Some Organizational Tools You Can Leverage to Develop and Advance Your Career

A Guest Post by Sean Conrad, Halogen Software
Every organization, no matter how large or small, has a variety of tools and resources available to help employees advance their careers. But it’s up to you as an employee to take advantage of them – not every organization or manager will proactively promote them. Here’s a list of some of the common resources available to you.
Annual Performance Appraisal
Your annual performance appraisal is actually an excellent career development tool – if you choose to view it that way. Here’s where the organization identifies the competencies that are central to its culture and mission. Your manager will you give you feedback on your performance of these as well as on any job specific competencies and on your goals. Listen carefully to the feedback your manager gives you on your performance and don’t be afraid to ask questions or solicit examples. You’ll gain valuable insights on how your manager perceives you, and what’s expected of you in your current role. You’ll also identify areas for improvement or for further development.
As a result, most organizations include development planning as part of their performance appraisal process, though some run it as a separate process. Make sure you take advantage of any and all opportunities to address weaknesses, as well as to broaden or deepen your knowledge and skills. Ask your manager for support, and also for ongoing feedback to help you in your development.
Your performance appraisal is also the time when you set goals for the coming period. Discuss your career interests with your manager and see if there are work assignments or goals you can be given to help get there.
360 Degree Feedback
360 degree feedback is another great tool that can help you develop and advance your career. Many organizations have a formal process for this and often include it as part of their annual performance appraisal process. Others use it solely for leadership development. If your organization supports 360 degree feedback, make use of it. But even if it doesn’t, you can still solicit feedback from peers, other managers, and the various stakeholders you work with on a regular basis. Your manager will often have a limited view of your work and capabilities; 360 degree feedback gives you a broader picture. Here again, pay careful attention to the feedback you’re given, use it to identify areas for development, then follow through with action.
Succession Planning Programs
Succession planning programs tend to exist in larger organizations. Sometimes they are made know to employees, other times, only managers are privy to the details. Start by asking your manager and or HR representative if your organization has a succession planning program in place, and an associated development program to groom key contributors and potential future leaders. You may be able to benefit from the program. At the very least, you should have an open discussion with your manager about your career aspirations and solicit their help in preparing you in whatever way they can.
Mentors
Many organizations offer internal mentoring programs designed to help guide and develop employees. If your organization has one, take advantage of it. If not, start your own. Identify the people you think would be great career mentors for you, then approach them and ask if they’d be willing to advise you. You can look within your organization, but also outside it.
Cross-Functional Teams
Working on a cross functional team helps expose you to people with other skills and people who work at different levels in the organization. They provide can provide you with valuable experience, broaden your knowledge of the organization, and build your network. Look for opportunities to work on cross-functional teams so you can reap their benefits.
Volunteer Committees
Volunteer committees also often provide great opportunities to network, learn new skills, gain experience and broaden your horizons. Many organizations have volunteer committees that organize employee events, social corporate responsibility initiatives, employee health and wellness programs, etc. You can also look outside your organization for volunteer activities that help foster your development and career progression.
Tuition Support
Some organizations also offer support for tuition at colleges or universities, as long as the courses taken help benefit the organization. Look into the existence of any such program at your organization and take advantage of it.
Conclusion
Whether they’re formal or informal, your organization likely has lots of tools and resources that can help you develop and progress in your career. Are you taking advantage of some or all of them?

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MAKING A BIG CAREER CHANGE Calendar June 5, 2011 | Posted by admin Career Coaching: Seven Mistakes to Avoid When Making the Big Career Change

Are we deliberation the large shift in your career? Do we feel let down, bored, burnt out? Maybe we consider there is something bigger as great as some-more suggestive which we have been meant to do. Perhaps your organization downsized we in to this predicament. Regardless of the reason, there have been the little usual mistakes to equivocate whilst we weigh as great as name brand brand brand brand brand new career options. Avoid these pitfalls as great as we can stay motivated, keep your shift as great as pierce brazen successfully.

Mistake #1 – Making Decisions in Haste

Tempted to usually give up as great as wing it? Everyone is right away as great as then, though unless we usually can’t mount your stream incident an additional day, resist! Instead, write down all we hatred about your stream situation, afterwards the single by one, demeanour during the most frightful issues as great as see how we can spin any around to have it some-more sufferable for the benefaction moment.

It is easy to get so vehement about the destiny which we confirm to shape metal brazen but the devise as great as idea all of course falls your approach after that. It will need some-more appetite to equates to your brand brand brand brand brand new career as great as have it work great for we than it will to brand as great as begin it. It is improved to come from the place of aloft appetite as great as fortitude than to begin out already burnt out or disturbed about how we will compensate the bills. Consider seeking the assistance of the competent career coach, hold up manager or career advisor to assistance we brand your subsequent career path. An objective, lerned third celebration can assistance we strategize as great as proviso it in for the most appropriate regulation as great as the slightest volume of heartache.
Mistake #2 – Ignoring the Finances

“I can’t mount this any longer! we would rsther than eat dog food than put up with this an additional day!” Whether we have been posterior the brand brand brand brand brand new career willingly or involuntarily, we contingency compensate the bills. Do aspire to your dream. Do demeanour for the career which brings out the most appropriate in you. If we have copiousness of savings, great for you! Resist the enticement to go by it as great as be left without. If we have the dream, by all equates to cling to upon to it! But if it won’t practically get off the belligerent for 3 years, find an additional approach to consequence the vital in the meantime. The need for income is the being we cannot ignore.
Mistake #3 – Filling Your Head with Negative Stuff

What do we read? What do we perspective upon radio or the Internet? With whom do we outlay giveaway time? When you’re seeking during creation large hold up as great as career changes, we need lots of sure appetite around you. If we outlay time with disastrous people or fill your thoughts with anything which isn’t useful, theory what? It fills we with disastrous energy. Instead, approximate yourself with people as great as things which give we sure appetite as great as encouragement. Read books which be the cause of as great as enthuse you. Go places which enthuse you. Do all we can to be what we wish to be similar to after we land the subsequent great career opportunity, as great as we will be some-more expected to capture it in to your life!
Mistake #4 – Getting Bogged Down by Decisions

If you’re an smart chairman who has enjoyed any magnitude of success, chances have been there have been the lot of opposite choices we could have in your subsequent large hold up or career change. Clients mostly discuss it me they have been impressed by all of the thoughts as great as ideas which keep using by their minds. And as the intimidate sets in, it is really easy to usually close down. As we work together, we remind clients when creation difficult decisions to ask themselves, “Is this starting to pierce me forward?” If the answer is yes, proceed. If the answer is no, possibly correct the preference or dump it entirely.
Mistake #5 – Not Having the Plan

There have been dual reasons this is important. First, hold up is indeterminate as great as it is dangerous to give approach certainty prior to the subsequent career agreement is lined up. Second, becoming different careers is the lot similar to dating. You have been regularly some-more fascinating when we have been unavailable. You have been some-more tasteful to the impending employer if we have been already working. And if we have already mislaid your pursuit possibly willingly or involuntarily, it is even some-more critical to have the devise so which we have been afterwards some-more expected to grasp it. If we see success, we will be successful. (Conversely, if we do not have the plan, how will we know when you’ve succeeded?)
Mistake #6 – Ending your Preparation Too Soon

All we can contend here is, prepare, prepare, prepare. If you’re seeking during multiform possibilities, don’t rught away dump the single when an additional looks good. Think about all of the large tests we have taken in hold up (college opening exams, finals, acceptance exams) as great as how we rebuilt for those. Did we investigate approach in allege as great as take the big, prolonged mangle prior to receiving the test? Or were we still celebration of the mass the element as we walked in the doorway upon exam day, wondering if we could still be improved prepared? When you’re embarking upon the brand brand brand brand brand new career or hold up change, give it all of your accessible energy, skills as great as attention. If we have the idea in mind, conflict relaxing when we consider we roughly have it. Prepare as great as stay pointy right up until the day we start. This will assistance keep we from losing certainty during the final minute.
Mistake #7 – Getting Discouraged Too Easily

Does this occur to we when we face hurdles in the surrounded by of your goal? Instead of giving in to the pain, compensate courtesy to what privately is creation we worried as great as have adjustments to get we through. For example, if you’re in career passing from one to another as great as we find which it is unpleasant to go by the boredom of creation phone calls, promulgation resumes, starting upon interviews where the foe is tough, etc., find the regulation which gives we the mangle but interlude the process. Try devoting an hour or dual any sunrise to these tasks as great as vouchsafing it go for the rest of the day, or usually creation the sure series of phone calls or talk appointments per week so which when you’re finished, we can feel great about giving yourself the little time off. Don’t stop. Adjust.

Remember, the career shift is the hold up change. You didn’t arrive during your stream turn of preparation as great as knowledge overnight, as great as don’t be unhappy if we don’t rught away expose “the thing” we wish to do next. Allow yourself time as great as space to try as great as have an prepared decision. Get the assistance we need along the approach (i.e., career coach, career counselor) to assistance we do it strategically, not emotionally. If we equivocate these mistakes we have been most some-more expected to finish up in the brand brand brand brand brand new career which complements as great as fulfills your life.

Gwen Jewett is the Life as great as Career Coach as great as Selfgrowth.com Guide to Career Coaching, vital in the Dallas area. After fourteen years as Executive Director of the 12,000-member inhabitant healthcare association, she willingly left to aspire to the some-more offset life. Since 2001 she has helped most clients have their career as great as personal hold up stop operative opposite any alternative as great as instead work in complement. www.coachgwen.com

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Preparing Resume Career Objectives - Does It Make the Right Impression?

Applying for a new job is entering a competition. That competition is between you and every other person who is applying for the same position. The better and more popular the job, the greater the competition; the greater the competition, the tougher it gets to become selected. It can be a harsh and demoralizing world for the job seeker, so he or she has to do everything possible, at every stage, to increase the chances of selection.

The first impression the potential employer will have of the applicant usually comes from the resume (or curriculum vitae in some parts of the world). The resume is, therefore, at the sharp end of job success; the resume represents you before you have the chance to represent yourself personally. If there are many applicants, if your resume lets you down, that is the end of the road on that particular job journey. You need a resume that gets you noticed, and makes an instant impression as the personnel manager, or team, goes through tens or hundreds of applications for a vacant post.

When preparing a resume, it is important to set yourself apart from the crowd. One of the ways to get noticed as a serious applicant is to have well thought out career objectives in the resume. However, to be effective, career objectives included in a resume have to be very precise, and that may not be in the interests of the applicant if their inclusion rules out job possibilities in the organisation which may have been suitable. Before including resume objectives, you do need to consider if they really will help you get the job you really need.

One of the positive attractions of resume objectives is that they show you have thought about where you want your career to go. This may be especially important for new graduates, who have not had a job before, or those who are changing career. If, on the other hand, you are applying for a new job as part of an already existing career progression, then it may make more of an impact to put emphasis on your already existing skills and experience, which could be of more interest to the potential employer.

Assuming that you decide a career objective is essential to your resume, what should that objective include? The answer to that is: very little. The objective should be very precise, a simple statement of where your career goal lies. It is likely to be a particular job position, which is why objectives in a resume can be too restrictive. If the employer has several positions in the organisation or company which may suit your background, education, experience and skills, you could miss out on those options.

To help you decide whether or not to include resume objectives, find out as much as possible about the employers organization, and the opportunities that might be available. If there really is one possible route to success for you with that employer, then maybe the inclusion of a succinct career objective will be worthwhile. If you cannot find out such detail about potential opportunities with that employer, then it may be beneficial to omit the objectives, and concentrate on a powerful presentation of your skills, achievements, and training.

Always remember, that the first paragraph or two will have to make an impact to stop your resume being discarded at the first sift. You have to decide which is the best way to do that for each job application, as every one may need a slightly different approach.

By Roy Thomsitt

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Sample Resume Objective

When creating a resume, one of the most important aspects is the resume objective. Employers get hundreds of resumes whenever they place an add for a job and unless you put down your employment objective in your resume, the document that you worked so hard to produce may end up by the wayside.
There are many different sample resume objective forms that you can use,. The resume objective is simply what you wish to accomplish by sending the company your resume. In most cases, the objective is to get a certain job. This should be clearly stated on your resume.
A sample resume objective for someone who wishes to become a paralegal, for example, can include a heading stating Employment Objective and under this heading should be the type of paralegal position which you are seeking. If you are seeking to be a commercial real estate paralegal, for example, this should be stated at this point.
Another sample resume objective would be for someone who is seeking a position as receptionist. Again, the Employment Objective would be listed as receptionist.
Suppose, however, that the person who seeks to be a receptionist is also going to school for a paralegal degree. He or she may be qualified now to be a receptionist, but upon completion of their studies, will want to seek employment as a paralegal. If this person is applying for a job at a law office, in addition to the sample resume objective there should also be a career objective stated. This could read something like this:
Although I am seeking the position of receptionist, I am currently enrolled in xxx college and expect to complete my paralegal studies in xxx. My career objective is to become a paralegal.
This will let the prospective employer know that in addition to getting a receptionist, he or she may also be able to get a qualified paralegal who will have knowledge of the law firm and can remain in the employ of the law firm for years to come. This may make the candidate a bit more desirable as it costs employers thousands of dollars to train new employees.
A good sample resume objective can be found within many different software programs that assist someone in creating a resume. The wording is all there, you just need to fill in the proper information. It is essential, however, that you put down an objective in your resume. It not only denotes professionalism, but lessens the confusion on the behalf of the employer.
Employment objectives and career objectives are two different headings on most resumes. An employment objective refers to the job for which one is immediately applying., A person just out of law school may apply for a job as an associate in a law firm. This is an employment objective. A career objective for the same person, however, would probably be partner in the law firm.
Many people are hesitant about putting down career objectives on their resumes. It makes them feel foolish as if they are shooting for the stars. Nothing can be further from the truth. Most employees want to hire people with some sort of ambition. It is not foolish to say that you want to be partner of a law firm when you are an attorney, it is more foolish to say that you are content with staying an associate and never moving up the ladder.
It is important, therefore, to put employment objectives as well as career objectives, where appropriate, on your resume. If you are going to school to become a nurse and have applied for a job as a secretary, it is not necessary to put your nursing career objective on your resume as this may cost you the job. A career objective should only be included on a resume if it adds to the employment opportunity which you are seeking.
To find a good sample resume objective, take a look at some of the resume building tools online or in some resume building software. All of the information that you need to find a good sample resume objective can be right at your fingertips. Remember to be honest in what you are hoping to achieve. You do not have to get too wordy, either. A good sample resume objective can be as simple as saying that you want to be a receptionist.

Source: http://paralegaltoday.org/sample-resume-objective

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Should You Use a Career Objective on Your Resume?

It’s one of those sticky questions that divides career counselors. If you got 100 of them in a room, 50 would likely say yes, you should list a career objective on your resume; the other half would probably say no.
Those arguing against objectives say they are too limiting and usually poorly constructed. Those in favor say that employers want to be able to determine in just a few seconds what you want to do for the organization, and what you’re good at. An objective can help meet that employer need. To some employers, the lack of an objective translates into a jobseeker who doesn’t know what he or she wants. On the other hand, numerous employers say they rarely see a well-written objective.
There’s no doubt that many resume career objectives are poorly put together. To avoid limiting themselves, too many jobseekers write objectives that are woefully vague, thus defeating the purpose of presenting an objective.
Jobseekers also tend to ignore the employer’s need to know what the candidate can contribute, instead considering the objective as an invitation to list everything the jobseeker wants, needs or desires from the sought-after job. A typical self-serving objective is one along these lines:
Career objective: To obtain a meaningful and challenging position that enables me to learn the accounting field and allows for advancement.
Before we address the issue of vague and self-serving career objectives, let’s look at the pros and cons of using them at all.
The argument against limiting oneself is not without merit. After all, if your career objective doesn’t match what the hiring manager has to offer, he or she is not likely to give serious consideration to other niches within the company that you might fit into.
In this high-tech age, however, fear of limiting oneself need not be an excuse to leave a career objective off your resume. With your computer’s word-processing program, there’s no reason you can’t have several versions of your resume with several different objectives. In fact, you might have two or three versions of your resume in which the only difference is your objective. You could even come up with a specific, tailor-made objective on your resume for each job you apply for. With technology, resumes and objectives need not be “one size fits all.” Of course, if you go to a career fair, where it’s impossible to tailor your objective as you move from booth to booth, or if you’re handing out resumes in a networking situation, it may make more sense to leave your objective off.
In some situations, limiting oneself actually is a compelling reason in favor of using an objective. In one recent letter to the career doctor, Dr. Randall Hansen, the job-seeker said he used his objective to state his desire not to relocate out of the city in which he was living. Although this limiting factor spoke more to the job-seeker’s needs than the employer’s, it could save a lot of time. Employers would not waste time interviewing him only to discover that he would not relocate. The job-seeker also had the option of mentioning his desire not to relocate in his cover letter instead of his resume objective.
One survey indicates that about 40 percent of employers want to see an objective on jobseekers’ resumes. That 40 percent figure should give the “objecti-phobe” pause; it’s a pretty convincing argument in favor of using an objective. If 40 percent of employers would be annoyed not to see an objective on your resume, using one may be the safest choice. As someone who doesn’t care much for objectives, I’m not annoyed when jobseekers include them (unless they are dreadfully and self-servingly written), and I suspect like-minded employers would feel the same way.
On the other hand, those still uncomfortable with committing themselves to an objective on their resume can use their cover letters to help them tailor their resumes to the specific jobs they’re applying for. The cover letter can help bring the resume into sharper focus by elaborating on what the jobseeker wants to do and what he or she can specifically contribute to a particular job.
Increasingly, jobseekers are supplementing — or replacing — their objectives with a section called “Summary,” “Skills Summary,” “Qualifications,” “Profile,” or the like. Spotlighting skills can be quite appealing to employers, and the keywords used in such sections can be an important element of a resume that’s electronically scanned.
Bottom line? Whether or not to list an objective on your resume is a highly personal decision, but a decision in favor of the objective is worth considering because many employers like to see them. Further:

• If you do use an objective, make it very specific, not vague and meaningless. Here’s one I really like that one of my students wrote: “To manage people, interface with customers, and work with highly technical software or hardware applications.” I like it because it’s specific but not limiting. This objective could apply to many different jobs, yet the skills described are quite specific.
• Objectives should reflect the employer’s perspective, not the jobseeker’s, and should tell what the jobseeker can contribute. An objective should demonstrate the value the candidate will add to the organization.
• Objectives should be as concise as possible.
• Objectives may help sharpen the focus of your resume, especially if your experience is very diverse, or you are switching into a career not supported by the experience listed on your resume.
• If you choose not to list an objective on your resume, you may choose to discuss your objective in your cover letter.
• Whether or not you choose to include an objective, you may wish to present a skills or qualifications section on your resume

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/resumes-articles/should-you-use-a-career-objective-on-your-resume-3954201.html

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