Have you been tagged into a job or occupation you hate and ready to take control on a Career4Change?

Wilbert Rideau reinvented himself as a winning award editor for a high security prison when sentenced to death and later on to life term in prison. What can be a most radical re-definition on what you decide you want to do for the rest of your life but this? He was the editor of an award winning prison newspaper and he lived beyond the horror of the stories he covered to be released and write an autobiography. What a paradox to find the job of your dreams when you are incarcerated. (NPR's story: http://tinyurl.com/29ncgq8)
I’d like to ask you the following question: how many times have you been cornered by your own circumstances to react by changing jobs or leaving behind a very unfulfilling career? How many is ‘too many’ jobs in a lifetime?

A BLS news release published in June 2008 examined that the average number of jobs that younger baby boomers held from age 18 to age 42 was 10.8. (www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf). However, this study does not tell anything beyond this sample which does not include those that immigrated to the US after the survey began in 1979.

Let’s assume this applies to all and we can expect an average of 10.8 jobs in our lifetimes. Do you know how to find your next job while you still have one? Have you mastered your Professional Brand’s marketing strategy and tapped into the best resources to sell it?

Now, what about changing careers? The Department of Labor does not offer statistical data on this matter. What we know for sure is that most working people will make numerous career changes during their lifetime of employment. However, Studies show that people are making 3 to 5 major career changes - not just job changes - in their lifetime. And the newest predictions are that people will make at least 5 to 7 major career changes in the near future, if not more.

But how do you do this in the current environment?

1. What’s your motivation? Is it a matter of changing jobs, finding your dream job or just getting any job? Whatever it is please make up your mind and be very CLEAR on it. It is not unusual to find people at networking events that tell you upfront they’d be willing to do any job which is not something that will make them attractive for a potential hiring manager right now. Even if you were desperate enough to get anything, you’ll have to be smarter than that to play by your Brand and sell it at your best for that ‘whatever’ job you’d be looking to get.

2. What are your transferable skills? You may title your resume with a very specific job title missing the relevant competencies related on the content of it. Read the related market job descriptions and analyze what competencies you have applied consistently throughout your career that can be effectively transferred.

3. What’s your strategy? Have you consciously studied your market and its trends? Are you an Oil and Gas Onshore professional trying to find a job dominated by Oil and Gas Offshore openings? Have you identified key sources of information to tap into the market to move you ahead of the competition? Are you making the calls, making best use of your existent network while extending it successfully by a very well defined distinctive Professional Brand? What conferences are you volunteering for? What professional networks have you identified and are consistently participating at? Are those Networks the most indicated to lead you closer to your career vision? Why? What else is out there? Have you talked to those successful in achieving your goal?

4. Rehearse, role-play and get the job. How does the job you are looking for look like at a given day? Are you aware of its challenges, requirements and priorities? How close are you to be able to demonstrate yourself at a similar job? Can you volunteer your time in a non-profit organization that allows you a ‘break’ to probe what you can do in it? Do you manage the technical terms? Are you working towards that certification or software that will make the difference between you and someone else?

5. Networking and Unique positioning statement. Most people are unaware of how important is to be able to effectively articulate a good entrance that sells your Brand at a networking event. Even worse, many candidates fail to answer the very basic, yet challenging question: WHY YOU? Or why should I hire YOU? What’s your take on it? Are you ready to handle your unique positioning statement in less than a minute? What about 30 seconds?

If you are effectively considering either for personal reasons or job market trends to change your occupation, you will have to be open and flexible about your negotiation terms and conditions – contract type, relocation and salary. Be positive but set realistic goals with setbacks and difficult challenges. Make sure you look at the bigger picture and consider all your options including a potential lateral move or starting your own business or consulting practice as alternatives.
Remember, “Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.” Margaret Young

Your Coach,

Mariela Tinoco-Aramburu
‘Because You Can Change What Happens Next’
www.linkedin.com/in/marielatinoco
http://www.career4change.com/
Visit me at my Career4Change Facebook Page: http://tinyurl.com/2fg627g

Could you repeat Mr. Cinderella’s story in your career exploration process?

Scarcity-thinking generates an attitude that prompts you to seek to acquire more for yourself no matter how much you have and to treat others as competitors no matter how little they have. It goes totally against the Abundance thinking that generates a universe of possibility.

A great example aligned to the power of inquiry is Paul Harding, an indie writer who won the Pulitzer price for fiction last week for the novel “Tinkers”. As per an interview the New York Times published today ‘his manuscript languished in a desk drawer for nearly three years”, but in what the NY Times called a dramatic literacy Cinderella story he not only found a publisher but won the Pulitzer. His work was rejected by all major publishers while getting feedback that he had to add action to a story that was too quiet while moving throughout the minds of the characters. He believed in the story and did not change a bit of it. The words his teachers shared while at school kept strong on him by fulfilling his own definition of good.

Are you fulfilling your own definition of good? Have you got clarity in your own distinctive professional brand?

It disturbs me to see the façade many people play when networking and marketing their Brands. It is so obvious for the viewer to see when the script is real and when it is just a charade. Have you watched a performance when the actor is completely wrong for the part? Branding in order to be effective has to be authentic, real, and extraordinary.

You could be Mr. Cinderella (or Mrs. Cinderella!) if you also played by your own Professional Branding definition of good.

It is not about what others can take from you.

It is not about what others can give to you.

It is not about what they do have that you don’t.

It is about making an authentic and meaningful contribution to what you do.

Your career progression is not an obstacle course. There are landmarks to achieve. Be PRESENT and grow with them, incorporate the experiences consciously to your thinking and create possibilities. Once you are willing to ‘get over it’, then you can move on to what’s out there waiting to be achieved.
Write your own story with your own words!
“There is vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable not how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open".
                    - Martha Graham, quoted by Agnes De Mille,
                      Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham.

Visit me also at my Career4Change Facebook Page: http://tinyurl.com/y2pep8k.


Best Success!
Your Professional Branding and Career Coach because…you can change what happens next!
Mariela Tinoco-Aramburu
www.linkedin.com/in/marielatinoco

Are you flying blind in your job hunting journey?

How do you empower yourself to learn new things at work or while you are job transitioning? How do you progress your career to the next level? Love for learning or love for money?.

What if you did not know how to achieve success? Could it be lack of talent or lack of effort? What if it’s just that you are merely flying blind?
It is like if I offered you a million dollars nuclear energy job right now but as you had no experience on it, you would not be able to take it; therefore, no job, no million dollars in sight.
But, what if I still paid you for something you did not know how to do? Would you be able ‘to do the math’ and learn a new skill or transfer your acquired competencies to the new situation successfully, would you be able to do so?
I have job transitioning clients that when coming to me had been doing everything they believed was right to land them the next job, the truth? Most were literally flying blind!

Competition is harder and recruiters are being stricter in the specific competencies they’d like to have in a successful job candidate, but how can you ensure you know what you are doing when everyone tells you contradictory stories? how can you transfer what you know and what's best out there to apply it successfully to your own process?

1. Identify qualified sources of information. Friends are good supporters but not subject experts. Go to career related sites and take the time to read what they’ve got to say about your job transition process. Talk to the qualified experts. Schedule a talk with someone that went through the same process and got a job. Hire a Career Coach and/or ask tons of questions to the ones that have the accurate and down-to-earth answers that would make a difference!

2. Get a Free Resume Critique. Do you know that MOST coaches offer you a free of cost resume critique with no obligation on your side? You can e-mail me your resume at career4change@yahoo.com and I’d do the same. It is a great way to get an experts’ assessments on what you could do to be more effective. I read scary statistics on the horrifying resumes that do not pass the recruiter’s screening process due to very basic mistakes such as poor formatting, lack of relevant job related content and spelling mistakes. Is your resume one of those?

3. Your Brand is not your friend’s Brand. Recruiters see literally zillions of resumes in a given week. That is why they are paid for. Their ability to screen, to blink and know who’s the one for which job and have that perfect candidate that just nailed it at an interview is vital for a successful job hunting process. What’s your unique positioning statement? Do you have a unique answer that tells them: Why You?. What have you got that make you the absolute BEST person for the job? Are you distinguishing yourself? Are you being referred to that key hiring manager/recruiter for that perfect job? Are you ready to sell your brand and close the deal or are you still struggling to articulate your key messages? Career4Change can help you go through that process, so then you are the S-T-A-R that shines above your competition.

4. Networking yourself to the top. There is a quote I absolutely identify this process with shared by Jeremiah Owyang at Web-Strategist.com:“Those who ignore the party/conversation/network when they are content and decide to drop in when they need the network may not succeed. It’s pretty easy to spot those that are just joining the network purely to take – not to give. Therefore, be part of the party/conversation/network before you need anything from anyone.” Well, do I have to say more? This is a red flag for those who got the job and think networking will have a long break in their career lives until the next roller coaster shake things up or for those that prefer handle their search in job boards. Statistically speaking, networking increases chances of success +60 to 80%!

5. Be courteous and Pay forward. I can’t emphasize enough the power of kindness on this process. Give and take is a reciprocal game. It is kind to use thank you letters but not good enough. Offer to make connections to those that help you along the way and go for it. Send that e-mail to those two contacts that do not know each other but who could potentially get some benefit if they did. Make referrals to the ones that have exceeded the task given even if they have not asked for it.

6. Be Visible, be there, be found. Use social media. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter among others are fantastic resources to keep track on the trends moving the job market. Participate actively in groups’ discussions. Get referrals posted on your profile. Dare to sell your Professional Brand at your BEST.

Mariela Tinoco-Aramburu at Career4Change counts with +15 public referrals that support a track record and service you could count on if you just e-mail us at career4change@yahoo.com.

Find out what I can do for YOU in a very personal, customized and approachable way.
Visit me also at my Career4Change Facebook Page: http://tinyurl.com/y2pep8k.
Best Success!

Your Professional Branding and Career Coach because…you can change what happens next!
Mariela Tinoco-Aramburu
www.linkedin.com/in/marielatinoco