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Have you ever found yourself so excited about something that the energy it generates just seems to pull you along? Imagine feeling that every day in the work you do.
It’s possible. What’s more, it’s within reach! Here is a Passion Primer to help you begin exploring your passions and discovering ways, whether big or small, to incorporate them into your life.

Get to know yourself
Before you strike off in pursuit of a career that really lights your fire, take some time to do some serious self-exploration.

One of my favorite approaches is creating what I call a Passion Profile. Make a list of all the things in your life — from childhood through now — that you have really enjoyed. Items could be related to work or play, an event, or a period of time in your life.

Once you have your list, pick one item and start digging into the reasons why you enjoy it. Get beyond what you love doing, and break it down into the underlying characteristics. Think of it as identifying your passion’s building blocks.

The question why is a powerful tool for your explorations. Use it liberally, both in this exercise and others.

Brainstorm
Once you have a picture of what lights your fire, brainstorm ways you could incorporate them into your life. Write them down in one session or tuck the question in the back of your mind and carry a small pad of paper with you to record your flashes of inspiration.

Have a brainstorming session with friends. Above all, be creative. Don’t confine yourself to the logical and rational. You never know what crazy idea is going to spark the Big One.

Explore
Ask, ask, ask! Once you have identified some things you think you might be interested in, identify people who are knowledgeable in those area(s) and contact them. Explain that you are exploring your options and ask if you can pick their brains. You’ll get some fantastic insights if you make this a habit, not to mention making some great contacts along the way.

Baby steps
The fear of jumping in the deep end of the passion pool keeps many people from swimming at all. Remember that there’s a shallow end of the pool. It may not be realistic to jump into the deep end right away, but you can still enjoy splashing in the water.
Look for baby steps you can take that will bring your passion into your life. Keep your eyes on the long-term goal, but take action to create your passion in small doses along the way.

Identify your obstacles
What things are getting in your way? Make a list. Maybe they’re real — financial obstacles like a mortgage, the kids’ tuition, etc., or perhaps the need for more training. Maybe they are internal. What’s stopping you? Fear? Self-doubt? Simple inertia?

We all have gremlins. Little voices in our heads that tell us “you can’t do that,” “you’re not good enough,” “what will they think,” etc. What are your gremlins saying? Identifying and acknowledging your gremlins is the first step in taking their power away.

Create a Passion Posse
In my interviews with people who have followed their dream, the most commonly mentioned success factor has been the support of the people around them.

Create a Passion Posse to support you in your pursuit. Friends, family, and colleagues can all be a great source of support and inspiration as you make your journey. It can be an informal support network, or a regularly scheduled meeting to exchange ideas and brainstorm solutions to challenges.

Re-examine your definitions of success and failure
What is your definition of success? Is it getting in the way? Our culture places a lot of emphasis material accomplishments and status. Unfortunately, those things get in the way of real happiness for a lot of people, who choose to stay on the treadmill in pursuit of that version of success.

Perhaps you’re not at a point where you can or want to change that definition of success. That’s OK, don’t. Instead, try identifying one or two less common ways of identifying “success” — ones that come from the heart — and try to move toward them as well.

Our definition of failure, which tends to be all or nothing, also gets in the way. If you try something and it doesn’t pan out, how do you see that? Is it a failure? Or is it an opportunity to learn from what you did and apply that knowledge to your future efforts?

If you “fail” in an effort to move toward your passion, it’s not really failure. Think of it as a step in the right direction. Taking a longer term view can help with this.

Make a plan
Map out your Passion Pursuit. Whether that should be a high-level overview or a gradual action plan is up to you — you know how you work best.
Creating a plan will force you to think things through and add some comfortable structure to something that can seem very up in the air and undefined. It will also offer you those critical next steps when you are feeling sluggish or lost.

Act! Today!
The fact is, the time will never be right. Something will always be less than optimum. With that in mind, don’t wait! Do something right now that will move you toward your passion.
What two things can you do right away that will start the ball rolling? They don’t need to be earth-shattering; they just need to happen.

Commit to making it happen
Let it out of your brain and into the open. Say, “I will do this.” Say it out loud to yourself. Say it to a friend. Put it in writing and put it where you can see it. Once it’s out in the open it will have room to grow. And that’s exactly what you want!

Temping is often regarded as a stop-gap income-producing strategy until a “real job” can be found. For those considering a career change, however, temping can be an extremely effective way to break into a field. It’s important, however, to understand that the best way to use temp experiences is intentionally. Sure, you can file and photocopy in some back office all alone — but you can also structure your experience to serve your career change well. Here are some suggestions:

The Temp Firm

Choose the Right One: I highly recommend that you work with a temp agency that offers specialty placements. Want to break into accounting but have only a few accounting classes? Try affiliating with a temp firm that serves clients with financial accounting needs. All of their placements will be financially-related, which is a great way to get some experience in various aspects of the financial field. Similarly, HR and IT specialty firms can be your ticket into the field. There is nothing wrong with working as a filing photocopying phone-answering temp, but it may be significantly more difficult to transition to another role in the company.

Understand How Temp Firms Make Money: Temp firms make some money on your placement, but the real money comes in their reputation, word of mouth referrals, and placement fees for conversion to permanent. Your temp placement officer doesn’t work for you. He or she works for the company that needs help. He or she wants to place the best possible candidate with the client. His or her goal is to make the client happy – so happy that clients refer others to the service. In temp-to-perm firms, the agency receives a conversion bonus if the client decides to hire you full-time.

Talk to Your Placement Officer: Let your placement officer know that you are looking to change careers and would like to gain exposure to certain fields. Building rapport with your placement officer goes far. The more he or she knows about you, the better fit hr or she can find — for the client company. But, good fit for the client can also be a good fit for you. Emphasize your transferable skills and your flexibility. Remember, the placement officer is working for the client and wants to make the client very happy. Just out of college or seasoned employee, let her know what kinds of fields are interesting to you.

The Placement
Do The Job Required: I once inherited a temp who had aspirations of moving beyond her current placement. She was a receptionist in a busy office. She was quite clear that she wanted to leave the receptionist tasks quickly and move up to better things. The only problem was that we really needed a receptionist — that’s why we hired her. She had taken it upon herself to correct student resumes and hand them back. As an English major she was confident she was qualified to perform this function. As a staff, we were equally confident she was not. She didn’t last too much longer.

Treat Your Position as One Long Informational Interview: In addition to doing the job assigned, consider yourself to be on one long informational interview. Ask questions, talk to your supervisor, observe business processes. As a temp, you have an invaluable opportunity to research the inner workings of corporate/non-profit/healthcare/sports management/culinary arts operations. Make sure you transition from “the temp” to “Aurora the college graduate looking to break into advertising.” Again, you may be trading a fine line, but observation is the most valuable strategy at your disposal. There is less pressure on the employer if he or she knows that you are interested in the field as a whole — not necessarily in the next opening in his division.

Attend Every Available Event and Training Opportunity: If the company offers brown-bag lunches or seminars, ask if you can use your lunch hour to attend. Generally, internal events such as these are, well, internal. Take advantage of your insider status to learn more about the field. Optional events? Go. Drinks after work with the office gang? Go. Take very opportunity to learn about the company and industry.

Five Overlooked Strategies to Help Make Your Job Search More Productive — and Successful

In times when the economy falters, when financial markets fall, and when companies of all sizes in many industries announce plans to reduce their workforce, job-seekers tend to get a bit concerned about the length and success of the job search they may face. It almost goes without saying that job-hunting in a boom economy is quite different (and much easier) than job-hunting in a slumping economy.
Different, yes. Harder and often more time-consuming, yes. Impossible, no. Job-hunting is an art that simply takes more time and work to perfect in uncertain times than in good times. You will have to work harder and smarter at finding new opportunities, but they are out there, and if you take advantage of these five strategies you will be much better positioned to land a new job.
Utilizing the Power of Networking
What’s the most important tool of job-hunting, especially in times of uncertainty? Not a resume nor interviewing skills…but networking. Why networking? Networking is the most effective tool of job-hunting because if you use your network properly, you will hear of multiple job opportunities, often before they are even listed (if they are ever listed).
Some job-seekers shy away from networking because they equate networking with taking advantage of people, but if done correctly, networking can be a rewarding experience for all parties involved. Networking is not asking everyone you know for a job. Networking means developing a broad list of contacts — family, friends, and people you’ve met through various social and business functions — and using them to your advantage when you look for a job. People in your network may be able to give you job leads, offer you advice and information about a particular company or industry, and introduce you to others so that you can expand your network.
Now is the time to broaden your network — even if you are not currently looking for a new job. You never know when you’ll need your network, so make every effort to grow it.
Need more information about networking? We have lots of networking tips, names and contacts for numerous networking and professional organizations, networking do’s and don’ts, and much more in the Art of Networking section of Quintessential Careers.
Finding Hidden Job Opportunities
In good times job openings are plentiful, but in uncertain times the job openings disappear. Job-seekers are left scrambling for the few “open” jobs. But there are always other job possibilities lurking in the background, and it is up to the persistent job-seeker to find those hidden job opportunities and/or to create new opportunities.
Finding hidden opportunities. Job-seekers must take full advantage of their network to uncover as many potential job openings as possible. Hunt down every lead. Consider using cold calling techniques to find other opportunities. Focus more of your time and energy here than trying to respond to every job posting at Monster.com or the other job boards.
Creating new opportunities. As companies downsize and consolidate job functions, many opportunities may arise for a job-seeker with the right skills. Determine your most marketable skills, examine the ongoing needs of the employers where you want to work (including your current employer), and develop a proposal showcasing how the employer would benefit from hiring you.
Sharpening the Focus of Your Resume
One of the most important tips you can take away from this article is this one: resumes are supposed to document your skills and accomplishments, not your duties and responsibilities. Make a list of the two or three accomplishments from each of your recent jobs — and then use them on your resume. Try to quantify accomplishments as much as possible. Read more.
Decide whether a traditional chronological resume format is better for you or whether you need a functional resume format, or some type of hybrid format. Read more.
Consider developing a “qualifications summary” or “key accomplishments” section for your resume. Think of this section as the executive summary of your resume. If the employer reads only this one part of your resume, will it be enough to entice the employer to read the rest of your resume?
Develop multiple resumes, perhaps even customizing each resume you send to the specific job and employer. Also consider multiple resume formats, from the standard formatted paper resume to a scannable text resume and Web-based resume.
Finally, remember that a resume is a living document. You are never “done” with your resume. You should update and edit your resume(s) regularly, adding new accomplishments and skills, sharpening the focus, removing outdated material.
Need more resume help? You can find lots of free resume resources, including our resume tutorial, resume do’s and don’ts, resumes samples, and much more in the Resume Resources section of Quintessential Careers.
Developing a Dynamic Cover Letter
A cover letter is an integral tool of your job search. Perhaps in the past you have been able to get good jobs with a mediocre cover letter, but in uncertain times, your cover letter becomes the main tool that can determine whether your resume is read and whether you are even considered as a candidate for a position.
How can you improve your cover letter? Let’s review the two most important parts of the cover letter: the introductory paragraph and the ending paragraph.
The first paragraph of your cover letter must sell the employer on the benefits/skills/talent you will bring to the job – a mix that no other job-seeker has (what we call your Unique Selling Proposition) and one that has a clear benefit to the employer. Do not waste this critical opening paragraph.
Weak opening paragraph: I am writing today to apply for the account manager position you have posted on your company Website.
Better opening paragraph: I have increased the size and sales levels of my client base in every position I have held, which in turn has increased the revenues and profits of my employers. I want to bring this same success to the account position you have posted on your Website.
The final paragraph of your cover letter must be proactive. You must ask for the job interview (or a meeting) in this paragraph. You must express your confidence that you are a perfect fit for the job. You must also put the employer on notice that you plan to follow-up within a specified time.
Weak closing paragraph: I hope you will review my resume, and if you agree with what I have stated here, consider me for the position. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Better closing paragraph: I am eager to help advance the success of your company, and I am convinced that we should arrange a time to meet. I will call your office in the next week to schedule an appointment.
Need more cover letter help? We have lots of free resources, including a cover letter tutorial, sample cover letters, cover letter do’s and don’ts, and much more in our Cover Letter Resources section of Quintessential Careers.
Mastering the Art of Follow-Up
In good times, some job-seekers may be able to get away with being impolite in not sending thank you letters and being lazy by not following up all leads, but in a tight or uncertain job market, job-seekers must follow-up every job lead, every job application, and every job interview.
Some job-seekers may see follow-up as too aggressive, but the cliché about the squeaky wheel getting the grease applies to job-seeking. As long as you don’t contact the employer too often or act abusive, following up with emails or phone calls is a way to stay at the forefront of the minds of the employers, as well as a way for you to stay on top of the status of the search. Each time you follow-up, your strategy should be to reinforce the perception that you are the ideal candidate for the job; the job-seeker with the unique set of skills and experiences required for the job.
Follow-up each cover letter and resume you send with a phone call or email requesting an interview. Follow-up each interview you have with a thank you note or letter to each person who interviewed you. And follow-up your thank you note with a phone call or email to again express your interest and fit with the job and check on the status of the search.

Five Overlooked Strategies to Help Make Your Job Search More Productive — and Successful

In times when the economy falters, when financial markets fall, and when companies of all sizes in many industries announce plans to reduce their workforce, job-seekers tend to get a bit concerned about the length and success of the job search they may face. It almost goes without saying that job-hunting in a boom economy is quite different (and much easier) than job-hunting in a slumping economy.

Different, yes. Harder and often more time-consuming, yes. Impossible, no. Job-hunting is an art that simply takes more time and work to perfect in uncertain times than in good times. You will have to work harder and smarter at finding new opportunities, but they are out there, and if you take advantage of these five strategies you will be much better positioned to land a new job.

Utilizing the Power of Networking
What’s the most important tool of job-hunting, especially in times of uncertainty? Not a resume nor interviewing skills…but networking. Why networking? Networking is the most effective tool of job-hunting because if you use your network properly, you will hear of multiple job opportunities, often before they are even listed (if they are ever listed).

Some job-seekers shy away from networking because they equate networking with taking advantage of people, but if done correctly, networking can be a rewarding experience for all parties involved. Networking is not asking everyone you know for a job. Networking means developing a broad list of contacts — family, friends, and people you’ve met through various social and business functions — and using them to your advantage when you look for a job. People in your network may be able to give you job leads, offer you advice and information about a particular company or industry, and introduce you to others so that you can expand your network.

Now is the time to broaden your network — even if you are not currently looking for a new job. You never know when you’ll need your network, so make every effort to grow it.

Need more information about networking? We have lots of networking tips, names and contacts for numerous networking and professional organizations, networking do’s and don’ts, and much more in the Art of Networking section of Quintessential Careers.

Finding Hidden Job Opportunities
In good times job openings are plentiful, but in uncertain times the job openings disappear. Job-seekers are left scrambling for the few “open” jobs. But there are always other job possibilities lurking in the background, and it is up to the persistent job-seeker to find those hidden job opportunities and/or to create new opportunities.

Finding hidden opportunities. Job-seekers must take full advantage of their network to uncover as many potential job openings as possible. Hunt down every lead. Consider using cold calling techniques to find other opportunities. Focus more of your time and energy here than trying to respond to every job posting at Monster.com or the other job boards.

Creating new opportunities. As companies downsize and consolidate job functions, many opportunities may arise for a job-seeker with the right skills. Determine your most marketable skills, examine the ongoing needs of the employers where you want to work (including your current employer), and develop a proposal showcasing how the employer would benefit from hiring you.

Sharpening the Focus of Your Resume
One of the most important tips you can take away from this article is this one: resumes are supposed to document your skills and accomplishments, not your duties and responsibilities. Make a list of the two or three accomplishments from each of your recent jobs — and then use them on your resume. Try to quantify accomplishments as much as possible. Read more.

Decide whether a traditional chronological resume format is better for you or whether you need a functional resume format, or some type of hybrid format. Read more.

Consider developing a “qualifications summary” or “key accomplishments” section for your resume. Think of this section as the executive summary of your resume. If the employer reads only this one part of your resume, will it be enough to entice the employer to read the rest of your resume?

Develop multiple resumes, perhaps even customizing each resume you send to the specific job and employer. Also consider multiple resume formats, from the standard formatted paper resume to a scannable text resume and Web-based resume.

Finally, remember that a resume is a living document. You are never “done” with your resume. You should update and edit your resume(s) regularly, adding new accomplishments and skills, sharpening the focus, removing outdated material.

Need more resume help? You can find lots of free resume resources, including our resume tutorial, resume do’s and don’ts, resumes samples, and much more in the Resume Resources section of Quintessential Careers.

Developing a Dynamic Cover Letter
A cover letter is an integral tool of your job search. Perhaps in the past you have been able to get good jobs with a mediocre cover letter, but in uncertain times, your cover letter becomes the main tool that can determine whether your resume is read and whether you are even considered as a candidate for a position.

How can you improve your cover letter? Let’s review the two most important parts of the cover letter: the introductory paragraph and the ending paragraph.

The first paragraph of your cover letter must sell the employer on the benefits/skills/talent you will bring to the job – a mix that no other job-seeker has (what we call your Unique Selling Proposition) and one that has a clear benefit to the employer. Do not waste this critical opening paragraph.

Weak opening paragraph: I am writing today to apply for the account manager position you have posted on your company Website.

Better opening paragraph: I have increased the size and sales levels of my client base in every position I have held, which in turn has increased the revenues and profits of my employers. I want to bring this same success to the account position you have posted on your Website.

The final paragraph of your cover letter must be proactive. You must ask for the job interview (or a meeting) in this paragraph. You must express your confidence that you are a perfect fit for the job. You must also put the employer on notice that you plan to follow-up within a specified time.

Weak closing paragraph: I hope you will review my resume, and if you agree with what I have stated here, consider me for the position. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Better closing paragraph: I am eager to help advance the success of your company, and I am convinced that we should arrange a time to meet. I will call your office in the next week to schedule an appointment.

Need more cover letter help? We have lots of free resources, including a cover letter tutorial, sample cover letters, cover letter do’s and don’ts, and much more in our Cover Letter Resources section of Quintessential Careers.

Mastering the Art of Follow-Up
In good times, some job-seekers may be able to get away with being impolite in not sending thank you letters and being lazy by not following up all leads, but in a tight or uncertain job market, job-seekers must follow-up every job lead, every job application, and every job interview.

Some job-seekers may see follow-up as too aggressive, but the cliché about the squeaky wheel getting the grease applies to job-seeking. As long as you don’t contact the employer too often or act abusive, following up with emails or phone calls is a way to stay at the forefront of the minds of the employers, as well as a way for you to stay on top of the status of the search. Each time you follow-up, your strategy should be to reinforce the perception that you are the ideal candidate for the job; the job-seeker with the unique set of skills and experiences required for the job.

Follow-up each cover letter and resume you send with a phone call or email requesting an interview. Follow-up each interview you have with a thank you note or letter to each person who interviewed you. And follow-up your thank you note with a phone call or email to again express your interest and fit with the job and check on the status of the search.