Career Opportunities with Douglas E. Welch

Career Conversation: Jennifer Oliver O'Connell of Tuesdays with Transitioners Douglas talks with Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, founder and leader of Tuesdays with Transitioners, a job group in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. We talk about career transition, some misconceptions about transition and even how employers can work with transitioners to find great employees. More information on Jennifer Oliver O'Connell and Tuesdays with Transitioners: Tuesdays with Transitioners Jennifer's Web Site Jennifer on Twitter More career interviews at the Career Opportunities blog and podcast

I recently did a Google Image search on the word “career” just to see what it would turn up. There I found lots of pictures of signposts and arrows, lots of uses of the word Career in various typographic styles and, of course, eager, young  (almost exclusively) workers attired in suits, ties and/or skirts, often carrying briefcases. While I wasn’t that surprised by the search results, I find myself continually surprised by the icons from the past that we still use to represent work and career. Almost like the stereotypical usage of an old, rotary phone being used to represent a telephone or any type of call, the use of the briefcase or the suit and tie is just as outdated.. Listen to this Podcast Books by Douglas E. Welch      Yes, of course, many people still report to a standard office wearing the standard corporate uniform, but many others now work in companies, locations and even in attire quite different. In fact, I would say that the standard icons we use for career represent less and less of the modern workforce every day. They also highlight our outdated views of career at a time when we need new and more powerful ways of developing the career you deserve. The anachronism of these icons might fool someone into thinking that today’s work world is just like our parents, or grandparents time, when I think it is clear that today’s work world is very much different, much more complex and filled with so many new opportunities. So, I am asking all of you. What do you think the new icon for career should be? What visual metaphors spring to mind when you think of your work and your career? What single image springs to mind when someone says the word career? I’d love to hear what you think and what might envision. Share your ideas in the comments on this column, on the Career-Op pages on Facebook and Google+ or reply to me via Twitter at @careertips. I’d love to see your ideas! For myself, my own thinking about new career icons follows a number of tracks. Here are a few of my ideas: Computer//Tablet/Smartphone Since its invention, the telephone has always represented communication and, in many ways, business itself. “Let your fingers do the walking” through the Yellow Pages used to be one, major way of finding business and services and even customers that you needed. Today, with the ubiquitous nature of computers in business, along with the more recent counterparts, the tablet and smartphone, I think a good case could be made for making these devices the “briefcase” of our era. Instead of folders of documents, the daily newspaper, magazines and perhaps a lunch crammed into a briefcase, we carry our data and our knowledge around in these smaller and smaller digital “briefcases.” I think it is safe to say that the smartphone alone could become an icon for overall human productivity, not just career. So much, both good and bad, useful and not, occurs on these devices that it seems likely they will become the new icon of work and career. A network of interconnecting lines and arrows One clear truth about careers in this age, and even in the past to some extent, is that your career is made up of a host of connections between people, companies, data and more. A network diagram with lines and arrows going in every direction certainly seems to reflect the nature of career. Rarely do you walk your career path alone. You are constantly connecting with new people, new technology, and new information. I think a good visual icon for career should clearly represent this integrated series of connections where we live and work every day. Not only would it better represent the reality of our lives and work, but also reinforce the importance of these connections both for us and for those around us. You People often appear as career icons -- the dapper professional, the uniformed plumber, the rugged construction worker, but too often they are both stereotypical and generic. As I often preach here in Career Opportunities,

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about making your resume into a blog (See Your resume a blog, January 5, 2007) and today I want to go a little deeper into what information you might want to place there. Whether you are creating your new resume blog, or using the more traditional resume and cover letter, you should be specific about your career story. It is these details that will provoke interest in you and your work. Listen to this Podcast  Books by Douglas E. Welch    The bird, the red bird, the red cardinal Read any book on good writing and nearly all of them will preach the gospel of specific and unique detail. If you want your writing to have power and emotional impact, you need highly detailed sections of description. Where a beginning writer might write, "The bird sat in the tree," a more experienced writer would write, "The bright red cardinal, with its black mask and pointed cap, sat high in the tall, leafless, maple tree and sang its purdy-purdy-purdy song with gusto." While this might be a bit of purple prose, it is certainly more engaging than, 'The bird sat in the tree." Details in the story make the reader want to know more about the cardinal and his story -- details in your resume make the potential employer want to know more about you and your career. Clearly, the same rules apply for your resumes and cover letter writing. Don't say the career equivalent of "The bird sat in the tree." Of course, you don't simply want to create a laundry list of hardware and software you managed, either. The details need to be wrapped up within a complete story. This is the difference between a telephone book and a novel. One is just information, the other is an engaging tale that can sometimes change the world. For example, instead of simply saying, "I worked with Windows," say "One major project included a national rollout (3 sites/1000+ systems) of Windows XP SP2 and MS Office in which I managed 18 staff members of all levels and developed solutions to software issues that prevented employees from accessing a critical, legacy, AS/400 system. These issues were caused by conflicts between our client software (X), network hardware (Y) and connectivity issues using AT&T leased lines. I created a task force with members from all these vendors, and internal staff to resolve the issues while still maintaining the project timeline." I am sure your own career stories are much better than this made-up example, but the concept should be clear. Again, as most writing books will tell you, every good story addresses who, what, when, where, why and how. Make sure you get all that information into your career story. Of all of these items, though, I think the most important aspects are the why and the how. Too often, we don't do enough to expose our thought processes and methods to those around us. Concentrating on "why" shows prospective employers what you think and how you go about the process of setting up a project, while the "how" gives them specific information on how you implemented that project and the hurdles you crossed to complete it. Pick and choose Just as you don't want to overwhelm your reader with laundry lists of hardware and software, you don't want to try and tell all your stories in one novel-length resume. The traditional 1-page resume form means you have to pick and choose which stories are most important to each employer and which tell the specific story you want to relate to that particular employer. Again, just as a writer considers their audience, so should you. If you are applying for a position as a network manager, you should choose stories that reflect that experience. A different position will naturally require a different set of stories. Overall, I would recommend that you present no more than three individual stories in any resume. More than that could overwhelm the reader. Less than that might not provide enough information. Of course, your resume blog can contain as many stories as you like,

For those of you who might be consuming your podcasts in the car, on the bus or otherwise "on the go", here is an audio version of this interview -- Douglas Bill Farmer, The Voice of Disney's Goofy, Talks about "A Career in Voiceover"  Douglas sits down with Bill Farmer, voice actor for Disney's Goofy and many other well-known animated characters. We talk about a career in voiceover, how to build it, how to sustain it and career potential of becoming a voice actor today. Listen to this show   More information on Bill Farmer: Bill Farmer Web Site Bill Farmer on IMBD Bill Farmer on Twitter Bill Farmer on Facebook More career interviews at the Career Opportunities blog and podcast

Bill Farmer, The Voice of Disney's Goofy, Talks about "A Career in Voiceover"  Douglas sits down with Bill Farmer, voice actor for Disney's Goofy and many other well-known animated characters. We talk about a career in voiceover, how to build it, how to sustain it and career potential of becoming a voice actor today. More information on Bill Farmer: Bill Farmer Web Site Bill Farmer on IMBD Bill Farmer on Twitter Bill Farmer on Facebook More career interviews at the Career Opportunities blog and podcast

Visit any business and you will find a host of the employees plodding through their work day. Clearly, they lost all energy and excitement about their work years ago, but instead of seeking a better job elsewhere, they put in their time day after day and wonder when someone will come and save them from the monotony. Truth be told, this is never going to happen. No one is going to come and take them away from their dull and pointless careers. Listen to this Podcast  Books by Douglas E. Welch    Visit any business and you will find a host of the employees plodding through their work day. Clearly, they lost all energy and excitement about their work years ago, but instead of seeking a better job elsewhere, they put in their time day after day and wonder when someone will come and save them from the monotony. Truth be told, this is never going to happen. No one is going to come and take them away from their dull and pointless careers. The fact is, the only person who cares about your career is you. If you don’t take the initiative to reach out and find something better, no one will. Your managers, your company and your peers can’t care about your career. They are too busy thinking about their own concerns to add yours to the mix. You can’t sit around waiting for the career equivalent of the big lottery jackpot, I can guarantee you that it will never arrive. Find some energy Part of the reason people get trapped in unfulfilling jobs is that they allow it to sap their energy and their spirit. They simply feel too tired to pursue anything but the input-only entertainment of television or video games. Energy, though, is exactly what they need to find. They need to conserve one small bit of energy every day so that they can seek out one small, yet fulfilling opportunity or idea. Like exercise, the more you do it, the more you feel like doing it. You just have to locate that small kernel of energy that let’s you start the ball rolling. Where do you find this energy? In most cases, you simply need to let go. Even when a job is unfulfilling we still carry a certain, inborn sense of responsibility. We still worry about the bureaucracy, the politics, the chances of layoffs or bankruptcy. It is one of the few times when we can care too much about the fate of our company. We allow these worries to drag us down and sap all our energy, even though we might be telling ourselves that we don’t care about our job at all. So, disconnect from your job to find the energy you need to grow. Now, I am not telling you to stop doing your work. That would be foolish. I want you to disconnect from the petty, childish and demeaning parts of your job that are sapping energy you could be investing elsewhere. Do you and your peers spend your breaks and lunches complaining about the company? Are you carrying around anger, disgust or even hatred of your company? Let it go! You have better things to do with your time. Investment Once you start engaging in these damaging behaviors, you will suddenly find that you have more time, more energy for more enjoyable activities. Maybe that news story from today’s paper will entice you out to a new park or store. Perhaps you’ll feel like cooking that new dish you wanted to try. It is in these small ways that you’ll first see improvements. Then, as you gain more and more energy, the effects will spill over into other aspects of your life. Like a snowball rolling downhill, the energy grows and grows of its own accord. Oddly enough, you might even find yourself enjoying and engaging in your current job more. Once you disconnect from those destructive behaviors, you might find out that your job isn’t quite as bad or quite as hopeless as you might have imagined. Sometimes, you’ll find that your new found energy is best re-invested in making your current job better, instead of moving somewhere else. ***

A few weeks ago I talked about how to attract work and opportunities to you, instead of constantly begging for your next job. One of the biggest elements of attracting work to you is using social media to share the most interesting aspects of your life...

You can find advice on how to build, design and send your resume almost anywhere. They will tell you how to format it, which font to choose and what information to include. Heck, even I've written my share of columns on resumes. Despite this, though, I want to offer one more bit of resume wisdom. In this age of ubiquitous Internet access, search engines and an increase in the serendipity of finding the right job for you, the next step may be to make your resume a blog, because, in many ways, your blog might already be turning into your resume. Listen to this Podcast  Books by Douglas E. Welch    Even in today's high-tech world, resumes are still seen as relatively static, paper-based documents. Even if they eventually make it into electronic systems, in our minds we still see them as little sheets of paper that get shuffled around on someone's desk. Just as the professionally printed resume has long gone out of style, I believe any form of printed resume is on its way out, as well. In past columns I have preached the gospel of a portfolio-based approach to advertising your skills and work experience. Yes, I use the word advertising purposely, as that is exactly what you are doing. You are advertising what you know and what you do, in hopes of someone buying your services.Part of building a great portfolio is documenting your interesting projects past and present and documenting them as soon after completion as possible. In some cases, you will probably want to do it even while you are completing the project. You want to capture the best "stories" about your project now so you can use them in your resume and in your interviews. It is these stories of actual work and projects that will best communicate your skills to perspective employers. So, with these ideas in mind, one great way of exposing your work portfolio and resume to the widest group of potential employers is to put it into a blog. Sure, you will probably still have to produce the standard, one-page resume for those people stuck in the past, but producing your resume as a blog has many distinct advantages. First, a resume blog allows all your stories to be slurped up by any number of search engines including Google, Yahoo and more. This increases the chance that someone might randomly stumble across you when they are looking for just the right person. Sure, an online version of your paper resume might do in a pinch, but you can do better. Instead of having only one small description of each past job, I encourage you to post to your resume blog as often as necessary. Minimally, this would include a wrap-up after any major projects or accomplishments. Again, all this information becomes searchable and it helps to lock the stories into your mind so you can easily recall them during interviews or casual meetings with potential employers. Now, go even further. Document any training you receive and your impressions of how it will be useful to your future work. Describe the hardware and software tools you use and why. The general rule is to include anything that would give a potential employer deeper insight into you and your work. The goal in all of this, beyond finding the best job possible, is to use the easy-to-use features of a blog to capture and share as much information about your work and skills as possible. The more information that is available, the better your chances of getting an interview and a job. It is so much easier to update a resume blog than updating a paper resume and it can say so much more. Your resume blog can become the hub of your online portfolio, available 24/7 from any where in the world. Sure, you can then use this information to update your paper resume, but my hope is that paper resume will soon go the way of the 386 processor and dot matrix printers -- useful in their time, but long, long gone. Get your work experience, your skills and your career stories out onto the net where they can do you the most good.

Privacy is in the news a lot these days and it is a valid concern for all of us. That said, when you are trying to build the career you deserve, an excessive focus on privacy can make your careerbuilding more difficult, if not impossible. This is due to a large change in how we find jobs and develop our careers. The days of resumes and job fairs and networking are over, at least in the traditional sense. Today, you need to be spending every moment telling people “what you do and how well you do it.” If you insist on keeping every aspect of your life private, you are severely limiting the number of people that know about you and the opportunities these people may be able to provide. When it comes to your career, you can’t “hide your light under a bushel” and expect to achieve the career results you want. Listen to this Podcast Books by Douglas E. Welch      Yes, the big world of the Internet can be a bit frightening sometimes, but you can, and should, engage in it in as many ways as possible. During our recent CareerCampSCV, I spoke with a number of attendees who were very concerned about keeping their social media activity private. For me, this has always seemed odd, as I believe that the main purpose behind social media is being seen, publicly, by those people who most interest you, are most interested in you and are most able to help you achieve your career goals. To keep everything private seems, for me, to defeat the entire purpose of social media. That fact is, in today’s world, I believe you MUST be engaging in social media and you MUST be sharing “what you do and how well you do it” publically. The job world has changed dramatically and limiting your social media use is actively hampering your career. Who knows how many opportunities have never come to you simply because people don’t know the depth of your knowledge and skills. You can’t wait for job openings to be posted, printed in the newspaper or shared on a job board, You have to be positioning yourself to attract opportunities and social media is one great way of doing that. Of course, this doesn’t mean you share EVERYTHING about your life on social media. Like any person who lives their life in public (celebrities, musicians, writers, etc) you need to actively pick and choose what you share. You need to develop your own public-facing persona much in the same way your favorite television or movie stars do. Does this sounds silly? It might, but it is also the new reality of your career. Just as an actor must consider and cultivate their audience, so must you. We all have an audience, no matter what we do as a career. This is a new thought for most of us, but an important one. Gone are the days when you could survive in your career as a quiet little drone that toiled away in the background for 30 years. If you truly want to build the career you deserve, you need to be actively promoting yourself, positioning yourself, publicizing “what you do and how well you do it!” What if you don’t want to live the public-facing life of an actor or celebrity? You are in trouble, because that is simply the way that life and career works these days. If you are not hustling to build your career then all you are left with is what other people offer you or what other careerists have decided they don’t want. You need to grow and adapt to this “new normal” or you risk having a career that is stunted and unfulfilling. I believe you deserve better, but it means you have to stretch yourself and your, perhaps outdated, understanding of how a career works. Again, I am not saying that sharing your life and work publically is something you MIGHT want to do, I am saying that today it is a CRITICAL part of your job search and career. If I sound unequivocal, then you are understanding me correctly. The Internet has changed the world in many dramatic ways and it has deeply changed the way we approach a career. If you want to build the career you deserve,

As we approach the end of the year, we sometimes look to resolutions to guide our way. Instead, this year, I found myself thinking of the Career Opportunities Vision. What goals am I trying to accomplish with this column? What do I want to impart to yo...

It is almost 2007 and yet we still have some archaic views of the employer/employee relationship -- on both sides. We have seen the concepts of corporate loyalty overturned and the paternalistic concepts of group health care and pensions are quickly disappearing. With all these changes, though, there is one change even more important to the average worker. It is an even more difficult change because it has to be developed from the inside, from the individual, rather than imposed by the corporate structure. You must finally take to heart the concept that your company -- your employer needs you, your skills and your intelligence, as much as you need the company. As more companies seek to treat you as an independent contractor, you must embrace that role and make it your own. Otherwise, you are fooling yourself into living in a world where no one is ever outsourced and you spend your entire career working for one company -- a fantasy today if it ever really existed. Listen to this Podcast  Books by Douglas E. Welch    Let me be clear, though. When I talk about circumventing the process I am not talking about having your resume delivered via FedEx, or worse still, in a pizza box. It isn't about sending email to every person at the company. Not only will these tactics not work, they are likely to prevent you from ever getting a job at that particular company and perhaps others. Instead of simply submitting your resume into the great maw that is most HR departments, you need to start, today, building an on-going job search that doesn't depend on want ads and resumes. You need to start making connections and relationships that allow you to walk into the company of your choice with a head start. Of course, your response might be, "Douglas, my boss thinks they can fire me and hire another 20 just like me. We're interchangeable cogs in the marketplace. I have to follow their rules if I want to keep my job." The fact is, this is what many workers have always believed. They serve at the pleasure of their employers and this is exactly where you go wrong. Even if your company can replace you, they cannot replace your specialized knowledge and skills and they will suffer for that loss. The key for you is to find the companies that understand this fact and let the other companies proceed on their slow, but assured demise. Just as you need to take your importance to heart, so do the companies that employ you. If they fail to acknowledge this new relationship, it will still occur. So, stop worrying about being fired and start looking for companies that respect you, your skills and your knowledge. The process of change begins at the very beginning of any job -- the interview process. So many of us are used to entering an interview from a position of weakness and fear. We saw the company as being able to "give" us a job, when in reality, it is we who have the power to "accept" or refuse the job they might offer. They need your skills, or they wouldn't be trying to fill the position. You have the skills they need and you should be proud of your accomplishments. An interview is not about bowing to the power of the company, but rather showing how you can help the company accomplish its goals. It isn't about pop quizzes or mental tests or high-stress group interviews, it is about what you know and how you can apply it. To be successful in your job search, which means finding not only a well-paying job, but a job that is right for you, you have to have confidence in your own abilities and the effect you can have on any company smart enough to recognize them. Carry this thought with you at all times and it will be evident to anyone you meet. This doesn't mean acting like an arrogant (and usually also ignorant) kid who thinks they are entitled to a job. It means trusting that your skills and knowledge are as an important commodity as the steel or computers that the company may use as raw materials. Remember,

The current form of career development/management is flawed.  First, you discover what work you might like to do and are qualified to do and then you go in search of someone offering a job/needing someone with your skills. Once you settle on a particular line of work, you make the rounds, resume (if not hat) in hand, begging someone to give you a job. It has been this way for centuries, but I think that is exactly the argument for why it shouldn’t be done that way anymore. Listen to this Podcast Books by Douglas E. Welch      The power dynamics of the job search need to find a more level playing field. Instead of playing the same old game, workers need to take control and start developing ways of attracting work to them instead of searching for work only when thrown off by unexpected layoffs. By attracting work, you develop the career you want and deserve and help to smooth out the sometimes rocky road of career development. Instead of bouncing from job to job, it can help to ensure that you have a selection of opportunities to choose from and are not forced to take a job simply because it’s the only one you quickly find. You should never feel forced into a job, but that is exactly what happens if you are not developing your own options on a regular basis. Attracting work to you is a lifelong process and begins the minute you start thinking of a career. For most of us, I would say that probably begins in high school. If we start then, and keep at the process throughout your career, you can have a very successful career no matter where your expertise lies. Attracting work should become an integral part of your life, and not something you only do when forced. While this constant focus on your career may seem more difficult at the start, once established, it makes your life infinitely easier. It will simply become one of those innate actions, like brushing your teeth or paying the bills, that, when done correctly, make life a bit better and easier. The most important aspect of attracting work to you is this -- share your work, your products, your ideas, and your opinions with your friends family online and in person. Your goal for the foreseeable future is to “tell people what you do and how well you do it.” It is a simple fact that you miss out on many opportunities, every day, because those around you have no, clear, idea what knowledge and skills you hold. This isn’t about arrogance or “tooting your own horn” either. It is about informing, in the most basic way, those around you so that when they have a need, it is known that you might be able to help them. Attracting work to you is possible, no matter where you are in your career. As you work, you will build things, learn things and have feelings about your work and how it might be made better. It is only natural. The next step, though, is sharing that information. Work is an large part of your life so it shouldn’t be a black hole that your friends and family know nothing about. Share what you are doing at work, what you’re accomplishing and what might make it better. You share this for a number of reasons. First, people can’t know what you don’t tell them. Sometimes, we like to think that the sheer brilliance of our work will speak for itself. It doesn’t always happen that way. Unless we take an active role in promoting our work, most will never hear of us, even if we accomplish important things. By sharing your work, regularly, you place a “bookmark” in people’s minds that they can recall in the future. Perhaps they don’t need an accountant right now, but when they need one in the future, you want your name and your skills, to jump to mind. If you have shared your skills and knowledge, you are improving the odds that that will happen. Place enough of these bookmarks in the minds of enough people and you’re developing a huge resource to call upon in the future. You have prepared that ground so that when you’re ready for that next step in your career,

If you have been interviewed for even a few jobs, you have realized that the process is biased against you in many ways. Everything is designed to make the process easier and more successful for your future employer rather than for you. Despite your ne...

One of the most important aspects of any career is the freedom to make the best decisions for yourself and your family. Allowing circumstance to push you from one job to another without any sort of plan ensures that someone else will always be in charg...

When you are addressing problems in your work and your career, I usually recommend taking a soft approach. No matter how severe the problem, a few gentle words can often smooth the waters and get people back on track. That said, there will come a time in your career when you simply have to tell it like it is. While it does call for a certain amount of tact, this isn't a time for sugar-coating the message. If you have tried resolving the problem with more subtle methods, then it might be time to sit down with the person and deliver a bit of unvarnished truth. Listen to this Podcast  Books by Douglas E. Welch    While you might think it necessary to have these tough conversations only with those who work for you, you will often need to have them with your peers. These conversations can be more difficult, due to the different nature of your relationship, but they are just as important. If you cannot resolve a situation with a co-worker by talking it out, you may need to get your manager involved. This may have consequences far outside your control, though. It is better for both of you to work out your differences alone, rather than risk the annoyance of your boss. The first rule of engagement in a situation like this is tact and decorum. Even though you are delivering bad news, you don't need to be obnoxious about it. Bullying, threatening behavior will only further charge the atmosphere and usually results in dramatic scenes that do almost nothing to solve the problem. No matter how angry the other person may get, or how abusive, you need to remain as calm and respectful as possible. You job is to communicate the nature of the problem and what needs to be done to correct it, not belittle the person. That said, the time for "beating around the bush" is over. You need to come to your point quickly and directly. You need to lay out real world examples of the problem that clearly illustrate what you mean. State them quickly and directly and then ask the person if they understand the issues you have presented. Some defensiveness is to be expected, but sometimes, feeling trapped, people can lash out at you, the company and everyone around them. It is up to you to keep the conversation on track, though. Don't allow yourself to be pulled into discussions that aren't directly involved in the problem at hand. Remember, your goal is to make this the last conversation you need have about this problem. Stay focused and see it through. In the past, I might have recommended you use language such as, "I feel..." when presenting your issues. Since subtler methods have failed to address this problem in the past, though, I would caution against it here. They give the other person the opportunity to dismiss your concerns as personal, rather than professional. They will see you as the problem, not the situation you are trying to correct. In some cases, your own actions might have played a part in the creation of the problem. If so, clearly admit that. If you don't bring it up, the other person surely will. That said, don't take the entire burden on yourself. Perhaps your directions for a particular project were not clear in the beginning, then this was a failure on your part. If the other person continued to not perform their duties, though, even after multiple clarifications then the failure also lies with them. The final, and most important, point to remember is that you cannot ignore problems, simply hoping they will go away. That is probably what brought you to have a discussion in the first place. When you ignore problems, they fester and grow until you are forced to deal with them in a supercharged environment of anger and spite. No matter how difficult it might be to address a problem now, I can guarantee you that it will only be more difficult should you wait. From today forward, make a commitment to yourself and others to address problems and issues earlier and more directly. I can only imagine the amount of hours,