I don’t know about you, but I love doing online quizzes. It’s like I can never find out enough about myself. I am therefore pleased to include a quiz in this week’s checklist Friday five, as it’s been a while between drinks. I’ve also included a survey that may be of interest to web designers, just for good measure. Enjoy the weekend!

• This may come as a surprise to many, but very little is known about the demographics, and exact duties of a web designer, even though web design has been a profession for over a decade! A List Apart, the online compendium of all things web design, is currently conducting a survey to learn more about who a web designer is, what they do, and what is expected of them. A better understanding of web design, and even some documented knowledge of the profession, would be useful for those thinking about a career (change) in web, so if you are a designer please consider participating, and adding to the knowledge base. A knowledge base would be helpful. I once told a neighbour I was a web designer, and he immediately asked if I could fix his modem. Sorry, call the helpdesk, dude…
• “Blogs are the new resume” has been a hot topic of discussion in recent weeks, but the tone has at times been cautionary, and stories abound of employers finding all manner of “objectionable” deal breaking material on a job applicant’s blog or MySpace page. Martin Burns points out that we shouldn’t go completely erasing our online presence just yet though…
• Australian recruitment company Chandler MacLeod is currently featuring a new career type personality test on their website. While you may find answering a series of either/or questions which appear to be very similar, and that seem to repeat, a little frustrating, persevere as you should find the reasonably detailed test result enjoyable. It’s free. And anonymous. Which is exactly what we want of a recruiter’s website!
• On the topic on “self discovery”, or personality quizzes and tests, Patricia Kitchen reminds us that such quizzes are never complete, or comprehensive, and will only ever answer part of the “who we are” question.
• Re-think Yourself Into a World of Possibilities: this week’s motivational read from Passion Meets Purpose. If you’re in a ditch then unhitch. Brilliant!

Here’s a double serve of the Friday five for you this week. While you’d think I did nothing but spend my days surfing the net, that’s not quite the case. There’s a lot of good stuff out there, and we have to keep on top of it somehow! Happy reading, I’ll see you all again next week!

• Slash careers are a by-product of the multifaceted, multitasking times we live in. If you have a “job title” that looks like say this: designer / writer / speaker then you are a “Slash Careerist”! This could be a smart way of effecting a career change though. Begin doing part of the time (and in addition to your current career or work) what you would like to do all of the time…
• Some sort of study will usually be required by those changing careers. But how to fit in study time while trying to hold down a full time job, taking care of a family, etc? How to study with a full-time job offers a few good pointers.
• Ghosting… No, it’s not about pursuing a new career as a ghost buster, but is a training method used by sports people. It’s a little like role play, whereby you imagine yourself to be in a real, or live, situation during practice sessions. Think “fake it before you make it”.
• Finding Your Passion Amid the Hate is some great motivational reading at Success from the Nest, which I found this via a post at Antbag.com
• Refactoring Your Career is an article that runs a little a long the lines of my 10° career change article, in that it suggests making small changes until you reach the place you want to be. Software releases are subtly changed or “refactored” overtime, which end users seldom notice as it still appears to carry out the same function. Think of how software like Word or Excel has changed over time for example.
• 4 Reasons to Do (Work) Only What You Love: a very succinct and to the point article at Lifecho.
• Is It Your Job, Or Your Passion? Think about the amount of time you spend working. If you enjoy it, great. If not, then you should give the reasons why you stay put some thought.
• Find Your Inner Jerry Maguire. “What is it that separates those who succeed from those who fail?” Whoever thought we could take a few pointers from Tom Cruise?
• While aimed more at those who find themselves out of work suddenly, Five Tips to Jump Start Your Network is also useful reading for career changers looking to establish some networks. Never underestimate the power of networking…
• Time for some fun. Sometimes finding career direction is simply a matter of looking back to the future! The Futuristic Job Quiz will set you in the right direction. Who knows, you may find a job that is “groundbreaking” and “ahead of its time”!

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.)

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!)

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.