In the Career Corner, we will provide frequent updates on information that we believe you will find informative and valuable to you in your career.  Visit us often to learn more about career planning, personal development, balancing career and family and more!

Do you know how to choose a career that is right for you?
Are you twenty-something and looking to find a good company?  One that offers training, skill development, leadership opportunities, and the chance to contribute to the company by striving to accomplish successfully the goals of projects that will take you to advancement in your company - or another?

Are you in your thirties and trying to achieve more stability - professionally and personally?  By now, you may have had a series of jobs within one company (or in a number of companies) and would like to focus on your career as a profession.  Are you seeking security as well as benefits with a company, or are you toying with becoming an entrepreneur, consultant, or all of the above?

Have you turned forty over the last few years and begun  to wonder how stable your job might be within that large corporation - or that small business?  Are you recounting your jobs and finding that you want a job that allows you to work hard with other honest professionals one that can offer you a salary that supports you and your family?  Are you seeking a profession that allows you to do what you do best so that you enjoy your work and make a contribution to the company?

And at fifty, are you contemplating early retirement?  Are you re-prioritizing your values, life style, and professional goals?  Are you seeking peace, balance, selective work projects, and more personal fulfillment?  Do you find yourself saying, “I really want to do something that I enjoy”?

Are you sixty, seventy or eighty years’ young and planning to return to the workforce?

 Regardless of your age, there are seven major topics that you need to consider when making plans for your professional and personal life:

1. Values
2. Skills/Abilities
3. Achievements/Accomplishments
4. Lifestyles/Preference
5. Hobbies/Passion for specific types of work/Projects
6. Five year Goal/Plan
7. Networking to connect with people who can help you in your pursuits

Each of these topics is important as you work towards your professional and career goals.  How would you describe your occupational interests? Are you an ENTERPRISING person who likes to influence, motivate, lead or manage people? Are you ARTISTIC, innovative or intuitive and like to work in unstructured settings? Are you a SOCIAL person who likes to inform, enlighten, teach, counsel and train individuals or groups?  Are your interests in the REALISTIC theme so you can apply athletic or
mechanical ability? Are you attracted to CONVENTIONAL work environments that require clerical or numerical ability? Are you an INVESTIGATIVE scientific thinker who likes to analyze and solve problems?

Perhaps you can answer yes to more than one of these questions. If so you can obtain important information about jobs that are a match for your Occupational interests. If you tap your interests and consider the other 7 components of choosing a career then you will find a profession that allows you to be yourself and to excel at what you do!
 

Values
What matters to you?  What “makes you tick”?  Your values form your innate “gut level” reactions to certain events and situations.  Inner peace can be achieved only when your values and your behavior are congruent.

The same concept applies to work.  Values are our motivations.  They play a major role in our job choices.  When you are in touch with your values then an occupation becomes a lasting vocation.  You will continue to work throughout your life time in a variety of ways to suit your needs and your lifestyle.

Skills/Abilities
How would you describe your innate talents: those specific tasks that you perform well and enjoy?  What skills have you applied successfully over the years so that now you feel at ease and motivated when performing these tasks?  Using skills and abilities that are specific to you should be matched to your job responsibilities so that you will work with yourself and not against whom you are.

Achievements/Accomplishments
Can you think of things that you have done that make you feel good, fulfilled, proud, and excited?  Can you come up with seven real accomplishments and the related skills that you applied to be successful?  These are the keys to who you are and what type of projects or jobs to pursue that will offer you the opportunity to continue to apply these talents to achieve results and that are personally fulfilling to you.

Lifestyle Preference
Do you want to seek a balance between business, your career, and your personal life?  Do you want to share your time between work and family more equally?  Or do you like working long hours on intense projects in order to see the job done well?  Do you wish to travel nationally and internationally?  If so, for how long?  Have you asked yourself how you will have to work at different stages in your life to achieve your professional and personal goals?  Do you know how to work smart?  Knowing yourself personally and realizing why you work - other than the obvious reasons of food, shelter and clothing - can help you to stay focused on how you want to live your life and what you would like to achieve.

Hobbies/Passion for Specific Types of Work/Projects
What do you really enjoy?  What are your special activities or interest that meet your personal needs and take you away from frustrations and worries?  Do you enjoy sports, reading, travel, writing, or mountain climbing?  Do you find yourself involved in civic groups or in leadership positions in clubs and organizations unrelated to work?  Knowing whom you are and how to relax and enjoy yourself in “funfilling” activities is a large part of a successful career.  As the old saying goes “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, or should this be “All work and no play makes jack and jackie dull people.”

Five Year Goal/Plan
Now take time to review the previous five items and think about your goals for each of the next five years.  Be concrete.  Consider actual dollar amounts you need to support yourself and/or your family.  Ask yourself how and why you work. Dream of your ideal work and life style and see if you can sketch a plan.  Name what you want and/or need.  Making plans to get there will make it happen.  Most of all, write it down, and review frequently your progress towards your plan.

Networking With People Who Can Help You In Your Pursuits
You do this all the time in the work place, neighborhood, church, colleges, universities, training centers and other organizations.  Seek out people and find out how they work.  Look at people from various ages, groups and occupations.  Observe how these individuals apply their skills, values and accomplishments to what they want to achieve in life.  Participating in your career planning and become a self-empowered worker.  Know yourself.  Think, plan, and get information that will take your where you want to be.