Your Next Career: Do What You've Always Wanted to Do

241 Pages·2009·6.6 MB·English

by  Gail Geary

Careers
Y YOUR NEXT CAREER
YOUR NEXT CAREER O
Do What You’ve Always Wanted to Do U
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Second Edition
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If You Had a Chance to Do It All Over, YOUR NEXTCAREER X
Second Edition
helps you
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What Career Would You Pursue?
4Weigh your career passions C
Do What You’ve Always Wanted to Do
and interests against current A
You’ve been in your career for R
employment trends.
quite some time and have probably E
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had success. But do you love it? 4Explore nontraditional work R
arrangements and entrepreneurship.
Do you feel stable? What if you
could change direction and do 4Update your skills, education,
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something you always wanted and image for exciting new o

to do—and at the same time feel opportunities. W
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secure and satisfied about your 4Conduct a quick and effective job a
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future prospects? You can! In search with an outstanding resume Y
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this book, career transition and dynamite interviewing skills. u
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expert Gail Geary shows you 4Promote yourself and your business ve

how to define your ideal next to maximize opportunities. A
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career—and then go get it! 4Negotiate your best offer. w
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About the Author n
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Gail Geary, J.D., CMC,is the owner of Atlanta Career

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Transition, an international career transition and outplacement o

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firm, and is also a career management consultant for
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Right Management Consultants. She is a front-line
correspondent working with individual career changers and
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major corporations. She has been on the adjunct faculty for e
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the American Management Association and three Atlanta- n
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area universities. She is also a member of the Georgia and E
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Atlanta Bar Associations. itio
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Gail Geary, J.D., CMC
$14.95 Higher in Canada
YOUR NEXT CAREER
Second Edition
Do What You’ve Always Wanted to Do
Gail Geary, J.D., CMC
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Your Next Career, Second Edition
© 2010 by Gail Geary
Published by JIST Works, an imprint of JIST Publishing
7321 Shadeland Station, Suite 200
Indianapolis, IN 46256
Phone: 800-648-JIST Fax: [phone] E-mail: [email protected]
Visit our Web site at www.jist.com for information on JIST, free job search tips, tables of contents,
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Quantity discounts are available for JIST books. Please call our Sales Department at 800-
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Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 10 09 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Geary, Gail, 1943-
Your next career : do what you’ve always wanted to do / Gail Geary. --
2nd ed.
p. cm.
“Previous edition published under the title: Over-40 Job Search
Guide.”
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-59357-671-4 (alk. paper)
1. Job hunting. 2. Middle-aged persons--Employment. I. Title.
HF5382.7.G43 2010
650.14084’4--dc22
2009016584
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, or
stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher except
in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews. Making copies of any part of this
book for any purpose other than your own personal use is a violation of United States copyright
laws. For permission requests, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at www.copyright.
com or [phone].
We have been careful to provide accurate information in this book, but it is possible that errors
and omissions have been introduced. Please consider this in making any career plans or other
important decisions. Trust your own judgment above all else and in all things.
Trademarks: All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service
marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
ISBN 978-1-59357-671-4
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Making Future Employment Trends
Work for You 1
Jack’s Story: IT Executive to Medical
Technician 2
The Top Employment Trends Through 2016 3
How You Can Find Your Next Career in a
Radically New Employment Environment 4
Jo Ann 5
Robert 6
Ricardo 7
Career-Change Stumbling Blocks 8
How Do You Do What You’ve Always
Wanted to Do? 9
Quantify Your Passions Through a
Career Assessment 10
Assess Your Tolerance for
Entrepreneurial Risk 11
Align Your Interests with a Viable Field 11
Chapter 2: Quantifying Your Passions and Interests 13
Informal Exploration 13
Free-Time Passions 14
Where Does Your Money Go? 15
What Work Would You Do for Free? 16
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CONTENTS
Stumbling Blocks to Career Transition Success 17
Fear of Financial Insecurity 17
Fear of Rejection 18
Fear of Success 19
Fear of Failure 19
How to Take and Use Formal Career
Assessments 21
The BirkmanDirect 21
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 24
Multiple Ways of Discovering Your Passion
and Acting on It 26
Conducting an Effective Information Interview 27
Chapter 3: Measuring Your Tolerance for
Employment Risk and Entrepreneurial
Ventures 29
Affirming the Advantages of Prior Work
Experience 30
Do You Have the Right Personal
Characteristics to Be an Entrepreneur? 31
Exploring Different Kinds of Entrepreneurial
Ventures 34
Part-Time Entrepreneurial Employment 34
Coaching, Consulting, and Training 35
Buying a Franchise 38
Buying a Business 40
Starting Your Own Business 42
Deciding on a Legal Business Entity 44
Sole Proprietorship 44
General Partnerships 44
Corporations 44
How Does Entrepreneurship Fit in with
Future Employment Trends? 46
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CONTENTS
Chapter 4: Designing a Career That Mirrors Your
Passions, Interests, and Abilities 49
Look at Your Past Experience for Clues 49
The Career Change Counseling Process 52
Time-Tested Steps to Discover Your
Passions, Interests, and Abilities and
Advance to Your Next Career 55
Find a Career Counselor 55
Define and Explore Your Career Options 55
Set Up Information Interviews 55
Get Hands-on Experience 56
Make Your Choice 56
Consider Your Career Design Options 57
Write Your Resume 57
Write Other Promotional Material 57
Market Yourself 58
Looking at Stumbling Blocks 59
I Can’t Afford to Go Back to School for
Continuing Education 59
I Can’t Make Enough Money from My
Passions and Interests 59
I’m Afraid of Making a Mistake 59
Chapter 5: Acquire Inexpensive Skill and
Credential Updates 61
Getting the Information You Need 62
Let Your Fingers Do the Walking 62
Start Doing Some Talking 63
Rethink the Money 64
Refresh Your Skills and Credentials for the
Same Position 65
Refresh Your Skills and Credentials for a
Different Position 67
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CONTENTS
Refresh Your Skills and Earn Credentials in a
Different Industry 68
Acquiring Skills and Credentials for an
Entirely New Career 70
Careers in Healthcare 70
Careers in Education and Educational
Services 72
Careers in Management, Scientific, and
Technical Consulting Services 74
Quick-Start, No-Degree Careers 77
Making a Choice 79
Chapter 6: Designing Your Wow! Resume 83
Catching Positive Attention with Your
Resume 84
The “Too Much Experience” Ambush 84
The “Too Little Relevant Experience
and Failure to Use Keywords”
Ambush 85
Creating a Resume with Impact 85
Use a Bold Yet Appealing Resume
Heading 86
Include a Clear Objective 88
Write a Concise and Powerful
Qualifications Summary 88
From “No Way” to “Wow! What Impact!” 89
Maria’s Resume Gets a Makeover 89
Richard’s Resume Moves into Wow!ness 92
Getting Your Resume Makeover 93
Designing Stand-Out Achievements and
Accomplishments 94
Asking Questions About Your
Achievements 95
The Right Wording 96
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CONTENTS
The Best Organization 97
The Functional Resume Format 97
The Chronological Resume Format 98
The Hybrid Resume Format 99
From “So What?” to “Wow! What
Accomplishments!” 99
Maria’s Functional Resume 100
Richard’s Chronological Resume 103
Review: Features of the Three Resume Types 106
Writing and Polishing Your Accomplishments 107
Vary Your Action Verbs 107
Use the STAR Method to Write Your
Accomplishments 107
Summing Up 110
Trends in Text-Only Scannable Resumes and
Portfolios 112
Text-Only Resumes 112
Standing Out from the Crowd 114
Chapter 7: Designing Your Wow! Promotional
Material 117
Six Elements of Great Promotional Design 117
The Major Types of Promotional Material 118
Business Cards 118
Cover Letters 119
Promotional Materials for Products
and Services 121
Putting It All Together 127
Chapter 8: Strategic Searches Online and Off 129
Networking Your Way to a Job 130
Why Should You Network? 130
How Can You Identify Networking
Contacts? 133
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CONTENTS
What Do You Say When You’re
Networking? 135
Networking Online with LinkedIn 136
Strategic Mailing and Calling Campaigns 138
Why Should You Conduct a Strategic
Mailing and Calling Campaign? 139
How Do You Conduct a Strategic
Mailing and Calling Campaign? 139
Effective Online Searches 145
Why Should You Conduct an Online
Search? 146
How Should You Conduct an Online
Search? 147
Answering Ads in the Newspaper 148
Partnering with Others in Your Job Search 149
What Do You Need to Know About
Using an Employment Agency? 150
What Do You Need to Know About
Using a Retained Search Consultant? 150
What Do You Need to Know About
Using an Executive Recruiter? 151
Organizing Your Search 153
Choosing Your Strategic Search Methods—
Online and Off 153
Chapter 9: Achieve Memorable First Impressions
and Ace Interviews 157
The Importance of the First 60 Seconds 158
Recognize That You Are the Product: Your
Presence Is the Advertisement 159
The Key Elements That Positively Affect First
Impressions 160
Use Erect Posture and Confident,
Energetic Movements 160
Project Vocal Energy and Enthusiasm 162
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CONTENTS
Improve Your Personal Hygiene and
Grooming 166
Choose Appropriate and Stylish
Business Dress 168
How to Achieve Awesome Interview Results 177
Handling Telephone Interviews 178
Handling in-Person Interviews 179
Handling Tough Interview Questions 181
Put It All Together 184
Chapter 10: Negotiating Your Best Offer 185
Why Are People Reluctant to Negotiate
Salary and Benefits? 185
How Effective Are Attempts to Negotiate
Salary? 188
The Five Steps to a Successful Negotiation 188
1. Discover What You Are Worth 188
2. Delay Revealing Your Salary
Expectations 189
3. Handle External Recruiters and
Applications 189
4. Wait 24 to 48 Hours Before
Accepting or Negotiating the Offer 190
5. Negotiate the Offer 191
Real-Time Negotiation Scenarios 192
Weyman 192
Luis 194
Judy 195
Summing Up 197
Chapter 11: Too Young to Quit Working: Careers
for Post-Retirement Years 199
When Is the Right Age to Quit Working? 200
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