• Talking to a friend over the weekend, I found myself saying that it's almost easier to plan a career change when you're already working at a job/in a career that you can tolerate.  I think the thought struck me because it flies in the face of the common practice of "taking the leap", "cutting the cord", or any other number of metaphors for leaving your current job so you can focus on your next step. Now before going any further its important to say that this approach can work for some people. In fact, there are probably some individuals for whom the only way to make a drastic change is to take drastic action. But my guess is that this

    Aug 25,
  • It's usually an accumulation of small comments that tips you off.  Perhaps during your weekly/monthly/yearly phone call with your daughter you start to hear a common sentiment:  "It felt like a great job at first but now I'm not sure...," or "I'm as bored at this job as I was at the last one. I still don't know what to do with my life...," or even "I had another talk with my supervisor."    You're a parent.  You know your child. And you can see the problem coming. No matter how it's said, the point is the same: your kid needs a different career. But is there anything that you can (or should) do? Fair question. You're a parent.  You

    Sep 06,
  • The process problem. In the last post, I made the case that leaving your current job/career to create some space to consider your next career was stacking the deck against you.  I'll be the first to agree that this can work for some people. But, in my experience the pressure that comes with this sort of move makes it more difficult to make a sound career decision.  So where does this leave us? How do we move forward with career change while still holding down our regular job? So where does this leave us? How do we move forward with career change while still holding down our regular job? A small point of clarification, this post is not focused on

    Aug 29,
  • From time to time I like to take a brief moment to highlight a resource that is particularly useful in the career exploration process.  This time, I'll call your attention to the Career OneStop Salary Finder. Salary information is a vital piece of information when we are choosing a career.  Without understanding an expected salary range, it can be hard to envision how well a particular career might align with our desired standard of living.  If you will need to be making payments on student loans, you need to know how much education investment makes sense.  Given this need, it isn't surprising that several services exist to help you explore salary (Payscale and Glassdoor are two others), but Career OneStop

    Aug 02,
  • We all experience stress at work (if you don't, figure out why and tell the rest of us). This stress could come from a variety of sources, but the result is often the same. You start to wonder if you are in the right place, if all hours you are investing in this career are worth it.  This is a common reason that people might initially consider career consultation.  But before we dive headlong into a entire career shift, it can be worthwhile to consider whether these problems come from a poor career fit or poor fit to a specific position. We all experience stress at work (if you don't, please figure out why and then tell the rest of

    Apr 04,