Keppie Careers

Social media speaker, social media consultant, job search coach

Don’t Waste Time and Talent – Give Your Career A Jump Start

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I want to tell you a story about someone I know.

She is a stay-at-home mom who decided that, after years of living on one salary, it was time to make some money. She knew she had a very marketable skill, but hesitated to try to start her own business because there were so many things that she didn’t know how to do:  build a website, advertise, etc.

She discovered secret shopping.  (For the unaware, there are companies that will pay you to go to stores and restaurants, evaluate the service and fill out an evaluation.)  Sounded like easy money.  She threw herself into secret shopping and went after opportunities with wild abandon.  She would even drive for miles at the prospect of earning $5 or $7 on a “job.”

Although her hourly rate was practically nothing, she did manage to bring in a quick several hundred dollars with persistence and hard work. Despite her little windfall, my friend realized that she was wasting herself on secret shopping and that her time and talents would be better spent developing something with longer-term prospects (and a higher hourly wage).

She realized that she was letting fear prevent her from pursuing dreams that offered a better use of her skills.  Instead of running around checking numbers on the bottom of hairspray at drug stores for 20 cents a number (really!), she should invest the time, effort, energy and solid work ethic in something with real value.

So, after much soul searching and concerted effort to overcome her fear, she is now going after her own dreams with the same zeal that she used to earn several hundred dollars by secret shopping.  And, guess what?  She’s already reaping the benefits in spades!

Are you wasting your time at work?  Maybe you’re not running all over town after a few dollars, but maybe you  realize that you are similarly “spinning your wheels” in your own way.  Don’t let fear prevent you from taking a new path.  Time is wasting! You are the only one who can put one foot in front of the other.

Good News for (Some) Job Seekers

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In a Wall Street Journal Online  column, Carol Hymowitz suggests that, despite the fact that this is a tight job market during which companies will be laying off workers; many businesses will seek talent that they have not developed from within their ranks.  She notes:

Companies haven’t been grooming and training enough employees for promotions and now have a mismatch of talent for open positions. In the past, top managers would plan far ahead to fill a position. Today, every vacancy seems to be treated as unique — and even as a surprise, despite the long-term trend of frequent job changes by employees. “Workplaces are filled with frustrated people who want to advance but haven’t gotten training or broad enough experience,” says Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the Wharton School and director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources. “In coming months, we’ll likely see companies laying off employees but also crying that they can’t find people with the skills they need.”

This may be good news for those thinking of bagging their job searches in exchange for sitting tight and waiting out the economic downturn.  If you have acquired the training and experience you need to position yourself to advance, this may be a good time to seek a new opportunity.

It also reminds us of a very important point:

Increasingly, employees are responsible for their own career trajectories.  Most managers aren’t sitting around thinking about how to help make you more marketable for promotions.  At the expense of becoming a broken record, YOU NEED TO DRIVE YOUR OWN CAREER BUS!  If you don’t seek training and opportunities, they may pass you by.

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Keppie Careers will help you jump-start your job search:

www.keppiecareers.com