Work, success, and meaning at every stage of your career
When you go through the interview process for a job, you go to great lengths to demonstrate that your skills are a great match for the position. Common sense, right? What if everything you thought about the hiring process was reversed? Rather than spend time talking to them about your experience, maybe you should spend time on how you think and feel.
Along with cursive penmanship and letter writing, formal etiquette seems to be a lost art. Do manners still matter in the age of texting and flip flops at the White House?
In a typical day of running errands in Jacksonville, I’ll encounter workers who have come from all over the world: Vietnam, Africa, Europe, India, and South America. I have enormous admiration for someone who chooses to locate to another country and master language, culture and new job skills. I spoke recently to an American who chose to work outside the U.S. and master those same skills.
Every day, someone somewhere loses a job. If you were told that you’d be laid off tomorrow, what would happen? You may never be ready emotionally, but you can take steps to be more prepared financially if you experience a layoff or other change that affects income.
You can do this. What you’re doing may feel completely novel, and you may see only a handful of people around you (or none at all) who are starting over in mid-life the way you are. But this is an illusion—thousands of others have come this way before you, and you’re by new means the first to blaze this trail. Even more important: if this is the best path to your next step, then it’s the best path.
The Friday before Mother’s Day (in 2014, May 9) is the day set aside to officially recognize the role of military spouses. President Ronald Reagan started the tradition of Military Spouse Appreciation Day in 1984, and the date was standardized by the Secretary of Defense. This post is my gift to my fellow military spouses. My husband served for over 20 years in the U.S. Navy, and I know how challenging it is to find and keep meaningful employment when you follow your spouse across the country – or the world – when he or she transfers to a new duty station.
Have you been dreaming of a new career – one that excites you, energizes you, and feels like play instead of work? Maybe it’s time to get back in touch with your eight year-old self.
For years, many people with varied interests have looked at their mindset as a drawback; they were told that they were scattered, shallow, or not serious. Some wondered if they had attention disorders.
Too many jobseekers ask their resume to do the work of their network. When it comes to getting results, it’s not even close.
How can the lessons of a job loss actually strengthen your career–and your own native resilience—over the long term?
