Career Goals

The Shy Person’s Guide to Finding the Right Career Direction

February 14, 2017 By Marta Goertzen

Do you feel barricaded to finding the career path you want yet struggling with your shyness that is holding you back?

Dave graduated from college with the best intentions. He kind of knew how he wanted to use his marketing degree. He applied for jobs and got a few. Soon his career consisted of good educational credentials and a string of unrelated low level jobs ranging from customer service representative to marketing research associate. Today that string of jobs is not the career he had in mind.

Dave is a shy guy. I can tell Dave is a shy guy by the way he answers my questions. He kind of knows what he wants but is not sure how to get it. He is a little afraid to ask people. He doesn’t want to look silly or inconvenience other people.

He had trouble reaching out to me because he didn’t want to look silly or inconvenience me. The signs are all there.

Shyness is not terminal.

It is possible to overcome or at least put aside shyness if you want something bad enough.

Start with some research about yourself. What are your hobbies? What kind of work has made you happiest in the past? What kind of people have made you happiest and most comfortable in the past? What themes do you notice?

Do some research reading job ads to find the ideal job that makes your heart sing. We are not applying for jobs, just doing research. What do you know about that ideal job? You need to find out.

This is the hard part for shy people. To discover more information about your ideal job you must talk to people you don’t necessarily know… yet. Yikes!

Here are the Shy Person’s Action Tips to give you the courage to talk to people you don’t know yet:

Make a list of questions based on curiosity about your potential career direction. Write down the questions. Practice asking them out loud if you need to.
Create a written template for what you want to say in emails, on the phone or in person. You will feel more confident if you know what you want to ask people: Introduction, your questions (1 or 2), a potential follow up for more people to talk to and a thank you.
Find people who already do that job – ask your friends and your friends’ friends, use LinkedIn Advanced Search to find people. Make a list of names with phone number or email addresses. It might be easier for a shy person to send an email.
Set a schedule to talk to as many people as you think you can. You might only be reaching out to one person a day or a week but without a schedule you might never get to it.
Consider forming a support group or finding an accountability partner to give you the courage to do what needs to be done.
Use your template and schedule to reach out to people on your list to ask your questions.
Celebrate when you talk to someone on your list. This will give you confidence to do it again.
Evaluate what you learned about potential career directions. Does what you heard make sense, sound like fun, sound fulfilling? Maybe you just found your new career path!

These steps can be useful to anyone who wants to find a new career path. This is not rocket science but to a shy person, this process can be tough. But exploring your career direction with these simple steps you can get what you are looking for!

What steps will you take to find the right career direction?

If you are shy or introverted there is no shame in that but it may be blocking you from getting the career you want. There is help for you! Get your free copy of the “7 Tips for Career Success for the Shy Person” and begin to step out, beyond these barriers, onto a new career path today.

What is the plan, Sam? SMART Goals for 2017

February 7, 2017 By Marta Goertzen

Have you heard of SMART Goals before?

Ah, the new year. A clean slate. A wide, open vista just waiting to be explored.

OK, enough of that. What is the best way to make the most of this marvellous opportunity? You need a plan. I need a plan. We all need a plan.

Maybe you have some career dreams this year. It is one thing to say, “I want to get promoted”. It is another thing altogether to put that wish into action.

In business, we learn about SMART goals. Goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-Based. Including all these elements into your goal make the planning simple. It also makes achieving goals easier.

Julie is an accountant who wants more challenge this year. She is not exactly sure how to do this. Last year she submitted a few resumes but nothing happened. Now she is more frustrated than ever and more determined to get more challenge and earnings in her life.

Let’s help Julia by converting her wish into a career goal, “Get a new job”. We start by converting the wish into a SMART goal for this new year. Here is how it could sound:

Specific: I want to find a new job with more challenge as an accountant. I also want to earn more money. It could be a different job in my current company or a new job in a different company. The title is either Accountant or Senior Accountant. I want be more involved in month end reporting, analysis and process improvement.

Measurable: I will measure my progress based on the number and success of interactions with other people about opportunities. I will network both in my own company for a promotion and outside the company through LinkedIn and local financial networking groups. I will add 10 new LinkedIn connections per week. I will attend one networking event each month. I will actively seek out at least one new project from my boss related to analysis or process improvement.

Achievable: I will seek advice from Joe, the Controller, on how to navigate promotions in my own company and be sure the Talent team knows of my interests. I will get feedback on my resume and LinkedIn profile to be sure I am presenting myself in the best light for what I want.

Realistic: A more challenging role will keep me interested and stimulated in my career and I will earn more money. I have the skills and ability to achieve this new role.

Time-Based: I will have a new position either inside my current company or in a new company in six months. I will evaluate my progress every month and adjust my process to make this goal happen.

See the difference between saying, “I want a new job” and the detail included in Julie’s SMART goals? Even just writing down a goal makes a difference but this level of detailed goal setting is truly powerful.

By being this specific Julia can compare potential opportunities to her specific goals. She has something to do every week. She can measure progress and make adjustments if she does not make the progress she expects.

If you want more structure, check out this great article by Shawn Lim, “11 Effective Goal Setting Templates for You”.

What are you willing to do to get what you willing to do to get what you want? Put your dreams on paper in SMART goals and see the magic that can happen!

Don’t settle for a mediocre career that you don’t want! LinkedIn offers many ways to find the ideal job or career for you! Get your FREE copy of the LinkedIn Career Advancement Tips and find the perfect career today.

Career Accomplishments are King – Your Results Tell the Story

December 27, 2016 By Marta Goertzen

Life’s Journey Magazine: The Dream Job – Happy Life Series

Our recent article in Life’s Journey Magazine the Dream Job – Happy Life series is “Career Accomplishments are King – Your Results Tell the Story“.

Success is not about the tasks or the responsibilities.

I am responsible for cleaning the house but so what. If the house was clean to begin with then who cares? The accomplishment about cleaning the house is being proud when it gleams and smells good. You can measure it. You can celebrate it. There is a story behind it.

Responsibilities are so much less important than results. So then it makes sense that we adjust expectations to focus on results.

For example, LinkedIn is an important part of my marketing strategy. I use LinkedIn to share my thoughts with colleagues so I can build a relationship with people who might be interested in my services. It is one platform to share my thoughts with colleagues about the hiring process, career development and job search.

In the past I shared blogs and accumulated connections without much thought about results. Writing and sharing is a responsibility I assigned myself. It is a relatively passive marketing method. It just happens. It is action without any thought to outcome.

I decided it was time to shake up my LinkedIn marketing effort to focus on results. I made a plan with a beginning, a middle and an end. Results, not responsibilities. I am responsible for marketing but who cares unless there are results.

Click here to read the article.

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