A lot of people have had to make a career transition due to the long lasting recession. In this series of two blogs, we will review the six steps you need to determine a new career direction. As you read through these blogs, you will be asked to do some writing exercises in order to help you see a career direction. By doing these assignments, you will start to see a direction for your career path. The first step is to create an Interest and Experience Assessment. Start by creating a list of your likes and dislikes. The objective is to determine the best work-related setting for you, and the best way to do this is to start asking yourself such questions as: - Do I prefer working for a small or large company? - Do I like working by myself or in a team? - Do I enjoy working with the public? - Do I want to work outdoors or indoors? - What part of the country do I want to work in? - Do I want to manage a staff or be an individual contributor? - What type of work would interest me? - Do I have any hobbies that could be developed into a career? - What are my past work experiences? Step two: Generate a Skills and Motivational Inventory. But before we start with this step, be sure you complete step one. This is an evolving process, so we need to complete each step before moving on. In this step, let’s take a hard look at your current skills and what motivates you. First, let’s start with your current skills: - What are some of the things that you are good at, not just at work, but in all aspects of your life? - Do you have skills such as coaching a kid’s soccer team? - Are you good at home repairs? - Do you work on your own car? - Do you repair your own home computers? - Are you good at organizing? Think about any of your special skills. Are there some things you just seem to have a knack for? Next, determine what motivates you. Everyone is different when it comes to motivation. Here are a few common motivators: The first and most obvious is money, possessions, acquisitions, or the success that comes with money. Another motivator is the feeling of accomplishment or recognition, respect, admiration, or notoriety. This could even be to the level of becoming a celebrity. You may be motivated by personal factors, such as morals, a sense of duty, intellect, creativity, philanthropy, or honor. So list your motivations and once you feel that you have put every thing down, move forward to step three. Jim Stedt is a partner at The Business SoftSkills Company (GetSoftSKillsNow.Com) located in Santa Ana, California. They provide job readiness and workforce success videos for education, business, prisons and individual use. Training is available online, on DVD, or through an affiliate program. These products are the most complete and concise soft skills training packages now available for the price of an average college textbook
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