Changing Careers or Not, These Habits Will Help You Stay Effective in the Workplace

If you’ve recently landed your very first job, you must be very eager to show off your knowledge and skills. You have the energy, enthusiasm and motivation to be good and effective at work simply because you’re new in the working world. But can you sustain it for the next five years? Maybe not.

If you want to remain productive and be better and more efficient in what you do, it’s important that you form certain habits at work, such as:

1. Volunteering for work/assignments

When you volunteer for assignments, especially those that are more difficult and important than what you normally do, you get to learn new things, and this becomes an extra motivation from you. You will be challenged to deliver positive results on time, and in the process, you train yourself to be consistently effective and productive.

2. Being nice to people

You must have heard many people saying how important it is to be nice to people regardless of their position in the company. But how can this help you stay effective in your work? Well, by being nice to people, you’re making them like you. This can then increase the chances of them wanting to work with you or have you in their team, which gives you a lot of opportunities to become productive and a valuable asset to the company.

3. Prioritizing your tasks/work

One of the biggest reasons workers become ineffective or unproductive is their inability to prioritize their work. When you form a habit of working only on things you are interested in, you’re setting yourself up to become ineffective. On the other hand, if you know how to set priorities, it will be much easier for you to identify which tasks require immediate attention and action from your part.

4. Staying positive

You must be very excited about your work because everything is new to you. But being unfamiliar with the work system can also leave you frustrated and feeling helpless. Remember that it’s all too easy to get overwhelmed by your responsibilities, and this may eventually cause you to feel unmotivated to perform at high level.

When you maintain a positive mindset, your focus will be on how to get things done efficiently so that you may still have time for yourself. In short, thinking positive forces you to do things according to how they should be done.

5. Finding solutions to problems

Problems are everywhere in the workplace, whether you stay in your job for many years or decide on changingcareers. They are inevitable. To remain effective and productive, you’ve got to focus on finding solutions rather than on the problems you’re facing. Besides, the ability to solve problems is one trait that every employer is looking for in a worker.

Top Career Search Methods You Should Consider

There are several ways to find excellent job opportunities even when you’re changing careers. It’s all a matter of making a job search plan that utilizes various job search strategies. The aim of this post is to share with you some of the most popular methods for job and career search.

CAREER FAIRS

The main advantage of going to career fairs is that you get to meet a number of recruiters in a single location. In most cases, companies send their hiring managers to job fairs with the hopes of finding candidates who are worthy of certain positions within their organization.

However, not all industries or fields are equally represented in job fairs. So if you have very specific career goals, you may as well look for field-specific job fairs. This will give you more opportunities and better chances of finding a job that is in line with your career goals.

To take full advantage of job fairs, make sure you do a bit of research about the companies participating in the event. Search online also to gather information about the upcoming events in your field of interest.

ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEWING

Not many job seekers are aware that companies and organizations also contact universities to potentially recruit for positions that require business and technical skills. This is a great opportunity for those who are about to graduate from college. It should be noted, however, that not all industries use this method of recruitment. Nevertheless, this is worth trying.

NETWORKING

When it comes to networking, all you need to do is reach out to as many people as you know, who you think can help you get a job. The network we are talking about here doesn’t only include the people you know personally, but also your contacts online. Professional networks are very useful in searching for potential job opportunities.

The challenge here is that it could take time and lots of effort to build a network. You will have to have great interpersonal skills to be credible to the people in your field or from another field. If utilized properly, your network can be a lot of help to your job search efforts.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

The biggest benefit of looking for career opportunities through professional associations is that whatever they have will surely be related to the career you’re pursuing. Of course, there is no point in getting in touch with groups whose area of expertise is not related to yours. Again, the internet is an excellent source of information if you want to know what groups you should consider.

If you wish to have a successful career search, it is important that you are proactive and aggressive in looking for job and career opportunities in your chosen field. Gather as much relevant information as you can to ensure that you will soon get the job or career you’ve always wanted.

Rules to Live by to Succeed Even When Changing Careers

If there is one thing that the most successful people have in common, that will be the fact that they all have gone through difficulties that eventually led them to failure. What sets them apart from the rest, though, is that they are able to turn such failures into opportunities to be better and more successful. If you want to reach success in your career or in your life in general, you’ve got to learn how to see failure as beginnings and not the end.

Do you want to turn your failures into success? Here are the rules you should live by:

#1 – Keep Your Goals Realistic

It’s nice to set high goals for yourself, but creating unrealistic ones is the best way to set yourself up for failure. If you want to lose weight, for instance, it would be better to go the gym three times a week instead of going there every day. This way, you’re putting less pressure on yourself to succeed, and you’ll also prevent yourself from exhaustion. In short, you’ve got to plan things strategically, and acknowledge the fact that there’s no easy way to success.

#2 – Hold Yourself Accountable

All of us have a tendency to point fingers or put the blame on other people or things. When things don’t go the way we want them to be, it’s too easy to look for external factors that have caused our failure. But if you learn how to put the blame on yourself, you’re going to give yourself the chance to learn from your mistakes. Being accountable also makes you more respectable, especially in the workplace.

#3 – To-Do Lists Are a Must

This rule seems like a given and very simple, but surprisingly, many of us don’t bother making a to-do list. You’ve got to realize that there are things your brain may not be able to remember. By not taking note of your tasks, you’re likely to waste a lot of time. Make it a habit to write down all the things you need to do on a particular day, and arrange them according to priority.

#4 – Get Enough Rest

If you’re a superhero who’s tasked to save the world, then it’s understandable that you have to stay up late every single night. Otherwise, there’s no reason at all that you should deprive yourself of sleep and rest. See to it that you get the right amount and quality of sleep every night to make sure you will be energized and enthusiastic during the day.

These rules are a no-brainer. In fact, they are very simple to understand and easy to do. The only problem usually is that these rules are too simple to be taken seriously. Living by these rules will ensure that you have what it takes to succeed, be it in your current career or when you go on changing careers.

What Could Be Preventing You from Being Successful in Your Career Search?

Choosing a career to pursue is one of the most challenging things we all have to do in our lives. As a matter of fact, it is estimated that only 5 percent of job hunters are able to find the right career for them on the first try. So what do you really have to do to avoid having to change careers several times in the future?

When it comes to deciding on a career, here are the most common problems that often make the process more difficult and complicated:

#1 – Not Having Enough Information about Different Careers

Thousands of careers are actually out there, and some of them could be the perfect fit for you. We’re talking about a career that matches not just your skills, but your passion as well. The only problem is how you’re going to find them.

Before you make a career choice, you’ve got to know your options first. Thus, it’s important that you spend at least an hour everyday on research. Visit several career sites, job postings, and even blog sites. Your goal is to find those jobs that appeal to you. Make a list of these jobs because you will need them later on when you’re ready to choose.

#2 – Not Knowing What It Is That You Really Want

This could be the biggest hurdle in your aim to find a good career. Fortunately, there are things you can do that will help you decide what you want to become. 

Many people take various personality tests to know what career suits their personality the best. There are career counselors or coaches also who are willing to guide you until you reach the point where you can decide what career path to take. There are also many people who choose to meet people from various industries to gather information about certain careers.

Whichever method you use, what’s important is that you do something to know what it is you want in and for your life.

#3 – Your Inability to Make a Decision…Quickly

If you’re feeling this way, too, perhaps the best thing you should do is not overthink things! You’ve got options, and you know what you want, so you should make a choice. If it ends up not being the best one for you, then try another career search. Never stop until you find the career that will make your life so much better.

How Good Can Changing Careers Be in Your Life?

We all want to be successful, both personally and professionally. In fact, it is the dream of many of us to have a happy family, a nice house, a car, and a stable career. These aren’t what we often end up, though, and if you’re in your 30s already, this could be alarming. Interestingly, many people claim to be unhappy professionally despite having a high paying job. This is because they are well aware that they’re not doing what they love.

If you’re getting more worried about your future and are unhappy with your current job, it could be time for you to consider changing careers. It’s scary, of course, but there are many things to look forward to as well.

Good Reasons to Change Careers

1. You can quit a very boring job.

Everything we do repeatedly will eventually become boring, of course. But it’s a different story when you know in your heart that you don’t want to spend your whole life working on cloud computing or designing a magazine cover. If your job does not interest you at all, there is no way you can give it your 100%, and it is very unlikely that you will be happy.

2. You get to start over again.

It will take a lot of courage on your part to turn your back on the stability you have with your current job. However, the chance of starting with a clean slate couldn’t be more exciting! This time you could set things right, and avoid the mistakes you’ve made in the past.

3. You will feel younger.

Changing careers would mean starting from the bottom once again. What will be different this time is that you’re going to be working with people who are younger than you. This is a huge challenge professionally, but you must admit that this experience is something to look forward to. As long as you have the right mindset, you may eventually find yourself thinking and feeling younger.

4. You get to do what you love.

The best part of changing careers is the chance you give yourself to follow your heart. This may sound like a cliché already, but there is nothing more special than having the opportunity to do what you love. You may have made a mistake by thinking about financial stability first when you got your first job, but as they say, it’s never too late.

Changing careers could be one of the most difficult and important decisions you will have to do in your entire life. It could change everything definitely. Thus, it is important that you plan enough for it and be mentally and emotionally prepared for it. With the right planning and proper timing, you can surely see yourself one day living all your dreams in life.