April 2010
CareerTips
Finding Your Passion
By Pam Wessel
“Above all, be true to yourself, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.” ~ Hardy D. Jackson
As career coaches at Golden Career Strategies, we are “passionate” about helping others find a more rewarding career! So what does that really mean? In other words, we are passionate about helping others find their passion in their career and life.
How many times have we asked ourselves or others “what do you want to be when you grow up?” We ask this more often, especially in the last few years as college graduates start out searching for their first career during these challenging times and as 25-30 career veterans leave the only career they’ve ever known and find themselves looking for their “encore career”.
Finding that perfect career or even the great career is challenging at best during tough economic times. Is it really so important to be passionate about your career? A recent Harris Interactive survey (2009) uncovered the following statistics on American job satisfaction:
- Across America, 45% of workers say they are either satisfied or extremely satisfied with their jobs
- Only 20% feel very passionate about their jobs
- 33% believe they have reached a dead end in their career
- Most people spend 25% to 67% + of their waking hours working
If we spend a majority of our waking hours working, just how important is it to be satisfied at work. Only 45% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs which mean 55% are NOT satisfied!
Click here to find out MORE by reading the full article.
What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
By Myles Golden
 Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? I hear career transition prospects say this every week. Has there ever been a better time to figure this out? Unemployment is 10% nationally and in our state 12%. Thousands of people have been laid off and according to The Bureau of Labor and Statistics for the foreseeable future; unemployment will continue to be about the same. Many say this will be a “jobless” economic recovery. And to make matters worse, recent surveys indicate that of those employed, over 55% say they are dissatisfied with their jobs and would make a change tomorrow if they could find a more rewarding career. Thousands are under-employed: those who are just hanging in there due The Great Recession.
So have you thought that maybe it’s time to re-think what you are doing or, better said, not doing with your career? An old Chinese proverb states “The person who does not worry about the future will shortly have worries about the present.” I read recently that Senior Executives spend only 3% of their day thinking about the future. That equates to about 14 minutes. If you believe, as I do, that time is your most valuable asset, consider a career change.
Continue reading here.
If Not Passion for the Job, at Least Warm Feelings
By ALINA TUGEND
Published: September 25, 2009, NY Times
IF there is one word I’m rapidly growing tired of, it’s passion. Not the sex and love type, but the workplace kind. Lately, it seems, I keep hearing career counselors advising the unemployed to identify and develop their passion. Then they need to turn that passion into paid work and presto! They’re now in a career they love.
I know I’m being somewhat flippant, but I do wonder if passion is being oversold. Are we falling into a trap of believing that our work, and indeed, our lives, should always be fascinating and all-consuming? Are we somehow lacking if we’re bored at times or buried under routine tasks or failing to challenge ourselves at every turn?
Now before I go any further, I know, I know. In these economic times, fewer of us are worried about being fulfilled and more of us are concerned about simply being paid. But as switching jobs and careers becomes increasingly common, as whole professions are disappearing, we’re more frequently forced to ask ourselves what we want to do with the rest of our lives.
That’s where passion comes in.
Follow this link to read the entire article.
Golden Career Strategies Speaks:
Recent and Upcoming Speaking Engagements & Sponsorships
Myles Golden Interviewed on SC Business Review with Mike Switzer
Clemson University SHRM Group
April 14, 2010 at Clemson University
Power of Networking to Land Your First Career
April 27, 2010 - Pam Wessel speaks at the Greenville Chamber's special event on “Effective Networking” - 7 Experts, 7 Tip, 7 Minutes
GCS is a proud Sponsor for
District 7750 Rotary Conference – April 30-May 2, 2010
GCS ~ Silver Sponsor for GSATC (Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson Technology Council)
|
