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Are You Thinking Of Changing Your
Career?
We humans are funny creature... We
love routine. We love habit. We are ready to go to incredible lengths just to
ensure that we stay right where we are. Yes, we are scared stiff of
stepping out of our comfort zones to change our
jobs /careers, preferring to wake up each morning and drag ourselves to the same
old spot. Even though we hate every moment of it.
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Yes we are scared of
stepping into the unknown.
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We are scared shitless of the prospect of
getting out there in the job market,
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Doing job searches, applying
for jobs, and attending countless interviews.
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Scared that we will never be
able to make it to that ultimate goal of that dream job.
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And even more scared of the
thought of having to work with new people - total strangers...
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and deal with unknown
bosses, even though our current boss may be a total tyrant, pain in the... you
know what!
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Resume & Cover Letter
Tips for Mid Life Career Change | Career Change After 50
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Specify your most powerful and relevant
skills right up front in your cover letter and expand on them in your
resume.
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Why should the employer pick your resume
from among the hundred's of others?
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Remember the employer is mainly interested
in what you can do for them.
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Resume
Cover Letter Samples
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What
if this career crisis crops up as a mid life career change / a Career Change
After 50 ?!?!
We are scared of changing our careers even
though we might have long grown out of it, and even know this in our heart of
hearts. Yet just because we started our current career probably at a very young
age, invested a lot of time, effort, and money into it, so we are not ready to
step out of the box we have created for ourselves.
We prefer to feel a false sense of
security, which takes precedence over our self satisfaction, happiness and
lifestyle, even though we may be hating every minute of it. Getting up and going
to work may have become a terrible dreaded chore. We may in fact be willing to
expose ourselves to all kinds of indignities just to stay within the all
familiar environment... thereby ultimately stagnating ourselves and sinking
deeper and deeper into a never ending pit of shifting sands...
There was a time when a person started and
stayed in the same career/profession until the end of his/her working life. But
this is no longer so. Today with the constantly changing, fast growing diverse
economies, the revolution in information technology, and the changing face of
work, you have the option to shift gears, reverse and change directions.
Learning and growing is now a life long process. You have every right to review
and re-design your career around your life...
More and more people are finding themselves at
a midlife career change. At this stage the mere prospect of re-doing a career
research, gathering all the career info or going to a career counselor, choosing
a career, preparing and coming up with that killer career change resume
can become a freaking nightmare and makes ones hair stand on end.
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According to Labor
Bureau of Statistics, at least thirteen million people don't enjoy their
work in Canada alone!
Barely two years ago
I was at this cross roads myself... Even though I had put myself to
great lengths to obtain a professional degree from a University. Even
though I had spent ten long years in the same profession. Even though I
had already reached middle management level.... Yet I found myself at a
cross road. I found that I was no longer happy with my current career. I
found I needed to redesign my life. I found that my priorities of living
had changed. And I discovered that I had to re-evaluate, re-analyze, and
re-design my life all over again and at mid life too. So here are my three power steps to
follow through for a successful re-design of your career even at mid-life:
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1. Even before
you think of going for career change, Step back and
re-Analyze yourself:
Take some quite time to reflect on your
lifestyles, values, interests, motivations etc. You need to shift your
gears and change directions to suit your innermost requirements. While
dancing through your teen age dreams to your midlife years, there has been
a big shift in your life perspectives.
You have unknowingly undergone an
awakening. You no longer look at the world through a rainbow. Your 'inner
truths' are now totally different from what you started with. So
work on defining these requirements. For now you need to create a career
to match your very own character:
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What do you really
want to do?
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What inspires,
motivates or makes you happy?
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How much time do you want to spend
working?
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How much money do you want to earn?
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What kind of life
you want to lead
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How much travel do
you want
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What type of work
environment
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What are your
personal values
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Where you would
like to see yourself?
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Interview Tips
For Career Change After 50 / midlife Career Change
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Interviews for power positions are mostly based on behavioral and
situational questions.
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For Career Change situations, be prepared with short stories and anecdotes
from your past positions that highlight your various skill sets and
demonstrate how your work proved useful/ profitable to your employer.
Main points of interest usually are:
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Abilities to work with minimum supervision
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Abilities to work under pressure
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Strong problem solving, communication, leadership,
negotiation, conflict resolution and team building skills .
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Interview
Question Samples
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Honest answers to all the above
questions will help you in choosing a career for the new you.
Say You are a
rocket scientist, but you feel more alive and fulfilled while cooking
Christmas dinner for your family... Wouldn’t a career as a culinary artist
be more rewarding for you?...
In my case I discovered, I felt more alive while writing, instead of at my
technical position in which I had spent my entire earlier life; I felt I
needed more time to be with my family instead of spending long hours at my
job; I felt I wanted a more flexible work schedule instead of being
limited by the corporate work timings and pressure...
so analyze yourself, what do you really want to do? Choose your future
career very carefully. You don't want to land back in the same old career
burn out crisis a few years down the road.
2. Research Your New
Career
Once you have
chosen your career, you now need to chart your course...Find out what
do you need to do to get from where you are now to where you want to go...
Do career research:
What does our rocket scientist need to do to become a five star chef?
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Short-list the
industry/ companies you would like to work for. Research their work
requirements. Maybe talk to some people who are already working there.
Find out:
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What are the
credentials / experience you need...Do you need to go back to school? If
so, work along those lines: Where, what, How, finances etc.
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Can you weave in some of your current
credentials/ acquired or learned skills into your career change resume?
Once you have all the career info at
your finger tips, you should be able to come up with an action plan... a
list of things you need to accomplish to get started on the road to your
new career, such as:
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Enroll yourself in a
program to upgrade to the required credentials.
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Structure your job
search to target those companies/Industries you short-listed earlier.
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Write a resume that
makes your phone ring.
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Prepare
for career change interviews - Remember to be ready with short anecdotes
of yourself that demonstrate your integrity, your quick thinking, your
ability to resolve conflicts, How you handled situations in your previous
career that had a positive impact on your previous employers business etc.
These are very short stories interwoven with just a tiny bit of humour to
demonstrate in your career change interview, how you are going to prove to
be an asset in your new career. Also be able to explain why you need to
change your career at this stage... What is your career change reason; and what is different this time that
will make you stick to your new position... how you are passionate about
that line of work and how it streamlines smoothly with your values etc.
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Start applying or working towards your
new career.
3. Finally take focused
action...
Take one step at a time and follow through. Remember the
greatest journeys begin with the first step. So start working through your
goal list one step at a time and follow through diligently.
"Choose a job you love and you'll never have to work a day
in your life."
... Confucius
Good luck in your Career Change. Check out the resources
on this page , they might help you along your way.
More Career Development
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Copyright [C] Shahnaz Rauf,
www.snzeport.com
The
Author Shahnaz Rauf is a prolific writer with vast experience and interests.
To
read more of her articles visit: http://www.snzeport.com
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