Posts Tagged ‘Career planning’

Career Transition: Bridging the Career Gap, Receiving through Giving

February 8th, 2010

By Susan Posluszny of OPTIONS for Career & Life Planning LLC

Susan B. PoslusznyWhen you are looking to transition from one career field into a totally new career field, you can tend to feel like an outsider looking in.  You send out resumes knowing that you would be able to prove yourself if only someone would give you a chance.  You find yourself wondering just how those insiders got there and sense that all the posted openings go to those who have inside connections.

Well, one wonderful thing about gaining career and life planning skills is that you become empowered with the knowledge that you can break into any career field you choose.  It really is about figuring out where you are relative to where you would like to be and working to ‘bridge the gap’ to your new career interest area.  One way to bridge the gap is through volunteer work.  Through volunteer work in a career area of interest, career transitioners are able to gain knowledge, experience, and connections in industries and work settings where they have no prior work history.  You essentially ‘give and receive’ at the same time.  My own career development offers examples of how I have worked to ‘practice what I preach’ over the years.

When I first graduated from college I worked in advertising for a time (on good old Madison Avenue in New York City).  I quickly realized that this work was not as glamorous as I had envisioned and decided that, for a number of reasons, this work was not for me.  As I worked with a career counselor and explored alternate possibilities I came up with a number of career interest areas including human resource management, corporate outplacement, and career development in a higher education setting.

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Career Assessment: Starting Your Own Business, Part 3

November 23rd, 2009

By Thomas Arrison, Certified Public Accountant

Thomas ArrisonSome details that you need to pay attention to

Record Keeping

The IRS requires that you keep accurate records of your income and expenses.  They don’t tell you how to do it.  You want to establish a system that is simple, accurate, and easy to maintain.  It can be a paper system or computerized, whatever works best for you.  It is important to do your record keeping regularly. Do it every week or at least every month.  The goal of record keeping is to collect information together into the categories of income and expenses to determine your net income.

  • Do not throw your receipts under the seat of your car, in the basket on the back of your counter top, or in a box under your bed.
  • Do not take a big box of receipts to your CPA to prepare your return.
  • Be organized. You need to know how you are doing as the year progresses, but you can also save yourself a lot of money in tax preparation fees when you come prepared.

These are general descriptions of different record keeping systems.  You will need to dig into the specifics yourself.

Dome Bookkeeping System.  One of the simplest systems, you can buy it at most office supply stores.  It is a paper and pencil system and is smaller than a crossword puzzle book.  With this system you record your income and expenses as they are incurred.  So when you make a sale today, write it down. When you pay a bill, write it down.   At the end of the month you summarize your expenses by category and tally up your year to date activity.   At the end of the year you hand the book to your CPA to have your taxes prepared.  Quick, simple, accurate, and it saves you money with your accountant.

One-Write System.  Another paper system, you can buy checks and a check register from a company like Deluxe . A check register is created at the same time you write checks and makes a permanent record of each transaction.  It also keeps your checkbook in balance. The check register has columns to “spread” your expenses to.  So every time you buy office supplies, you put the amount paid in the office supply column.  At the end of the month you tally up the sheets. At the end of the year you summarize your activity for the full year to prepare your tax return.

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Career Assessment: Exploring Self-Employment

November 1st, 2009

By Suzanne Delaney, Career & Business Coach

Suzanne Delaney

In my last blog we discussed “What Should I Do With My Life?”  This time I am going to dig deeper into the self-employment option.  Once you have determined that self-employment may have the potential to bring you closer to your life goals it is time to go exploring.  In today’s blog we will look at the three different avenues to enter self-employment.

Independent Business

A successful independent business requires a lot of research and upfront legwork.  You need to:

  • Identify a product or service that meets a need that is not already being satisfied by another business in your market.
  • Create a business plan.  This may require education on business methods so you know what a marketing plan and other important aspects of the plan involve.
  • Research on the market trends and who exactly will be buying your product or service.

It is important to have your business plan reviewed by someone with business expertise.  I recommend your local SCORE counselor (www.score.org) – their services are free.  And remember, the top reason that businesses fail is under capitalization, so make sure you have over estimated how much working capital you will need to get to break even.

Resale Business

Buying a resale business can make a lot of sense.  An existing business will already have cash flow and will cut down on your time to profitability.  Often times the previous owner will train you how to operate this business.  But you will pay more up front because of that cash flow.  A few areas to look out for:

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Career Assessment: What Should I Do With My Life?

October 29th, 2009

Unemployment gives the job seeker the opportunity to take the time to explore all career options.  Do you continue with the traditional path and find a position similar to the one you just left or do you follow your secret passion.  Guest Blogger Suzanne Delaney will help you explore alternate career paths over a series of articles written for NEJS.

By Suzanne Delaney, Career & Business Coach

Suzanne Delaney

When considering the age-old question “What should I do with my life?” it is most important to realize that ultimately the question is about your life – not just your career.  So it is necessary to use existing, or develop new, life goals in order to answer this question.  Determining what your life goals are is not easy.  It requires true introspection and often intense conversations with your loved ones.  Your ultimate objective in the process is to have a complete picture of what you want your life to look like in 3-5 years and what meaning you want your life to have had when you come to the end of its journey.  Creating this picture is defining your dream.

Once you have defined your dream you can then explore what options have the potential to get you closer to that dream.  Many people can get hung up at this point because of false perceptions and fear, so it is very important that you approach the process objectively.  The best way to be able to do that is with the help of external parties.  Friends who are not emotionally involved, a mentor, an associate, or a coach.  All perceptions can change with additional information, so make sure you gather all of the information you can about each option, from as many sources as you can, constantly asking the question: will this help me achieve my goals?  Once you are confident you have all the information it becomes easier to rule an option out or continue forward with it.  When you have explored each one fully and are faced with two or three options to choose from you can again return to the goals you established to determine the best option.

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Career Assessment: How to Break into a New Career Field

September 15th, 2009

By Susan B. Posluszny of OPTIONS for Career & Life Planning LLCjpg_susan

Ever thought about transitioning into a totally new career field but didn’t have a clue as to how to break into your field of interest?  Well, the following suggestions were inspired by the book, The Pathfinder, by Nicholas Lore.

“Be” what you want to transition towards

Consider yourself already in the field that you want to transition towards rather then as an outsider trying to get in.  Read what professionals employed in your area of interest read, hang out where they hang out, and develop relationships with those who work in the profession.  Make sure that your resume, and cover letter, highlight functional skills you possess that are transferable to the work you want to do.  You can also highlight special knowledge you have or are gaining.  If you do not have related knowledge/experience, you can explore opportunities for job shadowing, volunteer work, project/contract work, self employment, an internship (can be non academic), and paid employment.

Read extensively about your interest area

Read academic texts, ‘how to’ books, trade journals and newsletters, books by leaders in the field, professional association sponsored and other key websites related to your field of interest, and so on.

Attend conventions, seminars, and workshops in the field

Become aware of and active in local chapters of professional associations.  Activities could include attendance at local chapter meetings as well as committee work for the association.  Many associations also offer local and nationally sponsored conventions, seminars, and workshops that offer wonderful networking opportunities.

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Career Assessment: Sure My Job Search Lacks Focus…

August 29th, 2009

jpg_susanBy Susan B. Posluszny of OPTIONS for Career & Life Planning LLC

Sometime back, I received a phone call from a woman who was looking for support with her resume.  She wanted it to stand out from the masses…to ‘pop out’ at employers so that they would take notice of it.  As I inquired about her job search goals, I learned she was working as a dental hygienist and that she was in the process of completing an MBA degree.  She was eager to apply the business knowledge that she was gaining in the work world.

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