A new Life A new Career

For many the idea of retirement comes with the automatic translation that it means that you will stop working is just not acceptable.  For many, retirement from work is equivalent with no longer living.  If you have been a productive worker all of your life and someone asked you what your dream retirement might look like, you might respond “to work” because you may be one of those people for whom work is what gives meaning and purpose to life.

It isn’t fair for us to impose the same standards of retirement on everyone.  To say that to enjoy your golden years, you must take up fishing, start sleeping until noon, sit in a rocker and watch the day go by and gradually turn into a senior citizen would to many be the same as sentencing them to life in prison without parole.  So for many it’s very possible that working would be the thing that would make your retirement meaningful.

Still others must continue to work into their retirement years because they did not or could not prepare for retirement.  Whatever the situation, there are some adjustments that should be made to shift to a retirement career that you can continue to do well into your senior years. 

You can get a running start on your retirement planning if you find that a career change is appropriate later in life.  Many times we do find that the career we are in may either be changing so fast that it’s hard to keep up, it’s too physically demanding when you are older or in some other way that job has become a “young man’s game”.  If that has happened to you, you can get a jump start on finding a career that you can stick with well into your retirement years, that career can be an income generator that might never go away.

It is not at all uncommon for men in their later years to start a new career.  Perhaps you just want a career where you can use the creative side of you and one that can be a natural transition into retirement.  Perhaps you reached the maximum vesting of your retirement account with a job you held for decades so you can “retire” from that job with full benefits and funding and still start another career that you can take on into retirement and keep doing as you enjoy the fruits of retirement as well.

Many times the skills and knowledge you learned in the business world during your first career can transition you into a lucrative consulting career late in life.  One way to explore this option is to think of the venders who sold goods and services to you when you were in your previous career and contact them to see if you might now represent their services as a former satisfied customer.  If you had specialized knowledge and training in how to use their software or a technical product, that training which your former employer paid for can now transition into an exciting career as a sales representative or sale support for the very companies who once had you as a customer.

The internet can also open up worlds of money making opportunities that you can use to land work or sell something you may have made by setting up your own web site and learning how to promote yourself online. Many cottage industries have taken off and been hugely successful just getting what you do out into cyberspace.  For example, if you are talented at making beautiful artistic pottery, you can create a line of pots that is perfect for sale over the internet.  You can work with a skilled internet web developer and marketer to get your product out on the internet and before long, you might have more orders than you know what to do with all flying out through your web site which is collecting the money and filling your back account up with all the profits.

The ways you can create a new business in your retirement years are only limited by your imagination.  And once you have a good new career going that you can continue well into your retirement years, you won’t have many of the worries other retired people have.  You can enjoy the freedoms of a retirement lifestyle and made plenty of money at the same time.  And that’s a great combination.

A Career in Fashion Photography

We see them everywhere, in Magazines, on the Run Way, in advertisements on TV. They are the slender women strutting their stuff or extra ordinary Beauties with their sultry looks flashing their pearly whites while wearing the newest Styles from the hottest Designers. We are talking about the fashion models of today, yesterday and tomorrow. They are everywhere we look, but who brings them to us? Their images are captures with care and precision, patience and that special look for style, color and lighting composition. I am talking about the fashion photographers.

In the fashion circles famous names like Mario Testino (easily one of the hottest names out there) and Eva Mueller (photographer for Fashion Magazine Allure) are just as sought out if not more then those men and women sauntering their way into our conscious.

High Paychecks and glamour’s Lifestyle of hob nobbing it with the rich and famous might be the dream of many young shutterbug, however it is not easy to reach the golden Staircases of the well-known fashion houses and magazines. For every one talented photographer, hundreds are left panting at the sidewalk, only dreaming about the moment that their photo will be chosen.

Here are a few tips for the novice and dreamer of dreams in getting started in fashion photography. Study your subject. You can never learn enough. Read and look at any fashion Magazine you can get your hand on. There are fantastic books on Fashion and fashion photography available. Amazon.com has a true treasure trove available.

You need one or two good cameras, tripod and a lighting system. Always make sure that you have plenty of film and batteries available. SLR and digital cameras take different photos, so make sure you find the best for your field.
When submitting your work, hopefully to give a chance you have to have a portfolio on hand, just in case the editor of the fashion magazine wants to see samples of your work. I assure you if they consider working with you that is going to be a fact.

The sharp, bright images of a 4X5” transparency show of your work to its best effort. If you have already had a publication, no matter if, it was a small neighborhood magazine/paper or a contest a tear sheet (literally a sheet you tore out of the magazine) works well. If neither is at hand a good high quality 8 X 10 “is acceptable as well. You want to make sure that you have a minimum of 20 photos in your portfolio and preferably different styles. You want to show your expertise in full figure or just partial body parts.

Remember, fashion includes jewelry and accessories. Sometimes a watch from a famous maker on the slender wrist of a beautiful woman is a good fashion shoot. If you are applying for the job, be prepared to leave your Portfolio behind for an extended period of time, sometimes as much as a couple of weeks. I would advice you to make copies and have several on hand. This comes in handy when showing your work to many different people for consideration for fashion work
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In the time of modern technology, it is good to display your talent as a fashion photographer online as well. Set up a website; submit your photos to contests. Submit them to an online fashion gallery. This helps with getting your work seen and people can see what type of work you actually do and can do for them.

Most editors are looking for your personality in the photos you take. Each fashion photographer captures the soul of the fashion and its model differently. There are a couple of very good “how to get started” websites on the net. Most importantly, if this is your dream, don’t give up. Keep trying and I hope to see your images on the cover of my next hot fashion magazine.

6 ways to pinpoint your perfect career

Have you ever felt stuck in your career?  Employee stress and burn out can account for a lot of dissatisfaction in your life.  After all, you are at work some 8 hours a day or more.  That’s 1/3 of your day if you don’t count sleep.  That’s a long time to be dissatisfied.

If you feel stuck, here are 6 great ways to find your ideal career:

    1.   Brainstorm on a sheet of paper - I’ve talked about this before and it’s a strategy I use all the time.  Take a pad of paper and write down at the top your objective in question form.  Then, simply list out 20 answers to your question.  For example, you could write “What should I be doing with my time and life?”  Then stay seated for a half hour to an hour coming up with answers to that question.  The key to this exercise is coming up with 20 answers - don’t quit until you have 20 answers.  You can repeat every day until you get the answer you seek. 

2.   Ask 3 close friends - Sometimes our friends know us better than ourselves.  While meeting with one of your friends, mention you are at a crossroads in your life and career.  Ask what they think you’d enjoy doing.  You might be surprised at how easily they can zero in to your strengths and abilities and report a perfect job area.

3.   Ask your boss and coworkers - much like your friends in the example above, your boss and coworkers most likely see you in a way you do not see yourself.  In fact, they are likely most familiar with your strengths and weaknesses in the work environment.  Compile all the answers you get from them and see if there are any common threads you can explore.

4.  Call a headhunter - If you are searching in your career, it’s likely you have a Cv.  Sometimes you can catch a headhunter or recruiter during their slow times and meet with them to pick through what you might be good at.  I’ve done this at different times in my life and the people seem open to talking with people.  After all, if you don’t get paid, they don’t either.  The ideas I get are usually good.

5.  Take a career assessment test - There are several sites on the Internet you might be able to take one of these tests for a fee.  But using my ‘headhunter’ tip above, many headhunters have this software and don’t mind you taking the test in their office.   I’ve taken these tests two times in my life and they usually take an hour or two, but they are thorough.  They ask you to answer a series of questions about what you are good at, what you like to do, what you prefer doing over what you don’t.  If you take one, you will likely see some new exciting areas to explore in your life.

6.   Keep a journal - Do you keep a journal?  If so, read through, looking for common threads in your writing.  Keep your eyes peeled for trends and activities you like as well as don’t like.  In fact, finding examples of what you don’t like and what frustrates you is almost as important as finding what you do like.  For example, if you hate an overwhelming boss, you’d probably like a self-directed position.  If you hate nosy coworkers you’d probably prefer your own office. 
Discovering what you really want to do with your life is the most important decision you can make.  We spend 1/3 or more of our lives at work.  So figuring out the right career is important to keeping that 1/3 of our lives happy and productive.

 

6 factors of career success

Title:
6 Factors Of Career Success
Word Count:
674
Summary:
What do employers look for in potential employees? That was the question that was posted recently on a career discussion forum online. Naturally, for each different position, the particular answers to that question would be different. However, there are some common skills that employers look for in all employees, whether the employee happens to be a network engineer or a fry cook.
In-Demand Skills for Success
1. BASIC SKILLS‚ Reading, writing and arithmetic! Believe it...

What do employers look for in potential employees? That was the question that was posted recently on a career discussion forum online. Naturally, for each different position, the particular answers to that question would be different. However, there are some common skills that employers look for in all employees, whether the employee happens to be a network engineer or a fry cook.

1. BASIC SKILLS‚ Reading, writing and arithmetic! Believe it or not, a good portion of high school graduates (and some college grads) do not read at an 8th grade level and cannot do multiplication in their head. Employers are seeking employees who can read well, can write coherently, and who can calculate mathematics in a business environment (fractions, percentages, etc.) Add to that the modern basic skills of keyboarding skill, basic computer knowledge, and ability to use most computerized tools (e.g. fax machine, basic word processing program, etc.) to round out the basic skill sets needed for employment success.

2. PERSONAL SKILLS‚ Can a potential employee speak well? Can he/she answer questions of customers in a positive, informative manner? Can the prospect provide good customer service? While not everyone has an outgoing sales' personality, successful employees can communicate in a non-confrontational, positive manner with their coworkers, team members, subordinates, management, and customers. Being able to work well with others is a vital skill for success in all jobs.

3. JOB ATTAINMENT‚ Job search is a process that requires a great deal of dedication and attention to be conducted successfully. It follows the old principal that many veteran programmers refer to as GIGO ‚ Garbage In, Garbage Out. If you put lousy effort in, you will receive lousy results. Employers are seeking employees who know how to present themselves in a positive manner and who display enthusiasm and knowledge about the companies they approach. Not only do candidates get evaluated on their skills and experience, but also on how they are approaching the job search. Enthusiastic candidates with fewer skills have an even chance of getting the job as dull candidates with better skills.

4. JOB SURVIVAL‚ Now there's a hot topic in this period of layoffs. Who gets the ax and who doesn't is often a matter of numbers, but it is also often a matter of performance. Employees who have consistently demonstrated their worth, taken initiative, and made themselves a valuable asset to the company have lower incidences of being downsized than employees who put forth mediocre or average effort in their jobs. Surviving within a company through layoffs or moving up the career ladder is a success skill that is learned and is consciously cultivated among successful professionals.

5. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT‚ As all high tech and engineering pros know‚ it's learn or burn in today's work environment. Attaining new skills, applying new concepts, updating established skills is an absolute necessity to succeed in today's work force. The successful individual is constantly attending seminars, taking classes, attaining training on new products or releases, and otherwise learning new skills that will keep them marketable in their careers. Successful people are lifelong learners. Employers are looking for people who have the training necessary to fulfill their needs.

6. CAREER DEVELOPMENT‚ Career Development differs from Professional Development. Professional Development is learning while Career Development is a planning and goal setting process. Successful individuals design a career plan with written goals for short term and long term. They lay out the steps needed to move their careers from Point A to Point B within Time Frame C and plan how they are going to achieve those steps. Successful people have someone to whom they are accountable for their progress and who will monitor their success in achieving their goals. Employers are seeking individuals who (believe it or not) wish to commit to the company for a long period of time. Good career progression is a high selling point of candidates to prospective employers.

How do you measure up? Do you have the 6 In-Demand Skills for Success? Feel like you need some help?

How to Create the Perfect CV

A strong profile or career objective is the first piece of information that a recruiter will look at. Writing a concise profile is essential as it gets the reader to read on further into your CV. The American’s have an expression that encapsulates this quite well. They call this an elevator speech. Simply, tell someone concisely and accurately what you do, what you can offer them and what sort of job role you are looking for and you will have a good profile to start off prior to sending your CV.

Achievements are probably the most under-utilised element in a CV. If you brainstorm your career achievements, the CV that you end up writing will be more interesting and relevant to potential employers. When you think about achievements, focus specifically on those areas where you have delivered tangible benefits for your previous employers. If you can find benefits that are financial, these are among the strongest ones as employers are definitely interested in what you have delivered in financial terms for previous employers and therefore what you may be able to deliver for them.

A section in the CV for key achievements (five to seven bullet points), followed by the same number of bullet points in your most recent job role is a formula that we have found to be successful over some years of writing CVs for a living. Previous job roles warrant between two and five bullet points highlighting what you achieved and delivered in that job role. Other work that you completed some time ago can be summarised in an “Other Work” section. You can use this for job roles in the past that are no longer relevant or that you did for a short amount of time (for example, part time roles to supplement income during study).

Educational and professional qualifications should be separated out into two distinct sections within the CV. Educational qualifications should include the title of the qualification, the accrediting Educational Institute, the dates of study and any pertinent information that may be of additional interest. Examples include: Thesis or dissertations along with relevant course work. Professional qualifications as well as membership of professional bodies should be also included. Professional qualifications must show the name of the accrediting body, the exact name of the qualification and any dates for which the qualification is valid. For example, a first aid certificate has an expiry date and this needs to be shown or omitted of it is out of date.

Computer skills are increasingly important today. To demonstrate your abilities with a particular software program for example, demonstrate exactly how you have used the program and what you have delivered through the use of the software. For example, MS Powerpoint used to create powerful presentations that I personally delivered to communicate complex ideas, gain agreement and change sales and budgetary requirements and forecasts.

Get shortlisted for interview

Most people put their responsibilities into the CV in the work experience section. The simple truth is that employers have a pretty good idea of what your responsibilities and activities are within a role.

The difference between getting shortlisted for interview and having the CV rejected is demonstrating your worth to previous employers. The way you demonstrate your worth is to show what you achieved in that role.

In the current Economic climate, employers are thinking hard about whether or not to actually take someone on or not so you have to show that you can add value to a new employer. A great question to ask yourself is “what benefit did my previous employer gain from my employment with them?”. When you consider the value that you actually delivered, think about the benefit that you delivered for that employer.

The largest and hardest hitting benefits are financial. If you can demonstrate that your employer was better off financially as a direct result of what you did there, a future employer can’t help but be impressed and come to the inevitable conclusion that if you delivered a financial benefit for a previous employer then you can do the same for them.

Examples of achievements that you delivered in previous employments include: increases in sales and margin revenue, increases in numbers of accounts gained plus their sales value, reduction in losses of customers or churn as it is sometimes called. Other areas where you may have delivered financial benefit include the cost area, reduction in costs of goods, transport or warehouse efficiencies and the like are good examples of this.

Don’t overlook the benefits that you may have delivered in cash flow. Reduction in aged debt, increase in the time that suppliers are paid, reduction in the time that customers pay their accounts, reduction in stockholding, reduction in interest paid to the bank are among the benefits that can be included in this section. Improvements in customer service can also be quantified- for example, reduction in credit notes, increase in stock availability, number of on-time deliveries completed, and the reduction in the number of complaints make for demonstrating an exceptional track record.

Simply put, demonstrate the benefit that you delivered for previous employers and you will be well on the way to getting shortlisted for that role. Just don’t tell anyone else about it or you could well be in competition with them for that very same role.

Glenn Hughes writes for CvBud. He runs a successful Curriculum Vitae service and is a professional CV writer

Glenn Hughes is an expert for Jobs in Wales.