Feed Your Career

This past week I gave a presentation at the California Dietetic Association meeting with Steve Sphar, a seasoned organization development consultant and attorney with over 20 years experience advising business leaders and facilitating positive change.  He spoke for first half of the presentation on Taking Charge of Change.  I spoke on later half on Chart Your Career: Critical Steps to Getting Places in Your Career.  The combination was a great fit.

Taking Charge of Change

Steve gave an overview of what the change process is and how our bodies process it.  It really hit me how much of how we react to a change is in our minds.   I have many times focused on what I am loosing through the change thus feeding feelings of negativity and frustration and prolonging the second stage of change called Concern.  I would fare the change better if I would first ask myself  if I have any control or influence over the change.   This would help me move through the stages of change quicker and get to the last stage called Commitment.  If I can not control the change like:

* the current state of the economy
* a change in take-home pay
* a change in job responsibilities
* others’ reaction to a change at the workplace,
* a change in policies governing reimbursement for my services

then I need to move on and embrace the last stage Commitment where I can focus on what is exciting and use my energy to move forward and find new opportunities that come out of the change.

Chart Your Career

I spoke the last half on how the job marketplace has changed dramatically in recent years and how to position yourself.  A longitudinal study by the US Department of Labor found for those leaving the workforce now they on average held 10 jobs for between ages 18 and 38 (do the math – two years per job) and experts expect this to rise much higher with the current state of the economy and marketplace.  Many people in the workforce are unaware of how significantly career management has changed from when they last were out looking for a job.  Career management now revolves around job security while you have a job and not wait until you are out of a job.   You must be proactive and make yourself valuable and remarkable at what you do.  What better way of finding work you can do remarkably than doing work you are made to do — work you feel passion and purpose in.

This is why the first thing I covered was Discovering Yourself .  This means delving into your skills, strengths, values and interests, passions and creating a purpose statement.   When all these factors are purposely pursued in the work place, then there is no stopping you, you are it!  You are indispensable.

This is what we aim to do at Feed Your Career. We work with professionals that want to find their niche in the workplace where passion, personality, talents, and values come together to create purposeful work where they feel they make a valuable contribution. We focus on being competitive in the marketplace while making a contribution in the form of work that can only be done by you – it has your unique fingerprint all over it.

Watch for Feed Your Career webinars on Discovering Yourself, Personal Branding, Advancing Your Career, Social Media and other valuable job topics to help you excel and find toe tingling enjoyment in what you do.

Last week I gave a webinar on topic -Chart Your Career: Critical Steps to Getting Places in Your Career. It was wonderful to see a large interest in this topic. When I came graduated from my internship  ‘Career Management’ was emphasized as a well written resume showing off your better qualities and being interview ready. Often this was an equation for having a good shot at the position.  Now, things are so different.  Career management is critical now even if you have a job.  You must not wait until you are out of a job to start managing your career.  The life span of a job is decreasing and never guaranteed, the economy can change up or down, insurance reimbursement can increase or decrease, anything in the environment has potential to change.   The only constant we have is change.

Having a job does not mean security.  Job security is having a career plan, charting your career and at all times working on challenging yourself and taking yourself in the purposeful direction of your strengths, talents, values, and passions.

I like the analogy of life being like the potentially turbulent or calm ocean.  Boats are our careers on the ocean of life.  How are you steering your boat, your career?  Are you up-skilling to be proactive in the current and future marketplace?  Do you have a career vision, goals?  Is your personal brand strong and will it  be able to get you through a storm?  Can you reach out to your contacts and those following you in your tribe to adapt to any marketplace change? Or are you taking things day by day and saying yes to everything that comes along so that you start to get behind and are just barely staying afloat? Do you feel like you are running in circles and your career is not pointed in any direction?

What happens if the waters of life start to get rough – unexpected things happen in your career?

• company downsizing
• company takeover
• insurance bill passes that reduces your take home part
• biggest client has to cancel

Do you stay afloat or does your boat capsize?

With a career plan – called a career portfolio or roadmap, you can stay afloat.  This is not to say you may not get into rough waters or need to take detours or even change your destination goal all together, but you are prepared, full of energy for life, making a difference and feeling valued. You do not say yes to everything, you have priorities defined by your career portfolio.  You pursue opportunities in tune with it so you do not get weighed down or distracted.  Your boat is sturdy and is ready for anything that might come its way.  And most importantly, you have a career purpose and can direct and redirect yourself so you are employed at all times and feel like you are making a difference.  This is career management at its best.

Hi everyone!

We want to talk with you – our viewers.  Please feel free to comment on our posts and send ideas.  We want to hear from you.  This blog is a great way to get to know Mandi and Teresa and our vision at Feed Your Career.

Purpose

This is our place to connect with you on career-related topics and issues that you are being faced with now or in the near future.  We will keep you abreast of the marketplace and how this impacts career management.  Managing your career is no longer about a resume, contacts and preparing for hard interview questions.  For many decades that worked well.  Now you need to stand out, now you need to be making yourself valuable even if you have a job you love.  Things change so quickly now you never know what will be around the next corner.  There are some actions you can take to ensure job security now and into the future.  You must invest in yourself  – in your career.

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Laugh & Learn
Laugh and Learn is a great way to read real life stories from FYC visitors on career and life balance tips they learned the “hard way” and are willing to share. If you have something you would like to share, please email us at http://www.feedyourcareer.com/contact.asp

Share Your Thoughts
We want to hear from you. Please feel free to email us with your thoughts and suggestions. We look forward to hearing from you and discussing those topics that have potential to make a difference in your lives and in the fulfillment of your career. Please share – that is where the strength of this tool for you comes from. Feed Your Career from day one was meant to be a valuable resource for visitors and we are committed to listening to your voice and what your needs and struggles are with balancing career and personal life, and achieving career fulfillment.

Healthy regards,

Teresa Pangan, PhD/RD and Mandi Wong RD/LD
Co-Owners, Feed Your Career