Fancy a career change working as a full time reader of blog posts and articles? There’s easily enough reading to fill in a 40 hour week (if not more), so now just to find a way to earn money from it!

Here we go then, another “Friday five” from The InterChange Desk!

• Sometimes in the quest for our “dream job” we just need to look around for a role we simply like the name of, and then start working our way towards it. And if that’s you then Eccentric Employment, “a frequently updated Weblog of unusual, strange and interesting job opportunities” is the place to be. There’s information on anything from being a Cheese Intern, to an Aerospace Engineer, and almost everything in between. There’s even an opening for a Fairy… my niece would love that!
• Personal branding is not something that has been directly touched on here yet, though I have alluded to it in very roundabout ways once or twice. Is Your Personal Brand Unique? from Career Goddess, paraphrases a point made by Scott Ginsberg that a great personal brand is in-fact unique, not merely different. There’s a lot to be said for getting yourself noticed, and making a good impression at the same time.
• Resumes (or CVs, depending what part of the world you are in) have been discussed here a little bit this week. While I have suggested a couple of ways you can improve yours, the CV you have right now, may in-fact be fine. If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It is a timely reminder that a good resume is only part of a job search strategy, and it alone will not go landing you jobs.
• Time for a some motivational reading. Here’s a little Water Cooler wisdom on what to do if dreams and plans don’t fall into place or happen. In a way the article is suggesting we “choose” our dreams carefully. While we think we want one thing, and put all our time and energy into trying to achieve it, we may well be barking up the wrong tree. Are you following your dreams because that is what you really want, or what you are telling yourself you want?
• You couldn’t imagine I wouldn’t included a test or two in today’s Check List would you? Being Friday I thought we’d go for something not so serious. So are you a slacker? Or are you a workaholic? Maybe you are both, but either way I wouldn’t tell the boss, aren’t you meant to be working after all?! (A login is required to access these tests.)

As a quick follow up to yesterday’s article, Tips for fine tuning your CV, I thought I would point out a few examples of what a little creativity can do to spice up a resume.

While the CVs I have featured are mostly those of web or graphic designers, if you study them closely you may find one or two simple ideas you could apply to your own resume.

You don’t need any design expertise, or even the ability to produce graphics, but see if you can simply draw some inspiration from the layout of the information, or the way the headings are styled, for example.

• Michael Efford is Perth based a multimedia and graphic designer, and uses a combination of two font colours and a two column layout to produce a CV that is very simple, yet very striking.
• Lee Stephens an Australian web designer currently based in Europe, has an elegant, classically styled resume, which also features images of some of his work.
• Lily Feng is a New York based photographer and designer, whose CV is just one page in length! I know she’s only been working a couple of years, but this is a great example of how less is more.
• Adrian Redman also uses a two column layout. Notice how the spacing of the information and the truncated headings create a document that is eye catching without really trying to be.
• Tony Cormack uses a splash of colour to make his CV stand out in the crowd! Another example of a one page CV.

A CV that just stands out that little bit more could prove a valuable asset for career changers, especially if it catches the eye of the right person.

Think of it as being an attention creating gimmick that isn’t trying to be such!

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!)

In the final article in this series I will outline another two methods of finding career direction.

So far we have looked at recalling childhood dreams and career hopes, and also examined some online career self assessment tests, as well as creating a “skills inventory”, a list of all our talents and abilities.

Now it is time to do some reading.

This part of the exercise may take a little longer to complete than the steps covered so far, but then again this is not a process that you want to rush. Making a decision too quickly could prove costly if it turns out to be the wrong one.

I have known of people who have raced out to sign up for expensive (and worse still, “pay upfront”) courses, only to find part way into it, that they have no interest, whatsoever, in what they are studying.

So it is far better to take your time, ask many and varying questions, and if at the end of that process the answers are all the same, then you can be far more reassured when it comes to working out a career change strategy.

There are two books that are not only favourites of mine, but also millions of other career changers worldwide.

In fact I knew of one, “What Color Is Your Parachute?” (written by Richard N Bolles) by name, from hearing people refer to it in conversation, before I even knew what it was about. Recreational parachute jumping perhaps?

Well not quite. The title not only refers to taking chances and risks, as you would if you were making a parachute jump, but also to building up the confidence necessary to make such a “jump”, or in this case, career change.

The second title, “Do What You Are” (written by Paul D Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger), identifies ideal careers and jobs that correlate to your Myers-Briggs personality type, in a similar vein to the Career Personality Test I wrote about in part 2 of this series.

By the way, it is not my intention to review these books at this stage (though I will be in the future), but rather introduce them and suggest reading them as part of your research.

Both these books differ markedly in their approaches, and it is for this reason that I recommend you read both.

And while both offer far more than just methods of discovering an ideal career, if after reading both books, and working through the exercises and evaluations they include, and they both give you the same answer, then you can be certain you have identified a career direction worth pursuing more seriously.

Once you have completed this step (and, as I say, it will take some time), you can then review where you are. Are there some clear career options in view now? Do the outcomes of your testing, and reading, exercises back each other up?

How do these results compare with the career thoughts you had while growing up?

At this point though you may find some variation, or difference, with the outcome of your more recent research. As a youngster you may have dreamed of being a reporter, but after doing some reading and competency tests, now find a career in web design appeals to you.

And this is fine. What we want does change overtime. For example, there would be people who grew up wanting to be reporters, who went on to become reporters, and after fulfilling careers as reporters, decided they wanted to try something else.

And likewise, your preferences may have changed over time. Remember, referring back to, or recalling childhood career ambitions, was just one suggestion for finding career direction.

Now that you have found a potential new career, it is time to speak to other people about it. Begin by sounding out family and friends. Ask them if they think you would make a good web designer, coffee shop owner, or whatever you have identified.

This partially relates to a point I made in The Road Map article, where I said an important part of the career change process was having the backing and support of those close to you.

But there is another way friends and family can play a part. They know you, and how you tick. And they usually have no quibbles offering quite direct (and blunt!) observations or feedback on your ideas. In short, if they like it, chances are it’s a good idea!

So at the end of this period of self assessment you should have narrowed down at least one or two definite career options. You should also be confident in yourself of these outcomes, as a result of cross checking and testing, and also have some affirmation from friends and family as well.

You can now start looking at the skills requirements of your intended new career, and equipped with your skills inventory, ascertain what transferable skills you have, and then work out what effort is required to make the career transition.

Here’s a short summary of the steps involved in finding career direction:

• 1: Think back to your career ambitions when growing up. What careers or jobs excited you as a child? As I said, not all of these dreams or hopes are naive or overly fantastic, and in some cases “life may have got in the way” of these ambitions, or they were clouded over by the doubts of ourselves and others.
• 2: Embark on some self discovery. Take some online career aptitude tests.
• 3: Read! There are some very good books (see above) that illustrate methods of discovering career direction.
• 4: Seek reaffirmation and feedback. Speak to people who know you well. Sound out their opinions of the ideas you have. Do others think your choice is a good idea?

Last week I wrote about a conversation I had with a former colleague some years ago.

To recap, he had been working for almost 30 years but could not find a job, or career, he enjoyed. His words still echo in my mind, “I have no idea what I want to do.” In the first part of this article, we discussed turning to, and recalling our childhood dreams, in the search for career direction and inspiration.

And we probably all know several people who went on to become what they dreamed of being as children, such as accountants, architects, real estate agents, dentists, writers, or lawyers, to name but a few ambitions.

But what about those of us who did not have such clear ideas about what we wanted to do? What about those of us who, despite giving the matter considerable thought, still cannot find any career inspiration or direction?

We were not quite as lucky as our school mates who, at what seems like age 11, knew where they were going. But the only difference between us and them, is that we are the people who have to do a little work, or research, to find a career that, in the words of Gilligan to the Skipper, “floats our boat”.

Let’s make a start. The first step is to compile, or list, your existing skills and qualifications. Whether you put these on paper or a spreadsheet, make sure that you have them recorded somewhere. This list, or skills inventory, will also be useful in determining your transferable skills, that is, talents and abilities that can be “reused” in other career fields.

A good example of a skills inventory can be found at the Online Writing Lab, and you can print out the list they have compiled, and simply mark or highlight whatever skills of yours appear on their list. Be sure to also add your own ideas.

As I’ve said before, knowing exactly what skills you already have will make the process of working out what you need to acquire a whole lot simpler. Once you have completed your skills inventory, put it aside for later reference.

Now it is time to embark on a little self discovery. Personally this was the part of the career change process I enjoyed the most, because while I was learning a little bit about myself, I was also having some fun.

Online career aptitude and competency tests are a relatively quick, and inexpensive, method of garnering information about yourself while also discovering some career direction possibilities.

While there are number of organizations providing online tests of this nature (one or two are listed in these posts), I have always found the tests offered by Tickle (formerly known as Emode) to be comprehensive and informative.

These are not tests of the “five question instant result” variety, and in fact you will need to allow 20 to 30 minutes to work through individual tests. I have listed four that I have found to be the most helpful, and while more are available, given that almost two hours is required to complete these four, I won’t suggest any more right now!

Career Personality Test is based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which analyses aspects of your personality and then suggests careers best suited to your Myers-Briggs personality type.

Career Interest Inventory tests your interest in 12 different career areas and determines where your work related preferences lie. It provides a number of career options that suit your interests, plus also a list of more “off beat” possibilities that remain in keeping with your core career interests.

Right Job/Wrong Job examines some of your competencies and assesses your primary and secondary career personality types (unrelated, by the way, to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test).

The results suggest a job that is right for you, with reasoning why, and to offer contrast, a job that is wrong for you, and why. I found studying the comparisons between the two quite revealing. It also offers salary expectations, although these may only be of relevance in the US.

What’s Your True Talent? This test is a little more testing as it assesses your skills in five primary areas being, abstract reasoning, verbal ability, numerical ability, spatial ability, and mechanical ability. Again, career and job options that match your strongest ability or talent are provided.

By the time you have completed these four test you will certainly have two or three definite career possibilities that you can begin to further investigate.

There are a few points to bear in mind while taking tests of this nature though. The first, and perhaps most important, is the need to be completely honest with yourself. Remember no-one needs to see, or even know that you took these tests, so be completely open, completely yourself, when answering the questions.

Also, approach these tests with an impartial attitude. Answer questions as things are, not as you would like them to be. You may despise your current job or career with a loathing, but don’t answer the questions with any sort of bias.

For example, if you are an accountant and you are asked whether you enjoy a particular part of that work, answer honestly. Don’t adopt the mind-set that because you can’t stand accounting period, you therefore hate every last aspect of the work involved, and are determined your answers will reflect that attitude also! This will only skew the results in a wrong direction.

Another tip is to print out your test results and reports. Although a service like Tickle/Emode keeps the results archived permanently on your account which you can always access, having a paper version you can sit down and study, and also refer to at anytime, is very handy.

These tests not only suggest career options, and also some alternatives, they also offer a plan of action so that you can get the ball rolling, should you find something of interest.

Finally, you will be required to set up an account, which includes supplying an email address, and while basic test results are free, to receive the detailed reports you will need to pay a small cost.

At the time of writing this was about US$10 (ten) per report, but usually when you buy one report, you are granted full access for a week to all Tickle/Emode tests, so what you can do is buy one report, and then take as many others as you want, free, over the next seven days.

Tomorrow I will look at a few more methods of finding career direction, in the third part of this series.

Ok, it’s Friday already! So without further ado let me present a few coffee break distractions. And true, it may take a while to work through these, but aren’t Friday’s all about long coffee breaks?!

• A dream board is a way of creating a visual representation of a goal, and by having something tangible to focus on, this can help us strive towards it. If your goal, for instance, is to own a Ferrari then what better way to stay motivated than by a seeing a photo of a Ferrari each day? Career changers could make a useful adaption of this idea as well!
• Dr. Bamster’s Blog has a specialist focus on issues facing those 40 and over who are changing jobs or careers.
• Build a More Meaningful Career is an article written by Robin Ryan at QuintCareers. “30 million people go to work each day to a job they hate” was the line that caught my attention, and Robin suggests a few reasons why moving on is a good idea, if you are one of those 30 million people!
• Quiz time! This career interest test with 100 questions may seem long, and some questions may seem irrelevant, but bear with this one because it’s all going somewhere! A free ten point report result is delivered after the test, which you can re-access and view whenever you want, and there is also an option to pay for a more detailed report if you choose. A tip for non US residents, use 00000 (that is five zeros) as a zip code.
• You become what you think about, is the gist and summary of a great inspirational post over at Dream Jobs Dialog. As Michael Werner points out though, “thinking” should not be confused with merely “daydreaming”, but rather “thinking” is a plan of action in this context.

Most mornings I can usually be found around to the local cafe looking for my daily coffee fix. I usually order takeaway, so I can drink it back here while reading emails and planning the day, but the other morning, just for a change, I decided to stay there and read the newspaper instead.

Two people arrived and sat down at the table next to me. In a nutshell Person A, as we shall call him, needed some advice from, shall we call him, Person B.

Person A explained his problem while Person B listened carefully. Without going into too much detail, Person A was having trouble with an employee. Person B, judging by his comments, sounded quite familiar with Person A’s sort of issue.

While Person A had done the right thing in seeking the counsel of someone with the expertise he required, he was unfortunately doing himself a disservice by NOT listening to a single word that Person B was saying.

Person A was almost instantly dismissing every suggestion and idea that Person B was offering. In fact Person A sometimes wasn’t even giving Person B time to finish his sentence before interrupting and saying, “no, that would never work”, or, “no, that couldn’t be done.”

It made me wonder why Person A had bothered asking for Person B’s advice in the first place. It was also, I thought, quite rude of him to waste Person B’s time like this.

Eventually Person B managed to prevail with his initial suggestion, but only because Person A had little choice to do so anyway, due to what employment laws say in regard to his situation.

It almost seems that if the law hadn’t have intervened, as it were, Person B would have completely wasted his time travelling out to the cafe to try and help Person A.

And out of this situation I could see a lesson for us all, including those of us changing careers.

If you’re seeking advice from someone, make sure you listen to them. If you’ve asked someone to give up their time to help you, at least have the courtesy to hear them out. Don’t go rejecting every last word, like Person A in the cafe, did.

Every idea, or suggestion, no matter how apparently outlandish or ridiculous it seems, should be taken on board and considered. Keep an open mind. One quite “extreme” idea may lead to another you consider a little more plausible.

Indeed let one idea lead to another. Consider radical ideas the beginning of the thought and problem solving process, rather than something to be dismissed.

Remember, the person you are asking may know you better than you think, and what they say may be of more value than you initially realise.