Peak Careers

Professional Development for Career Practitioners

Career

Why Is A Career Transition So Difficult?

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Whether you planned for the career transition or it was

 unplanned…it is still often difficult.

career transition

While an unplanned career transition may be more challenging, any change involves adjustment. Most of us live as if our lives will stay the same every day. I was listening to the podcast ‘Hidden Brain’ where people were asked to look ahead 10 years. How much change do they expect to happen? Then people were asked to look back 10 years at how much change had actually happened. There was a huge disconnect! People looking forward predicted there would be little. People looking back saw quite a bit.  

How do we prepare those we work with for the inevitable change that will occur in their lives and a career transition?

Our goal as career coaches and practitioners is to help our clients understand that change is inevitable and there is a process that people will go through. Sometimes starting with anger or confusion and eventually on to making a plan. As William Bridges says, you have to begin with the end (put closure to what you were), then move to the neutral zone (often confusing and uncomfortable) and then to the beginning (starting that new job). Our job is to help them through this process and help them make that plan.

There are three deer that walk behind my house every night, around the neighbor’s house, and over to a small grove of apple trees. Every night. We are also creatures of habit and that consistency is what makes us comfortable on a daily basis. When we change jobs that career transition shifts our lives. Our roles, routines, relationships all are shifted.

When I left the community college six years ago to go full-time with Peak-Careers, I was in charge of that career transition. I choose to leave. But I was surprised at how much my day changed and the adjustment I went through!

  • My role was different, I was no longer the director of the Advising & Career Center.
  • My relationships changed. I no longer chatted with fellow employees at the copy machine  I worked solo now. Much less collaboration or team projects.
  • My routines changed. My commute was from the kitchen to my office.

So what can we do to help our clients / students with their career transition? Whether it is from college to work or from one job to another?

  1. Help them create new routines. If they are currently out of work, get them to “create a work day”. Get up at the same time they did for work. Set goals to accomplish daily.
  2. Get them to talk about a past career transition (or any other transition) that they “survived” and maybe even improved on. How did they navigate that transition? What supports did they have? What strategies did they engage in?
  3.  Try to normalize the change by seeking support from others, practicing healthy mindfulness or exercise, to calm themselves.
  4. Help them create goals to move on.

They will get through this career transition. It may not happen in a week. It may take several months even. But help them see the career transition for what it is, something they are going through and will get through.

How do you help your clients through their career transition?

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Explore this topic with other career service providers and practitioners further…

– – >  Check out my 5 – week, discussion-based, online seminar approved for 15 hours of continuing education by CCE.   Transitions Seminar

Read more of my blogs on transitions and my interview with Dr. Nancy Schlossberg

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a monthly newsletter for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

Sign up here to receive my  TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON.  You can also receive the career practitioners newsletter which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. 

How to help your clients / students create luck. (Yes you can create luck!)

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So… Can you create luck?

create luck

In Gregg Levoy’s book Callings, he devotes a chapter to synchronicity, another way to create luck in your search for your new career path. Synchronicity is a coincidence…a meaningful coincidence that can inform us, primarily through intuition.

Chemist Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Yes, you can create luck and Dr Richard Wiseman proves it in his book, The Luck Factor. (Read my book review here). Two things you need are to be open to opportunities (Pasteur’s quote above) and trust your instincts (Levoy’s chapter).

In order to create luck, I talk to my clients about embracing “intentional serendipity” taking  action and then being open to discovering something by accident. In order to do this, you have to trust your intuition and instincts.

Our instincts have gotten us to this point in humankind after 10,000 years of trying to survive. Computers and assessments are not the only way to move forward in your career search. Trusting your hunches, those instincts that help us navigate our daily lives are useful in career searching. When you create luck, through action, then you have to trust your hunches on what that action might tell you.

So how do I help my clients create luck?

First thing I do is help them determine what their “value” is in the workplace. What makes them unique? What skills, interests, passions, character traits can help organizations to solve problems. Then I have them take action…even a small action step can create results.

My “go to” action recommendations are:

1. Informational interviews: These are not just an interview to learn about a specific occupation, but an interview to discover what else is out there. I encourage my clients to interview a person about an occupation but to ask questions like: What other jobs have you thought about doing that are similar to this? If you were to do it all over again, would you do something different? Who else in your company needs these skill sets to be successful? So they are not just looking at that specific job, but any and all other jobs that person can think of. Create luck by trusting your instincts to discover what else is out there.

2 Volunteer in an area that is related to what you are exploring. When you get there, do a good job, ask lots of questions, and seek to learn what other people do for work and get their ideas on how to your skill sets might be useful. Ask if they could introduce you to someone doing work that interests you.

3. Part time job / internships. (see above advice in #2 Volunteer)

4. Research online in sites like ONET, LinkedIn, and any other site, letting your curiosity take you anywhere that looks interesting to create luck and discover something new. I like to have my clients / students play what I call a “related occupation” game. Go to ONET or Occupational Outlook Handbook and search for an occupation of interest. Click on it, and then immediately click on the “related occupations” link without reading anything else first. What do you see there that looks interesting? Just let serendipity take its course.

What are the themes? What types of jobs did you find? What do they have in common?

Trust your instincts and go where ever you want to go. Let that serendipity help you create luck in finding a potential new job.

5. Read — just about anything from blogs, newspapers, magazines, LinkedIn posts — and pay attention to what grabs your attention. Is it “heart-felt stories?”  Science?  Psychology?

Case in point. A client I was working with has a 20 year background in paralegal work and had moved recently to central Maine. I sensed she was not really interested in continuing to work in the legal world and we discussed a number of options. One piece of advice I gave was to follow your instincts and do something you love to do. She was offered three jobs, two in the legal field and one was an entry level position at the Humane Society as a ‘cat tech’. She took that one because she was “excited about it”. After a very short period of time, she was offered the Program Director position.

So, was this luck? I say yes and she created it.

She created it by trusting her instincts, trying a job that she was excited about, and she was open to opportunities that were presented to her.

What stories do you have that “created luck?”

Check out my Facebook Live:
What is ‘intentional serendipity’?
Wednesday February 28 6:30pm (Eastern)
 

*Read more about intentional serendipity, luck, and happenstance here.

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a monthly newsletter for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

Sign up here to receive my  TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON.  You can also receive the career practitioners newsletter which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. 

3 Words To Guide Me

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3 Words To Guide Me in 2018

BROADER AND LAYERED
Once again I have chosen 3 words to guide me as I begin a new year. I also have goals written for my business and some personal goals. Yet, I have found a lot of power in choosing 3 words to guide me each year. They are posted on my computer, my refrigerator, my bathroom mirror, and placed on the bottom of all my PowerPoint presentations that I do. Goals are great and tend to be very specific. My 3 words are broader and have layered meanings to them.

PUTTING IT OUT TO THE UNIVERSE
Having these words visible throughout my day and in a variety of physical locations keeps them fresh in my mind. The power of the universe is great and by focusing on 3 words and what they mean to me…and seeing those words throughout my day, is sending a message to the universe and myself that they are important.

FEELS RIGHT
So how do I find my words? Or better yet, how do my words find me?

I have been taking a ‘tech-free’ retreat day at least 4 – 6 times a year now. This is a day that I spend out of my office, away from my house, where I journal, draft blogs, meditate, think, go for walks, read books and journals, and simplify my work life for the day.

At my retreat in November, I reviewed my journal for 2017 to see if there were any themes that came out to me. I discovered and wrote down 7- 10 words. For the next month I spent some time thinking about those words…the meaning of the word in a variety of contexts…how it felt…

Over time the words reach out to me.

Here are my 3 words and a little about what they mean to me.3 words to guide me

REACH:
As I come up to my 6th Anniversary of being full-time with Peak-Careers Consulting (Feb 3), I feel that this is the year to push myself a bit and to stretch for some new things in my business and life. I want to do some webinars this year and convert my YouTube interviews to PodCasts so that more people can listen to them. I am quite proud of these 15-20 interviews with a wide variety of people.

There are other areas of my business and life that this word will apply to as well and I will probably be surprised at what other areas it percolates into.

CAPACITY:
Along with reach comes a realization that I do have a capacity issue. How many seminars can I run at one time? How many blogs can I write? How many career coaching clients can I see each month? How many different social media platforms can I be on? How many FCD classes can I teach each year? AND provide quality content.

Capacity. This was an issue raised by a person from SCORE a few years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it.

Providing quality content for career practitioners is what I am most proud of and want to continue to provide. To do so requires a real awareness of my capacity.

I have had a Virtual Assistant, Jessie, for 2 ½ years now, one of the best moves I ever made. In 2015 I really thought I could not afford to hire a VA. But the reality was (and is), I could not afford to NOT hire someone to help. She has really helped with my capacity. I now have two people helping me with Peak-Careers, freeing up time for me to write and deliver services.

Whenever I find something on my “To Do” list that keeps moving from day to day, I ask myself, can someone else do this for me? Because the reality is, if it keeps moving down my “To Do” list, it is probably something I don’t want to do.

CONSISTENCY:
I realize the importance of routines now more than ever. Dr. Nancy Schlossberg’s Transition Theory speaks to the impact of any transition on a person’s roles, relationships, and routines.

My morning routine is what sets my day up. I start most days doing a Qi Gong practice. I have two different ones that I mix up and it begins my day with focusing on my body and mind…stretching, moving, and being mindful about the moment. I then journal about whatever is on my mind both personally and professionally. This too helps focus me for the day.

Consistency is also important in my writing, delivery of content, newsletters, blogs, and everything I do for Peak-Careers. People in the Peak-Careers community are looking for information to help them in their work and I have a style that works for me, that they like as well. It is important that I be consistent in what I do so people know who I am and what they can expect from me.

What words do you want to ‘send out to the universe’ this year?

Look for my interview next week with Chris Brogan who is the person who turned me onto this “3 Words” practice.

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Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a weekly career news email for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching. He is the author of A Field Guide for Career Practitioners: Helping Your Clients Create Their Next Move

Sign up here to receive my TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON. You can also receive the career practitioners newsletter which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more.

Are you faster than 300? You could save hours of time each week if you were.

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According to a speed-reading test sponsored by Staples as part of an e-book promotion the average adult reads at 300 words per minute. (Source Forbes)

Following up on last month’s “bite-sized professional development” blog focusing on how TED Talks are inexpensive and “bite-sized,” typically about 15 minutes, this month I want to talk about reading. Primarily books, but also professional journals, and magazines / articles, in our profession and outside of our profession.

Staying up to date in career development is a key piece to raising your credibility and the credibility of the entire career profession. I try to have at least one or two ‘professional’ books waiting for me either on my shelf or on my Kindle reader. My current two books are,  The Couple’s Retirement Puzzle by Mintzner and Taylor; Callings. By Gregg Levoy (Yeah, I know this has been around for awhile, I’ve just never read it).

I also have pleasure reading books that I mix in between the professional readings. I can’t wait to start reading Jeff Shaara’s book, A Blaze of Glory.

My book goal:  Read 15-30 minutes each day

Challenge yourself to grow, to think differently by reading different views, to try and understand others, especially if you don’t agree with them, and learn something new. [Read more…] about Are you faster than 300? You could save hours of time each week if you were.

Bite-Sized Professional Development – TED Talks

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Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.
Anthony J. D’Angelo

As career practitioners it is our responsibility to continue to learn and grow in order to serve our clients best. I was talking with a client the other day and he said, “I can’t believe how much things have changed to find jobs!”  Clearly he was frustrated that he could not just open the newspaper, find a job opening, and apply with a resume. It is my job to know the current practices in my profession. It is my job to stay “fresh.” It is my job to be inspired to do good work, so that I can provide the best services to my clients.

It is our responsibility to stay current and to challenge ourselves to learn. For people who have good size budgets for professional development, that may mean attending the National Career Development Association conferences, or taking classes or seminars. For those with little financial support for their professional development, you need to be more creative.

TED Talks are a great way to continue to learn and grow.

  • They are free
  • Often they are people you would see at national conferences
  • They are “bite-size” too, between 10-20 minutes
  • They are inspirational and often challenge us to do better
  • The diverse range of presentation styles from the speakers is always helpful to identify strategies for improving your own presentation skills

Take 15 minutes (Read my blog on “Take 15” here) each week and put in your earbuds and find a TED Talk that inspires you to be your best or gives you a different angle on a familiar topic. We can all find 15 minutes. Yeah, I know you are busy, but seriously, 15 – 20 minutes somewhere in your 40+ hour workweek. Find it. It’s there.

What about using a TED Talk for staff development? Why not take 20-30 minutes out of your staff meetings once / month to have the entire staff to watch and then discuss a TED Talk? This is where you can grow your team, get to know people better, and possibly provide better service to your students/clients as a result. Have each staff member take a turn at choosing a TED Talk.

No matter what you do…take the 15-20 minutes and keep yourself energized, learning, and growing.

Here are the results from a survey I sent out recently asking people for their favorite TED Talks. 

Special thanks to all of you who took the time to fill this out.
I now have a few more “20 minute bite sized professional developments” to watch.

Angela Duckworth talking about GRIT, the power of passion and perseverance   6.12 minutes

Susan Cain, The Power of Introverts in a world that can’t stop talking. Very good talk on how introverts have an important effect on the world.   19.04 minutes

Amy Cuddy Body Language 21 minutes 

Astro Teller. The unexpected benefit of celebrating failure 15.33 minutes

Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk, “How to make stress your friend.” 14.28 minutes.  It dovetails with her book, The Upside of Stress: Why stress is good for you and how to get good at it. The book title pretty much says what’s cool about the talk.

Shimon Schoken. What a bike can teach you 15.40 minutes.  There are a lot of life lessons tied to athletics, he uses a real example, very touching, nice photos, and only 15 minutes long.

Graham Hill: Less stuff more happiness   5.43 minutes. Touches on minimalism in a short, direct way that reminds the audience that less = more, powerful message, well delivered.

Ruth Chang’s “How to Make Hard Choices.“14.38 minutes.  I love to hear/read views on career development from professions outside of career counseling, and she’s a philosopher. I love her message that some decisions are tough because there is no “right” choice. I also like watching her reason out the problem step by step.

Jia Jang’s “What I learned from 100 Days of Rejection” First, because what he did was just amazing. So simple– to go out and look for ways to be rejected so you can desensitize yourself to it. Then, I love his whole manner. He’s funny, and humble. Two of my favorite qualities in a speaker. 

Meg Jay, PhD, Why 30 is not the new 20. 14.49 minutes. She had real first hand experiences dealing with a variety of issues facing 20 somethings.

Simon Sinek, although not a TED Talk, Millennials in the Workplace.  15 minutes

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, Princeton Graduation speech. What Matters More Than Your Talents. 18.44 minutes. “Our character is reflected, not in the gifts we are endowed with at birth, but by the choices we make over the course of a lifetime.” I use this as a writing prompt for my students to reflect on what they want to have accomplished. The puzzle of motivation – my client base, high school juniors/seniors, keep me looking for solutions in this area. The happy secret to better work – Reminds me of the importance of setting boundaries between my work and personal life…a major challenge for me.

Mel Robbins, “How to stop screwing yourself over”.  21.39 minutes. Her message about not being complacent (our satisfaction with being “fine”) and her practical advice for a couple ways to kick-start ourselves is inspirational.

Brene Brown-–On vulnerability, which I fully endorse. 20 minutes

I’m a constant learner. You need to be a constant student because things change and you have to change and grow.
And I emphasize the word “grow.”   Zig Ziglar

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Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a monthly newsletter for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

Sign up here to receive my  TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON.  You can also receive the career practitioners newsletter which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more. 

Why our Mindset Regarding Boomers in the Workforce Needs To Change.

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The answer is: “Labor force demographics”

The question: What is the train wreck coming our way that few businesses are doing anything about it?

You may have seen some of this before but here are a few *demographics.

  • 10,000 Boomers per day turning 65 until 2020
  • Life expectancy at age 65 is +/- 83
  • Growth of the labor force for 16-24 years is projected to DECLINE by 2024
  • This means that the percentage of people 55 and older is INCREASING in that time frame!!

**While many of these Boomers are thinking about LEAVING the labor force!

*Data from bls.gov

Let me use Maine as an example of the labor shortage coming in many states and countries around the world. Let’s just look at this one piece of information regarding our labor force projections.

700,000  = Maine’s total labor force
-411,000 = Next 20 years, this is how many people will be “leaving” the labor force
289,000  = If they all leave, this is what we are left with
+302,000 = This is how many younger people are under the age of 20…the “entrants”
591,000   = This will be the size of our labor force in 20 years!!

109,000 people SHORT!  *Obviously this depends upon lots of things, but as you can see, this is a large number of people to replace.

This my friends is a crisis and we KNOW it is coming. It may not be this large but here are some suggestions on what we should be doing as career practitioners / professionals.

BUSINESSES MUST CHANGE THEIR MINDSET

People in their 60’s can do the work required. The world of work has changed so much in the past few decades. For 100’s of years, a 60 year would have difficulty doing the manual labor required in manufacturing, agricultural, and construction. Today, so many jobs require “thinking” skills over manual labor that people in their 60’s can keep working and adding value to the workplace.

Look at this graphic below from the Maine Department of Labor showing the skills required in the growing occupations for the next decade in our state (I am sure many states are similar).

Critical thinking, problem solving, deductive reasoning, etc… a 60 year old can do all of these.

Businesses and society at large need to look at people in their 60’s (Boomers) as being capable of doing the skills required in these growing occupations and find ways to keep them engaged in the labor force.

Also with the addition of ‘universal design’ changes in a workplace, a number of companies found that ALL their workers improved productivity, not just the Boomers. Simple changes in the physical aspects can make a big difference, but a bigger change is needed in ‘perception’ of this age group.

As Geoff Pearman, Managing Director of Partners in Change, states, “Creating a workplace where we can all succeed, regardless of race, gender, age, sexuality, or ability, is the right thing to and also makes good business sense.”

BOOMERS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MINDSET ALREADY
(compared to many in this age group in the 1900-60’s)

*Many Boomers are healthier and more highly educated than their parents and grandparents at this time in their lives.  (43% are college graduates when you include 2 year degrees).

*Many families have adult children or parents living with them. And many have taken out parent loans for their children…at a time they should have been saving for retirement.

*There are many who want to leave a legacy as well for their grandchildren, (could be time, money, inheritance, etc…) with nearly 80% of these Boomers with grandchildren.

   *From a 2010 MetLife Report on Early Boomers

This “push / pull” for many Boomers is keeping them interested in staying in the labor force.

  • “I feel good”
  • “I’d still like to make a difference”
  • “I need the money to make ends meet”
  • “I would like the money to help my kids and grandkids”

WHAT DO BOOMERS BRING TO THE LABOR FORCE?

We already have a multi-generational workforce at many companies. So why not take some of the historical knowledge in a company and put it to good use? Keep some of these Boomers in the workforce by offering flexible scheduling, part-time opportunities, and time off,  which will help delay this impending labor shortage.

What about mentoring some of these younger workers to groom them for future leadership positions. How about consulting or contract work? Job sharing? There are so many things a company can do to engage and entice Boomers to stay in the labor force.

AARP is recognizing employers who are doing some of these things now in their Employer Pledge Program

  • Believe in equal opportunity for all workers, regardless of age
  • Believe that 50+ workers should have a level playing field in their ability to compete for and obtain jobs
  • Recognize the value of experienced workers
  • Recruit across diverse age groups and consider all applicants on an equal basis.

Learn more 

WHAT CAN WE DO AS CAREER PRACTITIONERS TO HELP?

Our job is to help our clients in this age group to be able to articulate their value in the labor force.  Career practitioners could help clients see their strengths as possibly:

  • understanding company culture
  • ability to mentor young people to grow into leadership positions
  • bring a skill set that is still needed such as critical thinking or analyzing data
  • maturity and experience in difficult situations

We also need to help these folks realize the importance of networking and making personal connections in order to secure work opportunities. This could be attending networking events, doing informational interviews, volunteering, using social media to enhance their professional online presence, and more.

Each client is different and our job is to help them identify their skills, passions, and values so they can articulate them to employers to solve company problems efficiently and effectively.

We need to help people in the “pre-retirement” stage to look at what is coming, understand they can indeed play a role, then articulate that to their supervisors and key people in their company.

Five things you can do now

  • Recognize the issues
  • Challenge your beliefs  and attitudes regarding age
  • Help your organization understand the risks and develop practical strategies and action plans
  • Ensure your employment practices are age-friendly
  • Talk with older workers about the contribution they want to make and what would make your company a great place to continue working

From Geoff Pearman  Partners in Change – New Zealand.
**Look for my interview with Geoff Pearman and Marc Miller of Career Pivot next week.

If you work with this age group (or would like to), check out our 5 week online, discussion-based seminar with other career practitioners, focused on working with Boomers to Reinvent Retirement.

REGISTER now for the Boomers: Reinventing Retirement which starts October 28
Also offered again beginning April 28

Check out this INTERVIEW with two experts in the field, Geoff Pearman and Marc Miller, who give their tips on working with companies looking for ways to engage people in their 50’s+ and also tips for working with mid-life career changers. 

Jim Peacock is the Principal at Peak-Careers Consulting and writes a monthly newsletter for career practitioners. Peak-Careers offers discussion-based online seminars for career practitioners focused on meeting continuing education needs for CCSP, GCDF and BCC certified professionals as well as workshops for career practitioners and individual career coaching.

Sign up here to receive my  TOP 10 TIPS WHEN WORKING WITH AN UNDECIDED PERSON.  You can also receive the career practitioners newsletter which includes a variety of career topics, industry news, interesting events, and more.