Interesting Money magazine article about entrepreneur’s journey from CEO to teacher

http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/29/pf/second_act_buslik.moneymag/index.htm

Do you have a passion so strong?

Are you willing to start at the bottom as Gary Buslik did when he went from CEO to TA?

Have you run the numbers to make the finances work?

Do we pay our teachers so little that you need to make high six-figures and squirrel away millions before you can afford to teach?

Filed under: life coaching, resource recommendation, Uncategorized, Career Change, financial planning, Gary Buslik, Money magazine, second act

Book Review: Change By Design by Tim Brown

Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO, writes about design thinking in “Change By Design”.   For business book lovers, this is a must for its accessible but comprehensive overview of what design thinking is and for real-life examples in a variety of companies and industries. 

For job seekers and proactive career planners, I was struck by how useful some of the design thinking strategies are to career management.  For example, in early 2000 when I used to give live career visioning workshops, I used an exercise called Prototypes, where participants would identify people with careers or lives they wanted and try to use what they knew and admired the prototype to more quickly identify what they wanted for themselves.  Brown has a whole chapter on prototyping and its importance to efficient and effective discovery of potential solutions.  Brown also covers mind-mapping, storytelling and the importance of observatiob — all of which have important career management parallels.

It’s a good mind-stretching book and accessible even for someone like myself with no design background.  I was inspired and even hopeful after reading this, as it encourages creativity and the constant pursuit of solutions.  Brown talks about seemingly intractable problems in a curious, optimistic way that begs for ideas.  If “Change By Design” inpsires you to be as curious and inventive with your career and life, it is well worth the read.

Filed under: book review, career coaching, life coaching, book review, Career Change, Change By Design, ideo, tim brown

Getting Back Into the Career Game

In the past three weeks, I’ve had three questions about career re-entry:

I had a high-level sales job but took seven years off to focus on family.  I’ve done some non-profit volunteer work.  How do I get back to for-profit and paid?

I sold my company and have been consulting part-time since.  How do I ramp back up to a full-time career?

I retired but want to come back.  How do I start?

Career re-entry is similar to career change in that you are moving into a substantially different circumstance for where you are now.  In the case of career changes, sometimes you change the industry:  the stay at home mom in the above example is moving from education where she has done most of her volunteer work to luxury goods where her target re-entry will be.  Sometimes you change the function:  the company founder went from CEO to consultant and wants to go into investments.  Sometimes you change the geography:  the retiree is coming back to a similar position but is launching a national search and open to relocation.

In all cases, you want to clearly demonstrate how your value translates from one circumstance to the next.  The added challenge for career re-entrants is they sometimes don’t recognize their value and downplay their accomplishments.  While I don’t suggest that you say you were a paid consultant when you volunteered or that you worked full-time when you didn’t, I strongly suggest that you focus on achievement and not pay or process.  For the non-profit volunteer, this means highlighting money raised, events organized, or other specific tangible examples of your value.  For the company founder, this means highlighting the lessons learned from building and selling the company, not just the most recent consulting.

You will need to demonstrate that your skills are current for today’s marketplace.  For the retiree who is returning to asset management, he needs to have been following the markets.  If he’s managed his portfolio since retiring, that’s another clear example that he’s stayed in the game.  The non-profit volunteer needs to know the luxury goods business and specifically identify what department and what role she is targeting (in the language that the target sector understands).

In sum, if you are a career re-entrant, you need to build the bridge from your current spot to where you want to go.  Like the career changer, it is not up to the target company to figure out how your skills translate.  You identify how your skills translate, you position yourself accordingly for the new career, and you give tangible proof that you are already effectively doing the job.

Caroline Ceniza-Levine is a career expert, writer, speaker and co-founder of SixFigureStart (www.sixfigurestart.com), a career coaching firm comprised of former Fortune 500 recruiters.  Caroline is a co-author (along with Donald Trump, Jack Canfield and others) of the upcoming “How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times” due out March 2010; Bascom Hill Books.  Formerly in corporate HR and retained search, Caroline most recently headed University Relations for Time Inc and has also recruited for Accenture, Citibank, Disney ABC, and others.  Caroline is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Professional Development at Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, a life coach (www.thinkasinc.com) and a columnist for CNBC.com, Conde Nast’s Portfolio.com, Vault.com, Wetfeet.com and TheGlassHammer.com.

Filed under: career coaching, Career Change, career re-entry, job search, onramping

Book Review: Escape From Cubicle Nation by Pam Slim

“Escape From Cubicle Nation” by Pam Slim is a good mix of inspiring and practical strategies for people considering the transition from employee to entrepreneur.  If you are on the fence, the opening of the book is a good summary of the pros and cons.  I particularly liked how Slim doesn’t push entrepreneurship or any one particular path.

The practical info Slim shares (how to test ideas, how to pick the right legal entity for your business) includes a good basic overview but if you are serious about launching or have launched a business you will need further resources each step of the way.  Also, while I liked how Slim called out so-called business coaches who encourage entrepreneurship but may not give a realistic picture of the financial and emotional sacrifices, I was hoping this book documented more specifics on these.  Fo example, Slim chides Internet marketers who hawk overnight success products, but how long is a reasonable wait for success?  Slim recommends several months of savings, but does that mean she thinks you can replicate your corporate income in a business after several months?  That seemed aggressive to me, while the rest of her advice was straightforward and conservative, so this issue was one major place that left me hanging.

Still, “Escape From Cubicle Nation” is a motivational read with good foundational basics.  I wanted more but only because what was shared was good, solid stuff.

Filed under: book review, book review, Career Change, entrepreneurship, Escape From Cubicle Nation, Pam Slim

Troubleshoot Your Job Search

Next week, I am leading a webinar on Troubleshooting Your Job Search. 

This has always been one of my favorite and most rewarding workshops because it focuses on getting people unstuck in their job search.  There are only 3 places a job search gets derailed, and when you know which one describes your situation, you are in a much better place to fix it. 

One of the key points I make in the webinar is that wherever you fall in the 3 categories of derailment is NOT a reflection of your quality as a candidate.  You will likely be in all 3 categories at different points in your career — I certainly have been.  Career changers tend to be in bucket 1.  Introspective people tend to be in bucket 2.  The curious and the versatile tend to fall in bucket 3.  There is nothing wrong with changing careers, being introspective or being curious and versatile but your job search strategy and technique has to reflect this.

This brings us to a larger point:  your job search must always reflect who you are and your current circumstances.  It is not a standalone project where you can change your personality and work style to force fit the search into a neat and orderly pattern.  The job search is as dynamic as you are because it reflects how you’re feeling, what you’re thinking, what you want, what you need, and how you and the outside market interact.  The job search is as nuanced as you are.  Paradigms, like the 3 categories of job search problems covered in Troubleshooting Your Job Search, help give a structure to the ever-changing job search.

Filed under: career coaching, Company news, Career Change, job search, stuck job search, troubleshoot problems

Book Review: John Wood’s Leaving Microsoft To Change The World

Very candidly written, John Wood’s Leaving Microsoft To Change The World is a fast-moving, inspirational book about a major career change.  Wood left Microsoft as Director of Business Development in China and established the non-profit Room To Read.  Accolades aside (and Wood deservingly has received many), he left behind a secure and prestigious job, a high salary, and a serious relationship to accomodate his radical transformation.  There are numerous coaching lessons in Wood’s story:

Dreams require hard work.  Wood logs hundreds of thousands of miles and works round the clock. 

There will be tradeoffs.  The anecdote about Wood checking out the open house in San Francisco and realizing he will be a renter his whole life is refreshingly honest and funny.  His reaction upon seeing the listing description:  There. Is. No. Way.

Being true to yourself is the ultimate payoff.  At first, Wood has to practice talking about himself.  He is very candid about having a hard time answering the What Do You Do question the first few times around.  But he also talks with genuine excitement and passion about everything he does, and he acknowledges (and you can feel it as you read it) that he has realized his true self. 

There are many aspiring career changers out there.  While most will not make as radical a transformation, there is insight and inspiration to be gained by going along with Wood on his journey.

Filed under: book review, career coaching, Career Change, John Wood, Leaving Microsoft To Change The World, Microsoft, non-profit, Room to Read, self-actualization

How To Research A Career Change

Can you recommend resources for exploring careers and learning about the skills/education needed to be successful in that career?

A lot of the advice I’ve seen about researching a career change focuses on talking to people in the target career.  There is definitely merit to this:  these people know firsthand what the career is like; they can give you ideas on how to get started; they may know the important players and trends in that sector.  In other words, talking to people could shortcut a lot of the heavy lifting you might have to do had you researched this on your own.

But therein lies the reason that I strongly counsel my career changing candidates not to start by talking to people.  It’s a shortcut, and cutting corners invariably means you may miss something.  First of all, people who are doing a job day-to-day may not have a broad perspective on the industry as a whole.  Their recommendations of key players and trends reflect their opinion, not necessarily a wide swath of research.  Secondly, their ideas for how to get started will likely be influenced by how they or people they know got started.  You may have a very different background, and their advice may actually prove counterproductive.  Finally, their knowledge of the career path, growth prospects, and day-to-day again reflects their opinion, not necessarily the typical experience.  Therefore, by relying on what people say, you are ceding control of your information-gathering to the information that they happened to have gathered along the way.

Instead, I would start with secondary research – printed and published material.  The Internet is an obvious place to start:  Google keywords for your target sector; use LinkedIn and other social networks to find groups active in the sector.  Trade and professional associations that serve your target sector are another great resource.  These associations may have publications, employee surveys, salary data and other research material that can give you insight into the players, trends, career path, and other important topics for your search.  The Index of Associations is a reference book that lists professional associations by keyword and geography.  Trade and professional journals are a must-read.  Finally, once you find specific companies or organizations to target, visit their websites, read their press releases and any white papers they may have published, and look at their financials (Hoovers.com for public companies, Guidestar.org for non-profits are two good sources).

A key benefit to doing your own research before you speak to people is that it enables you to have intelligent discussions.  There are so few people who do this type of secondary research that people in your new sector will view you very favorably if you do.  They may become your advocates because you are obviously engaged and willing to work.  You can thus use these firsthand encounters to go beyond the secondary research and learn even more.  This exhaustive, substantive, next-level research is what you need for a successful career change.

Filed under: career coaching, Career Change, informational interview, job search, networking

SixFigureStart Presenting On Career Change At NYC Law Fair on June 16

Registration is capped and expected to sell out.  My piece is on career change out of the law but most panels focus on different areas within the legal industry.

 http://www.nycbar.org/EventsCalendar/show_event.php?eventid=1150

 

Getting Back in the Game: How to Restart Your Career in a Down Economy
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM

Registration:
NYC Bar Member Price : $30.00  Register
Non City Bar Member Price : $50.00  Register

Affected by the current financial crisis, many lawyers are finding themselves looking for employment. This program is designed to assist job-seeking attorneys in learning how best to market themselves whether they are looking to go to a firm, start their own practice or are considering an alternative legal career.

9:45 AM – Welcome by Patricia M. Hynes, President, New York City Bar

10:00 AM – Breaking Back into a Large Law Firm: How to Make Your Way Back into a Top Law Firm

Moderator:
BRIAN DALTON, Senior Law Editor, Vault.com

Speakers:
DAVID LAT, Founding Editor, AboveTheLaw.com; T.J. DUANE, Principal, Lateral Link; HELEN LONG, Director Legal Recruiting at Ropes & Gray LLP; JOHN J. CANNON III, Hiring Partner, Shearman & Sterling LLP

11:30 AM – Casting a Wider Net: The Rise of the Small to Mid-Sized Law Firm

Moderator:
ALLA ROYTBERG, Solo Practitioner; Director, City Bar Small Law Firm Center

Speakers:
PAUL LIPPE, CEO, Legal On-Ramp; CORIN LINDSLEY, Managing Director, Major Lindsey & Africa; RON GEFFNER, Sadis & Goldberg

12:45 PM – 1:45 PM Lunch

1:45 PM—Alternative Legal Careers: Exploring the Range of Options With Your JD

Moderator:
MAUREEN REID, Maureen M. Reid, LLC

Speakers:
TANYA GILL, DLA Piper; HILLARY MANTIS, Career Coach, Author, Alternative Careers for Lawyers and Jobs For Lawyers: Effective Techniques for Getting Hired in Today’s Legal Marketplace; LISA SOLOMON, Founder, Legal Research & Writing Pro and Lisa Solomon, Esq. Legal Research & Writing; CAROLINE CENIZA-LEVINE, Career Advice Columnist Vault.com and Partner of SixFigureStart.com.

3:15 PM—Start Up LLP: Creating Your Own Law Firm

Moderator:
OLIVERA MEDENICA, Chair, Small Law Firms Committee

Speakers:
JEREMY SALAND, Crotty & Saland; CAROLYN ELEFANT, Author, Solo By Choice, myshingle.com; ALLA ROYTBERG, Solo Practitioner; Director, City Bar Small Law Firm Center

Filed under: Company news, Career Change, NYC Bar, NYC Law Fair, www.Vault.com

How To Switch Careers In A Recession

See career change tips, including one from yours truly, in Chris Warren’s latest article for CBS Moneywatch BNET.com:

http://moneywatch.bnet.com/career-advice/article/how-to-switch-careers-in-a-recession/304023/

Filed under: career coaching, resource recommendation, BNET.com, Career Change, CBS, Chris Warren, Moneywatch

Making The Sector Switch: From Public To Non-Profit And Beyond

In a recent group coaching call I led, a caller asked about transitioning from the public sector to the private sector.

Read my advice to her in my latest post for CNBC.com Executive Careers:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/30846790/site/14081545

Filed under: career coaching, resource recommendation, Career Change, CNBC.com, Executive Careers, job search, Non-Profit sector, private sector, public sector