If you are considering making a change in you life, particularly if it may be a fairly significant change, but you are not ready to make the change, I encourage you to look for signs of ambivalence you may be experiencing. As long as things are working for you in your life, you are not likely to be truly motivated to make a change. Except for involuntary changes in our lives, we need to have an amount of willingness to make change happen. Initially you may consider making a change but decide that whatever the situation, it is not really that bad. In that case, there is little motivation to change.
Thoughts of change may creep into your mind even when you are busy doing other things. As thoughts of changing increase, or you move into more dissatisfaction or discomfort with that part of your life, you will eventually get to a place where you are ambivalent about it. So you might begin to consider what your life would be like if you made some changes. Generally, at that stage you begin to recognize that there could be some benefits to making some changes. Until you can begin to see that there could be some benefit, you are not likely ready to undertake the change; that is, you are not yet sufficiently motivated to follow through.
Over time, you may begin to see additional benefits or would see increasing value to changing. As you move through those feelings of ambivalence about making a change, if it still seems to represent what you want, or at least a step in the right direction, you are likely to be ready to develop and implement a change plan. You could then put your plan into action with a fair amount of confidence that you are ready to make the change you desire.
If, however, you find the ambivalence has given way to reluctance to make the change, you are probably not ready to do so. You may want to rethink the situation or consider other possible ways to make some changes that would be beneficial for you.
Mary Ann Davis is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in private practice providing coaching and counseling for life's transitions; including career change or job search, as well as loss of job, retirement planning, coping with an empty nest, non-retirement planning, and other life planning issues. She is certified as a Master Career Counselor (MCC) by the National Career Development Association; a Life/Work Counselor by the National Employment Counseling Association; and is a Distance Credentialed Counselor. Please visit her web site at www.YourCareerPlan.com for more information on her services.
To contact Mary Ann, please call (513) 665-4444 x3 and leave a personal and confidential message or send an email to YourCareerPlan@cinci.rr.com.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Renew Your Job Search Energy
If you are currently conducting a job search, it is important that you take a little time to renew your energy so you can continue the search with a new enthusiasm. Hopefully, you did at least some renewing during the holidays, but I know that can be difficult to do. If you did not, then I suggest you revisit your job search goals to remind yourself of what you are looking for and why. Spend a little time day dreaming about your new situation and what your life will be like when you achieve it. Put some details into your daydream to help give it full color. Sit back and enjoy how good you will feel when you have landed in your new work situation.
Once you have that picture clear in your mind write down things that need to happen for that to become a reality. It might require you to stop procrastinating and update your resume or write out a draft for your cover letter. Maybe you need to pick up the phone and call some of the people on your contact list that you didn't want to bother during the holidays. Maybe you do some research to locate companies/organizations where you could find your dream work scenario. List all the things you can think of that you need to do. That may include reminding some contacts of phone numbers or connections they were going to provide for you. When you have written everything you can think of, put it aside and take a 20-30 minute break.
Taking a walk is a good way to clear your mind or sort through your thoughts. Others find a short drive does the same for them. Maybe spending a little time to catch up with someone else is the break you need. After your short break, revisit your list. Add any other activities that should be included and put in some estimates of how much time each task might take and which ones need to be done early in the search and which ones should be tackled later on. Set that aside for today.
Tomorrow, as soon as you have the opportunity or could make the time, revisit your list. Again, add any tasks that you omitted and write all of your activities/tasks in on a calendar or make a timeline chart. Don't be overly generous with the amount of time you assign each part of this project, but also, don't be unrealistic. If you can only work at this in bits and pieces, allow for that in your schedule. The idea is that you will then have a detailed project plan with time lines and you can build in some checkpoints to check your progress on the completion of major pieces. Then as you begin to complete each of your tasks, you can see how it fits into your big picture. That should help to keep you going through what might be a long and arduous search.
Mary Ann Davis is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in private practice providing coaching and counseling for life's transitions; including a career change or job search, as well as loss of job, retirement planning, non-retirement planning, coping with an empty nest, and other life planning issues. She is certified as a Master Career Counselor (MCC) by the National Career Counseling Association, a Life/Work Counselor by the National Employment Counseling Association, and is a Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC). Please visit her web site at www.YourCareerPlan.com for more information about her services.
Once you have that picture clear in your mind write down things that need to happen for that to become a reality. It might require you to stop procrastinating and update your resume or write out a draft for your cover letter. Maybe you need to pick up the phone and call some of the people on your contact list that you didn't want to bother during the holidays. Maybe you do some research to locate companies/organizations where you could find your dream work scenario. List all the things you can think of that you need to do. That may include reminding some contacts of phone numbers or connections they were going to provide for you. When you have written everything you can think of, put it aside and take a 20-30 minute break.
Taking a walk is a good way to clear your mind or sort through your thoughts. Others find a short drive does the same for them. Maybe spending a little time to catch up with someone else is the break you need. After your short break, revisit your list. Add any other activities that should be included and put in some estimates of how much time each task might take and which ones need to be done early in the search and which ones should be tackled later on. Set that aside for today.
Tomorrow, as soon as you have the opportunity or could make the time, revisit your list. Again, add any tasks that you omitted and write all of your activities/tasks in on a calendar or make a timeline chart. Don't be overly generous with the amount of time you assign each part of this project, but also, don't be unrealistic. If you can only work at this in bits and pieces, allow for that in your schedule. The idea is that you will then have a detailed project plan with time lines and you can build in some checkpoints to check your progress on the completion of major pieces. Then as you begin to complete each of your tasks, you can see how it fits into your big picture. That should help to keep you going through what might be a long and arduous search.
Mary Ann Davis is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in private practice providing coaching and counseling for life's transitions; including a career change or job search, as well as loss of job, retirement planning, non-retirement planning, coping with an empty nest, and other life planning issues. She is certified as a Master Career Counselor (MCC) by the National Career Counseling Association, a Life/Work Counselor by the National Employment Counseling Association, and is a Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC). Please visit her web site at www.YourCareerPlan.com for more information about her services.
To contact Mary Ann, please call (513) 665-4444 x3 and leave a personal and confidential message or send an email to YourCareerPlan@cinci.rr.com.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Think About What You Want in 2011
If you have been considering whether or not to make a job or career change, you may want to spend this winter preparing for a change for later this year or early next year. Think about whether or not you want to stay in your current line of work, with the same organization, or something different.
If you would like a different line of work, you should make sure you know about the qualifications for that work and whether or not you are ready for it or need to spend some time preparing. At some point, you will also need to update your resume, if you have not already done so. As you review your resume, think about the experiences you want to emphasize to demonstrate your qualifications. Although, in general, people only go back 15 to 18 years in listing their work experiences, if you have experiences from earlier than that which are relevant to your new direction, try to find a way to include some of that information in your resume or cover letter.
You may also need to update your references. At the very least, you need to contact the people who have been references for you and update them on your latest plan. That includes confirming that they are still willing to serve as a reference for you. Once you have updated your resume, they should receive a copy of that as well. With those pieces in place, you should be able to identify the organizations you plan to target. You can begin networking with the focus on your target organizations.
If you have read many of my blog entries, you probably know I recommend writing out a plan, with time lines, that you can follow and track your progress toward achieving your new goals. Keep in mind, these days, it may take 12 to 18 months to land a new position. So it would be good to allow sufficient lead time to get to where you want to be.
Mary Ann Davis is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in private practice providing coaching and counseling for life's transitions; including career change or job search, as well as loss of job, retirement planning, coping with an empty nest, and other life planning issues. She is certified as a Master Career Counselor (MCC) by the National Career Development Association, a Life/Work Counselor by the National Employment Counseling Association, and is a Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC). Please visit her web site at http://www.yourcareerplan.com/ for more information on her services.
To contact Mary Ann, please call (513) 665-4444 x3 and leave a personal and confidential message or send an email to mailto:YoOurCareerPlan@cinci.rr.com.
If you would like a different line of work, you should make sure you know about the qualifications for that work and whether or not you are ready for it or need to spend some time preparing. At some point, you will also need to update your resume, if you have not already done so. As you review your resume, think about the experiences you want to emphasize to demonstrate your qualifications. Although, in general, people only go back 15 to 18 years in listing their work experiences, if you have experiences from earlier than that which are relevant to your new direction, try to find a way to include some of that information in your resume or cover letter.
You may also need to update your references. At the very least, you need to contact the people who have been references for you and update them on your latest plan. That includes confirming that they are still willing to serve as a reference for you. Once you have updated your resume, they should receive a copy of that as well. With those pieces in place, you should be able to identify the organizations you plan to target. You can begin networking with the focus on your target organizations.
If you have read many of my blog entries, you probably know I recommend writing out a plan, with time lines, that you can follow and track your progress toward achieving your new goals. Keep in mind, these days, it may take 12 to 18 months to land a new position. So it would be good to allow sufficient lead time to get to where you want to be.
Mary Ann Davis is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in private practice providing coaching and counseling for life's transitions; including career change or job search, as well as loss of job, retirement planning, coping with an empty nest, and other life planning issues. She is certified as a Master Career Counselor (MCC) by the National Career Development Association, a Life/Work Counselor by the National Employment Counseling Association, and is a Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC). Please visit her web site at http://www.yourcareerplan.com/ for more information on her services.
To contact Mary Ann, please call (513) 665-4444 x3 and leave a personal and confidential message or send an email to mailto:YoOurCareerPlan@cinci.rr.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)