Daily Career Connection

When it comes to job interviews applicants often struggle with which persona or aspects of their personalities they should project, and which they should keep in the background. Obviously self-confidence is important, but what about flamboyance and charisma or authenticity? The image that job applicants project in the interview will not only have an affect on whether or not they are hired, but could also impact their chances of promotion and leadership opportunities.
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There are many of you out there who know you need to change careers. But somehow it just doesn’t happen. Another week, month, year goes past and you are still thinking about it but not doing anything. So what’s going on? What’s stopping you from making the change?

For most people it can be summed up in one word - FEAR.

Fear of failure
All the ‘what if’s’ and ‘yes, but’s’ rise up and loom over you. You get stuck looking at all the possible negative outcomes, like a rabbit in the headlights of the oncoming car. Because you get fixed on this negative mindset it seems like these are the only possible outcomes and you lose sight of the benefits of change.

Fear of success
Yes, the idea of success can be scary too. You’d love to follow your dreams, run your own business, make some serious money or get to be in a position of real authority and influence. But then that person just doesn’t feel like you. You can’t quite give yourself permission to be successful. That is something that other people do.
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Money is often a worry for people when they are debating whether to change careers. The fear of not having any keeps most in their current positions as it is safe, they know that the income is secure for as long as they stay there. It is easy for money to take over people’s lives and have power over them. It can get in the way of making important decisions due to already conceived beliefs and attitudes towards it.

How do you perceive money? There is a popular misconception that one must be unhappy at work should they want to make money, and if they were to be happy at work this would mean that financial reward would be sacrificed. And then there are some people that believe in order to change careers they need to be well-off to start out, and that they shouldn’t even be thinking about a career change if they can’t afford it initially.

In actual fact, money isn’t everything and it certainly shouldn’t stand in the way of you getting a job you really enjoy. Many people’s dreams of their ideal job are lost to apathy and discouragement towards the idea of having to leave a comfortable position in an attempt to move up the career ladder. There have been plenty of people before who have actually changed careers without having to compromise money. Here are some tips for how to achieve a happy medium:
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More evidence of an economic downturn and imminent recession presents itself every day. And no aspect of living appears to be exempt from the crunch. From daily visits to the supermarket to weekly trips to the gas station, the pinch is like an unavoidable slap in the face. Compound the grim economic outlook with high unemployment rates and massive layoffs and the picture isn’t pretty.

We’re living in one of those times that call for making lemonade with the lemons, especially if you’re out of work. The job security enjoyed by previous generations is gone and shows no signs of returning. While no one career is recession-proof, some choices are better than others are, and they all can be managed to reduce the risks and impact.

It’s time to be proactive. Think of these suggestions as a personal career insurance plan and a way to build job layoff immunity: Being proactive sounds like simple advice. The term is sometimes tossed about casually and almost a cliché in the world of career advising. The truth is that career planning should be constantly in motion. The downward spiral created by an unanticipated layoff does not have to exist. The best time to update a resume is not when you’re preparing for a job search.
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