The world has morphed into something so complex, you need a roadmap to figure out a career path and how to get somewhere, but the journey consists of constant movement from point A to B and perhaps Z before you wend your way back to C, D or E.
Twenty years ago, reports from the world of media and employment stats revealed that most people would change careers—not jobs—five to seven times in their lifetimes and sometimes wear two hats at once. These truths we hold to be self evident.
The working landscape demands multitasking and constantly acquiring and upgrading occupational skills with formal training. On the job training, learning a job inside and out and then adapting to changes in that workforce, are no longer adequate. Most new jobs require and translate into a total career makeover. Some job titles haven’t even manifested themselves yet! O the possibilities!
Today, the worker must be a job warrior, think outside the box and then keep going, stretching, moving, turning and adapting to change skin like a chameleon…
It may sound like a simplification to say, do a self assessment and transfer your skills.
In depth, what that truly looks like, is a plan to assess what skills you already have and what skills in which you need to take a course to complete the roadmap.
That roadmap encompasses something like the thinking strategy illustrated in this example…
Think of all the elements and functions of a construction manager. Big projects, especially in some colleges in the region that are expanding their medical science and environmental science buildings, need project managers who know how to read blueprints. That might mean they should have a course in AutoCAD. That means having a course in drafting under your belt. Budgeting is another necessary skill for a construction manager. A course in QuickBooks might do the trick to upgrade former experience in that area. If you don’t have bookkeeping/accounting type experience, join a volunteer group and establish trust. Volunteer to assist the club’s treasurer. And think ‘green.’ Green careers in building materials, solar panels and construction compliance for eco-friendly, environmentally sound buildings are springing up all over the world. Perhaps you might pursue LEEDS Certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). (As with all new skills training, the government may provide funds. See your local One Stop Career Center: http://www.servicelocator.org/).
If you apply to a college for a part time adjunct professor (provided you have a Masters Degree and some area of work expertise in the subject), parlay that into opportunities to gain courses free of charge at the college in which you teach.
Go to job fairs and present what you have. Lay it on the line but explain how each area of expertise intertwines with one another to make the job complete so you demonstrate an understanding. Read journals and current business and news magazine issues to get a flair for what is new, what is old and what is yet to come.
You must think about how every required duty and accompanying skill will come together to create success in this field. Augment your toolkit with the specifics you need and draw upon past talents and experience to draw a complete picture…the perfect blueprint for success!
You are your product to market. Just like the advertising/marketing world of commodities, services and consumer goods needs to keep reinventing and branding themselves to stay fresh and vital in the world marketplace, so do you.
Use every past, present and future skill to draw patterns to strategize and commute your career. Make your own “map.” See how the roads connect, intertwine, fork, bend and curve around. One should build on another. There will be unexpected “merges” and road construction here and there. This career path is a continuing journey that lasts as long as your work life.
There are chips beginning to erode away at the concrete wall of unemployment in certain hiring areas and fields and slight sunlight beams stream through the cracks of a rusty, old tanked economy that lies like an old car wreck on the side of a road. People are reclaiming employment status in jobs such as IT, marketing and environmental products and services. See what your desired field wants and set about getting it. Someday the job world will revive itself but it may be an entirely different animal. Don’t be afraid to think out of the box—and way beyond it. Use today well and make the idle time count. You want to be ready for work while opportunities are on the drawing boards and before they actually materialize. Do not stand still but keep moving forward in the New Year and beyond.
-By The Job Goddess Who Won’t Rest Till Everyone Is Put To Work!
Read about more helpful resources from The Job Goddess
here.
http://www.the405club.com/post/306468518/brave-new-world-of-work
The Job Goddess's Brave New World of Work
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