Career Mistakes: Are They Really Mistakes?

Career Mistakes: Are They Really Mistakes?

 

When considering a career move, people often find themselves paralyzed, worrying about making a mistake, causing career-suicide.  Most of us have probably made some choices that may not have worked out the way we intended.  However, looking back, much of what we learn through our mistakes actually may be excellent learning experiences that help us with our next job.

In Ross Hamilton’s 1951 book For Humans Only, he wrote the following line:  We extract from life just what we give it . . . so with each mistake replace the divot.  You don’t have to be a golfer to grasp his point.  If we make mistakes in our life, we need to make amends and move forward.  In case you hadn’t guessed, this line came from my father.  He felt that we shouldn’t dwell too much on past mistakes.

You can’t change decisions you’ve made previously but you can do your best to take what you have learned and grow from those experiences.  Even if you have a job that doesn’t last very long, you might make some excellent contacts that could help you with the next position.  Those contacts may open doors that you may not have even considered.

If you over-analyze every decision you’ve ever made, you’ll drive yourself crazy.  It may be best to look at disappointing career choices as learning experiences and realize that they may very well lead to something better down the road.  Lamenting over the past or over things which you have no control, is a time waster.

Instead, look forward to the choices you have now.  It can be helpful to write down the foreseeable pros and cons of any choice.  This will help you visualize opportunities and threats associated with each alternative.

If you feel trapped in a career that you chose when you were young, it may be time to change.  Perhaps the degree you were interested in when you were in your 20s no longer fits with your passion.  You may need to consider going back to school to update your skills.  It’s OK to admit that your interests have changed.

With the new year around the corner, many people are thinking about making a fresh start with their careers and their lives.  What can you do differently to make this year better than last year?  To truly be successful, having goals is important.  I often recommend that people do a personal SWOT analysis to help them realize what they have to offer and what they need to work on.  If you have never look at your own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, I suggest doing so as part of your plan to improve your new year.  To find out more about a personal SWOT, click here.

Additional Resources:

10 Ways to Market Yourself as a Product to Get the Job

 

The following is from Anne McCauley’s article  for CareerConnectors.net.  To see the whole article and the 10 step process that was discussed at this meeting, go to the article by clicking here.

Do you feel overlooked by prospective employers?  Maybe you are and could consider Marketing Yourself as a Product.  This week at the Gilbertevent Dr. DianeHamiltonspoke to more than 100 job seekers about ten ways to market yourself to get the job.  Dr. DianeHamiltonis the author of several books including How to Reinvent Your Career and It’s Not You, It’s Not You It’s Your Personality.  If you missed her presentation, borrow copies of her books from the local library; her presentation was based in part on her books.

Click here for the information from Dr. Diane Hamilton’s talk.

Related Articles

Find Out How Much Jobs Pay

imagevia sixapart.com
In a presentation I gave the other night, someone in the audience asked if there was any questions you should not ask in the job interview.  One thing that many career experts will tell you is not to bring up money.  How then, are you supposed to know if the job is something you even should be considering?  There is a way to get an idea of what you can expect in terms of pay from a specific company.  The site is SimplyHired.  I used to use Salary.com quite a bit when I worked in loans and underwriting.  What is nice about SimplyHired, though,  is that it gives some more specific information about individual companies. 
 
I thought I would put it to the test by looking  AstraZeneca.  I chose that company since I worked there for so many years and was curious about the accuracy of SimplyHired.  This is what they showed:

Average Astrazeneca Salaries in AZ

In USD as of Nov 11, 2010  
25k 50k 75k

astrazeneca

 $65,000    

That wasn’t too far off for a general idea of what someone could expect working there.  I ran a few other companies just to see what they came up with.  Here is what I found using Arizona as the state.
 
For Google:

Average Google Salaries in AZ

In USD as of Nov 11, 2010  
20k 40k 60k

google

 $52,000    

For GoDaddy:

Average Go Daddy Salaries in AZ

In USD as of Nov 11, 2010  
10k 20k 30k

go daddy

 $20,000    
 
For Insight:

Average Insight Salaries in AZ

In USD as of Nov 11, 2010  
25k 50k 75k

insight

 $64,000    

 

Choosing a College Minor or Co-Major: What Degrees Pay the Most and the Least

When I received my BS in Business Management from Arizona State University in the 80s, choosing a minor was a common thing.  I chose Personnel Management at the time, because I was very interested in the human relations side of management.  It seems you don’t hear as much about students picking a minor lately.

Today, the Arizona Republic ran an article about students choosing to have a minor more often when obtaining their degree.  According to the article, “A small but growing number of Arizona college students are graduating with academic minors, hoping that concentrating in another field of study will broaden their knowledge, help them land a job or get into graduate school. This year, 13 percent of undergraduates at Arizona State University earned a minor, up from 10 percent just two years ago. The state’s largest public university is offering 92 minors in a range of different subjects compared with 67 a decade ago.”   

Keep in mind, that although the student obtains the minor, it will not be reflected on their diploma.  It will, however, be notated in their college records.  It’s important to note that not all schools even offer minors.  Yale, is a prime example of a university that does not. On the other hand, some schools actually require a minor.  Northern Arizona University (NAU) is one that has this requirement.

Another trend I’ve seen for a lot of the newer generations to go the co-major route.  ASU has a program where students can have a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies or BIS degree. According to ASU’s site, “The Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies (BIS) degree program is one of the highest-quality and best-recognized interdisciplinary studies degree programs in the country. It offers students the freedom to select two concentration areas from a rich menu of more than one hundred possibilities, and it enables students to integrate those areas into a degree with interdisciplinary breadth, intellectual cohesion, and practical value. The core curriculum of the BIS program provides students the intellectual tools needed to integrate their concentration areas, engage in interdisciplinary problem solving, and prepare for careers and graduate programs that increasingly cross academic disciplines.”

There are advantages to picking the minor or double-major route:

  1. You gain different perspectives and don’t have such a single focus.
  2. It may be helpful in gaining entrance to graduate school.
  3. Having two areas of specialization can be advantageous for specific jobs.
  4. Some employers think the minor is as important, if not more important than the major.  See this article from fastweb.com.  http://www.fastweb.com/college-search/articles/46-does-your-minor-matter
  5. If you and a competing job applicant have all of the same things going for you but you have the extra minor, that could be enough to push ahead in the race.
  6. Having a minor can send a message that you have a strong interest in a specific area.
  7. Having a double-major can allow you to study more than one field in depth.
  8. Having a double-major may open up more job possibilities for you.
  9. Having a double-major means you may not have taken as many elective courses to obtain your degree, which also shows dedication. 
  10. Having a double-major may be useful in a job that requires a broad range of knowledge.

For more information about advantages and disadvantages of a double-major, click here.

Are you still trying to decide on a major?  If salary is a concern, you might want to consider the following:

Top 10 College Degrees by Starting Salary from Darwinsfinance.com

1.         Petroleum Engineering $86,220

2.         Chemical Engineering $65,142

3.         Mining & Mineral Engineering $64,552

4.         Computer Science $61,205

5.         Computer Engineering $60,879

6.         Electrical/Electronics & Communications Engineering $59,074

7.         Mechanical Engineering $58,392

8.         Industrial/Manufacturing Engineering $57,734

9.         Aerospace/Aeronautical/ Astronautical Engineering $57,231

10.       Information Sciences & Systems $54,038

Bottom 10 College Degrees by Salary Start from Walletpop

1.          Social Work  $33,400

2.          Elementary Education $33,000

3.          Theology $34,800

4.          Music $34,000

5.          Spanish $35,600

6.          Horticulture $37,200

7.          Education $36,200

8.          Hospitality and Tourism $37,000

9.          Fine Arts $35,800

10.        Drama $35,600

Help for Online Students at Changing Hands Bookstore and Amazon

My latest book: The Online Student User Manual is now available at Changing Hands Bookstore

They are located at:

Changing Hands Bookstore
6428 S McClintock Dr
Tempe, AZ 85283

The book is also available directly through Amazon by clicking here.

If you are interested in signing up for a free newsletter that contains a lot of tips and helpful advice from the book, please click here.