Jobworksaz.com - Job Seeker Tips

Bored and Need a Career Change?
By Joyce Lain Kennedy

Dear Joyce: How much education do you need for an interesting career? Each time I take a new job I get bored after a short period of time and leave. I live in New York and I don't have trouble finding jobs, but how can I break this cycle? -- S.S.

Dear S.S.: Right goal, wrong question. You don't say, but I assume your education ended at the secondary level. Just "going to college" will not solve your problem. Establish your target and then figure out what you must do to reach it.

You seem to be thinking out of the box. It's possible that you like challenge, novelty and nonrepetitive work assignments. A quick scan of "cool jobs" on www.flipdog.com shows openings such as spacecraft navigation specialist, wrangler, golf cart attendant, Comedy Central media relations representative and Starbucks Coffee merchandise planner. Obviously a wide range of education requirements cross this list.

While there are various roads to career self-enlightenment, start with a career counselor and I don't mean a career coach; a comprehensive analysis of how to find a good counselor are relayed in the annually revised "What Color Is Your Parachute?" by Richard Bolles.

A counselor can help you recognize traits in yourself to keep in mind before taking a plunge into years of expensive education.

You'll want to become more knowledgeable about developments in the industries or professions you're putting on your future maybe list.

For instance, some observers believe that the primary activity of tomorrow's work force will necessitate skills in handling information technology -- gathering, creating, manipulating, storing and distributing information about products and services.

They forecast the demise of retail stores because of the high costs of overhead, forcing a flood of former retail employees to make intense competition for jobs in marketing and sales. Remember, these are only predictions, but you need to take a look at them and decide for yourself.

If you decide on substantial education, you can hedge your bets by preparing for a second and even third career by taking the extra courses that give you back-up options. And be wary of overspecialization at the undergraduate level; with dedicated vocational exceptions, such as nursing or teaching, the graduate level is safer for specialization.

So find out where you'd like to go before spending years preparing for an undefined dream. One of my favorite quotes is an oldie from Henry Ford II:

"Nobody can really guarantee the future. The best we can do is size up the chances, calculate the risks involved, estimate our ability to deal with them and then make our plans with confidence."

Dear Joyce: In your recent column about the male executive who advised women to "swagger" when seeking promotions, from 16 years' experience in news media and public relations, I can testify that having "swagger" isn't always a positive attribute if you are female.

In every job I have been told in no uncertain terms to "tone it down" or "stop acting like you own the place." Three of eight supervisors actively campaigned to get rid of me. I'm a competent professional; the only reason they'd have is they were threatened by my "swagger."

I'm an effective employee, a natural leader, a take-charge type and I step up to the plate without hesitation. I have taken personality inventories, learned the profiles of co-workers and bosses to understand what makes them tick and "toned it down" -- to no avail. I am almost certain had I been a man I would be the head of a large corporate unit right now, making $100,000 per year. If you have suggestions, I'd be more than glad to hear them. -- D.J.

Dear D.J.: I have no original suggestions to keep people from alleging that you come on too strong or that you overwhelm lesser performers. A chestnut is to phrase your ideas in question form.

E-mail career questions for possible use in this column to Joyce Lain Kennedy at jlk@sunfeatures.com.