Define your passions and what you really want to do

The ultimate way to an unfulfilling career is to not take the time to align it with your passions. A lot of people “sort of just fell into” what they do for a living. Sometimes this works out to a happy and rewarding career, but most of us aren’t so lucky.

Make contacts outside your current work environment

If you’re like many people, you may only have business contacts within your own profession or industry. Networking with a wider range of people can help make the necessary contacts to transition into a new career path.

Ignore what other people think of your plan to change careers

Are you continuing to work for a company where you’re not happy, simply because you’re afraid what your family, friends and colleagues would think of you making a radical change? Don’t be! This is your life, and it’s up to you to make the most of it. The people who truly care about you will understand and support your decision.

Are you thinking of making a career change? What is your dream job and what are some of the things you’re doing to get it?

Here’s our pick of some of the best tips:

• Lose anything that reeks of desperation

Get rid of hideous headlines that make you seem like you are desperate for any job that is thrown your way or the feeling that you will work for pennies. Change out this desperate tactic in favour of a more direct statement about the type of experience that you offer and your desired career field.

• Provide important information about your experience

30 seconds is the average time that a hiring agent will look at a resume. This same information is relevant to online LinkedIn profiles. Hiring agents simply don’t have the time to thoroughly review each profile. Put the most significant information at the beginning of your profile and leave pointless information, like your Transformers action figure collection, out of the profile.

• Add keywords

One of the best benefits of an online resume is the ability for a prospective employer to search for keywords that match the skills they’re looking for in new employees. Add relevant keywords that you want to show up in your target employer’s search.

• Add solid recommendations

Leave off recommendations from friends and family members who desperately want you to find a job. List recommendations from former supervisors that highlight your skills, positive work history and strong work ethic.

Pretty simple and straightfoward, but then again, the most rewarding things in both life and jobhunting never need to be overly complicated! Check out the full article at Recruiter for more insights, and good luck on your hunt for the perfect job.

We recommend checking out the full article here – the stories about people who have thrived from changing careers frequently are fascinating. For just the stats and our take on the pros and cons of short vs. long term jobs, read on.

Food for Thought

• The average number of years that an American worker has been at his current job is 4.4
• 51% of men between the ages of 35 and 64 had been employed for more than 10 years at their current job in 1980.
• 39% of men between the ages of 35 and 64 had been employed for more than 10 years at their current job in 2005.
• Men have an average of 11.4 jobs during their lifetime.
• Women have an average of 10.7 jobs during their lifetime.

Pros of Short-Term Jobs

Having a series of short-term jobs, rather than one long-term job, comes with several benefits. A few examples are:

• Variety of skills – experiencing a range of different roles helps you develop new skills. After all, if you work for 20 years doing the same thing, you may not be learning any new skills after the first few. A variety of skills can translate into other careers.
• Entrepreneurial skills – many people who jump from one job to another are able to work with minimum supervision. This can help increase their likelihood of success as an entrepreneur. Some end up preferring contract and freelance work, rather than the traditional office environment.
• Outside-the-box thinking skills – having a diverse professional background can be great fodder for generating new and innovative ideas. This is especially useful if you work in the marketing industry.

Cons of Short-Term Jobs

It’s not all green grass in the short-term job scene though. Hopping from one role to the next also has its drawbacks, such as:

• Income risk – if you change jobs often, this leave you out of work for periods. Cash flow alert! Also as a newer employee, you may be one of the first people let go during downsizing periods.
• Reputation risk – some employers will look at a series of short-term jobs as a sign that the applicant is easily bored or incapable of committing to a job seriously.
• Specialisation risk – on the flip side of skill variety, going through roles too quickly will prevent you from learning how to specialise in doing one or two things really well. Specialised skills are always more valuable than common ones, but they take time and dedication to learn.

What do you think? Do you pine for the return of the stable, long term job standard, or are you enjoying the change to variety?

Here’s a few of our favourite points from the article:

Don’t be cute

Leave out any cute phraseology, pretty fonts, unnecessary anecdotes or attempts at humour in your resume and cover letter. They might strike a chord with a few employers, but trying to be cute in writing can be easily misinterpreted, and you risk alienating the very people you’re trying to impress.

Don’t hide your name

The recruiter or employer reading your CV needs to be able to easily see your name. Put it clearly and prominently at the top of your resume.

Don’t include irrelevant information

A potential employwer probably does not need to know about your bird-watching hobby or your ability to juggle. Instead, use the available space in your cover letter and your resume to showcase your talents and experiences.

Don’t leave unexplained time gaps in your work history

Even in a slow economy, you must explain any reasons that you were out of work for more than six months. If you were raising a child or you went back to school, list this information on your resume.

Check out the full release from Business Insider here.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. True, it used to be the accepted cultural norm that people would work for the same company until they were old and retired. A job was a job, and it didn’t matter if we particularly enjoyed it. Today, things are different: opportunities and choices exist that never have before. Now more than ever before in history, working and happiness can go together.

A fantastic resource from the Daily Muse contains a list of 15 statements that can help you tell whether you feel good about your current work or if you should make a dramatic change in your life. After each statement you should write whether the statement applies “never,” “rarely,” “sometimes” or “often”.

Here is a sampling of the list of statements:

1. When I get out of bed in the morning, I feel excited.

2. When I fall asleep at night, I feel accomplished.

3. I have fun at my job.

4. My job involves things I love.

5. My job feels like an adventure.

6. People say they enjoy being around me.

7. I do what I want to do at my job.

8. I lose track of time when I get involved in work-related projects.

Check out the complete list of questions here.

You should have “often” listed beside most of the statements. If you don’t, it’s time to step back and take a good look at what you want to get out of your career and your life. You may be able to find ways to be more satisfied with your current job, or you can try for a promotion. Or you may realise that you need to completely change your existing job and go after that dream career that will enable you to write “often” next to each statement, and feel that sense of fulfilment and purpose that you’re currently lacking.

So what were the benefits?

• Improved health – The people on Best Buy’s flex-schedule program were less likely to get sick than their regular “9 to 5” counterparts. And if they did get sick, the ability to work from home saved their colleagues from catching the same illness.
• Improved quality of life – Flex employees were less likely to be emotionally exhausted or suffer from work-family conflicts. They also averaged more than 30 minutes per each night of sleep than colleagues on a non-flexible schedule, and were less likely to have poor eating habits.
• Increased confidence and happiness – The flex workers reported feeling more confident. The freedom to complete their work duties on a flexible schedule let them feel more in control of both their work and personal lives.

How does a flex-schedule arrangement work?

The article noted that flex-schedules will not work for all types of jobs, but did

provide information on how these programs can be successfully implemented. Some tips for success include:

• Accountability – Flex workers that report in and communicate their progress are more likely to stay focused and be successful with flex-schedules.
• Clarity – Having a clear understanding about the amount of work that needs to be completed and how much physical presence in the office is necessary will help make a flex-schedule more successful.

If you’re looking at a career in Internet marketing, software programming, or in a similar technical industry, flexible working arrangements are often possible. After all, you’ll be able to complete a lot of your work at home, or anywhere that has an Internet connection and a computer!

This question is pretty scary for most of us, even people who voluntarily left their jobs. We start talking and don’t know when to stop. Before we know it, we’ve told our prospective employer about our former supervisor’s terrible leadership, the secretary who was always talking and how we hated the work environment so much we used to pull fake sick days just to avoid going into the office.

Unsurprisingly, this question is the cause of many an applicant not getting the job. But don’t despair: Forbes’ advice on how to to successfully answer this question is refreshingly simple and straightforward. Just keep the following job interview tips in mind:

• Don’t lie

Most prospective employers are going to check your references and work history. Don’t tell the company that you quit your job to try another career avenue if you were fired for insubordination.

• Be positive

This is not the time to complain about your former boss and highlight all of his failings. That will reflect poorly on you. Instead, stick to vague phrases like “it wasn’t a good fit” or that you felt that your skills were not being fully utilized.

• Shut up

Get a concise story out and then be quiet. You really don’t want to make this question the one that you give the longest answer to.

• Talk about the current job

Every interview question needs to lead back to the current job and situation. Give your answer to this tricky question a positive spin. For example, if you say that the last job didn’t make the best use of your skills, emphasize what those skills are and how you think the prospective employer would benefit from them.

A few of the world’s more forward-thinking companies would agree – in fact, they build “creative zones” to bring more fun and enjoyment to the workplace, in order to help them attract and retain high calibre staff. It’s a great idea with a high success rate for the companies that have adopted it, and works particularly well in industries that call for creative juice, such as advertising agencies.

A few examples of successful “creative zones”

• A Castle – One company that makes toys for conglomerates Kmart and Wal-Mart has a construction, complete with a moat and a King Arthur round table, where toy inventors gather to come up with new ideas.
• A Racetrack – This creative zone offers the perfect setting for car engineers to brainstorm.
• A Dog House – Fido is sure to be happy after dog treat inventors step into a giant size dog house.

Check out other designs for creative zones here.

How creative zones help

Providing a special spot for employees to collaborate helps to make work fun. Employees who are proud of their offices are more likely to be happy and productive.

These themed thinking areas also help employees get into character so they can come up their best ideas. People can more easily think outside the box when they are in a creative zone.

And did we mention that they just look cool?

First, the benefits:

• Keywords – job boards allow prospective employers to find qualified applicants with the use of specific keywords. If you want to work as a web copywriter, for instance, then this keyword should definitely be mentioned in any CV you post to a job board.
• Access to many employers – job boards let you circulate your resume and credentials with many employers. You can also find job boards that are designated for only specific industries, such as marketing or IT jobs. Try to narrow down to boards where your career interests lie.
• Online support – many job boards feature help with writing resumes and networking yourself. It’s true that every other site user has access to this same information, but how do you know if many will bother to use it? Take advantage of every available resource to maximise your chances of success.
• Networking opportunities – In addition to posting your CV, LinkedIn and other online networking sites allow you receive feedback and suggestions from others. Try to build relationships with people who are in the industry you want to work in.

But watch out for:

• High number of users – many people attempt to find work through job boards, making it difficult to stand out in the crowd. A great way to get an edge over the competition is to have a great CV. See our resume tips section for more information.
• Personal can become professional – tech-savvy companies often look at applicants’ Facebook pages and other online profiles. Even if you have deleted a picture that shows you in a negative light, the company may be able to find these pictures from other people’s profiles. If you are currently looking for a job, you should clean up your social networking profiles and posts to be on the safe side.

Have you had any success with using these job hunting strategies? Do you have any others that have worked for you? Let us know in the comments!

These unconventional interview questions can span a variety of topics, including complicated mathematical questions, logic questions and questions about general beliefs. Here are a few of the standouts:

• How would you solve world hunger?
• How many people are using Facebook in San Francisco at 2:30 p.m. on a Friday?
• If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it?
• Which Microsoft Office program would you be and why?

Check out the full list here, and feel free to share what your answer to one of these questions would be in the comments. Hmm, Word or Powerpoint …