine programs? Do you regularly scan the Wall Street Journal, or Fortune, or Forbes, or Business Week for the big picture news? Are you hooked onto online or the Internet?
As pace of change accelerates, careers will be affected by what's happening inside and outside your workplace. Don't find yourself in an information vacuum. Stay in tune with the changing workplace. Realize that information is power and it is absolutely necessary for career survival.
Scan the Changing Landscape.
Imagine your career as steering a ship down an unexplored river. To ensure safe passage, you must be attentive to ever-evolving conditions. These are the powerful trends occurring in society, business, and technology that will be impacting your professional life and career. How do you begin spotting these trends?
You must become an amateur futurist. Take the information you've gathered and begin speculating about what you're seeing, hearing, or reading. What's happening in your company, or the marketplace or the political and legislative arenas? What seems to be just a fad and what seems to be on going occurrence? Get out of your narrow tunnel and start seeing the big picture.
Then start thinking strategically. Ask yourself: What are the immediate and the long range influence of these trends? How can this information directly or indirectly affect me, my industry or my profession? How are changes that I see today likely affect my job security tomorrow? Are there any actions I should be taking right now? What can I start doing today to prepare for the next year, or three years, or five years? Discover the trends and what the future holds.
Prospect for Opportunities.
Change generates hazards as well as gigantic opportunities. The work world rewards those who catch on to what's happening and then position themselves to take advantage of change. To that end, think of yourself as a surfer on the ocean forever looking for a new wave or opportunity to ride. How do you find those new waves?
Have a nose for opportunity. For example, the flattening of organizations is really a two-edged sword. It can reduce the chance for promotion, but it also can create opportunities for you to take on responsibilities that you may not have been able to when positions were more narrowly defined. In times of rapid change, there are always critical things that may fall through the crack. So start looking for some problem areas. Do you have a way to fix it? Change constantly creates potential ways for you to shine, show your stuff, and leverage your career.
Discover the golden nuggets of change. Be on the look out for career opportunity seeds all over your work environment. Then decide which are ripe for picking. Do not merely muddle through workplace change as a casualty of its twists and turns. Rather be ready for change, spot the opportunities, and make maximum use of them.
Marcia Zidle, the 'people smarts' coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going tohttp://leadershiphooks.com/ and get the bonus report "61 Leadership Time Savers and Life Savers". Marcia is the author of the What Really Works Handbooks resources for managers on the front line and the Power-by-the-Hour programs fast, convenient, real life, affordable courses for leadership and staff development. She is available for media interviews, conference presentations and panel discussions on the hottest issues affecting the workplace today. Contact Marcia at 800-971-7619.
|
|
|
The Six Figure Job Search
Before we start discussing how to search for a six figure salary job, let's set a goal. The goal I suggest is to double your income every fi...(related: Employment)
Career Success: Don?t Be Caught With Your Pants Down
Do you want to know how to jump-start your professional career? Or, are you already in the trenches trying to be a high performer and wanting to make a quantum lead to the next stage of your career? Or, because of downsizings or reorganizations, you feel like you are paddling faster and faster but seem to be getting nowhere? Find out how to monitor your changing environment so you won't be caught with your pants down.Visualize your career environment as one huge jigsaw puzzle. It consists of your present job, your company, your industry, your profession, your regional, national and world economy. You may only be aware of certain pieces of the gigantic puzzle. However, those ...(related: Employment)
Job Interviews -- The Four Worst Objections You?ll Face And How To Deal With Them
Dealing with tough questions and objections is an essential part of job interviews. Here are four common ones that derail many candidates. Read on to find out what they are and how you can deal with them.Objection #1: You've been fired from your last jobFirst of all, don't blow the issue out of proportion, either to yourself or to the interviewer. Remember, this is fairly common these days. Employers know it too.There are at least three ways you can handle this issue. If you left your previous employer on reasonably cordial terms, consider asking them to allow you to say you resigned from the job. Many employers will agree to this.Another option is t...(related: Employment)
Why Culinary Education
If you are thinking about a career in culinary arts then studying in a culinary school is a must. You may be a great cook but you will never become expert learning culinary arts yourself. Further taking up a job as a chef in a good restaurant demands a professional qualification, which comes only after attending a regular culinary school.There are many a myth surrounding culinary arts. For example people say culinary is an art and art cannot be taught. This is not true. First culinary is not just an art, its science too. You must know about the ingredients you are using while cooking. You should also have through knowledge of the contents of the ingredients or additives you use to cook food. It helps you to be an informed chef.Another myth is that culinary education is very costly. You se...(related: Employment)
Where Did All The Farmers Go?
Several times a year, I hear someone complain about the development of farm land in our area. These complainers consider it a crime that so much of our farm land has been converted to housing, business, shopping, etc. They seem to consider the farmers and developers to be criminals.If you want to know why so many farmers have sold out to developers, allowed the land to grow houses instead of crops and left the farm life that their families enjoyed for generations ? read on. Do you know why more a...(related: Employment)
Resume Layouts ... The Hidden Pitfalls
Options for Resume LayoutsThere are many options of available to today's job seeker. With a quick change of graphical elements such as fonts and style, the feel of a resume can change from traditional and conse...(related: Employment)
Get In The Game With A Stellar Resume
During the job hunter's market of the 1990's, employers were settling for less than qualified candidates because the candidate pool was so small. Job hunters were able to name their price and employers were meeting their demands.The job climate is much different today than it was a few years ago. Job hunters have forgotten how to present themselves to a prospective employer. Their job search skills are poor and they are struggling to find employment.In today's job market, a resume which highlights accomplishments and skills is essential for career success. It is time to get back to...(related: Employment)
Salary Negotiation: How To Earn More Money And Respect From Your Employer
Despite how important fair pay is to most of us, effective salary negotiation is an often misunderstood and avoided topic. Current research indicates the average duration of a position today is 3.8 years. Over the lifespan of your career, how well you negotiate raises or starting pay will have an enormous cumulative effect on the quality of your life.So why does this skill remain elusive for many career professionals?Most of us do thorough research and prepare extensively for a job interview. We create the perfect resume, slave over cover letter drafts, and rehearse answers to anticipated interview questions. We make sure we're dressed right, have references, and are on time. But all too often, only cursory attention is given to thinking through how, when, and why we'll end up being happy with the terms of our pay.<...(related: Employment)
site-map - Copyright © 2007 | Contact Webmaster | All Rights Reserved | Free Articles and Information | Employment