Changing Jobs – Be Sure You Have the Right Skills

Changing Jobs – Be Sure You Have the Right Skills

It’s important to look at how things have changed since you last made a career move, and decide whether you’ve kept up with the changes around you. Are you lacking some important skills? I recommend assessing your skills inventory and deciding whether you need to get some training in some of the following areas:
  1. Computer use
  2. Networking
  3. Interview performance
  4. Job Hunting
  5. Communication
  6. Analytical research
  7. Adaptability
  8. Diversity awareness
  9. Leadership
  10. Planning/goal setting
  11. Problem solving
  12. Teamwork
  13. Multi-tasking
  14. People skills
  15. Self-reliance

 Remember that these are all important skills that employers are going to be looking for in prospective employees. Remember to highlight your abilities in each of these areas when writing your résumé.

Do You Need Help Finding a Job or Reinventing Your Career?

In my book How To Reinvent Your Career, I list some great sources for information.  Here are just a few of them:  
Area Where I Need Help Solutions
I need help with computer skills. http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computer/topic.aspx?id=140
I need help with grammar and spelling. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com
I want to take understand personality assessment that gives a basic idea of personality type. http://www.humanmetrics.com/#Jung, Myers–Briggs(free site, but not as accurate as the actual Myers–Briggs test)Read my daughter’s (Toni Rothpletz) and my book The Young Adult’s Guide to Understanding Personality.

Monster.com and CareerPath.com have a personality quiz

Personal.ansir.com

Careerplanner.com

Livecareer.com

Assessment.usatests.com/

Jobtest/?v

http://jobsearch.about.com/gi/

o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=

jobsearch&cdn=careers&tm=

17&gps=179_834_1003_630&f=

21&su=p284.9.336.ip_p554.13.336.ip_

&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//

tools.monster.com/perfectcareer

http://www.discoveryour

personality.com/Strong.html

I need help getting connected to people to start networking. LinkedIn.comFacebook.comMySpace.comNaymz.com

Ryze.com

Twitter.com

Meetup.com

I need help finding jobs, learning to write résumés, and general career advice. Monster.comCareerbuilder.comjobs.aol.comRead the book What Color is Your Parachute, by Richard Bolles

Check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Careerjournal.com

Workforce.com

Talk to your school counselor

Careermaze.com

Mediabistro.com

Higheredjobs.com

I need help paying for education. Staffordloan.comCollegeboard.comFafsa.ed.govTuitionpay.com

Afford.com

Read my book The Online Student’s User Manual, which is also helpful for all online student questions other than financial.

I need help with diet and exercise information. sparkpeople.combodyforlife.comfitday.comdietfacts.com
I need help with optimism and happiness. Read The Art of Happiness,by the Dalai LamaRead The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey
I am getting older and need career advice for my age group. aarp.org/money/workCareermaze.comhttp://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/workers_fifty_plus.pdf
I need help to avoid work-at-home scams. Read my articleInvestopedia.com/articles/pf/09/work-at-home-scam.asp?&Viewed=1
I need some other suggested reading to help me reinvent myself. Read Career Renegade, byJonathan FieldsRead Reinventing Yourself, bySteve Chandler
I need help with information about expected salaries. Salary.comIndeed.com salary toolNew York Times Salary ToolsGlassdoor.com

TheRileyGuide.com

I need help keeping track of my job search progress. Myprogress.comWorksolver.comExecrelate.com
I need help researching companies for interviews. Google.comExecrelate.comCareerTV.com
I need help finding out about good places to work. http://www.aarp.org/money/work/best_employers/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/

bestcompanies/2010/

www.hoovers.com/free

biz.yahoo.com/ic/

ind_index.html

Top 10 Ways in Which Social Media Can Get You Fired!

According to Proofpoint, an Internet security firm, of companies with 1,000 or more employees, 17 percent report having issues with employees’ use of social media. Furthermore, 8 percent of those companies report having actually dismissed someone for their behavior on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Some other interesting findings from the study:

  • 15 percent have disciplined an employee for violating multimedia sharing / posting policies
  • 13 percent of US companies investigated an exposure event involving mobile or Web-based short message services
  • 17 percent disciplined an employee for violating blog or message board policies

So, how do you avoid getting fired when using social media? What are the things which will, most probably, get you fired? Here we go with another Thoughtpick fun-fact list with a point:

via blog.thoughtpick.com

I have been doing a lot of research on social networking lately. This article does a nice job of pointing out the things you should be concerned about in your present job. However, remember these rules apply if you are looking for a new job as well. Be careful what you put on your social media sites, it could keep you from getting a job.