Career Search Action Plan

Tweetchat today in #careerchat was on your Career Search Action Plan

Here are some of the highlights -
What are the main components of a career action plan?

• Where you are, where you want to be and the plan is how you are going to get there
• Plan should be broken up into time frames - 3 months, 6 months, 1 year 5 year etc.
• A start point and an end point. Know how you will start and have a reachable goal in mind, with room to adjust.
• As with any plan - C.A.P. must be SMART - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely
• An interim step... figure out what you want, then make SURE that is REALLY what you want. Volunteer, Intern, job shadow.
• I like looking at LI profiles of people who do what I want to do. Great info on how to get there.

How do you get started on putting together an action plan?

• assess skills, find ones needed, how to obtain the new skills, how to market yourself once you have the new skills
• You might want to use sites like the @Vault or @glassdoordotcom to help you research
• Make 3 column list of jobs that interest u, traits/skills nec., & how u will acquire those skills.
• Prepare Short term and Long term GOALS 5. Prepare action plan to sort the achievable
• Conduct info meetings with colleagues and referrals of people who have the job you are after. Learn how they got there! 
• Your HR Department may be a resource for career plan help, especially if you would  like to stay with your existing company
• Studies show if you articulate it (tell someone) your goals, you're MUCH more likely to do it.

When do you need to adjust/revisit your action plan?

• You should look over it often, even it's just quarterly. If you have gone astray, it's time to kick it back into motion.
• whenever you attain an original goal, you need to reevaluate, you need an if/then philosophy
• If something isn't working or you found a new direction
• Know your PERFORMANCE EVALUATION system-very important thing to do to keep track of career action plan as an employee
• If you find yourself dreading work more than loving it, time to re-evaluate
• Don't wait until you've been laid off or are in a tough spot to start thinking about your plan, it'll be too late
• Career action plans must be PROACTIVE not REACTIVE
• Do you stick to the same profession or change completely? yes, if there is growth potential, if not change!
• Have you written your career plan or is it all in your head?

If you are working on your career plan, you can use http://www.illinoisworknet.com/vos_portal/residents/en/Prepare/ as a resource to help you in the planning and assessment process.

Career Goals 2011

What are your career goals for 2011?

Are you in the job search mode?

• What new tools are you planning on using or learning to help in your job search? 
• Do you already have a LinkedIn account? 
• Are you going to check to see if it is being the most effective it can be for you?
• Do you use Twitter to look for jobs?
• Have you investigated the job search component of Facebook?
• Are you networking?
• Have you joined any new industry related associations?
• Are you participating in informational interviews?
• Have you decided to volunteer to keep your skills up to date?
• Are you planning on changing careers?
• Does that career change include learning new skills?

Are you working? What are your plans to enhance your current career?

• Are you taking a class or learning something to keep your skills current?
• Do you need to address a character flaw that is keeping you from a promotion?
• What one thing can YOU change that would make your job easier?
• What one thing can you address with your supervisor that would make your job easier?
• Is this job a career or do you need to check into another path?

Are you going to school?

• Will you be finishing your training this year and looking for a new job?
• What are you doing now to network or prepare in advance for that job search? Check out the items above.

Do you have some personal goals that will make your life easier or improve your self-esteem level to give you a better outlook on life?

• Do you need to be more fit or drop a few pounds?
• Do you need to de-clutter?
• Do you need to stop smoking?

Whatever or whereever you are in your life, you cannot reach a goal if you do not have one.  Set a goal, make a plan, and start working toward your goal.  If a long range goal is too scary, set several interim goals and reward yourself along the way. If you need to loose weight and your ultimate goal is 25 pounds, set those in 5 pound increments.  If you need a new job and make a plan that might include researching two new companies and what jobs they have to offer each week.  Add a new task as you go.

What other suggestions do you have?  What are your goals?

Holiday Job Search Tips

The holidays may offer time for reflection and resolutions, thoughts about family and future from Thanksgiving through the new-year.  The season also presents challenges and opportunities for people seeking employment.  KCDEE reminds people who are unemployed or facing an uncertain future to understand that jobs are available and for those individuals considering a career change, this is an excellent time to explore training and education possibilities.

We offer these “Holiday Tips” to inspire people to be diligent in their pursuit of education, training and employment opportunities and to ensure that they take full advantage of our Illinois workNet Centers.  The workNet staff works hard to satisfy the demands of our customers - unemployed individuals and companies who seek good employees. These  “Holiday Tips" are presented to encourage people to not despair during this season and instead make the best use of our resources in their quest to satisfy their personal career goals and to meet the needs of their family. Check the Illinois workNet website to find a center near you.

                   Kane County Department of Employment and Education Offers

                             Holiday Tips for Dislocated or Unemployed Workers

1. Continue to apply for full time work during the holiday season.  Make sure your application and resume are there for employers when they are considering hiring new people in the New Year.
2. Seek part-time work during the holiday season.  Many people are hired to fill positions created by holiday vacations or to meet year-end demand from customers.  Some employers evaluate part-time employees for full-time positions.  This is your opportunity to shine and make a good impression.
3. If there are any career fairs – dress for success and show-up with a resume.   Job fairs offer a great opportunity to meet potential employers face-to-face.
4. Network yourself, at gatherings, to people who might be aware of job openings.  Many referrals for jobs come from employees, talk to someone you know who works for a company where you would like to work and get the inside scoop on jobs.   In social situations maintain a level of professionalism.
5. Utilize resources from any training institution, college, university or school you have attended to help you discover jobs that may not be advertised or posted on an Internet job search website. 
6. Keep a watchful eye on expenses.  Focus on the many good things in your life and not the materialistic demands of the season.  Many successful people look back to tight financial times, when they focused on family and friendship, as some of the best, most meaningful moments in their lives.
7. Explore the services available to you through local agencies to improve your resume and interviewing skills. Help is available from the Illinois workNet Centers for job counseling, job search and access to a number of websites. 
8. Be positive and patient.  Understand that job loss, unemployment and job seeking are stressful situations.    There is truth to the fact that the hardest job of all is finding a good job.  
9. Get organized.  Write and design a new resume, list employers that offer good career opportunities.  Be methodical about your job search and set goals for contacting employers by keeping a daily contact log. 
10. Be courteous and understanding when you follow up with potential employers - your attitude on the phone may be the deciding factor in getting an interview or job offer.  A positive attitude to your job search and interviews will help you be successful.  “Thank You” notes and letters after the interview offer you another opportunity to sell yourself to an employer or to drive home a point you may have overlooked during your interview.
11. Try to be flexible in your approach to your career. Understand that you will always be acquiring new skills and adapting to new technology in almost every occupation.  Many people will change jobs or career paths with their current employer many times in their working life.  

The Illinois workNet Centers offer services from a group of partnering agencies, at a one-stop location, to assist job seekers find employment and where employers can meet their workforce development goals.   There are Centers in Elgin, North Aurora, DeKalb and satellites in Aurora and Yorkville that will help you.

The workNet Centers offer various workshops to help you improve your resume, your interviewing techniques and other skills to help you improve your job search activities.  Career counseling, labor market information about jobs in demand in your county and access to education and training resources are just some of the services available at the center to assist you in your job search.   

How non-traditional are you?

At the fall Working for the Fox Valley job fair the Today Show filmed some of the job seekers for a piece that they were working on for Monday, September 20, 2010 http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/39267648#39267648  while none of the footage appeared in the segment, we did notice there were several men being filmed and interviewed for the piece. This clip noted that there are more women in the workforce today than men.


The Today Show discussion was based on an article in Newsweek this week on the new masculinity. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/09/20/why-we-need-to-reimagine-masculinity.html  But let's discuss what non-traditional means. Jobs throughout history have been segmented toward a particular gender. During World War II, for example, while the men were overseas fighting the war, there was a large push for women to fill the jobs previously held by the soldiers. Hence the name, Rosie the Riveter. When the men returned, most of the women went back to their stay at home lives. By today's definition, non-traditional occupations would be:

Men - nursing, home health care, teachers, customer service reps and stay-at-home dads.
Women - construction, truck driver, airline pilot, CEO, CFO, and many, many more.

Have you ever heard the term blue job or pink job? It was explained to me as blue jobs are those jobs around the home that would traditionally be performed by the male in the household - lawn work, home repairs, garbage to the curb, and a pink job would be those performed by the female - laundry, childcare, cooking, cleaning, errands, shopping, etc. What happens in a non-traditional experience is that the household duties are shared, as should the work world duties.

While the world is still a long way from having employment areas not be defined by "non-traditional", a quote from the Newsweek article states: In fact, men dominate only two of the 12 job titles expected to grow the most between 2008 and 2018: construction worker and accountant. The rest, including teachers (501,000 new positions), registered nurses (582,000), home health aides (461,000), and customer-service reps (400,000), remain heavily female. All told, the social sector of the economy will gain 6.9 million jobs by 2018.


There are emerging jobs in the market place.  One of our partners explains them well - http://www.illinoisworknet.com/VOS_PORTAL/industry/en/home/EmergingJobs. If you are currently unemployed and determining whether you need to update your existing skills or find a new career path, you may wish to research the Key Sectors of employment defined in Illinois as Agriculture, Healthcare, Information Technologies, Manufacturing and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics.  Perhaps you might find an area that would interest you.

If you are interested in more non-traditional careers, an entire list can be found on this website: http://www.quintcareers.com/non-traditional_careers.html

Employed or not, perhaps you will investigate moving into one of those more non-traditional areas of employment.