Here’s another selection of links to round off the working week, and hopefully ease you into weekend mode!

• Are you perhaps thinking of a new career as a scientist? Then you need to be reading the Career Development for Scientists blog! There’s also an interesting post (which we should all read, not just scientists!) about the emphasis employers are now placing on “soft skills”. These are things like leadership and communication skills (or people skills), which are very interchangeable and can be utilised regardless of the industry you are working in. Can anyone say transferable skills?
• This / Not this is all about stepping out of our comfort zones. It’s all too easy to make conservative, or overly safe choices, especially when in unfamiliar situations. Travelling to countries where the culture is completely different, and we can’t speak the local language is a good example. Do you eat the local food, or make a “safer choice” and go to a well known global hamburger restaurant instead? Bad choice, right?
• This is a great article related the finding career direction series here. There are plenty of people looking to change careers and try something new, but uncertain where to look for direction. The best choice for your next career will not be based on what’s out there but on what’s in you. Says it all.
• Test time, come on, you enjoy tests, right? The JASPER Job Assets & Strengths Profiler poses a combination of word/picture association and agree/disagree type questions, to determine your work type. This test is completely free, anonymous, and delivers very comprehensive results.
• The Law of Attraction suggests that to attain our goals we should not only work towards to them, but they should also be foremost in our thinking. In other words, it’s a little like being pro-active while also thinking positively. What I found interesting was the number of times I’ve “worked” this way in the past to achieve goals without actually being aware of what I was doing. (If that makes any sense!)