Career Explorer Journal

The 2011 Edition of The Career Explorer’s Journal is here to bring something new to the way we think about and experience work – one career, one person at a time. Maybe your something new will be a better idea of what you want for the future or a clearer picture of what you’re working towards. Maybe you’ll discover something a little more fundamental, like new feelings of progress on a job search or a sharper sense of focus on that all important next milestone and what it looks like for you.

The Career Explorer’s Journal is free now and for the rest of 2011 and it offers something new to everyone who finds it. ExploreYourCareer.com is also here for you to tell us what you think and share your experiences before, during and after your reader’s journey. It’s my hope that 2011 will be a year full of new career discoveries for everyone who picks up this book. From your very first choice to become a career explorer you’ll join me and everyone else who has already taken exactly the same first step. Every single one of us on a mission to discover where we want our careers to go.

My good buddy from 'across the pond', Paul Diamond, has updated the Career Explorer Journal for 2011. Click through to obtain your copy and subscribe to Paul's writings.

If you can make it to the PodCamp WesternMA in Westfield St Univ, you can practice exploring there. If you can go, you should see if you can go for free. The details can be found here

PodCamp Western Mass - Scholarships Available

There will be a Job Search Jam Sessions track at PodCamp Western MA!


When:  Saturday, February 5, 2011 – 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Where: Westfield State University, Horace Mann Center, 333 Western Ave, Westfield MA 01085

What does it mean to have a 'track'?
Amongst the sessions during the day, there will be a series of them focused on the job search with an emphasis on social media.

What is a PodCamp?
PodCamp is an un-conference about social media and online networking. It is an open and collaborative event with discussions and interaction from attendees. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. Some sessions will be planned ahead of the event, but plenty of spaces will be open for the topics YOU want to discuss and learn.

Why should I go?
PodCamp is NOT just about podcasting, but about all social media/networking, and its relevance and usefulness to community, business and otherwise. This PodCamp is all about blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, podcasting, videocasting/YouTube, and any other online community tools.

What does it cost?

Tickets are $25 ($10 for students), but all are expected to participate and/or present. You can participate by giving a presentation, demo, or joining into another cooperative event, being on a panel/roundtable, or in other ways helping out on event day.

And there is a special deal for those who want to go but are un-employed or under-employed! Steve Sherlock has arranged to provide four (4) tickets to help you save some money.

How do I get one of those tickets?
Send an email to Steve (shersteve at gmail dot com) and state your case:

Clearly and concisely, explain what you have been doing as part of your job search and how participating in PodCamp would help your effort.

Note: Your paragraph will be published here to help showcase you and your efforts in social media if you win one of the scholarships.

Are you learning?

If you wait tables or walk dogs for a living, no worries, you’re probably off the hook, since these types of hourly jobs (to my knowledge) don’t usually tend to change much over time or require intensive ongoing certification.   If you’re a professional-caliber candidate, though, the game changes.  You need to stay sharp.  You need to keep up with the top-notch folks you’re competing against.  And if possible, you need to help offset your unemployment status by getting even SMARTER about your occupation/industry then beforehand, when you were working full-time and didn’t have time to keep up!

Are you taking take of your professional development?


Read the full posting by Matt Youngquist here

Jason's Best of 2010

Jason shares his best of Networking Insights for 2010. Yes, he has gone and done the hard work twice. First to do the initial writing. Second to go back and compile his best of listing.

Go now and see if there is one or two things you can use. I am sure you'll find at least that (and likely more!)

HNG Meeting - Friday - Jan 7 - Joellyn Schwerdlin

The agenda for this Friday's Hopkinton Networkers Group (HNG) meeting will be featured by our speaker, Joellyn Schwerdlin. The facilitator for this week will be William Lam. We will devote the first hour, from 10 to 11 AM to the following agenda: Welcome, Landings, Announcements, New Member Intros, and Needs & Leads. Please arrive early, so we can make every effort to start on time. In the second hour, Joellyn will talk about "Top Resume Writing and Cover Letter Tips from a Pro."

Joellyn will provide the details at the meeting. She will be raffling off a valuable book: Cover Letters for Dummies, 3rd Edition (Author: Joyce Lain Kennedy).

About Joellyn Schwerdlin:

Joellyn Wittenstein Schwerdlin is a Certified Career Management Coach, who runs a private career coaching practice (located in Worcester, MA) serving executives, managers and professionals in career transition. She can work with anyone across the US by phone and web conferencing. Through her 8-module career coaching program and personal mentoring, Joellyn has helped countless clients find perfect career paths and land jobs they love much faster than they ever could on their own.
Prior to her work as a career coach, she earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign. After graduation, she moonlighted as a professional singer while holding administrative positions in the corporate world across various industry sectors, including: academia (medical school); business valuation; insurance (personal lines); manufacturing; and pharmaceuticals; as well as nearly two years in the HR department of a social service agency for developmentally disabled adults and children.

Joellyn earned her Certified Career Management Coach-CCMC (through Career Coach Academy), which is recognized by the International Coach Federation (ICF) as Accredited Coach Specific Training Hours (ACSTH). She also received a Job & Career Transition Coach-JCTC designation from the Career and Adult Development Network.

Her credentials also include a Certified Professional Resume Writer-CPRW designation. You'll find sample resumes, cover letters, and other contributions she's written featured in: Cover Letters for Dummies (2009); Job Search Bloopers (2008); Gallery of Best Resumes, 4th Edition (2007); Best Resumes for College Graduates to Land $75,000+ Jobs (2004);Gallery of Best Resumes, 3rd Edition (2004); Gallery of Best Cover Letters, 2nd Edition (2004); Resume Maker Professional 11.0 (2003); America's Top Resumes for America's Top Jobs (2002); Gallery of Best Resumes (2001); Gallery of Best Resumes for People Without a Four-Year Degree (2000), Gallery of Best Cover Letters (1999) and others.

For more information, visit her website: www.career-success-coach.com

Now that the winter is upon us, and the inclement weather is soon to arrive, there will be no Hopkinton meetings if the Hopkinton schools close due to weather conditions. If there is a delay, the meeting will still occur. Whenever the weather conditions are poor, please stay home. There isn't anything worth risking an accident over.

Directions:
Take Rt. 495 North/South and get off Exit 21A. Go through three traffic lights. Colella's Supermarket is on the right at the third traffic light. The first street after the third traffic light is Church Street, take a right turn. The church is on the right. Go around to the left of the parking lot and go into the side entrance of the parish hall.

Depending upon where you live, perhaps you may want to use Mapquest or Google Maps for a more direct route. The address of the church is:
St. John the Evangelist
20 Church Street
Hopkinton, MA 01748

"I can’t believe I’m sharing this with you"

Chris Brogan shares a scary admission by writing:

... the thing is, you’ll have to be kind of picky on what you believe. If I think I’m going to be Center for the Boston Celtics, then it’s probably going to be a really big stretch for that to be true. But if I think that my company’s going to have a $4 million dollar year, then I can see that, I can feel that, I can act as if it’s already happened. I can find gratitude for those things that I’ve already achieved, and I can be generous to those around me, because after all, I’m going to find my way to a $4 million dollar year.

Read his full posting here

What do you believe you will accomplish in 2011?

Do you visualize that successful job interview?

What separates you from the competition?

Dennis Grubbs at Jobfully provides a good listing of questions to have handy when networking. Some of them are reproduced here:

• How did you get started in your career, and what path did you take to get where you are?
• What made you choose your profession?
• What advice would you give me about being successful in your line of work?
• What are the opportunities to find other jobs like yours?
• What do you love most about what you do?

Click through to Jobfully to view the full listing.

What questions have you used that worked for you?

Please share.

HR Margo shares her influencers

Margo writes:

Don’t judge me, I love pictures. There’s just one problem. I’m super talented at what I do in social media community management, and human resources… but … I’m not so talented at doing what I don’t do: graphic layout, and design. Thank goodness each of us are snow flakes, unique, and special. What you are about to see are my favorite people, and favorite moments of 2010. My influencers. The list that I created. The lists we create are better than the ones we make, and here is mine.

She then goes on to provide her list of influencers. The listing is long. I won't attempt to summarize it here. I will encourage you to go there and read it.

I would also encourage you to add the link to their individual websites, blogs, Twitter handles and follow what they write. It should be worth your while!

"confronting our challenges and building on our strengths"

The current economic downturn—often, and accurately, referred to as the Great Recession—has produced, by many measures, the worst economic conditions in the United States since the Great Depression. Like the rest of the nation, workers in Massachusetts have been hit hard. Still, even under these very challenging circumstances, the Massachusetts economy has fared better than most other states, outperforming the U.S. average by a considerable margin. In 2009, Massachusetts had an unemployment rate (8.2 percent) well below the national average (9.8 percent).

This is the unemployment introductory paragraph from the State of Working In MA 2010 report recently published. I would encourage reviewing the full report here.

Happy New Year 2011

Wishing you all the best for a happy and healthy 2011